IRIS – Referring and tracking back Child FIRST cases
IRIS training notes

Contents

Background

Role of administrator

Set email address of intake agency

Role of intake agency

Create a new case

Refer a case

Role of the partner agency

Importing referral cases

Tracking-back referral cases

Track back a single case

Track back multiple cases

Intake agency re-imports files from partner agency

Re-importing tracked-back referral cases

Reviewing tracked-back referral cases

Running referral case reports (intake agency)

Running referral case reports (partner agency)

If you require assistance with IRIS

Background

The Integrated Reports & Information System (IRIS) is a software tool developed for organisations to use for the collection and reporting of data on funded service delivery to the Department of Health and Human Services and other Victorian State Government departments. The Family Services – Child FIRST referral process in IRIS allows central agencies (also known as ‘intake’ or ‘lead’ agencies) to subcontract cases to a group of ‘partner’agencies. The process in IRIS works like this:

  1. The intake agency enrols the client and creates a Family ServicesChild FIRST case.
  2. Intake details and any initial work are entered in the Child FIRST case.
  3. The intake agency generates a referral case for one of their partner agencies, leaving a‘shell’(copy) of the referral case behind. The referral case has the same reference codeas the intake agency’s Child FIRST case.
  4. The nominated partner agency receives and importsthereferral.The partner agency now ‘owns’ the client and referral case and enters all services they provide to the client into theirIRIS referral case.
  5. After completing all work with the client and family the referral case is closed by the partneragency and tracked-back to the intake agency.
  6. The intake agency imports the (de-identified) data from the partner agency and thus can monitor progress on the case.

Role of administrator

Set email address of intake agency

It is important that each intake agency sets their email address in IRIS. (Partner agencies do notneed to this).

  1. Select Agency Maintenance from the Agency menu.
  1. Under ‘ThisAgency’ check the name and outlet are correct then enter the email address where partner agencies should send their track back data.

Note:This email address will be encoded in electronic referrals to partner agencies so trackbackdata will automatically be directed to the correct email address.

Role of intake agency

These instructions are a guide for staff in the intake agency who are required to enter casework in IRIS and makereferrals to their partner agencies.

Create a new case

  1. After enrolling the client click the New Case button.
  2. Select ‘Family Services – Child FIRST’ and click OK.
  3. The Child FIRST screen will display (see Figure 1).Aunique case reference code is generated when a case is first opened.
  4. Complete the mandatory (yellow) fields on the case details tab, referring to the data dictionary for assistance if required.
  5. Referral date will automatically populate with today’s date but can be changed.
  6. Select the related persons tab. (The client is the primary care giver, usually the mother. All other members of the family, including children are entered as related persons.) You must record at least one related person aged between zero and sixteen who is a child, step child, foster child, grandchild or unborn child. This will change the children recorded field from no to yes.
  7. In the related persons tab click New to display the relationships window. Select the closest matching relationship from the list and click OK.
  8. Enter the person’s name, complete all mandatory fields then click Apply. If the related person’s age is unknown you can estimate. If the relationship is ‘unborn child’ enter zero (0) for age.
  9. Select the issues tab. Click new and add one or more issues by placing ticks in the appropriate check boxes. (The issues show how complex the client is).
  10. Complete as much information as you can under ‘Selected Issue Details’. It is OK to leave some mandatory fields yellow for now but they must be completed before the case can be closed.
  11. Select the services tab and enter any work done as part of the intake process. (This is not transferred to the partner agency when the case is referred).
  12. Any case notes added by the lead agency will not be transferred to the partner agency.
  13. Click OK to save and close the screen.

IRIS training notes – Child FIRST procedure1

Figure 1 Family Services Child First screen

IRIS training notes – Child FIRST procedure1

Refer a case

After creating the case the intake agency can refer it to a partneragency or to itself. This can be done by anymember of staff in the intake agency.

Highlight the case with the cursor and click on the ReferCase button on the right side of the screen.

Case referral to a partner agency

  1. Select Refer Case > To Other Agency. This will open the referral wizard.
  2. Click Next.
  3. IRIS will search the database for the case that is being referred.
  4. SelectDHHS as the referral sourceand tick the track progress checkbox.
  1. Place a tick in the box next to the consent acknowledgement notice. (It is not possible tomove to the next screen until this is done).
  1. Enter or select the agency code and email address of the partner agency to which the case is being referred thenclick Next.

