Tribal MIECHV Data System Planning

Data System Planning Survey

In response to grantee feedback that not all sites have access to a highly functional data system, ACF (Administration for Children and Families) federal team has asked TEI (Tribal Home Visiting Evaluation Institute) to explore the possibility of developing a customizable data system grantees could choose whether to use. Ideally, this data system would improve upon or replace what you currently use to store your program-level data. ACF will be weighing several factors including security, cost, and needs expressed by grantees. Because of this, we would like your input as we explore these possibilities. The goal of this survey is to begin to understand your current data systems and processes as well as better understand your interest and ideas for a potential new system.

We are asking that this survey be completed by the member of your core home visiting team (typically, this includes Project Director, Coordinator, Evaluator, and Home Visitors) who is most able to speak on behalf of the home visiting program regarding your current data system and any interest your team might have in having access to a new system. You may wish to work together as a team to fill out the survey, but please only submit one response.

Completing this survey is voluntary and choosing not to participate in the survey will have no bearing on future funding. The survey takes an estimated 15 minutes to complete.

1. Tribal MIECHV Organization: _________________________________________

2. Which of the following reflect your involvement with your team’s data system (circle all that apply)?

1. I oversee all aspects of the data system

2. I provide training on the data system to incoming staff

3. I develop policies or procedures relevant to the data system

4. I supervise staff who do data entry

5. I do data entry

6. I work with IT or vendor to make changes to the data system

7. I access the data system for running reports

8. Other_______________________

3. Does your organization (either your home visiting program or the tribe or tribal organization as a whole) have any formal written policies related to data security (for example, does your organization require that you restrict who may access family data so that only the assigned home visitor may see the data)?

1. Yes  Go to 4

2. No  Skip to 5

3. Not sure  Skip to 5

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number for this information collection is 0970-0401 and the expiration date is 05/31/2018.

4. If there are written policies, do they indicate any restrictions on where that data must be hosted? For example, the policy may have a statement such as “Tribal Court data must be hosted on the reservation and cannot be cloud based.”

   1. Yes, there are restrictions on where data can be hosted in our written data policy.

   2. No, there are no restrictions on where data can be hosted in our written data policy.

   3. Not sure, I am not sure if there are restrictions such as this in our written data policy.

5. Please identify your primary data system*.

Primary Data System: _________________________

*You may use various programs to enter, manage, and/or analyze data, but we would like you to identify your primary data system for your home visiting program. Examples of data systems could include: Efforts to Outcomes, Penelope, Excel tracking sheets, Access databases, Datatude, Quickbase cloud data systems, Nightingale Notes, VisitTracker, FileMaker pro, etc.

The primary data system could have the following qualities:

• The system in which your team spend most of their time

• The system that houses the majority of home visiting data

• The system in which the final MIECHV reports are generated

The following questions concern your primary data system:

6. Which of the following best describes how data are entered into your primary system:

1. A home visitor or family member fills out a paper form during the home visit. These data are manually entered into the data system at the office.

2. A home visitor uses an electronic tablet to enter data during visits.

3. A home visitor takes notes during the visit and uses this to fill out the forms once they return to the office.

4. Combination of the above (for example a & c) describe:_____________________

5. Other: Please explain _______________

7. Is your current primary data system linked with other agency systems?

1. No  Go to 9

2. Yes  Go to 8

3. Not Sure  Go to 9

8. Please select all agencies that are linked with your primary data system:

1. Hospital or health clinic

2. School system

3. Court system

4. Social Service system

5. Other: _____________________________

9. How satisfied are you with your current way of generating reports with your primary data system?

1. Very satisfied

2. Somewhat satisfied

3. Somewhat unsatisfied

4. Very Unsatisfied

10. Please describe any challenges you’ve had creating reports with your primary data system:

11. Overall, how satisfied are you with your current primary data system(s):

1. Very satisfied

2. Somewhat satisfied

3. Somewhat unsatisfied

4. Very unsatisfied

12. How long has your program utilized your primary data system (in approximate years and months)?________ years, and ________ months

13. How easy or difficult did you find the primary data system to learn?

    1. Easy to learn

    2. Neither difficult nor easy to learn

    3. Difficult to learn

14. How satisfied are you with your technical support for your primary data system?

1. Very satisfied

2. Somewhat satisfied

3. Somewhat unsatisfied

4. Very unsatisfied

15. Which of the following case management capabilities does your primary data system have (select all that apply):

1. I can enter the dates of each home visit

2. I can enter case notes into the system

3. I can track client progress or completed activities that are required for reporting

4. I can track referrals made and/or completed

5. I can set up reminders or “ticklers” for assessments or other activities

6. None of the above

16. If you could change one thing about your current primary data system, what would it be?

The following are questions that pertain to any additional data systems besides your primary system you work with as part of the implementation of the home visiting programs.

