The go-live date for Minnesota’s new HMIS software is the last week of July 2024. “Go-live” means the system is ready for you to begin using it, with your program and client data migrated over, essential custom reports built, and you trained on the baseline data entry workflow.

ICA and the HMIS Governing Board have been preparing for this transition for over a year. Since the board selected Eccovia’s ClientTrack as our new vendor in November 2023, ICA has partnered closely with Eccovia to plan this transition. If you need a refresher on how we arrived at this moment, check out the overview offered at the 2023 HMIS Annual Meeting.

With a comprehensive plan in place, construction of Minnesota’s new HMIS has begun. Like any construction project, timing and other expectations may change as the work progresses. Check this page regularly and subscribe to our newsletter to stay apprised of the latest developments. The links below will take you to different transition-related topics.

Transition Announcements | Looking Ahead | Frequently Asked Questions

The Blackout

What is the blackout?

In order to migrate the data from our current vendor to our new vendor, there will need to be a blackout period for Minnesota’s HMIS. This will allow ICA the time where the data is as up to date as possible and when no more changes can occur. Please continue to enter data up until the blackout period. This will ensure that your data transfers over to ClientTrack.  

The blackout could be as short as a few days, but it could be a week or more. Once it begins, our team and Eccovia will start the final data migration. This is a high intensity series of closely coordinated activities, including loading, testing, and preparing client, user, transactional, and project data in what becomes our new MN HMIS. We will promptly resolve issues that arise in the exported data to ensure that the data is accurately migrated to ClientTrack. 

Because the blackout cannot end until each step is completed successfully and all issues resolved, we cannot predict the exact date ClientTrack will go-live. 

To keep the MN HMIS community aware of our progress, we will share the blackout and go-live status from our website throughout that time. Some ICA staff will continue training our users, but the rest of ICA will be unavailable. 

Key dates

Now – July 17th We have one more week to develop what the system will look like on day one. We will send a special edition newsletter to our users to guide them through what to expect. 

July 18th – July 23rd Then, we will spend a week on a final round of end-to-end testing, doing our best to ensure what’s there is ready. This builds on the iterative testing and quality assurance already done. 

Tuesday, July 23rd at 11:59pm Blackout begins in Community Services. HMIS user licenses deactivated, with some ICA staff retaining read-only access.*** 

*** Adult Shelter Connect, Hennepin Family Shelter Team, Hennepin Shelter Hotline, Ramsey County Shelter Entry & Diversion Team & shelters participating in those systems will continue to use Community Services to allow continuous operation during the blackout. This data will not be migrated. There can be no additional exceptions during blackout to the above list. *** 

July 24th – Go-live - Final data migration begins. 

What to expect on day one – an improved user experience 

Users will experience the difference from their very first login. Once we announce the system is live, we will grant ClientTrack access to users who completed training and give them information about their new set up.  

When starting their first client intake in ClientTrack, users will notice as they enroll users clients in a program, they will select the grant sources that apply to that enrollment. The selection triggers the right questions and only the right questions by grant and project type automatically. This eliminates the need for our current practice of dual data entry and scrolling past questions that don’t apply to the client.   

Because of this multi-grant enrollment solution, most users will manage far fewer projects than they did in Community Services and spend less time on data entry. 

There are innumerable features we are excited for you to see, but it is most important now that you know where challenges may arise. 

What to expect on day one – the challenges & limitations 

Many development pieces are dependent on one another, so it is coming together all at once. This leaves my team limited time to test in this latest stage of development. This includes in-progress deliverables like merged projects (formerly known as providers), Coordinated Entry (CE) workflows, and custom reports. I expect there will be a few contained mistakes, or bugs. In fact, you may find a bug before we do. Despite these expected bugs, the data itself should be intact. 

A very limited set of reports will be available at go-live. Custom reports for Minnesota should be considered beta, or draft versions because of our limited time to test prior to initial release. 

Priority lists and by-name lists will be real-time, but have limited functionality at first, with only a few sort and filter options. 

Some workflows will be partial. Specifically, CE Assessors will likely see more questions than apply to their community’s Coordinated Entry assessments. 

Reporting on historical data will be temporarily affected. There will be some messiness with historical enrollment data initially for programs that had dual enrollments across multiple providers in Community Services. These projects will be merged into one, but the enrollments will not initially be merged into a single enrollment. This means it will be hard to pull accurate counts for local and state programs. We will resolve this before federal reporting season (around October) by working with Eccovia to script affected enrollment data into an accurate format. 

ClientTrack training for users

To meet the high demand, we are asking that all users first take advantage of our convenient, self-paced, online learning platform Moodle to complete the required ClientTrack user training. Keep an eye out for a News Alert from us at ICA in your inbox announcing when the training is live and available. We anticipate ClientTrack training for current HMIS users in Moodle will be made available in mid-July.

• Folx will have to complete a short quiz in Moodle as part of gaining access to ClientTrack.  

• Folx will also have to complete a training completion form in order to gain access to ClientTrack (also in Moodle). 

1. To support your online learning, we will offer a series Zoom webinar demos on a variety of data entry topics, beginning in July as well. These will be structured as demos and will not be a replacement for the online Moodle training required for all users. See the links below to register!

   • Client Track Standard Data Entry (every Tuesday starting July 16, 2:00pm-3:00pm).

