The [HUDX-225] HMIS Data Quality Report is a HUD report that reviews data quality across a number of HMIS data elements. For this reference tool, we have adapted and summarized the guidance provided in the HMIS Reporting Terminology Glossary, which includes the report programming specifications; where necessary, we have included key definitions from the HMIS Data Dictionary. For questions regarding this reference tool and the HUD Data Quality report, contact the Bitfocus Helpdesk.
You can find a downloadable PDF version of this information attached at the bottom of the article.
Key Definitions
- Missing Data: Missing data is defined to mean data where the answer is data not collected, is null or blank, or where the entire form or table record on which that field resides is completely absent.
- Latest Project Stay Only: This report should use each relevant client’s latest project stay (i.e., latest program enrollment).
Report Sections
Header
| Report Field | Description |
| Report Period |
These are the dates selected by the user in the report menu. If the program enrollment ends on a date during or after the reporting period, the report will include that client record. For example, if the report is run for the first quarter of 2017 (Jan 1 through Mar 31), and Client A has a program an exit date of Jan 2, the client will still be considered active for the reporting period and counted in this report. If Client 2 has an exit date of April 1, then Client B is also considered active during the reporting period. |
Q1 Report Validation Table
The Q1 Report Validation table provides the total unduplicated counts for clients in each category. These counts are used later in the report for calculating error rates.
| Report Field | Description |
| Total number of persons served | Count of people (all members of each household) with an active project enrollment during report period. |
| Number of adults (age 18 or over) | Count of every person 18+ years old with an active enrollment during report period. |
| Number of children (under age 18) | Count of every under 18 years old with an active enrollment during report period. |
| Number of persons with unknown age | Count of every person with missing DOB, incorrect DOB data quality field selection, or other incorrect DOB data that causes the system to be unable to calculate client age. |
| Number of leavers | Count of every person who exited the project and are no longer enrolled as of last day of reporting period. |
| Number of adult leavers | Count of every person 18+ years old who exited the project and are no longer enrolled as of last day of reporting period. |
| Number of adult and head of household leavers | Count of all adults and Heads of Households (HoH) who exited the project and are no longer enrolled as of last day of reporting period. |
| Number of stayers | Count of every person who was active in the project on last day of report date range. A stayer’s exit date is either blank or is dated after the report end date |
| Number of adult stayers | Count of every person 18+ years old who was active in the project on last day of report date range |
| Number of veterans | Count of people served during reporting period where Veteran Status = Yes |
| Number of chronically homeless persons | Count of adults, head of households and household members who meet the definition of chronic homeless based on combination of [Disabling Condition] field and fields in the Living Situation section of program enrollment screens in HMIS that indicate either more than one year of homelessness or more than four periods of homelessness in the past three years. |
| Number of youth underage 25 | Count of people age 12-24 years old active during report range where no other household member is above 24 years old |
| Number of Parenting Youth Under Age 25 with Children | Count of youth (defined above) with household members under age 18 who are designated as HoH’s child |
| Number of Adult Heads of Household | Count of HoH’s who are 18+ years old |
| Number of child and unknown-age heads of household | Count of HoH’s who are under 18 years old or whose age is unknown |
| Heads of households and adult stayers in the project more than 365 days | Count of HoH and people over 18 years old with enrollment start date over a year ago (365 days). |
Q2 Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
The Q2 Person Personally Identifiable Information table shows counts of records where the named field contains Client doesn't know or Client refused, where data is missing , or where data does not comply with specific rules. Although records can meet criteria allowing them to be counted in more than one column, they are only counted in the the column for the first match.
The % of Error Rate is calculated using the total number of persons served as the denominator (field 1 from Q1 Report Validation Table above). For example, in the screenshot, the sum of errors on the [Name] field errors equals 2 (0+1+1). The total number of persons served equals 46. 2/46 = 4.35% error rate.