17. How many additional electronic data systems does your program utilize for collecting or reporting home visiting data (if your program uses only one primary system enter 0)?__________ (IF 0 go to 21)

18. Which of the following describes your programs reasons for using additional data systems (check all that apply):

    1. Our primary system does not capture all the necessary data elements

    2. Our model requires the use of an additional system

    3. We prefer some of the functions available in our additional system(s)

    4. We started using one system and it is too burdensome to transfer data

    5. Other _____________________________________________

    6. None of the above

19. Please fill in the blank in the following sentence: Utilizing additional system(s) beyond our primary system most often _____________ for our program.

    1. Saves time

    2. Wastes time

    3. Doesn’t change the time spent

20. Does your program routinely enter some of the same data into multiple systems (e.g. double data entry)?

    1. Yes, we enter some of the same data into multiple systems

    2. No, we don’t enter the same data into multiple systems

    3. Not sure

The following questions are addressing your overall experience with data systems used as part of the home visiting program.

21. Do you collect any additional data that are not reported to your model or ACF? (Examples may be family use of other tribal services, families satisfaction with their services, rigorous evaluation data)

1. No

2. Yes

22. If yes, please give some examples of what that data is and how it’s used:

23. Is your program in the process of pursuing any new data systems that are not yet in use?

    1. Yes

    2. No

24. If yes, please describe any new data systems you are pursuing (Helpful details would include its name, purpose or functionality, predicted costs,):

25. Approximately how much money is your home visiting program spending annually on data system(s): ___________/year (Include what is spent to maintain the use of the system and any vendor costs related to training, reporting, or system changes. No need to include the labor hours of home visitors to enter data).

26. I have found data systems to make the management of services easier.

1. Strongly agree

2. Agree

3. Disagree

4. Strongly disagree

Interest in a Federally Supported Data System: ACF is considering the development of an optional data system that grantees can use to enter their local data. In answering, the next questions please provide your thoughts at this time.

27. If ACF were to develop a grantee data system, how interested would you be in using this system:

1. Very Interested  Go to 29

2. Somewhat interested  Go to 29

3. Somewhat uninterested  GO TO 28

4. Not very interested  GO TO 28

28. Please rank the top three reasons for why you are not more interested:

___ My current data system meets all my needs

___ A federally developed data system would be of concern due to potential conflicts with

existing policies.

___ Concerns over the potential difficulty in using such a system.

___ Cost concerns over supporting such a data system.

___ Concerns over data security.

___ Concerns about data ownership.

___ At this time, I do not have enough information.

___ Other ___________________________________________

29. If you were to choose to “opt in” to a federally developed data system, what factors would most influence that decision (please rank your top 3):

___ If there was a budget savings/cost benefit for the program

___ If the system reduced the need for duplicate data entry

___ If the system made reporting easier

___ If the system came with more hands-on technical assistance

___ If the system had an easier interface

___ If the system improved our ability to manage cases

___ If the system had improved data security

___ If the system had the ability to link data across programs

___ If the system provided flexibility in choosing what data are stored and reported

___ If the system ensured our program retains ownership of the data

___ Other factor: __________________________________________

30. If you were to choose to “opt out” of a federally developed data system, what factors would most influence that decision (please rank your top 3):

___ If the system was too costly for our program

___ If data were housed off-site

___ If the system had inflexible or canned reporting

___ We are happy with our current system

___ The time we have put into developing our current system

___ The contracts already in place with our current MIS vendor

___ If the system didn’t align with the expectations of our model

___ If the system did not reduce data entry or reporting burden

___ If the system did not allow our ownership of the data at a level we are comfortable with

___ If the system was not compatible with our current system

___ Other factor:__________________________________________

31. If a system were developed, Rank your top five (5) functionalities based on level of importance from most important (1) to fifth most important (5).

___ The ability to enter client demographic information

___ The ability to track services, monitor referrals, contact notes, enter service plans, and other

case management functions.

___ The ability for supervisors to electronically assign cases to home visitors

___ The ability to connect to existing systems (Data bridges)

___ The ability to customize data collection (i.e. input of forms or assessment tools)

___ The ability to scan and attach documents

___ The ability to summarize data with dashboarding/data visualization features

___ The ability to create custom reports

___ The ability to set reminders/ticklers

___ The ability to conduct audio assisted surveying (i.e. Audio Computer Assisted Survey Instruments)

___ The ability to auto-calculate answers on forms

___ The ability to use tablet-based data collection

___ The ability to easily upload aggregate data into a potential ACF reporting system

___Other ___________________

Follow up activities

32. Would you be interested in having your team participate in any additional information gathering efforts (could include email, conference calls, or virtual meetings)?

    1. Yes

    2. No

    3. Not sure at this time

33. Please provide any additional thoughts you would like to share with us as we gather information about the desired components of a potential home visiting data system.

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