The numbers don’t lie, but they also don’t tell the whole story.
Imagine a cloudy day. One could say, “The sun is shining today,” and be correct. Technically. The sun is shining. But the whole story is that, while some parts of the Earth are experiencing a sunny day, where you are is covered in a thick layer of clouds. There are important details that help paint a more complete picture.
The next QDQ cycle started on 1 July. That means agencies have made sure that all data from April, May, and June has been entered into the HMIS by mid-July. You can learn more about the timing for QDQ by clicking this link and reviewing the QDQ Timeline.
When the data is in agencies can run the QDQ report and start correcting any data that needs clean up. Then, when the data looks good, agencies can submit the scores for each provider.
But the scores provide a limited view of what happened during the quarter. The scores will not reflect the fact that an agency has hired some new staff and they are still getting people set up for data entry. The scores will not show that an agency has a policy of not collecting social security numbers from minor clients. The scores will not show how the staff worked extra hard to rehouse clients when storms damaged a shelter.
The narrative section of the QDQ Submission form is there just for this purpose. Agencies are encouraged to add a few lines of information that might help explain what is happening at sites. This gives a better picture of what is happening.
The work of helping individuals and families experiencing homelessness is difficult. The QDQ report is designed to be a tool that agencies can use to make that work a little easier, and a way to help agencies tell a fuller story about the great work they do.
REMINDER:
The new way to run reports is with Business Objects rather than ART. While ART can still run the QDQ report, it could be shut down at any time and ICA cannot control that shut down. You can read more about this by clicking here or reading your System News in Community Services (the HMIS database).