Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
strate the effectiveness of their services to funding bodies, consumer groups, and their boards of directors
whilst also providing a tool that can be used to enhance agency performance.
'To err is human but to really foul things up
requires a computer'. -- Farmers' Almanac for
1978 'Capsules of Wisdom' in Oxford Dictionary
of Quotations (2004, p.670:70).
review of accountability and compliance require-
ments in Canada asserts that
nonprofits are swept
up in complex, time consuming and very detailed
accountability reporting systems and controls
.
Whilst meeting funders' requirements, many not
for profit agencies are unable to transform the data
into a form suitable for purposes more immediately
useful to them. These purposes encompass grant
proposal development, program evaluation, fis-
cal monitoring, project planning, and enhancing
their understanding of social problems as well as
assisting with day to day management issues. Few
organizations employ specialist staff to advise on
using and analyzing existing data. Instead of hiring
skilled staff to perform these tasks in house, they
are likely to use external agencies and consultants
at great expense. In this situation, the not-for-
profits are at the mercy of the funders' demands
and perceptions and the consultant's model of good
evaluations. The clear view from the not for profit
perspective is that they collect data required by
their funders, but are not able to utilize this data for
internal purposes because they are overstretched.
Not for profits are caught in a dilemma. On one
hand they are expected to collect data but on the
other, the demands and costs of compliance with
funder accountability requirements mean that there
is little time or in-house skill to use the data for
management and evaluation.
introDuction
Case management software programs enable
organizations to collect data describing their cli-
ent population and service provision as well as
the outcomes and effectiveness of these services.
These programs facilitate agency collection of data
about clients and the services provided to them
and may be extended to enabling communication,
scheduling, billing, clinical notes and evaluation
tools. Case management software systems may
be purchased as a propriety package or designed
in house by organizations to manage their client
service data. For the purposes of this chapter, we
will confine our comments to the Penelope Case
Management Software developed by Athena
Software, based in Kitchener, Ontario. This pack-
age was designed for health and human service
agencies and is based on traditional concepts of
case management. In this chapter we will describe
Athena's Penelope and use it to demonstrate its'
capabilities and practical applications in needs
studies, program evaluation, quasi experimental
designs demonstrating outcomes and efficacious
services.
We will focus on the practical applications of
case management software for a variety of reasons.
Studies on the not for profit sector reveal that agen-
cies collect data about clients and their programs.
This data collection process is traditionally paper
based frequently imposing an ever increasing
administrative burden with organizations com-
mitting time and substantial resources to meet the
specific needs of funders rather than those of the
organization and its clients. Eakin (2007, p.1) in a
accountability requirementS
The not for profit sector faces particular challenges
from funding bodies which are increasingly requir-
ing greater accountability. This accountability has
two components traditional financial accountabil-
ity and, increasingly, measurement of outcomes.
There are rising expectations that services will be
targeted at those most in need. These expectations
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