A New Day
Upgrading Columbus & Franklin County’s
Homelessness Management Information
System (HMIS)
Selection Process Kick-Off Meeting
September 29, 2006
Overview
 What is an HMIS?
 Who is in charge of HMIS?
 Why are we planning to upgrade the
HMIS?
 What will be the process for the
upgrade?
 How will a new HMIS be selected?
 How can you participate in the
selection process?
What is an HMIS?
Homeless Management Information
System
 A software application designed to
record and store client-level
information on the characteristics and
service needs of homeless persons
throughout a Continuum of Care
jurisdiction.
Source: US Department of Housing and Urban Development HMIS Fact Sheet
Homeless Management Information
System
 Key Characteristics of HUD HMIS:
Local, not national database
Unduplicated, aggregated counts
Longitudinal database
Responsibility of each local Continuum of Care
Universal and program-specific data elements
required
 Privacy protections and security protocols
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Source: US Department of Housing and Urban Development HMIS Fact Sheet
Columbus & Franklin County
HMIS
 Coverage
 Emergency shelters
 Supportive housing (permanent & transitional)
 Financial assistance & housing placement
programs (Transition, Prevention, Outreach)
 Client-level data
 Demographic
 Outcome
 Program-level data
 # served
 Outcomes
Sample Data from the HMIS
 Over 900 persons received emergency
shelter each day
 Average daily number sheltered was 101
single adult women, 449 single adult men,
and 382 family members
 Average family size was 3.6 members with
the majority of families headed by women
(88%)
Who is in charge of HMIS?
Columbus & Franklin County
Continuum of Care Steering
Committee
Continuum of Care
Steering Committee
Purpose
 Annually prioritizes over $6,000,000 in
funding from U.S. Department of HUD
 Designs and coordinates HUD Continuum
of Care grant application process for
Columbus and Franklin County
Continuum of Care
Steering Committee
 Members
 Local funders, government
representatives, service providers, and
consumers
 Four seats represent local providers
 Four seats reserved for homeless service
consumers
 Members represent a variety of
organizations and interests
Continuum of Care
Steering Committee
 Members
ADAMH Board
City of Columbus
Citizens Advisory Council
Columbus City Council
Columbus Metro. Housing Authority
Columbus Coalition for the Homeless
The Columbus Foundation
Columbus Health Department
Community Connection for Ohio
Offenders
Community Shelter Board
Corporation for Supportive Housing
Franklin County Board of Commissioners
Franklin Co. Dept. Job & Family Services
Legal Aid Society of Columbus
Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing
United Way of Central Ohio
Veterans Administration
Veterans Service Commission
Continuum of Care
Steering Committee -- HMIS
 Selected the Community Shelter Board to
implement the HMIS in 1990
 Provides partial funding through the HUD
SHP program
 Annually reviews funding requests for CSB
HMIS operations
 Receives quarterly HMIS reports on
program performance
 Mandated that all HUD CoC funded projects
participate in the HMIS by not later than
2007
Community Shelter Board
Created in 1986 to respond to the growing needs of
homelessness in Franklin County.
Vision:
CSB and its partner agencies, combined with the full support of
the community, will provide meaningful solutions and
alternatives to combat --- and eventually eliminate --homelessness in our city.
Mission:
The Community Shelter Board, by coordinating community
based efforts, fostering collaboration, and funding services,
assists families and individuals in Central Ohio to resolve their
housing crisis.
Community Shelter Board -- HMIS
 Manages the HMIS for the community
 Funded by:
 HUD SHP funding
 City CDBG funding
 Private donations/CSB general funds
 Staffed by:
 Director of Data & Evaluation
 HMIS System Administrator
 Data Analyst
Community Shelter Board -- HMIS
 Assures data quality:
 Annual program review and certification
 Quarterly data quality checks
 Ongoing oversight and managements
 Provides technical assistance:
 Training for users & administrators
 Individual agency support
Community Shelter Board -- HMIS
 Prepares Reports:
 System & Program Indicator Reports
(annual & quarterly)
 Snapshot reports
 Funder reports
 Special requests
Why are we planning to upgrade
the HMIS?
Current Concerns with HMIS
 User interface is not intuitive
 Easy to create duplicate records and
other data quality problems
 Difficult for agencies & CSB to
generate reports
 Not 100% compliant with HUD
standard
 You know the rest…
Current plusses of HMIS
 Per agency survey in 2006, overall
satisfaction was higher than expected
 Automated system reports now
available
 “Devil we do know”
What will be the process for
the upgrade?
