What is the Helpdesk?

At ICA, we understand that sometimes, you just need someone to assist you with your HMIS problem. Never fear - the Helpdesk is here!

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

Contact us using the Contact Form or e-mail MNHMIS@icalliances.org. We route your Helpdesk request to the appropriate team member and will respond within 1 business day. Our 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.

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

1

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.     

2

Provider Number

Provider ID(s) Many times we will need to know the provider ID number to help us troubleshoot the issue. Provider IDs can also give us clues to help us delve in further, such as the funding source or the CoC the provider operates in. 

3

Report Information (including report name and the parameters you are using to run it)

Let us know the  name of the report and where and when you ran it. Is it an BusinessObjects report or a canned report that was run in ServicePoint? This information will help us locate the report more quickly and ensure we are digging into the correct issue. If it is a BusinessObjects report: Schedule the report to your BO inbox or instances folder. This will allow us to see the report exactly as you do. If you View the report, we are unable to see the report you have run. Schedule the report in Excel format. We are able to much more quickly troubleshoot reporting issues when a report was run in Excel as opposed to as 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.