❗ Interim Training

Hey! Before we get started, there's something important I need to explain.

TL;DR: this course is not final and it might change.

Historically, there have been a few areas that HIFIS is not great at managing. One is supportive housing. Another is diversion. Another one is outreach. And here you are, needing to know about how to do outreach in HIFIS.

The good news is there have been several updates to HIFIS lately that are working towards making it easier for outreach workers to do their jobs in HIFIS. The bad news it that it's still a work in progress. There's a lot more room for improvement. And so we find ourselves at an in-between place, where there are people like you that are being told you have to put outreach into HIFIS, but the situation is in transition, so things probably don't work optimally for you today, and there could be a big software update tomorrow that changes things again.

So this course is intended to be a stop-gap. We know it's not perfect, but it's the best we can do at the moment. Things probably will change in the next few months or years, but for the time being, this is what we're instructing.

Want more information?

If you want to know more of the background, keep reading. If you don't really care, go ahead and hit "Complete Lesson" and skip the rest.

In October 2023, HIFIS version 4.0.60.1 was released. Before October 2023, the situation for outreach workers was even worse. What version 60 brought were a few important features:

• The ability to geo-tag services
• The ability to view a map showing where services have been provided
• The ability to track and record encampment locations

However, it's widely agreed upon that these were imperfectly implemented. As of March 1, 2024 (version 4.0.60.2.1), there are still enough issues with the encampments feature that we have deemed it currently unusable. And the ability to geo-tag services only extends to Goods & Services and Group Activities, not Case Management.

Another thing that HIFIS doesn't do well is work on phones. It theoretically works, but it's not as smooth or convenient as on a computer or tablet. You might find that it's better to do your data entry after you return to the office at the end of the day.