Evening Check-ins: how to use HMIS for a smooth shelter check-in process
Author: Reid Lemker | Date Created: 05/06/2025 | Date Updated: 05/28/2025
Overview
Night-by-night shelters must check-in guests with reservations each night to make sure your shelter's capacity is accurate and your guests' shelter visits are documented in HMIS. This helps avoid over-reserving beds and situations where a shelter guest is turned away due to capacity.
The instructions below are recommended procedures informed by shelters in our community.
If your night-by-night shelter use the Facilities workspace in HMIS to check-in shelter guests that already have an enrollment, to receive or make reservations, and to assign beds, this article is for you! If not, check out these articles on Day Shelter Drop in Center Services or this one on Quick Services!
Before check-in time: print the reservation list
Many shelters start their evening check-in by printing a reservation list from HMIS to give to the staff doing roll call.
- Make sure you are in the Facilities Workspace and select the shelter program.
- Click on Reservation Check-In to view tonight's reservations. This brings you to the Current Reservations page.
Click on the Printer icon to print in the upper right-hand corner:
- Select Display as a blank form for manual input.
Select Print!
Please Note: This is one way to print a list of current reservations, there are a few. For instance, you can also see this information from the Scheduled Check-In History report.
During check-in: Check guests in and assign beds
Please Note: An Intake/Enrollment into the shelter project must created for the client prior to check-in or reservation! If there is no matching enrollment, you will need to complete an Intake/Enrollment first! Be sure your shelter has a procedure to help shelter guests that show up without an enrollment.
When you are ready to Check-In guests with reservations and assign beds for the night, here is where you go in HMIS:
- On the Facilities workspace, make sure you have the correct Facility selected by clicking on View Facilities.
- Select the Facility you are looking for.
Select Reservation Check-In:
- Click on the reservation row for each client to check them in to the shelter. HMIS will automatically add the check-in and check-out dates for you as soon as you click the row. This is what makes sure your bed capacity reflects the number of guests checked in right now.
- Assign room & bed: If applicable, you can assign a specific Room and Bed on this screen.
- Click on Save when finished.
Tips
- When you make an enrollment in HMIS, never cancel or pause it just to skip ahead. Always complete the enrollment to ensure the client’s stay is accurately and fully documented in HMIS. Canceling an in-progress workflow can lead to missing or incomplete data in the client’s enrollment, which may impact reporting, referrals, service tracking, and future program eligibility. For more information on enrollments, check out Program Enrollment articles.
- If you need to Bar a client because of an incident, please end the enrollment and check them out on the last date they stayed in shelter. If the enrollment is open, the bar may not prevent them from getting a reservation for the next day. For more information on Bars, check out Barring a Client.
- When checking guests in that have a reservation after midnight, use the All Reservation Check-In form. This form allows you to change to the date you need to see.
Core HMIS Workflow How-to Guides:
Questions? Email the Helpdesk: MNHMIS@icalliances.org