Hello System Administrators,
We are excited to announce that the 2020 System screens have been released to live sites as of September 17, 2019, and if your community utilizes local fields, the 2020 System screens can be copied and modified with local fields in preparation for the Data Standards release on October 1, 2019.
Important: Please do not give your users access to the 2020 screen versions until the new 2020 Data Standards go into effect on October 1, 2019.
After updating your custom versions of the 2020 System Screens, on October 1, please be sure to ‘Save Changes’ and ‘Publish’ the screens prior to updating existing Program Templates.
On October 1, please update any existing Program Templates with the applicable new [2020] System screens (or customized versions), in order to make them available to your end users.
| Please note: If Bitfocus provides your system administration services, your team is already planning for these changes and will be working closely with you to ensure a smooth roll out. |
The 2020 System screens include updates to the 2020 Enrollment/Status/Exit System screens to align with new HUD HMIS Data Standards, as well as updates such as restructuring the 2020 VA System screens to assist with workflow efficiency in data entry.
As we approach the 2020 HUD HMIS Data Standards release date of October 1, 2019, there are a few additional items of note:
- Please review the following documentation and ensure any tasks needing completion by October 1 are in progress:
- 2020 HMIS Data Standards: System Administrator Checklist
- 2020 HMIS Data Standards: Feature Updates, Training Videos, and System Screen Release Date
- 2020 HMIS Data Standards: Summary of Changes
- 2020 HMIS Data Standards: Field Adjustments
- 2020 HMIS Data Standards: Coordinated Entry Data Elements Details
- HUD Exchange 2020 HMIS Data Standards page
- When configuring the Coordinated Entry Event service items to the applicable programs, please ensure the Service Item ‘Delivery Type’ is configured as ‘Long Term’ in order for it to work properly in reporting.
- When reviewing and updating the Bed/Unit Inventory information, please note that if a Project Type is updated to a project type other than ‘Permanent Supportive Housing,’ any dedicated Chronically Homeless bed types should be closed out before updating the Project Type.
- In order to utilize Coordinated Entry Assessments (where in the Assessment Screen Setup page the ‘Coordinated Entry’ toggle is Enabled), on October 1, the ‘Assessment Location’ field values should be configured within the Field Editor (Field Data Name: assessment_location) as this field is a required field on ‘Coordinated Entry’ assessments. Your end users will need to select a value in order to save the assessment. If the Assessment Location values are not configured for the Coordinated Entry assessment on October 1, users will be unable to save the assessment screen. The [Assessment Location] field options added will then be available system-wide for any screens using the [Assessment Location] field.
Finally, if you’re interested in using Bitfocus’ 2020 HMIS Data Standards Sample Paper Forms, you can access Word and PDF versions for editing, downloading and printing on our website. The 2020 versions will be available on September 24. We hope these are helpful tools as your community updates to the new standards.
Thank you for your continued cooperation as we work to implement the 2020 HUD HMIS Data Standards.
If you have any questions about these upcoming changes, please reach out to our friendly Technical Support staff at support@bitfocus.com, and they will be happy to assist you.