Note: It is very important to enter the correct agency code or the partner agency will not be able to import the case.

  1. The third screen shows where the referral file will be saved. Click the Browse button to select a different folder if you prefer then click Nextto perform the export. IRIS will generate the file and store it in the chosen folder as well as attaching it to an email.
  2. When the referral is completed, the Export finished window will appear with two tabs containing confirmation on whether the data file and email message were prepared. Click Done to complete.
  3. The case created by the intake agency will be visible under the cases tab (Figure 2). The date, intake agency’s code, case reference code and case type are displayed on the top line. Below that, under ‘Referrals’ the referral shellis visible, showing the date and the code of thepartner agency to which it was referred. The <Track>flag indicates that the case has been referred and cannot be closed until it has been tracked back.

Note: More than one referral per case can be made by the intake agency. The referrals will show,in order, under the original Child FIRST case.

Case referral to self

  1. To refer a case to the intake agency click Refer Case and select ‘To Self’
  2. Choose DHHS as the source of funding, select a date of allocation for the referral case and click OK.
  3. In the client’s case screen(Figure 3) a referral shell will appear under the heading ‘Referrals’ within theChild FIRST case andbelow that the referral case will be created as a separate case with the same reference number as the Child FIRSTcase.
  4. The referral case can be opened, assigned to a member of staff in the intake agency (case owner) and work entered such as services and issues.

IRIS training notes – Child FIRST procedure1

Figure 2 Referral to partner agency

Figure 3 Referral to self

IRIS training notes – Child FIRST procedure1

Note:Entries and changes made to the referral case will automatically show in the referral shell.The referral case does not need to be exported back to the intake agency.

  1. When the referral case is closed, the referral shell will automatically show as being closed.The Family Services – Child FIRST case can then be closed manually by the intake agency.

a)Everything that is enteredor changed in the referral caseis automatically updated in thereferral shell

b)When the referral case is closed, the referral shellautomatically shows as being closed.

Role of the partner agency

The referral case is sent to the partner agency as a data file attached to an email. AnIRIS userfrom the partner agency will import the data file thus creating the client and case in their IRIS database.

After importing the referral, the client will appear in the client list and the case can be opened andassigned as usual.Partner agency staffworking on the referral case can amend case details or entries and will have the same level of access as they have to any other Family Servicescase.

Importing referral cases

A referral case will arrive as an attachment to an incoming email. An IRIS administrator or supervisor can import the case by following the steps below.

  1. Open the email and save the attachment file in the appropriate folder on the network.
  2. The body of the email contains information that identifies the client and case to be imported. Make a note of the client’s name and the case code.
  3. Select Data Importfrom the file menu to launch the import wizard.
  4. Click Next
  5. Click the button with three dots to the right of the ‘Filename’ field and navigate to the location where you saved the data file.
  6. Select the file and click Open then click Nextto display the summary statistics screen.
  7. Click Next to run the export.
  8. Click Done when the import is complete.
  9. Click the big ‘Clients’ button and search theclient list to confirm that the new client has been created. To do this: clear the filters, tick the ‘include inactive’ checkbox, enter the case code and click search.
  1. Double click on the client then click the cases tab.

    The imported case should appear showing the casecode and a <Track> flag indicating that the case has been imported from a referral and must be tracked back to the intake agency when it is complete.
  2. Select the case and click Open Case.
  3. Enter values forcase owner and outlet and click Apply. (The case owner is the member of staff to whom the case is assigned).
  1. Staff can now add services to the case whenever work is done for the client. Issues and other details can be amended if required. When the case is complete it should be closed before being tracked back to the intake agency.

Tracking-back referral cases

The partner agency can track back a referral case to the intake agency at any time but it is usualto track back when work with the client has finished and the case has been closed. Only an IRIS administrator or supervisor can perform the track back function.

There are options to track back:

  • a single referral case, or
  • multiple referral cases in one operation.

Whichever option you choose a data export file will be created for each case and attached to an email addressed to the intake agency.

Note: There is no visible change in IRIS to indicate whether or not a case has been tracked back. You may choose to add a note in the case notes to confirm that it has been tracked back.

Track back a single case

A single referral can be tracked back by goingthrough the client screen.

