July HMIS Update
July 10, 2018
Deep Breaths before Deadlines!
Hello!

As we step forward (or maybe crawl) from the holiday last week and the temperature begins to climb, many folks are turning their attention to grant applications including the CoC NOFA and (sooner rather than later) the ESG application. The Data Center is ready to help you review and prepare your data for these important deadlines! As a reminder, we require two weeks notice for custom reporting requests . We can serve you better if you give us more time to troubleshoot. Remember, we don't have any secret shortcuts with ART either! Make sure you are reviewing your data regularly so you're not surprised and ask the Data Center questions early and often!
Our next HMIS Users Meeting is July 16th!
That's right, Monday!

Reviewing your data - no matter your position - might not be your idea of fun, but it can be satisfying to track your program's outcomes that your hard work contributes to. The Data Center wants to show you how HMIS Users can demonstrate that your data entry matters and how reports can be the tools to backup or challenge your convictions.

Monday, July 16th
1:45 pm - 2:45 pm

Orange County Southern Human Services Center
2501 Homestead Rd, Room D
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

We love hearing from you! If you have any other topics that you want addressed in next Month's meeting or for upcoming trainings, please let us know with a quick email or via our feedback survey!
What you should know from HUD and Mediware
The AHAR report is now the LSA!
Background - Each fall, we have worked with Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, and Permanent Supportive Housing projects to prepare the AHAR or Annual Homeless Assessment Report for HUD and Congress. This year, Rapid Re-Housing projects will be included and the HMIS report will be known as the Longitudinal Systems Analysis (LSA).

What's so great about the LSA? - This new version of our annual report to HUD will incorporate tools for system-wide and demographic specific analysis. For example, HUD has referenced being able reviewed the outcomes for older clients. The LSA will allow communities to find out the System Performance Measures for 55+ year old clients. By giving communities more access to powerful analytics, we'll be able to understand our communities even better!

There's no action to take now, but to continue entering and reviewing data for accuracy.
Are you missing data in Reports? Make sure you're using the right workflow!
When entering client data, go left to right along the tabs. When you find or create a client, you'll start on the Client Profile tab. Confirm the demographics, then move to the Households tab (if applicable). Next record an electronic ROI. Finally, only after the e-ROI is entered, move to the Entry/Exit tab to record the client Intake.
*Always check your Enter Data As and Backdate modes before beginning data entry.
Exit Destination Guidance
HUD has clarified the appropriate Exit Destination responses for clients who are either students or serving in the Military.
  • If a client moves into College dorms or Military Housing, then record Exit Destination as "Rental by Client with ongoing subsidy"
  • If a client moves in with family while they are a student, then record Exit Destination as "Staying or Living with Family, permanent tenure"

The Data Center has updated the Exit Destination Guide to reflect these changes. Tip: Keep a copy printed out where staff assisting or conducting Exit Interviews can reference the detailed descriptions!
HMIS@NCCEH Status
Currently, Mediware is still working to create a copy of the new HMIS@NCCEH website that the Data Center and others can test.

Mediware has continued to have significant delays in the process. We are currently waiting on a test site to ensure the copy and purge works correctly before we move to a live system. While we can't announce a launch date with absolute certainty, we are currently targeting August. For more information on the process, check out the materials from our June Update webinar.
Please keep using NC HMIS until notified to stop
Continue entering data into  nchmis.servicept.com until notified to stop and switch to the new HMIS@NCCEH site. We acknowledge that reporting deadlines may need to be accounted for when selecting a date. (expect notice 1-2 weeks before the launch date)

Stay informed! 
Read our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for more information about HMIS@NCCEH. This document will be updated as we progress towards launch.

Watch your email
Make sure you’re receiving  communications from the NCCEH Data Center. 
Have you been entering NC County of Service?
We've asked all agencies to enter the NC County of Service since January 2018. (Cheat sheet: Download the Guide for Location Questions here)

How's our CoC doing?
Orange CoC has 56% completion rate, meaning about 160 clients are missing NC County of Service.

How can I check who is missing it?
Use the ART report for All Clients Demographics Report - with Additional County Tabs. Here's our DQ Report Guide that has All Clients Report prompts on page 13. Completing the missing NC County of Service questions will help our CoC with regional reporting, aggregating housing locations and client movement, and prepare us for implementation changes when we have HMIS@NCCEH. Soon, we will remove the County level from the data tree and this question will be the only way to track where client's are served.
Calendar
Make sure you have these events and deadlines on your calendar!

If you'd like training specifically for you or your agency, please submit a request with a two week window and what type of training you need here: Data Center Training Request Form.
July 16 th -- Orange HMIS Users Meeting

July 31 st -- State ESG Quarterly Performance Report (QPR) deadline for Jan - Jun

HMIS@NCCEH Transition - Launch details here
As always, give us a call or send us an email if you have any questions. Thank you for your diligent help to submit accurate data for our Community!
NCCEH Data Center | 919.410.6997 | hmis@ncceh.org