HIFIS 4 Point-in-Time Count Module User Guide

Version:

March 2018

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Need help with HIFIS? HIFIS Support Desk – HIFIS.ca

support@hifis.ca

1-866-324-2375

Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (EST)

More about PiT Counts PiT Count Toolkit The Community Workspace on Homelessness HPS PiT Count Web section

Section 1 Getting Started

Introduction This user guide was developed by the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) to help communities use the HIFIS PiT Count Module. To help HIFIS administrators, it includes step-by-step instructions, screen shots, tips and references. This section follows the order of setting up and using the Module. Section 3 applies to data-entry staff as well as administrators. This is the user guide for the HIFIS 4 PiT Module. If your community hasn’t moved to HIFIS 4 yet, refer to the HIFIS 3 User Guide instead. If you are hoping to move to HIFIS 4 before your PiT Count, contact the HIFIS Support Desk. What is a Point-in-Time (PiT) Count? A PiT Count is a method used to measure homelessness, at a given time, by counting and surveying people sleeping in shelters and on the streets. PiT Counts include a survey that can provide communities with information on the demographics of their homeless population (e.g. age, gender, Veteran status, Indigenous identity). This information can be used by communities to direct resources to areas of greatest need, and to connect people with targeted supports to help them achieve stable housing. It can also be used in the future, to track changes in the homeless population and measure progress in reducing it. The survey is made up of three types of questions:

• HPS Core Questions (mandatory) • Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Questions (COH)

(optional – chosen by each community) • Local questions (developed by a community)

HIFIS and your PiT Count The Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) is an innovative tool that allows for an improved coordination among the entire spectrum of homelessness-related services, from outreach to case management and from shelters to long-term housing support. HIFIS is a tool designed to support service providers’ operational capacity and collect real time information on clients using their services. It can:

• help service providers in daily tasks such as booking clients in and out, and reporting on shelter use; and

• collect statistics about the population accessing the services your organization provides.

The PiT Count Module was developed to help communities easily, safely and securely upload their PiT Count data into HIFIS, and export the data for further analysis. The Module can also help you manage volunteers, for example, by creating shifts and generating distribution lists.

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New and Improved: PiT Counts in HIFIS 4 The HIFIS 4 PiT Count Module is a new, advanced tool for collecting Point in Time Count data. HIFIS 4 is web-based, so it can be accessed from any device connected to the internet. This means that users can work with the software from their tablets, phones, or computers, no matter where they are. Data can upload in real time and is easier to share and export. What does this mean for your PiT Count? • No more paper surveys! You can choose to conduct your entire PiT Count directly in the software using

internet-enabled mobile devices.

• More user accountability! Easily find out who submitted what information, at what time, from which location.

• No more data entry! Have your data uploaded in real time during the count and ready to report on as soon as it’s done.

Software Requirements To access the Module, you must have HIFIS version 4.0.55 or more. (To find your software version number, look at the bottom of any HIFIS screen, under “About Your Application.” You’ll see a light grey text that starts with “Build 4.0.” Or, if “PiT count” is not an option in your menu bar, you have an earlier version and need to update it.) You can get an update through your community’s IT support or by contacting the HIFIS Support Desk at support@hifis.ca or 1-866-324-2375, Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (EST).

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Section 2 Before the Count – Setting Up your Module

Administrators need to complete these three steps before doing a PiT count in HIFIS:

Step 1. Define the PiT Count Event • Create your PiT Count Event. • Choose the questions to include in the survey (COH and local questions).

Step 2. Create Volunteer Profiles and PiT Count Locations • Create Volunteer Profiles • Enter Sheltered Locations (e.g., shelters) • Enter Unsheltered Locations (e.g., map zones, survey areas, etc.)

Step 3. Create Shifts • Assign volunteers to locations and shift times.

Step 1 − Define the PiT Count Event Under “PiT Count” and “Events,” you can create your event and add COH and local questions. You can refer to the Customizable Survey in the COH Toolkit to see the mandatory and optional survey questions.

1. From the PiT Count menu, select “Events.”

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A screen like this will appear:

2. To create a PiT Count Event, select “Create PiT Event” at the bottom of the screen.

A screen like this will appear:

3. Enter your community (province/territory; city), and your event date information (mandatory fields are

marked with a red star). You may decide the minimum age for survey participants, or keep the default minimum age: 16.

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4. Under “Live Survey Offset No.,” write the number of paper surveys that you plan to use during your PiT count. Then your mobile surveys will have different identification numbers from the paper surveys. If you don’t plan to use paper surveys, enter 0.

5. Click “Save.” You will be returned to the main PiT Events list (Then, if you need to edit your event and survey settings, click the pencil button.)

A screen like this will appear:

6. Use the drop-down menus to edit your event details and survey questions. 7. By default, all questions will be active. To activate or deactivate optional COH questions from your

survey, click on “Select COH Questions.”

8. To add your own questions to the survey, click on “Add Local Questions” from your Event Setting screen. (Only visible to event surveyors in your community.) Use the Field Sequence number to organize your questions and make subquestions.

9. Questions are automatically translated into English or French (for reference), and should be reviewed before using the survey).

10. Congratulations! You have created your PiT Count Event. Each community should have only one event listed in the PiT Events screen. If you have more than one event, use the button next to the event you want to delete.

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Step 2 – Create Volunteer Profiles and PiT Count Locations

To create your volunteer profiles, you need information on each volunteer, including telephone number and email address. You can use the “Quick-Add” function (recommended), or add a single volunteer. From the PiT Count menu, select Volunteers. Your User List will open.

Using Quick-Add to add volunteers, you can easily create several volunteer profiles with minimal information. Volunteers added using this method will automatically have surveyor status, to be able to enter PiT count data.

