NetCIL Client User Guide

If I the author were you the reader, I’d skip this introduction and head straight for the User Guide, which is considerably more useful than these paragraphs, if a bit less entertaining. This introduction contains the usual self-congratulatory remarks about how great our software is, along with the obligatory disclaimer that says, in effect, that if you screw things up it isn't our fault.

The NetCIL Client Database System was created by the staff of Engineering Data Corp. (ed2c) in Louisville, Kentucky. The application is designed to manage most of the data elements that pertain to the operation of Independent Living Centers or other similar agencies that are charged with basic case management operations. NetCIL Client is capable of automatically generating a variety of agency reports such as the RSA 704, HUD Section 8, Shelter Plus Care, California CILR, and New York State VESID, and it can interface with a variety of external data systems. NetCIL Client supports remote data collection so that information can be generated almost anywhere and then transmitted to a central repository. At present the application is in operational use by over 100 agencies throughout the United States.

Acknowledgments

The NetCIL Client system represents the culmination of over 12000 hours of development work by a number of dedicated people. The staff of ed2c is particularly grateful for the valuable assistance that professionals at a number of centers have provided. Their contributions have played a major role in making the NetCIL Client database system a valuable community asset.

This on-line documentation is designed to serve as a basic guide to the NetCIL Client Database System. In the course of its use, you will find that you need to make a number of policy decisions regarding the collection and interpretation of the data that you will store in your site-specific database. As you gain insight into the system and its role within your organization, you may develop procedures that could be of benefit to other users. The staff of ed2c welcomes your input in order to make this guide and the application more useful. Feel free to forward your comments to us anytime.

Engineering Data Corp.
Box 5636
Louisville Kentucky 40255-0636
(502) 412-4000
(888) 678-0683 (toll-free in North America)
techsupport@ed2c.com

Product Disclaimer and Licensing Statement

Most lawyers claim that Shakespeare was taken out of context when in Henry VI he said, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” But, engineers will tell you that Shakespeare was very much in context when in Hamlet he wrote, “For ’tis the sport to have the engineer hoisted with his own petard.” To prevent ourselves from being hoisted (particularly by our petards), we respectfully request that you read and acknowledge the following statements:

• When you purchase a NetCIL Client license for your agency, ed2c grants you unlimited rights to install the NetCIL Client application at your site or on NetCIL Online, regardless of the number of people who use it. However, use of this software requires at least one properly installed copy of Microsoft Access for which, as you might have guessed, Microsoft owns the copyright. “Properly Installed” means, in legalese, that you must have purchased at least one licensed copy of Microsoft Access. If you have many users, then you must also have an Access license for each of those users, or a multi-user licensing agreement with Microsoft, or the run-time version of Access, which ed2c can provide to you royalty-free. If you fail to follow these guidelines, Billy Gates may send his minions in the middle of the night to steal all of your hubcaps. Or worse yet, he may make you listen to a Steve Ballmer speech.

• ed2c retains full rights to the NetCIL Client software and database designs. The software code and databases in NetCIL Client- took us an incredibly long time to develop, and because we put so much effort into it we decided to go to the extra trouble of copyrighting it. ed2c owns the copyright to NetCIL Client, meaning that we’re the only ones who can use its source code and database designs for commercial purposes. In order to be granted a license to use NetCIL Client, you must pay a license fee to ed2c. As a licensed user, you agree to use NetCIL Client for your own internal business purposes, and you agree that you will not redistribute NetCIL Client software or databases to any other organization without the express written consent of ed2c. You also agree that any derivative applications that you develop, if they are based on NetCIL Client database designs, will be used only for your own internal business purposes and not for commercial distribution to outside parties. By agreeing to these terms, you’re helping us all stay in business for a little while longer.

• You assume all of the risk involved in the use of this software. If you suffer data loss, financial loss, hair loss, or any kind of loss as the result of using this system, well blame Murphy, not us. The good folks at ed2c will do their level best to help you with any trouble that you might run into, but by using this software you acknowledge that Murphy is out there, lurking, and that if you’re not careful, he’ll get you.

General Notes on Windows Application Interfaces

NetCIL Client, NetCIL Manager, and NetCIL IRLog are Microsoft Windows-based applications; therefore all standard features of the Windows user interface apply to the control of this software. Windows applications provide a more sophisticated data entry capability than do web page data entry forms, and they work well with standard accessibility software such as JAWS and Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Most data entry, editing, and statistical analysis functions can be accomplished through the use of input forms. Data entry fields and buttons are designed for access by either the keyboard or the mouse. All controls can be accessed by simultaneously pressing the "Alt" key and the appropriate underlined "accelerator" key. In the case of data entry fields, use of the accelerator key will also highlight the currently displayed data for that field. If a user types any character in a highlighted field, the highlighted information will be automatically deleted, and replaced by the new entry. Pressing the “F2” key toggles the highlighting of a field. Some controls may share accelerator keys; therefore it may be necessary to type the appropriate key twice in order to activate the function.

The “Enter” and “Tab” keys have the same effect on all input forms. Pressing either of these keys will move the cursor to the next input field in a form’s sequence. For hyperlink fields, the user must press the "Tab" key to move to the next field, or the hyperlink will be activated. Most dropdown lists are designed to "drop" automatically when the cursor is placed in their fields. Pressing the “F4” function key can toggle the dropdown state of a list.