  1. Double click on the client then click the cases tab.
  2. Highlight the case then click Track Back to open the wizard.
  3. Click Next
  4. The location where the track-back filewill be saved is displayed. If you want to,you can select a different location by clicking Browse.
  5. Click Next again to run the export. The data file will be created and attached to an email. A message will be displayed on the final screen of the wizard to confirm this.
  6. Click Done to close the wizard and click Send on the email that IRIS has created.

Track back multiple cases

Multiple referral cases can be tracked-back to the intake agency using a separate ‘Track-back AllReferrals’ wizard. This wizard can also be used to track back a single referral case.

  1. Select Track-back All Referrals from the file menu.
  2. The Export Tracked IRIS Referrals wizard appears. Click Next button to start.
  3. All open referral cases will be selected. Tick the checkbox and if you want to track back closed referrals as well as open ones then click Next.
  4. All included referral cases will show in the referral detailsscreen.

Deselect any listed cases that you do not want to track back at this time. Cases with green tickswill be tracked back and those with red crosseswill not. The green tick is a toggle switch that will change to a red cross when clicked and turn back to a tick when clicked again.

  1. The next screen shows where the track-back files will be saved.Use the Browse button to change the location if required then click Next.
  2. IRIS will create an export file and attach it to an email addressed to the lead agency. Click Done to close the wizard and click Send on the email.

Intake agency re-imports files from partner agency

After the partner agency has tracked-back referral cases,an IRIS administrator or supervisor at the intakeagency will re-import them to update its database.

After they have been reimportedinto the database the information will be read only and de-identified. Service hours will be visible but any work conductedby the partner agency remains confidential.For example notes and additional related persons created by the partner agency are not transferred back to the lead.

Re-importing tracked-back referral cases

A tracked-back referral case will arrive from the partner agency as an attachment to an email.The procedure to import track backs is largely the same as importing referrals (please see ‘Importing referral cases’ above).

  1. Information about the referral cases being imported will show in screen 3‘Import summarystatistics.’

Make a note of the case reference numbers of the files being imported. This will help you identify the names of the clients you have imported.

  1. When the import is completed select Cases from the reportmenu to display the case reports screen.
  2. In the Reference Code field, enter one of the case reference codesyou noted down in step 1 above and click Refresh. The name of the client belonging to the case reference number will be displayed.
  3. Repeat for all the tracked-back files. The clients can now be found in the client list.

Reviewing tracked-back referral cases

When a case is tracked-back to its intake agency a de-identified entry is created in the intake agency’s database. These entries can be viewed and opened from the client list by following the steps below.

  1. Click the clients button and clear the filters
  2. Select a partner agency from the drop-down box next to Agencythen click Refresh or Search
  3. The re-imported files from that partner agency will display. Clients whose caseshave been tracked-back and imported will be de-identified so their names will not show but they can be recognised bydetails such as client code.
  4. A de-identified client can be selected, opened and the work done by the partner agency can be viewedin the client’s referral case.
  5. If you select the intake agency in the Agency field then click on Refresh you can view the same client including the referral case and the original case.
  6. If the referral case has been closed by the partner agency and tracked back, the lead agency may now close their case for that client also.

Running referral case reports (intake agency)

The intake agency can run reports on all referral cases. This includes reports on refer-to-self casesas well as the referral cases sent to (and tracked-back from) partner agencies.

  1. Select Casesfrom the report menu.
  2. In thereferrals field select ‘Referrals Only’.
  3. Under agency clickthe down arrow to display all agencies receiving and tracking back referral cases. The intake agency (Child FIRST) will show at the top of the list.

Refer-to-self cases

  1. Select the intake agency (Child FIRST) and click Refresh to display all the refer-to-self cases.
  2. Reports can now be run on these selected cases by clicking one of the reports buttons: Summary, Details Stats Basic, Stats Full or Extract.
    .

Cases referred to partner agency

  1. If a partner agency is selected in the Agency field and the Refresh button clicked,all the referral cases sent to that partner agency will show.
  2. Reports can now be run on these selected casesby clicking one of the reports buttons.

All referral cases

  1. Leave the Agency field blank thenclick Refresh to displayall referral cases. This includes refer-to-self cases and referrals to all partner agencies.
  2. Click one of the reports buttons run reports on these selected cases.

Running referral case reports (partner agency)