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3.1. How to Use Household Data Sharing (optional feature)
Household Data sharing is an optional feature in ServicePoint designed to ease the data entry burden for households by collecting common data elements where the answer is exactly the same for all members. The user will fill out the Household Data Sharing Assessment, save the common answers, and then continue with the typical workflow by going through each household member in the appropriate assessment and completing the rest of the answers that are different.
It will not be necessary to use Household Data Sharing if none of the answers are exactly the same for all the household members and when working with Single households. It may useful to adjust your intake forms to make it easier to see which data elements are the same across the household.
How to Use Household Data Sharing
Follow the HMIS workflow to complete the steps to create the Household, add the Release of Information, and enter the household into your program using Add Entry/Exit (HMIS Workflow Steps 2-5). Once inside the Entry/Exit Data screen, users will notice a section heading in the Entry Assessment area called Household Data Sharing with a button called Add Household Data (See Figure 1).
Figure 1: How to find the Household Data Sharing assessment.
Click the Add Household Data button (Red circle in Figure 1.) A popup window titled Household Data Sharing will appear. See Figure 2.
Figure 2: Household Data Sharing Assessment
- Select the household, or all of the household members for whom the majority of these elements are the same. (In most cases, the entire household will be selected.)
- Answer the Household Data Sharing assessment by answering only the elements where the answer is exactly the same for every person who is check marked. As indicated in Figure 2, skip any questions that do not pertain to your program type.
Note: In some instances, not all of the data elements will be answered. Data elements that are not answered will still show '--Select--' for the answer; these will be answered in the regular assessment after the Household Data Sharing assessment has been saved.
- Click the Save & Exit button. The Household Data Sharing window will close and return to the HUD Assessment (or your default).
Notice the common data element answers will be saved in each household member's default assessment.
Warning: Do not select some of the household members, answer some questions then change the checkmarks, and then answer other questions. That will not work; it will create layers of overlapping and conflicting data and will cause data quality issues.
From this point, proceed through the standard data entry workflow and answer the rest of the questions for each household member. Notice that the data elements answered within Household Data Sharing assessment have been saved into the full assessment.