Numbers in parentheses after each element (i.e. Name ( 3.1 )) correspond to HUD data standard elements.
| Report Field | Client Doesn't Know/Refused | Information Missing | Data Issues | % of Error Rate |
| Name | [Quality of Name] field contains Client doesn’t know or Client refused. | [First Name] or [Last Name] is missing . | [Quality of Name] field contains Partial, street name, or code name | % of error rate = sum of Name errors / total people served. |
| Social Security Number (SSN) | [Quality of SSN] field contains Client doesn’t know or Client refused. | [Social Security Number] is missing. |
[Quality of SSN] field contains Approximate or partial SSN reported or the SSN violates Social Security Administration rules for a valid SSN:
|
% of error rate = sum of SSN errors / total people served. |
| Date of Birth (DOB) | [Quality of DOB] field contains Client doesn't know or Client refused. | [Date of Birth] is missing. |
[Quality of DOB] field contains Approximate or partial DOB reported or where DOB is:
|
% of error rate = sum of DOB errors / total people served. |
| Race | [Race] field contains Client doesn't know or Client refused, even if a specific race is also selected. | [Race] is missing. | None | % of error rate = sum of Race errors / total people served. |
| Ethnicity | [Ethnicity] field contains Client doesn't know or Client refused. | [Ethnicity] is missing. | None | % of error rate = sum of Ethnicity errors / total people served. |
| Gender | [Gender] field contains Client doesn't know or Client refused. | [Gender] is missing. | None | % of error rate = sum of Gender errors / total people served. |
| Overall Score | Overall error rate % = the unique count of clients with PII errors / total people served. Each client is counted only once, even if there are multiple data quality issues in multiple fields in this table. | |||
Q3 Universal Data Elements
The Q3 Universal Data Elements table shows counts of records where the named field contains Client doesn't know or Client refused, where data is missing, or where data does not comply with specific rules. Unlike the Q2 table, the error counts in the Q3 table are not separated by type and are combined into one count.
The % of Error Rates are calculated using the following fields from the Q1 Report Validation Table as the denominators, depending on the error count:
- Number of Adults (Veteran Status)
- Total Number of Persons Served (Project Start Date, Relationship to Head of Household, Disabling Condition)
- Number of Adult HoH + Number of Child and Unknown Age HoH (Client Location)
Numbers in parentheses after each element (i.e. Veteran Status ( 3.7 )) correspond to HUD data standard elements.
| Report Fields | Error Count | % of Error Rate |
| Veteran Status |
Count of:
|
% of error rate = count of Veteran Status errors / number of adults. |
| Project Start Date | Count of overlapping enrollments by client in the same project, indicated by [Program Start Date] occurring before the [Program Exit Date] for an earlier project start. | % of error rate = count of Project Start Date errors / total number of persons served. |
| Relationship to HoH |
Count of enrollments where:
|
% of error rate = count of Relationship to HoH errors / total number of persons served. |
| Client Location |
Count of households where:
Note: this field is auto-populated for all records entered manually. |
% of error rate = count of Client Location errors / sum of adult HoH and child/unknown age HoH. |
| Disabling Condition |
Count of enrollments where:
|
% of error rate = count of Disabling Condition errors / total number of persons served. |
Q4 Income and Housing Data Quality
The Q4 Income and Housing Data Quality table shows counts of records where the named field contains Client doesn't know or Client refused, where data is missing, and/or where a response to whether client has income is inconsistent with income source information. The error counts in the Q4 table are not separated by error type but are combined into one count.
The % of Error Rates are calculated using the following fields from the Q1 Report Validation Table as the denominators, depending on the error count:
- Number of Leavers (Destination)
- Number of Adult HoH + Number of Child and Unknown Age HoH (Income and Sources at Start)
- HoH and adult stayers in the project more than 365 days (Income and Sources at Annual Assessment)
- Number of adult and HoH leavers (Income and Sources at Exit)
Numbers in parentheses after each element (i.e. Destination ( 3.12 )) correspond to HUD data standard elements.
| Report Fields | Error Count | % of Error Rate |
| Destination |
Count of leavers where [Destination] is Client doesn't know, Client refused, No exit interview completed, or missing. |
% of error rate = count of Destination errors / number of leavers. |
| Income and Sources at Start |
Count of number of adults and HoH where:
|
% of error rate = count of Income and Sources at Start errors / sum of adult HoH and child/unknown age HoH. |
| Income and Sources at Annual Assessment |
Count of number of adults and HoH with project stays greater than or equal to 365 days as of the end of the reporting period where:
|
% of error rate = count of Income and Sources at Annual Assessment errors / HoH and adult stayers in the project more than 365 days |
| Income and Sources at Exit |
Count of number of adults and HoH where:
|
% of error rate = count of Income and Sources at Exit errors / number of adult and HoH leavers |
|
Non-Cash Benefits at Start |
Count of number of adults and HoH where:
|
% of error rate = count of Non-Cash Benefits at Start errors / sum of adult HoH and child/unknown age HoH. |
|
Non-Cash Benefits at Annual Assessment |
Count of number of adults and HoH with project stays greater than or equal to 365 days as of the end of the reporting period where:
|
% of error rate = count of Non-Cash Benefits at Annual Assessment errors / HoH and adult stayers in the project more than 365 days |
|
Non-Cash Benefits at Exit |
Count of number of adults and HoH where:
|
% of error rate = count of Non-Cash Benefits at Exit errors / number of adult and HoH leavers |
Q5 Chronic Homeless
The Q5 Chronic Homeless table shows counts of records where data fields related to living situation data contain Client doesn't know, Client refused, or are missing values.
