HMIS News Alert
February 5, 2020
Upcoming Reports
Point in Time and Housing Inventory Count Reminders

Happy PIT/HIC season! For those of you participating in the unsheltered count, it can feel like our HMIS projects should be reporting out now too! You're in luck, HMIS projects do not report on client participants or inventory until the HMIS reports are ready. Here's the quick guide to what's happening for different parts of the PIT/HIC:
  • The Counting Us App for Unsheltered and non-HMIS Sheltered data closes Wednesday February 5th at midnight
  • HMIS agencies should wait for instructions at the February HMIS Users Meeting
  • Not using the App or HMIS? Schedule time for a phone call with NCCEH staff
State ESG 2019 Data Submissions (CAPER)
The State ESG Office is using a different process for the end of year 2019 data submission. Grantees will not use an NCCEH form to submit. Instead, please follow the State ESG directions to submit only the ESG CAPER report to Sage.
Steps to Submit State ESG CAPER
  1. Run the HMIS (or DV equivalent) ESG-CAPER for 2019
  2. Review the data and correct as needed
  3. Download the ESG-CAPER report and Save to findable location
  4. Find the official submission link emailed to the ESG contact via "sagehmis.info"
  5. Upload the 2019 ESG CAPER to sagehmis.info and submit
  6. Done!

The State ESG office sent a deadline of February 14th, however office staff want to encourage everyone to submit as soon as possible. Please submit ASAP!
HMIS System Updates
Report Updates in HMIS: CoC-APR and ESG-CAPER

Updates to CoC APR 2019
  • Resolved issue with Questions 7b (PIT Count), 8b (Household PIT Count) and 22c (Housing Move-In Date)
  • Resolved issue with Questions 6f and 9a (Street Outreach elements)
  • Resolved issue with Questions 10a, 10b and 10c (Gender)
  • Resolved issue with Question 22e (Approximate Date Homelessness Started)

Updates to ESG CAPER 2019
  • Resolved issue with Questions 8b (Household PIT Count) and 22c (Housing Move-In Date)
  • Resolved issue with Questions 6f and 9a (Street Outreach elements)
  • Resolved issue with Questions 10a, 10b and 10c (Gender)
  • Resolved issue with Question 22e (Approximate Date Homelessness Started)

Action Steps for CoC and ESG Grantees
  • If you have a report due soon, please review the report before submitting it to see if there's any inaccurate data. A list of updates is below. If you have already submitted data this month, we recommend you review the report tomorrow to see if there are significant changes.

Action Steps for Non-CoC or ESG Grantees
  • For those of your who are not ESG or CoC grantees, know that tomorrow's reports should be more accurate than today's!
Historical eROI Update

Back in 2015, there was a shift in HMIS Lead Agency. When that changed the system from one with more visibility to more privacy, some client information was not fully closed. On Friday, February 7th, clients with historical data from that era will be fully protected and visibility closed. This should not impact many clients.

Please reach out to the Data Center if clients you usually can see are not visible next week.
HMIS will be offline Monday

Our software vendor, WellSky, is doing some system updates to HMIS next week which will take HMIS offline. Our HMIS will not be available to Users between 10 pm and 2 am Tuesday morning.

Please make sure that frontline staff are aware of this for Monday!
Tip: Print a few paper forms on hand to allow data collection during this down-time. Find your forms on our Admin website: ncceh.org/hmis/admin
Change in Intake: Homeless History Question
The Homeless History section of our HMIS intakes has at least five questions. The language of the third question has been modified to HUD's language.

The question, " When did the client start staying on the streets or in emergency shelters this time?" was changed to " Approximate date homelessness started:" on intake.

If you hover over the question, you can see language to assist your conversation with the client.
This does not change the paper forms.
Training & Feedback Opportunities
Our next Balance of State HMIS User Meeting

Join us at the next HMIS Users Meeting for a more practical look at PIT/HIC data submissions and a chance to discuss any of the update here.
HMIS@NCCEH wants your feedback!

We invite our partners like you to complete a survey that asks about ServicePoint (our current HMIS software) as well as your needs for HMIS in general. We're hoping to hear from a broad range of stakeholders - everyone from people who don't currently have a login with HMIS to people with a lot of experience with HMIS!
The more we hear from you, the better able we will be to understand what you need when it comes to HMIS. Please consider taking 15 minutes to complete this survey and sharing it with people you work with.
The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete and is due Monday, February 10th. Note that you can save the survey and return to it if that helps!
Please give us a call (919) 410-6997 or send us an email if you have any questions or concerns!
NCCEH Data Center | 919.410.6997 | hmis@ncceh.org