Updates & Annual Assessments During Enrollment

Author: Ran Chang | Date Created: June 25th, 2024| Date Updated: May 16th, 2025

Overview

Learn when and how to record Updates and Annual Assessments for a clients with active enrollments in HMIS.

Keeping your client’s information up to date through Updates and Annual Assessments can help connect them to more services and support. Good data helps tell the story of the people and communities we serve.

Step-by-Step Video

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More About This

Complete an Update whenever your client’s information on the Universal Data Assessment changes. For most federally funded projects, an Annual Assessment is also required.

For projects that require them, Annual Assessments must be done within 30 days before or after the Head of Household’s project enrollment yearly anniversary. In HMIS, the option to complete an Annual Assessment will appear, but if you try to select it outside the allowed date range, you’ll get an error message.

Details

To begin, perform a search for your client using Find a Client functionality, or if you know their HMIS Client ID number, you can enter it in the Global Search field as well.

On the client's Dashboard, locate the Enrollments section, and find the row for the client's current enrollment in you project:

Hover over the three-dot Action Button to the left of the enrollment in need of an update, and select Update/Annual Assessment from the menu:

Scroll down to the Household section and verify the family members included on the enrollment.
1. This is a good time to double-check that the correct Housing Move-In Date is recorded for the Head of Household. Use the horizontal scroll bar to scroll all the way over to the Housing Move-In Date field. Most users will, however, select No Changes on this page.

Click Save to continue.

On the next screen, select either New During Program Enrollment/Update Assessment, or New Annual Assessment, depending on your client's situation.
1. Updates are for all situations where a client may have a change in information, including but not limited to: changes in income, non-cash benefits, health insurance, or living situation.
2. The Annual Assessment workflow has logic that ensures the date selected falls 30 days before or after enrollment anniversary of the Head of Household.

Follow the guided workflow prompts to complete the update forms as they appear, starting with the Universal Data Assessment.
Click Save & Close on the Universal Data Assessment to progress to the next form, and so on.
Utilize the Default Last... button to pull-in the client’s most recent answers, collected by any user in HMIS. However, you must still ask your client again for the most up-to-date information about their current situation.
1. For more information about the Default Last... button check out our article titled Client Intake: Guided Workflows.

After completing an Update or Annual Assessment for a Head of Household, if applicable repeat this process for each of the family members attached to the enrollment.
1. Click on the family member and select the same Update assessment type chosen for the Head of Household. Follow the guided workflow prompts to complete the update forms as they appear.
As always, the most important part of any guided workflow is hitting the Finish button at the end. Navigating away from any guided workflow before clicking on the Finish button on the final page will cause data quality issues.

Core HMIS Workflow How-to Guides:

Questions? Email the Helpdesk: MNHMIS@icalliances.org