05. Getting Help & Issue Tracking

Overview

At ICA, we understand that sometimes, you need someone to assist you with your HMIS problem. Never fear - the MN HMIS Helpdesk is here! You will also see a Help Center icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen in ClientTrack, which will pop-out to links to instructional documentation.

More About This — Further important information is found in this section.
Details — Specific details and/or step-by-step workflows will be described in this section.
Video — Any relevant videos will be posted in this section.

More About This

Each week Monday through Friday, ICA staff are available on our Helpdesk. Click here for current hours of operation. Minnesota’s HMIS Helpdesk is operated by a team of ICA system administrators. The Helpdesk is closed for holidays, and we will notify users through our newsletter and on our website in advance of these closures.

Users can contact the Helpdesk by e-mail at MNHMIS@icalliances.org, or by using the Contact Form on our website. We route your Helpdesk request to the appropriate team member and will do our best to respond within one (1) business day. Our Helpdesk system, through emails and forms, allows us to efficiently prioritize your requests and give us the ability to organize and prepare the actions needed to serve you best.

In ClientTrack, there is also a place to find links to help within the system. The Help Center pop-out menu is accessed by clicking the question mark (?) icon located at the bottom left of the screen.

Details

Contacting the MN HMIS Helpdesk

When emailing the Helpdesk, giving us the information we need can make sure we're able to help you quickly and accurately. Depending on what your question is, it might help to provide:

Client ID(s):

If there is a specific client ID you are emailing about, please include the client ID number. Or, if you have some example client IDs for an issue you are seeing, please include an ID or two for us to look into. Please note, client identifying information should not be shared via email, so please be sure to exclude any client names, social security numbers, etc. Sending screenshots can be extremely helpful, just a reminder to obscure any identifying information that may be included.

Project Number:

Many times we will need to know the project ID number to help us troubleshoot the issue. Project IDs can also give us clues to help us delve in further, such as the funding source or the CoC in which your agency's program operates.

Report Information:

Let us know the name of the report, when you ran it, and its start and end date parameters. This information will help us locate the report more quickly and ensure we are digging into the correct issue. We are also able to much more quickly troubleshoot reporting issues when a report is run as an Excel file, as opposed to a PDF.

Note: Not all of this information will be applicable every time you need to contact us. Please do not include client personally identifying information (name, SSN, DOB) in your email.

Help Center in ClientTrack

To access the Help Center pop-up window in the ClientTrack system, look for the question mark (?) icon in the bottom left corner of the screen, and click to expand:

When the question mark icon is clicked, the pop-up window will expand:

The buttons in the pop-up window will direct a user to more help and suggestions. Most help will link to this MN HMIS Knowledge Base or, if needed, contacting the MN HMIS Helpdesk.

Currently the five Request Help buttons in the pop-up will not be available for use. These options may be built-out in the future, as ICA MN staff learn more about the system. Again, contacting the MN HMIS Helpdesk is always the recommended action to take if are not finding the answer you need from our HMIS Knowledge Base.

Button Name	Action
View the Documentation	links to MN Knowledge Base
System Administration Guide	links to MN Knowledge Base
Keyboard Shortcuts	shows a list of useful hotkeys
All Request Help buttons	displays error message until user's account is set otherwise Please contact the Helpdesk for assistance.

Video

Under construction, coming soon!