   • Client Track Standard Data Entry (every Thursday starting July 18, 9:30am-10:30am).

   • Night-by-Night Shelter Reservations (every Thursday starting July 25, 3:00pm-4:00pm).

   • Coordinated Entry in ClientTrack (every Monday starting July 29, 1:00pm-2:00pm)

   • Coordinated Entry in ClientTrack (every Wednesday starting July 31, 9:30am—10:30am)
     

2. In addition, ICA will also be scheduling on-site and virtual trainings, beginning in early August, for teams who have complex or specialized workflows that go beyond the basic intake and program enrollment. A member of ICA MN staff will reach out to arrange the logistics of these trainings soon. 
   

3. Then, beginning second week of August, we will begin to add more agency-requested live virtual and in-person trainings into the mix as well. ICA staff would be happy to join your existing meetings, as able, to provide short general demonstrations of the new system. 

4. These initial trainings will not be the end all be all of trainings. We will be adding more and more content over the next several months. This includes articles, step by step guides, videos, and more. Stay tuned! 

What You Can Do Now:  

All MN HMIS users should already have a Moodle account. One thing you can do right now to prepare for the launch of ClientTrack training, is to be sure your Moodle username and password are up-to-date and working. If you've forgotten your password, please first try the "Lost Password" self-service function on the Moodle login page. If you have any issues logging in, email the MN Helpdesk so we can assist you.  

ClientTrack go-live pushed to the end of July

We are pushing out our go-live in ClientTrack to the end of July, as it has become clear we need more time to get it right. This adds approximately four weeks to the original implementation timeline. 

What does this mean about the transition work currently underway?

There is a lot in progress at once as two complex systems – our statewide MN HMIS and a highly configurable tool like ClientTrack – come together. We have identified several excellent solutions to the data entry and reporting problems we live with today, but the complexity means development and testing take time.  

What will ICA do with the additional time?  

These four weeks will enable us to:

• Thoroughly and iteratively test how the new system is developed so our users can accurately collect data for their projects;

• thoroughly test the the data being migrated. This helps us assure we start with high data fidelity; and

• prepare the community for differences in the end user experience, including more time to produce high quality training. 

Will ICA’s regular activities resume in Community Services?

No. We will not re-open user training (exceptions notwithstanding) or other activities we have already slowed or stopped.  

How does this affect you today?

For the next several weeks, you will be able to use Community Services as you always have. Please keep entering client data as your normally would.

Messages from HMIS Director Britt Heinz-Amborn

What is something to look forward to in ClientTrack?

You know how in Community Services, to see if you made a data entry mistake in a client enrollment, you need to wait a day for a “build”, run a report, download it to Excel, review the flagged client IDs, log back into Community Services, look up the necessary records, and navigate through assessments?  

In ClientTrack, the software actively helps prevent data entry issues from occurring in the first place. Missing and possibly inaccurate responses are flagged as you enter data, and in some cases you cannot move on until errors are addressed. If a data entry error does sneak through, a ClientTrack report can be run immediately to assist you in identifying issues

What Can You Be Doing to Prepare?

1. Keep entering client data!

2. Make sure your agency’s leadership knows about this change. See Britt’s transition announcement video for ideas on how to discuss the transition at your next staff meeting.

3. Plan to set aside time to learn the new software this summer.

When will the new platform be Available for Use?

The anticipated go-live date is the end of July, 2024.

Will I get training?

YES! There are many different opportunities that we will be offering in terms of training. Most users should plan to use our self-paced, self-guided online training software, Moodle. Would you like a dedicated training for your agency? Please fill out the Live Training Request Form (note that we will only be able to fulfill requests in August).   

1. Folx will have to complete a short quiz in Moodle as part of gaining access to ClientTrack.  

2. Folx will also have to complete a training completion form in order to gain access to ClientTrack (in Moodle).

3. These initial trainings will not be the end all be all of trainings. We will be adding more and more content over the next several months. This includes articles, step by step guides, videos, and more. Stay tuned! 

Will our user fees go up with the transition to a new software?

There are no changes planned to user license fees at this time. Those fees are established by the HMIS Governing Board in consideration of the overall budget. The board will work with ICA leadership to set the future cost of user licenses with the understanding that license costs are important to our community.

What happens next?

Currently, we are in the data migration & testing/building custom workflows & reports phases of the timeline. Go-live coming soon!

Who made the decision to switch vendors?

The HMIS Governing Board holds the authority to select Minnesota’s HMIS software vendor. Throughout most of 2023, ICA and the Governing Board led a community-engaged software review. This review culminated with a final vote on November 16 and was a two-pronged vote: First, they had to decide whether to switch vendors; next, they selected one of the finalists. After hearing the results of the software review from ICA, which included user and partner input throughout the process, the Governing Board selected Eccovia, Inc.

What was the process for learning more about the finalist vendors?

Once the Governing Board decided in October which vendors would be finalists, we arranged a series of conversations with both Eccovia and BitFocus, convening our local experts with theirs. We also held public demonstrations and arranged hands-on testing for ICA staff and our implementation committee (end users!). All the information gleaned from these meetings was distilled into the presentation given to the board on November 16.

Homeless Day on the Hill Flyer

Click here to view an introductory handout created for the 2024 Homeless Day on the Hill at Minnesota’s state capitol.