Data integrity is the overall accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data. Data integrity also refers to the safety of data in regards to regulatory compliance and security. It is maintained by a collection of processes, rules, and standards implemented during the design phase.
System Overview
Virtual Case Manager (VCM) is an integrated, web-based system developed to collect, track, measure, and manage the details about client information and their service needs. Built on a centralized database and utilizing a common information platform, the VCM consolidates client information and record-keeping into a uniform, confidential and collaborative system within your agency and throughout the network.
The backbone of the Virtual Case Manager Network is comprised of individual agencies. Agencies are the organizations engaged in client intake, record keeping, and service tracking. VCM aims to reduce intake time and duplication while streamlining client processing for these organizations. Additionally, VCM seeks to consolidate multiple forms of data communication into one organized and centralized resource for our agencies.
The core focus of every agency is the client. The Virtual Case Manager can reduce wait time for the client. The VCM can also produce hassle-free client intake within the network of providers. Using the Virtual Case Manager will reduce the number of times personal information needs to be entered. VCM agencies have free access to a health and social service directory called the ConnectYou.org directory. Custom programs and services are easily applied to the appropriate client.
Reports
Many funding sources have reporting requirements, which can differ from one organization to another. To meet that need, most reports within the VCM are customizable and can be used to aggregate & export specified data required by a particular funder.
The Combo Report gives a breakdown of individuals serviced for a given date range. The information here is broken down by various demographic values including age, race, and poverty level. From the information collected about the family, members in the family, income, expenses, employment history, and general demographics, the VCM can provide statistics and patterns on the needs in each community. This allows providers to better understand the needs today and in the future.
The Service Report tools built into the VCM provide a wide range of functionality. Each report is given a set of available filters that may be used as needed to retrieve the desired data. Once the data has been retrieved, users can sort, group, and download the report. Accumulative reporting is available for agencies looking for agency-wide statistics, information, and patterns on county or state-wide activity.
How VCM ensures data is accurate, complete, and consistent
Data should be entered in a consistent manner which adhere to specific rules. Here is an example of entering data for a specific client. Free form fields are limited to non-essential data.
All client information is recorded with the security policy consisting of three levels (this applies to clients and services):
- Private only to your agency
- Public to all registered agencies within the VCM
- Shared with collaborating agency groups that are built and controlled by your administrators
- Alerts need to be built into faulty data entry when possible.
Passwords must adhere to a set of rules, as shown in the following image:
Alerts
An alert will occur if a client being created could possibly be a duplicate of an existing client. Here is an example. A new client was being entered that had some similar data to an existing client. Before the new client profile was created, this alert was brought up:
Services
Services should be standardized when collecting data from several agencies in order to make valid comparisons for trends, specific services, etc. The VCM has the functionality to have a parent agency create common services that will be used by a group of agencies. This will add uniformity and consistency to data collection.
Audit Trails
It is important for there to be logs keeping track of when data is added, modified, or deleted and who made those changes. There are reports in the VCM that will log who created a service and provided that service within a date range. Here is an example from the Services Provided report.
The integrity of the data occurs in several ways. The Virtual Case Manager is designed for overall accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data.
- Data should be entered in a consistent manner which adhere to specific rules.
- Alerts are built into VCM to detect faulty data entry when possible.
- Passwords
- Client duplication
- Services should be standardized when collecting data from a several agencies in order to make valid comparisons for trends, specific services, etc.
- Audit Trails: It is important that there are logs to keep track of when data is added, modified, or deleted and who made those changes.
- Robust reports are available to share various types of data.