HMIS Project Management Topics and Tools - OneCPD

More documents

Recommendations

Info

HMIS Project Management Topics and Tools• Hiring a consultant or using the solution provider. Of all HMIS responsibilities,training is probably the area that is most frequently outsourced to third parties. Projectsmay choose to hire a consultant or use the solution provider to conduct the training. Thiswill free up staff time to focus on the other aspects of the project. This model may bemore expensive, or may be less expensive if the contracting agency can achieveeconomies of scale with multiple implementations or related projects. This model shouldbe accompanied by strong communication strategies with the agencies and the trainers toensure that the project manager understands the day-to-day problems that usersexperience with the system and maintains strong agency relationships.Training TopicsCommon training topics include those listed below.• Basic user training. Beginners will need an overview of the software along with anexplanation of required data elements and expectations. This training should also coverhow to use the software’s online Help features, if applicable. This training should alsoinclude the overall purpose of HMIS, an overview of the data collection requirements,client notification and consent policies, data sharing protocols, and other policies. Usersshould also be trained on the correct protocols to employ if a problem arises with thesoftware.• Advanced user training or user group discussions. Once people have started using thesoftware, they are bound to have questions or run into problems. Holding periodic usergroup trainings can serve two purposes: 1) it may save staff time to answer commonquestions in a group setting; and 2) it may create some camaraderie or buy-in to theproject. Users participating in these trainings often trade tips and techniques for systemusage.• Report generation training. Project managers should gauge whether or not thesoftware’s reporting features are complicated enough to warrant separate trainings in thisarea. In some cases two levels of training may be needed—basic and advanced. A basictraining might cover how to use canned reports that come with the system. An advancedtraining might cover how to export data, build custom reports, run queries and manipulatethe data. These trainings might be appropriate for agency executive and administrativestaff that make use of the data for grant writing and funding reports.• Administrator training. If a project manager has determined that each agency or localgeographic area should have a dedicated administrator to ensure proper systemimplementation at a local level and act as a point person for all of the users, there shouldbe periodic trainings to review the technical aspects of configuring agencies in thesystem, setting up bed registers (if applicable) and reviewing administrator roles andresponsibilities.• Security, policy, and ethics training. Staff at agencies will need to be aware of all ofthe security features of the HMIS that they have chosen. They will also need to be aware14
HMIS Project Management Topics and Toolsof their responsibilities for keeping client information safe and confidential at the agencylevel as outlined in the Final Notice. A special security training can be provided to keyagency staff or to all staff to ensure that they understand and adopt appropriate securityprotocols. Some communities have also incorporated broader ethics training touching onissues of confidentiality, disclosure, and grievance procedures.For each of the training types listed above, trainers and project managers should work together todevelop a standard curriculum and review and revise it periodically. They will also need todevelop training materials to hand out to participants. These materials should also be updated asneeded. The project manger should try to gauge the effectiveness of the training by creating atraining evaluation form with numeric scales. Appendix 5 contains an Evaluation Form used inMassachusetts for its basic user training. Other communities actually administer a test beforeand after the training to measure how much the trainees learned. Those who fail the test do notreceive passwords. The tests serve the dual purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of thetraining and ensuring that everyone accessing the system understands the key concepts.Each training session should also contain an inspirational segment for end users. This willremind end users that they have a stake in the project and will help with the long-term goal ofcollecting quality data. Trainers may want to begin each training by outlining some of thebenefits of data collection or by asking end users who have been entering data to talk aboutbenefits for them, their agencies and/or consumers.Data AnalystData analysts are sometimes part of the HMIS project team, especially in later stages. Effectivedata mining and data analysis can benefit the community by providing a competitive edge ingrant applications, as well as advancing the overall HMIS goals of improving service planning,educating the community, and influencing policy.A data analyst may help clean project data by eliminating or merging potential duplicate records.The analyst may also determine how data fields and categories should be combined, for example,whether income from selling a street newspaper should count as employment income. He or shemay also help determine whether particular data should be considered as “outliers” and thereforenot included in aggregate data. For example, a homeless client earning $3,000 a month may ormay not be considered valid. Ultimately, the analyst aggregates the data in order to present totalcounts and percentages in various categories, and helps determine which data is most critical forpolicy or research purposes.If the community has less than 100% coverage, the analyst can use extrapolation methodologiesto determine whether the results are skewed by data entry shortcomings or whether the data arestatistically valid. He or she can also help determine whether apparent trends and variationsbetween sub-groups are statistically significant. For example, if the percentage of homelesswomen entered in the HMIS was smaller in one year than the next, this may represent an actualtrend or just a statistical “blip” within a margin of error. Analysts can also help interpret the datawithin the larger community and policy context, by comparing findings to similar studies inother communities or relating the results to changes in particular policies.15
Page 2: HMIS Project Management Topics and
Page 6 and 7: HMIS Project Management Topics and
Page 68 and 69:
HMIS Project Management Topics and
Page 70 and 71:
Page 72 and 73:
Page 74 and 75:
Page 76 and 77:
Page 78 and 79:
Page 80 and 81:
Page 82 and 83:
Page 84 and 85:
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107:
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
Page 112 and 113:
Page 114 and 115:
show all

HMIS Project Management Topics and Tools - OneCPD

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?