02. Batch Services

Overview

Some agencies provide Services to their clients in the form of tangible, financial, or logistical help. In ClientTrack, any service that is not a Shelter bed stay is recorded in the Services section under the Clients workspace. Services may include Day Shelter attendance, financial assistance, counseling, or meals, just to name a few.

The Batch Services function in ClientTrack allows users to more easily record the same service or set of services for large numbers of clients. It can integrate with the Scan Card function for quicker processing of clients. Batch Services are often used by Day Shelters and Supportive Service Only (SSO) providers.

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

A Service Batch is a Service, or set of Services, provided to multiple clients. Each Service provided separately should be its own batch. Services provided together can be grouped into the same batch.

For example, if all visitors to a Drop-in Shelter receive food and counseling, then the visit, meal, and counseling can all be a single batch.

Each batch is attached to an HMIS user, who is listed as the provider of services, though it generally indicates who is responsible for data entry. Batches can be re-used across multiple days.

💥NOTE: Clients can only receive services if they are enrolled in the program that provides them. If a client does not have an active Enrollment, then Batch Services will not work.

Details

Creating a Service Batch

Navigate to the Clients workspace. (It does not matter which client is currently on your screen.)
Under Enrollment and Services, select Batch Services.

On the Batch form, fill in the following fields:
1. Description: Add a name for the batch describing the services included.
2. Automatically Post Services: If this box is selected, as soon as a client is selected during data entry, the service is added to their record. Not checking this box allows the user to see which clients are being selected first.
3. Name of User Performing Services: Add the name of the HMIS user responsible for data entry of the service, which may not be the person actually performing services.
4. Default Comments: Add any information that should appear on the clients’ records along with the services.
5. Program: Select the appropriate HMIS project name.
6. Location: If there are multiple locations in a single project, select the one that applies to this batch.

Scroll down to the Service Codes section of the page. Under Service, select the magnifying glass icon.

The Find Service Provided screen will pop up. Select the appropriate Service Group for your project and Search. Then, click on the correct service code. If you do not know which service code to use, check with your supervisor.

NOTE: The default service code to track Day Shelter visits is “Day Shelter – Homeless Drop-In Centers.”

If the batch includes multiple services, repeat steps 4 and 5 until all services for the batch are assigned.
1. If a service is included multiple times in a single batch (i.e. all clients receive two meals), edit the Units field to reflect this.

Click Save to exit the page.

Adding Clients to Batch

Remember: Clients must have an active Enrollment before they can receive services. When adding clients to a batch, please be prepared for new or inactive clients to require an intake and enrollment assessment before they can be added.

On the Batch Services page, click on the Action Button (three dots) next to the chosen batch and select Add Clients to Batch.

Scroll down to the Batch and Service Information section of the page.
Confirm or change the Batch Date and the Date Service Provided. If you are entering data late, you can move this date to the past to back-date services.

Scroll back up the page. If you are using Community Cards to track services, set Type to Scan Card ID. You can begin scanning clients immediately.

If you are not using community cards, set Type to Client ID before searching. You can look up clients using their ClientTrack IDs or names, and the system will automatically search for the client, without your needing to select any other options.
Once the correct profile is selected, click Save to add the client to the batch.
1. If a client does not have an active enrollment, the system will return an error message reading “ERROR: Enrollment is a Required Field.” In this case, you will need to complete the intake assessment for your program and enroll the client before they can be added to the batch.
2. If a client is barred from your program or facility, the system will return an error message. If you have questions about the bar, review it with your supervisor.
If the batch is not set to automatically post services, click the Post Services button in the upper right of the page. This will save the service transactions to the client profiles. (If the batch is set to automatically post services, no action is needed.)

Video

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