1. Click “Add PiT Live Volunteers” at the bottom of the screen. A screen like this will appear:

2. Click “download” to open the template. (Excel spreadsheet)

3. Fill out the spreadsheet. Add a username if you would like to create a user profile; if you do not add a

username, the information will be entered into the software as a “Person”—someone who exists in the software but does not have any login information to access it. You’ll want you volunteers to have full user profiles.

4. When you are finished entering volunteer information, save your document, and click “File to Upload” to import it into HIFIS.

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5. Select the Rights template you would like to use. HIFIS has three templates to choose from: PiT Admin Volunteer, PiT Data Entry Volunteer, and PiT Live Volunteer. You may edit these templates, or create your own, under “Rights Templates” under the “Administration” tab.

6. Users will be able to access their accounts using the username you created and a default password of: pit[username] (all lowercase)

Note: For the PiT Count, it is enough to have a volunteer’s name, phone number and email address. To edit volunteer contact information, find the volunteer in the list, and click “Edit the Current Record.”

Using “Add a New User” to add volunteers allows you to create detailed volunteer profiles.

1. On the main Volunteers page, click on “New User.”

A screen will appear:

2. To create a profile, list the role (or function) of the volunteer. This will allow you to select them as a

surveyor, so that they can enter PiT Count data. The basic volunteer profile is called “PiT Volunteer”

3. Only enter a security key if you have the two-factor authentication for HIFIS pre-configured.

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4. Click “Save” when you are finished entering the volunteer’s information.

5. To add more volunteers, repeat.

From the volunteer page, you can:

• view or edit a volunteer’s record by clicking the User Account button next to the name. • activate or deactivate a volunteer (based on their availability for the PiT Count) from that volunteer’s

User Account page. • search for volunteers by last name or first name from the “filter items” search box.

Create PiT Count Locations Your organization should map out and name zones prior to the PiT count. For example, Map Zone 1, Map Zone 2; or Main Street Route, Central Park Loop. In the Module, use these names as “place names.” Under the PiT Count tab, select “Locations.” A screen will appear for the Directory of Services. Click the “Add Place” button at the bottom. Complete the form with your information. (Mandatory fields are marked with a red star). Once completed, your location names will be listed. From the locations page, you can:

• edit or add information on a shelter (e.g. target clientele or address), by choosing the record you want to edit and selecting “Edit the Current Record.”

• delete a shelter by highlighting the shelter on the List tab and selecting “Delete the Current Record.”

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Step 3 – Create Shifts You can assign volunteers to a given location with a scheduled shift time.

1. Under the PiT Count tab, select “Shifts.”

2. Click on the “Add PiT Shift” button.

A screen will appear:

3. To assign a volunteer to a shift, select the volunteer from the Surveyor field. The list will contain the volunteers that you entered earlier. Note: Shift times can only be entered from 00:00 to 23:59, and cannot go beyond 23:59; for example, you cannot enter a shift that runs from 23:00 to 02:00.

4. Click on the “Place” button to bring up the list of survey locations already entered in the Module.

5. After entering all the information for a shift, click “Save.”

6. To return to the PiT Count menu, click “Exit.”

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Section 3 During and After the Count – Entering Data

Before entering any information in the software, please refer to the Data Entry Protocol for tips on handling unclear answers to survey questions. This section contains two main parts:

Data Entry – for HIFIS administrators and data-entry staff to learn how to enter completed surveys and tally sheets.

Export Data – for HIFIS administrators to learn how to safely and securely export data.

Data entry from a mobile device Once your volunteers are set up with user profiles, they will be able to log into the software from any device connected to the internet.

1. In the PiT Count tab, there are two Live Survey options: paging and scrolling.

2. The “Paging” format shows the survey with one question per page, with “Previous” and “Next” buttons for navigation:

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3. The “Scrolling” format has the survey questions accessible from one page, by drop-down menus:

The survey remains the same, but the volunteer can choose the format they prefer. As your volunteers enter surveys during the PiT count, the surveys will appear in real time on the PiT Surveys landing page.

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Data entry from paper surveys While the HIFIS 4 PiT Module is designed for mobile electronic surveys, it is still possible to enter data from paper surveys after the count. Here’s how:

1. In the PiT Count menu, select “Surveys List.”

Then, from the PiT Surveys landing page, you can view all completed surveys, add a survey for mobile entry, and enter the data from a paper survey.

2. To enter the data from a paper survey, click on “Add PiT Data Entry Survey.”

A series of drop-down menus will appear, each containing a selection of survey questions.

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3. Under “Survey Details,” enter the survey number from the paper survey.

4. At the PiT Shifts question, select the matching PiT Count shift from the shifts you already entered. Note: Once entered, the shift will remain in effect for each following survey. You will only need to select it again when you begin entering surveys from a different shift (volunteer and/or location).

5. Enter each response from the paper survey into the corresponding box. Move through the questions using the “Question” tabs.

Note: Questions 1 to 12, in the first two tabs, are HPS core questions (mandatory). COH questions C01-C11 are under the third tab, and any local questions are under the fourth tab. (Some optional COH questions will be visible here as they are related to HPS core questions. But only the COH questions you included in your survey will be included in the Module. The question numbers in the PiT Count Module may not the same as those in your survey. If possible, use the same numbering in your survey form.

6. Once all the information from a survey has been entered, click “Save.” You can edit or delete a survey at any time by selecting the survey from the main PiT Surveys landing page. Note: If you cannot save, review each tab to check all mandatory fields are completed.

Resources

The Data Entry Protocol The PiT Count Toolkit The Community Workspace on Homelessness The HPS PiT Count Web section