Count of Total Records calculates the number of adults and Heads of Household (HoH) active during reporting period in:
- Emergency Shelter (ES), Safe Haven (SH), Street Outreach
- Transitional Housing (TH)
- All types of Permanent Housing (PH)
- PH – Permanent Supportive Housing (disability required for start)
- PH – Housing Only
- PH – Housing with Services (no disability required for start)
- PH – Rapid Re-housing
Numbers in parentheses after each column element (i.e. Missing time in institution ( 3.917.2 )) correspond to HUD data standard elements.
| Report Fields | Count of Total Records | Missing Time in Institution | Missing Time in Housing | Approx Date Started DK/R/Missing | Number of Times DK/R/Missing | Number of Months DK/R/Missing | % of Records Unable to Calculate |
| ES, SH, Street Outreach | Adults and HoH |
Counts of adults and HoH where [Type of Residence] is one of the following:
And [Length of Stay in Prior Living Situation] is Client doesn't know, Client refused, or missing . |
Counts of adults and HoH where [Type of Residence] is one of the following:
And [ Length of Stay in Prior Living Situation] is Client doesn't know, Client refused, or missing. |
Counts of adults and HoH where [Type of Residence] is one of the following:
And [Approximate Date Homelessness Started] is Client doesn't know, Client refused, or missing. |
Counts of adults and HoH where [Type of Residence] is one of the following:
And [Number of times the client has been on the streets, in ES, or Safe Haven in the past three years] is Client doesn't know, Client refused, or missing. |
Counts of adults and HoH where [Type of Residence] is one of the following:
And [Total number of months homeless on the streets, in ES, or Safe Haven in the past three years] is Client doesn't know, Client refused, or missing. |
% = number of unique adults and HoH missing one or more responses in columns to left, divided by total records in first column. |
| TH | Adults and HoH | ||||||
| PH (all) | Adults and HoH | ||||||
| Total | Sum of Adults and HoH Totals |
Q6 Timelines
The Q6 Timeliness table shows how many days between when a client enters or exits a program ([project start date] and [project exit date]) and when the record of that start or exit is created in HMIS ([date created] (timestamp).
The count of the number of active clients for each of the following periods of time are calculated for both Start Records and Exit Records:
- 0 days
- 1-3 days
- 4-6 days
- 7-10 days
- 11+ days
For example, if a client’s exit date was 2 days ago and the user is exiting the client today (creating an exit record in the database), then that client’s project exit record will be counted in the 1-3 days category.
Q7 Inactive Records (Street Outreach and ES-NbN only)
The Q7 Inactive Records table reports how many street outreach and night-by-night shelter enrollments appear to be inactive (i.e. should have been exited but were not). Enrollments are considered inactive when there’s been no contact with or bed night activity for the client within 90 days.
| Report Fields | # of Records | # of Inactive Records | % of Inactive Records |
| Contact (Adults and HoH in Street Outreach or ES-NbN) | Count of adults and HoH with active enrollments in Street Outreach or Night by Night Emergency Shelters during report period. |
Count of clients with no contact recorded within 90 days of the project start date, or the previous contact date, whichever date is greater. Contact is defined as:
|
% of inactive records = count of inactive enrollments / count of adults and HoH with active enrollments in Street Outreach or Night by Night Emergency Shelters during report period. |
| Bed Night (All clients in ES-NbN) | Count of all clients active in Night by Night Emergency Shelters during report period. | Count of clients where the latest bed night service occurred more than 90 days before the end of the report period. | % of inactive records = number of inactive records / count of all clients active in Night by Night Emergency Shelters during report period. |
Footer/Parameters
| Report Field | Description |
| Programs Included in Data Set |
The report parameters include Program Type, Program Status in HMIS (active/inactive), Program(s), and Report Date Range. Program Type : Following HUD Data Standards, the following program types are available in Clarity Human Services:
|
