1. Distributed Reporting A Cost-Effective Alternative to Data Warehousing Matt Simmonds, Simtech Solutions John Yazwinski, Father Bill’s & MainSpring

2. Objectives Show examples of how data can be used to drive operational decisions Discuss the role of the Distributed Reporting Model (DRM) in providing essential information Share our results to date Highlight the benefits of the DRM model Compare the costs of DRM vs Data Warehousing

3. Keys to a Successful Plan Define the need Take inventory Build a control environment Establish a course of action Cast roles and outline procedures for each Set goals & measurable outcomes Implement Revisit the plan

4. The Scientific Method and the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Hypotheses Procedures/ Experiments Data/Results Findings/ Conclusions

5. Preliminary Data (2004) – Chronic Reporting Clients that were chronic in FY04 = 397/1285 or 30.8% Clients served that were chronic on a given night = 72/146 or 49.3% Roughly half of the bed resources were being consumed by less than one-third of the clients.

6. Hypothesis (2004) If we build HousingFirst units then the number of chronically homeless in ours shelter will decline, as will our overall costs for supporting these clients.

7. BeforeAfter Procedures/Experiments (2004) – Develop HousingFirst Units and Measure Impact

8. Data/Results: Targeting Chronic Homelessness Reduces Nightly Bed Occupancy Before 2004: 146 beds per night – high 125 beds per night – average After 2007: 110 beds per night – high 85 beds per night – average

9. Source: HUD Advanced Homeless Data Users Meeting April 24, 2008 Data/Results: Increased Housing Decreases Chronic Homelessness – Closed an emergency shelter due to lack of need and took 35 total beds offline. Closed an emergency shelter due to lack of need and took 35 total beds offline. – 2+ years ahead of pace on the 10 year plan goal to build up 100-120 housing units for the chronically homeless with 52 new units – Quincy beats housing goal: City reports 20% drop in chronic homelessness (Source Patriot Ledger) Quincy beats housing goal: City reports 20% drop in chronic homelessness

10. Data/Results: Medicaid Cost Savings for Chronically Homeless Placed in Housing Source: Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance (MHSA)

11. 11 Share the Findings/Outcomes

12. Data/Results (2006-2011): Point In Time Trends Point In Time

13. Data/Results (2006-2011) Point In Time

14. Hypothesis (2011) If we take lessons learned from the HousingFirst efforts and target resources according to demonstrated need across our entire client spectrum, not just for the chronically homeless, then we will have more of an impact than the typical “one-size fits all” approach.

16. The Benefits of DRM to Agencies Stopgap for development lags amidst Federal deadlines No need for increased bills if Federal agency (ie HUD) changes standards or reporting requirements Data Forensics Rollback Reporting Adoption of common exchange formats simplifies the conversion to and from HMIS providers Report Auditing helps ensure conversions are successful Vendor “Discharge” Aggregate Reporting Capabilities Business Continuity

17. The Benefits of DRM to Vendors Stopgap for development lags No need for increased work, without increased pay, if HUD changes standards or reporting requirements Data Forensics Report Auditing with Peer Reviewed Reporting Logic and Supporting Specifications Client “Discharge” Aggregate Reporting Capabilities Support for both HUD XML 3.0 and HUD CSV 3.02 Business Continuity

18. The Benefits of DRM to Federal Agencies Stopgap for development lags Allows for business rule changes amidst fixed funding Data cleansing utilities and reports ensure accuracy Provides means for those with no or limited budgets to “play ball” Enables certification of an application vendor’s data collection and reporting logic without the need for secure data Increased adoption of endorsed data exchange formats forces competition amongst vendors. Competition spawns innovation. Innovation is critical to ending homelessness.

19. Procedure (2011): Distributed Reporting Model

20. Procedure (2011): Integrate the Data Sources Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS)** Point In Time Census Utility Daily Client Census Weather APIs Web-Based Organization Directory for PIT and HIC Google Maps API Homeless Report Generation Tool ** Any front end data collection application that can A) meet the federal data collection standards and B) is capable of providing this data on an “as needed” basis in either of the two HUD endorsed data exchange formats.

21. Procedure (2011): Monitor Data Quality

22. Procedure (2011): Cleanse the Data

23. Procedure (2011): After Auto-Exiting

24. Procedure (2011): Remove Double Entries

25. Data/Results (2011): Impact of Weather on Occupancy Rates

26. Reporting Results: Length of Stay

27. Reporting Results (2010): “Episodes” Per Client

28. Data/Results: Frequent Users vs Chronic Clients circled in red were not indicated to be chronically homeless at entry yet have likely “graduated” into chronic homelessness.

29. Data Warehouse Sample Budget

30. Data Warehouse Sample Budget (Continued)

31. Distributed Reporting Model Sample Budget

32. Additional Resources SimtechSolutions.com/AdvancedReporting hmis_data_integration@googlegroups.com HUDHRE.info

33. Contact Information Matt Simmonds Matt@SimtechSolutions.com John Yazwinski jyazwinski@FatherBillsMainspring.org

34. Questions?