An Easy Way to Stay Ahead of Data Quality Issues
The Data Checkers in HMIS are an easy way to clean up data issues. With the Federal Reporting Season started, it's important that your data is in good shape. Make sure Data Not Collected is only used when you didn't ask the client the question.
Over the past few months ICA released new Data Checkers. Data Checkers are tools which are designed to be used for self-monitoring a program's data quality, meaning they are intended for use by the agencies doing data entry, rather than by monitoring entities like funders.
Data Checkers have their own dedicated menu within the Home workspace in ClientTrack. The steps needed to use a data checker are written within the report itself. To see them, scroll down to the Using This Report section.
We want to encourage everyone to use the Data Checkers regularly. It’s a quick, easy way to assess a project’s data quality and clean up any issues. Some of the Data Checkers are designed for specific programs, but one Data Checker everyone can use is the Common Data Checker.
The Common Data Checker helps you find missing, invalid, or incomplete values in the most common data elements in Minnesota’s HMIS. You can find a Knowledge Base article about using the Common Data Checker by clicking the following link:
Another useful Data Checker for projects requiring a Housing Move-in Date (like Rapid Re-Housing and Permanent Housing) is the Housing Move-in Date Checker. You can find it with the other Data Checkers and there is a Knowledge Base article to help you run it. Here is a link to that article:
The Federal Reporting season has begun. Addressing even basic issues like missing birth dates can be helpful. Especially pay attention to answers that say Data Not Collected.
Data Not Collected means you didn’t ask the client the question. If you asked and the client didn’t know, or chose not to answer, do not use Data Not Collected.
Any data quality clean-up going back to 1 October 2024 will help tell the story of how your agency does the important work of helping individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness.