Clarity Human Services: December 2023 Feature Updates

This month's updates focus on two new INVENTORY features.

Release Schedule: 

• All Training Sites: Monday, November 27, 2023

• All Production Sites: Monday, December 11, 2023

The highlights of this month’s updates are both INVENTORY features:

• Referrals to Units and Beds can now be made directly from the client-level REFERRALS tab and the PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION page.
• The Bed & Unit Management setting can now be applied on a program-by-program basis, so that some programs can use Bed/Unit Management while other programs can post openings on the Availability tab.

INVENTORY-Specific Updates

New: Direct Unit/Bed Referrals 

Overview: Before this update, the ability to select a Unit/Bed when making a referral to a program was provided only through the Community Queue and the Unit Queue. With this update, the option to associate a Unit/Bed with a referral is now also available via the client-level REFERRALS tab, as well as the PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION page within the client-level ASSESSMENTS tab or the program-level Assessments tab.

This functionality is turned off by default but can be made optional or required through the new Direct Unit/Bed Referrals setting described below.

When this function is enabled for a program, a new Unit/Bed Referral section is included in the Program Information that is displayed when a user selects a program to receive the referral.

The Unit/Bed Referral section includes the same Start Date, Eligibility Override, and Available Units/Beds fields as the Units/Beds tab. The Start Date will default to the current date but can be edited.

After the user clicks the MAKE REFERRAL button:

• The system will check for any pending occupancies for the Unit/Bed.
  • If the Unit/Bed has a pending occupancy on the selected Start Date, the referral cannot be made.
  • If the Unit/Bed has a future pending occupancy that starts after the Start Date, the referral can be made. When the future pending occupancy date arrives, the user who created the referral will receive the following notification: “[Bed Name] [Unit Name] is now occupied due to a scheduled occupancy that begins on [Date]. Please adjust the current pending referral as necessary.”
• The Referral Date on the REFER TO PROGRAM page will be the same as the Start Date and will be non-editable.
  
  

The referral history record will be displayed as follows:

• For a direct referral to a Unit:
  • Direct Referral: <unit_name>, <program_name>, <agency_name>
• For a direct referral to a Bed:
  • Direct Referral: <bed_name>, <unit_name>, <program_name>, <agency_name>

The display of the Unit/Bed Referral section is controlled by the new Direct Unit/Bed Referrals picklist that appears on the System Program Setup screen when Public Listing is set to “Public” or “Agency.”

The default setting for this picklist is “Disabled,” but System Administrators can select “Optional” or “Required” as appropriate for each program. The behavior of each option is as follows:

Disabled	The Unit/Bed Referral section will not be displayed.  Users will not be able to refer to a Unit/Bed while making a referral to a program.
Optional	The Unit/Bed Referral section will be displayed.  Users can select a Unit/Bed when referring to a program, but they are not required to. The Available Units/Beds list will not include the following: Deleted Units/Beds  Units/Beds that are occupied, Offline, or Inactive on the selected Start Date
Required	The list of programs available for referral will not include: Programs with no active or offline Beds/Units  Programs with no Units set up  Programs where all the Units that had been set up have been deleted The Unit/Bed Referral section will be displayed.  Users referring to a program must select a Unit (and Bed, if applicable).   If a user clicks MAKE REFERRAL without selecting a Unit/Bed, the Available Units/Beds field will be underlined in red. The Available Units/Beds list will not include the following: Units/Beds that are occupied, Offline, or Inactive on the selected Start Date

Required Actions:

• Add Direct Unit/Bed Referrals (unit_bed_referrals) to custom Program Setup screens if appropriate, with a display constraint so that it only appears when Public Listing is set to “Public” or “Agency.
• Set Direct Unit/Bed Referrals to “Optional” or “Required” on the Program Setup screen for each program that should allow users to make direct referrals to Beds/Units.

Updated: Program-Level Unit/Bed Management 

Overview:  This update applies to INVENTORY’s Bed & Unit Management setting, which enables the ability to refer clients to a specific Unit/Bed from the Unit Queue and the Community Queue. Enabling Bed & Unit Management disables the ability to post program openings under LIMITED AVAILABILITY on the Availability tab.

Before this update, the Bed & Unit Management function was applied at the system level through a toggle in Referral Settings, which meant that enabling Bed & Unit Management would prevent all programs in the system from posting program openings. It was not possible for some programs to allow referrals to program openings while other programs could use Bed & Unit Management. 

With this update, Bed & Unit Management can be turned ON or OFF on a program-by-program basis through a new Bed & Unit Management Program Setup Core checkbox field that has been added to the System Program Setup screen.

• When the Bed & Unit Management toggle is OFF for a program:
  • Openings can be posted to the program in the Availability tab.
  • Referrals can be sent to the program through the REASSIGN section of the Community Queue, but not to Units/Beds.
  • The Unit Queue will not display Units/Beds associated with the program.

• When the Bed & Unit Management toggle is ON for a program:
  • Openings cannot be posted to the program in the Availability tab.
  • Referrals can be made to Beds/Units associated with the program through the REASSIGN section of the Community Queue.
  • The Unit Queue will display Units/Beds associated with the program.

The Bed & Unit Management toggle in Referral Settings that previously controlled whether Bed/Unit Management was ON or OFF for the entire system has been replaced with a Bed & Unit Management picklist.

The default setting for this picklist is “Disabled,” but System Administrators can select “Optional” or “Required” as appropriate.

The behavior of each option is as follows:

Disabled	Bed & Unit Management functionality will not apply to any programs within the Referral Setting. The program-level Bed & Unit Management toggle is set to OFF and read-only. The Unit Queue tab is not visible.
Optional	The program-level Bed & Unit Management toggle can be turned ON or OFF for each program as appropriate. Additional information is provided below.
Required	Bed & Unit Management functionality applies to all programs within the Referral Setting. The program-level Bed & Unit Management toggle is set to ON and read-only.

When “Optional” is selected in the Referral Setting:

• The system displays an informational icon with the following tooltip: “When this setting is enabled, all programs within this Referral Setting will use Bed & Unit Management functionality by default. The setup can be adjusted at the program level.”
  
  
  
  
• A Default Bed & Unit Management Value toggle appears.
  • If this toggle is ON, the Bed & Unit Management toggle will be ON (but editable) for all of the programs in the Referral Setting.
  • If this toggle is OFF, the Bed & Unit Management toggle will be OFF but editable) for all the programs in the Referral Setting.

Audit Logs

• The Referral Settings Audit Log will track changes to the Bed & Unit Management picklist and to the Default Bed & Unit Management Value toggle.
• Each program’s Audit Log will track changes to the Bed & Unit Management toggle.

Required Actions: 

• Adjust the new Bed & Unit Management picklist in Referral Settings as appropriate.
• If the Bed & Unit Management picklist is set to “Optional,” Administrators and Managers with the Manage Agency - Programs permission should set the program-level Bed & Unit Management toggle as appropriate for each program.

Additional Update Not Related to INVENTORY

Updated: Security Measures

Overview: We have implemented additional measures for increased security related to the Administrative System Server Password associated with Clarity Human Services.

Required Action: None.

We Welcome Your Ideas

We encourage you to suggest improvements and new features for our products. You can create feature suggestions or vote, watch, and comment on existing suggestions at ideas.bitfocus.com. Refer to our Feature Suggestions article for additional details.  

New and Updated Help Center Content

 We’ve either updated or created the following articles in response to this Clarity Human Services update. 

 

Published: 11/20/2023