Upgrade Process & Timeline
Agency survey
Winter 2005-06
Pre-Upgrade
Summer-Fall 2006
Selection process
Fall 2006 – Spring 2007
Pre-implementation
planning
Spring 2007 – Summer 2007
Implementation,
2007 - 2008
Evaluation
TBD
includes data migration
HMIS Upgrade Key Considerations
 Meets HUD standards
 Improvement upon current HMIS
 Costs to community (agency and CSB)
 Direct (initial and ongoing system costs)
 Staff
 Resources availability
 Start-up
 Ongoing
 Approval by Continuum of Care Steering
Committee
How will a new HMIS be
selected?
HMIS Selection Process Overview
Phase 1
Establish Selection Committee
September 2006
Phase 2
October –
November 2006
Set selection criteria, vendor’s
list, and issue written RFP
Phase 3
Evaluate vendor responses,
December 2006 – conduct vendor demonstration
January 2007
Phase 4
Select vendor/product, negotiate
February – March contract funding, implementation
2007
schedule
Selection Process Roles
Selection
Committee
Decision Makers
Community Shelter Process and technical
support
Board
Workgroup
Participants
Technical
recommendations
Plante & Moran
Process and technical
support
Selection Committee
Responsibilities
 Attend meetings and participate in
decisions
 Represent interests of community
 Set selection criteria
 Participate in RFP process
 Gather user feedback on demos
 Final selection
How is the Selection Committee
formed?
 Each participating HMIS agency has
one delegate
 Key community funders (United Way,
City, County) appointed one delegate
 Citizen’s Advisory Council has two
delegates
 CSB has two delegates
 Two organizations with technical
expertise
Selection Committee Members
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Michael Smith, ADAMH
Virginia O’Keeffe, Amethyst,
Inc.
Owen Bair, CAC
Bruce Garrard, CAC
Carla Williams-Scott, City of
Columbus
Aaron Riley, CATF
Beverly Wilkes, CHN
Marcus Mattson, CRP
Barbara Poppe, CSB
Mark Russell, CSB Board
TBD, Franklin County
TBD, Gladden Community
House
Adrienne Corbett, HFF
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TBD, Huckleberry House
Matt White, HUD TA Team
Terry Bechtle, LSS –FM/FH
James Alexander, MH
Wil Spinner, NCR
TBD, Pater Noster House
Kara Hill, SA
Dick Reynolds, SE/ FOH
Lynette Cook, United Way
Jim Nagle, VOA
Kevin Wampler, YMCA
Colleen Bain Gold, YWCA
Workgroup Participants
Responsibilities
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Provide feedback on HMIS functions
Provide specifications
Attend vendor demonstrations
Score vendor
Identify additional questions for the
vendor
How is the Workgroup formed?
 Each participating HMIS agency may
send one or more participants
 Other Selection Committee members
can send participants
 CSB will provide four participants
Workgroup Participants
 Sign up today!
CSB staff role
 Provide operational support and leadership
 Manage the HMIS selection schedule and
process
 Contract with Plante & Moran
 Maintain communications with the
Continuum of Care Steering Committee
Plante-Moran’s Responsibility
 Provide preliminary vendor list
 Provide best-practice tools
 Facilitate workgroup meetings to
develop requirements
 Compile vendor responses/ apply
rating structure
 Review of vendor license and support
agreements/ recommend changes
Selection Process Outcomes
1) Better meet the needs of CSB,
partner agencies, funders and the
community for accurate and timely
reports on homelessness.
2) Increased ability to evaluate program
outcomes and analyze data trends.
3) Meet HUD’s HMIS standards
Keys to Selection Project Success
 Full community participation
 HMIS participating agencies
 Funders
 Consumers of homeless services
Keys to Selection Project Success
 Good selection criteria
 Selecting a knowledgeable Work Team
 Collecting data requirements from all sources
 Talking with other organizations about their
HMIS programs
Keys to Selection Project Success
Selecting the right vendor
 Developing the RFP
 Attend vendor demonstrations
 Scoring vendor results on feedback forms
 Reference checks and site visits as needed
Keys to Selection Project Success
 Negotiation of the contract and
funding project
 Collaborate with Selection Committee on final
choice
 Review contracts and funding options
How can you participate in
the selection process?
Shared vision
Commitment
Sign-up to be a Workgroup
Participant!