A month or two ago we began laying the ground work for a overhaul to our system. We were trying to decide how to make or system look more “Individual based”, without giving everyone access to everything. What we decided on was the following. Our programs (in Therap) were no longer going to be formed around a house, but around the individual instead. Each program would be a single person ie, the person Bill Kilgore would be enrolled in the Program Bill Kilgore. Our Caseloads would be changed from program based to individual based (just residential). But, we did keep the caseloads named after houses that way we could put multiple people/programs into it.
The work involved was far less than we expected: Really, REALLY, time consuming, but easier than thought. First programs where created for each person. Each person was then enrolled in their new program. The supervisors then created reports for all the ISPs up to the date switch over, copied the ISPs over to the new program and then D/C’d the old ones. We then un-enrolled the person from their old program. Once this was done we proceeded to change over the caseloads, removing the house program and replacing it with the individuals in the house.
Pros: We no longer have to copy/ DC ISPs every time a person supported moves houses; when they move we simply change the address of the program, meaning that we no longer needed to enroll or un-enroll . This goes for personal finance, and other modules that require you to chose a program to create data, as well. From here forward if a person moves during the year we will no longer have to worry whether to search by program or individual, because either one will produce the same results. Chances of recording data under the wrong person has been greatly reduced because you have to click on the name twice now, this is becaseu when you click on their name (program) the next screen will only have their name, not anyone else’s.
The Cons: We lost the ability to comment on t-logs from the old program (minor). If a report was not created for an ISP, from the old program, we lost the ability to create one (again minor). Our list of programs has become ENORMOUS, but that only affects the Res. Admins. (so minor).
So all in all the war for making things easier and more efficient is going in our favor. Minus the few little hiccups already mentioned, our soldiers move forward better equipped.
That is a very interesting approach! What prompted you all to make the changes in this way?
What prompted us was the person finance module. Well, actually that was the proverbial kick over the edge. Our system was set up so the houses were the programs. Which meant that if a person supported transferred the new supervisor would not have access to the accounts. So we decided to figure out a way that we could transfer and not have to worry about all that program stuff (this went for GER. T-logs, etc.) That is why our Therap programs are now named after the person and only that person is enrolled in it. Now when if they transfer we only have to change the program address and nothing else. I hope that answers your question.
DISCLAIMER: This way of setting things up was the best way for our agency. It my not be the best way for any other agency. So please use this information wisely (and maybe sparingly)
Justin posted about your post on his blog and recommended a couple of other ways to make the programs more individual based as well. His third recommendation is to add each individual to a caseload in addition to having their program on that caseload as well (at least I think that is the gist of his option #3). I’m going to experiment with this and see how it works. Thanks so much for explaining the process you all went through to make this change.