How do I check my night-by-night shelter project's data quality?
Date Created: July 16, 2026
What this is
This article will guide you on how to use data checkers to review your project's data quality, and how to address any issues or missing data.
What you need to know
This is specifically for emergency shelters (ES) using the night-by-night workflow (NbN) in HMIS.
Follow these steps
For night-by-night shelter projects, we recommend using the following data checkers to review your data quality. For best results, run the following data checkers in the order listed.
First Stop Data Checkers - The checkers in this folder are where you should start.
- Run the Current Client Roster to confirm the right clients are enrolled in your project. If needed, you can exit clients from their enrollment within the data checker.
- Next, run the Common Data Checker to find any missing common information for your clients. This includes data in your client's HMIS profile and one-time questions, such as disabling condition, prior residence, etc.
- Next, the Assessment Data Checker will help you review additional data elements, such as health insurance, income, etc.
Other Data Checkers - These data checkers can be used in any order.
- Engagement & CLS - This checker allows you to review a client's last current living situation details and date of engagement. If needed you can add a date of engagement or a current living situation right from the data checker.
For NbN shelters, this data checker is only for projects funded with HUD ESG or MN DHS ESP grants. Current Living Situation should be record if interactions between the shelter staff and client go beyond a basic provision of shelter services. Date of Engagement, is only collected if shelter staff help a client develop a plan to address their housing situation.
- Service-Enrollment Linkage - Since night-by-night shelters use a housing bed night service to records shelter stays, it is important that those services are attached to your client's enrollment in your NbN ES project. This checker shows a list of services that are not linked to an enrollment or linked to the wrong enrollment. If needed, you can update the enrollment linked to the service from the data checker.
Tip: Choose Housing Bednight in the "Limit to Specific Service Type" filter to narrow down shelter stays without a enrollment attached.
Program Specific Data Checkers - The data checkers in this folder are for specific funding. There are currently no data checkers for grants that fund night-by-night emergency shelter projects so you can skip this folder.
Instructions for how use the data checker filters, review errors, and make corrections are found on the data checker launch page in HMIS. For a overview on how to use data checkers, read How do I use Data Checkers?