For most forms with record navigators, pressing the “F5” function key will move the cursor into the record navigator window, where a specific record number can be typed. Pressing "Shift-F9" will initiate a re-query of a form's data set. For more information on the use of “Hot” keys, please refer to the NetCIL Client Hot Key List.

Once data is typed into any record in the database, it is automatically stored unless you press the “Esc” (escape) key. If you make a mistake while typing data within an individual field, simply retype the correct information while the cursor is still in that field. If you make a more serious mistake such as editing the wrong record, press “Esc.” Normally, you will be able to undo all of the changes that you have made to the record.

NetCIL Client input forms are designed to display full-screen at a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. At lower or higher resolutions, input forms will shrink or expand to utilize all of the viewable screen area. Users with vision impairment who use a screen resolution of 640x480 may find that some controls are difficult to read. In such cases, we recommend the use of the Windows screen magnifier that is integrated into the NetCIL Client application. Some monitors may not display correctly due to incompatibilities with their graphics interfaces. Selecting "Do Not Resize" on the NetCIL Client Main form may prevent display problems from occurring. As explained later in this guide, users can customize the screen and font sizes from anywhere within the NetCIL Client application by simultaneously pressing the “Alt” key and either an arrow key, the plus (+) key, or the minus (-) key.

By double-clicking any of the first few fields, most forms can be toggled between form and datasheet views. Datasheet view allows many records to be displayed at once; form view will display a single record, usually with more detail than is available in datasheet view.

NetCIL Client is equipped with a form for reporting problems or recording general comments regarding its use. Selecting the “File a Bug Report” entry from the NetCIL Client Reports form will activate the Bug Report form. If your installation is properly equipped, you can e-mail your comments directly to ed2c by clicking the form's blue hyperlink.

NetCIL Client users are divided into two main groups: “Standard” users, and “Power” users. Normally, standard users will have an input form such as the “People or “Phone Referral” form assigned to them by the system administrator. If a form is assigned, it will open automatically when the application is launched. When the form is closed, so will the application. “Power” users have access to the Main form, which acts as a control panel for database configuration, reporting, and output to external data systems.

To enhance the accessibility of the application, NetCIL Client utilizes a number of shortcut or “hot” keys. A shortcut is a combination of keys that when pressed together accomplish the same task as a mouse click. For example, by pressing F1 instead of clicking “Help”, the NetCIL Client help file will appear.

Shortcut keys are identified with an underlined letter on controls. By simultaneously pressing the ALT key plus the key that corresponds to the underlined character, your input will have the same effect as if you clicked the control with the mouse.

On the Main form you can use the left and right arrows, the tab key, and the enter key to navigate from one button to another. Once the cursor focus is set on the desired button, you can press Enter to open the form that the button controls. Alternately, you can use shortcut keys to open the form. Because of space limitations some keystroke combinations will open more than one form. For example, both the Organization and Community Goal forms can be accessed by pressing ALT + G. If the form that opens is not the one that you want, press ALT + X to close it and then press the original key combination again.

Data Collection Overview

Before you begin to enter data, you should make a few policy decisions regarding the manner in which personal records will be handled. During initial contact with an individual, every effort should be made to collect enough information so that the individual can be uniquely identified. Only you can decide what constitutes “enough information,” but a good minimum criterion is a name and a phone number. For the inevitable cases where callers wish to remain anonymous, the NetCIL Client software automatically creates an entry with a first name of “Contact” and a last name of “Anonymous”. It’s recommended that you record a note for each interaction with anonymous callers in this record. NetCIL IRLog provides you with a simple facility to do so. By following this method, proper “credit” will be given on agency reports when calculating statistics regarding activity.

The People form represents the core of the NetCIL Client application’s consumer database. All information regarding consumers, collateral contacts, intakes and referrals, and agency contacts can be entered and edited from the People form.

Often “collateral” contacts will call on behalf of a consumer. You must also decide how to handle such circumstances. Ideally, a record will be written for both the collateral contact and the consumer, and each can be classified according to contact type. Practically, direct interactions with consumers or with collateral contacts may be combined into a single record for the sake of expedience. In such cases it’s best – if possible – to record the consumer’s own name, and to reference the collateral contact in the notes field for that consumer.

Another subject for consideration is the issue of privacy. The NetCIL Client database is designed with security features that will – to a point – prevent unauthorized disclosure or alteration of consumer information. It is NOT, however, designed to thwart malicious attack, and therefore great care should be exercised when recording very sensitive information. It’s recommended that extremely sensitive information NOT be recorded in the database, but in an external document that can be physically secured. Then, in the notes field for the individual you can simply write, “see file.”

The NetCIL Client database contains a number of list tables that are used to categorize consumers and your interactions with them. These lists are designed to provide standard information for statistical reporting systems such as the Department of Labor 704. By design, these lists cannot be modified in the People form. This restriction helps to ensure that demographic information is categorized in a logical way. In many cases the system administrator can modify these lists, but care should be taken in order to ensure that the accuracy of these reporting systems is maintained.

In any event, it’s best to form a consensus with your colleagues about information policy before beginning data entry. Consistency in data entry will improve the accuracy and utility of the statistics that you will gather from your database.

When recording data, it will be helpful to consider the following definitions:

Definition of a “Consumer”

People in the NetCIL Client database are categorized by their “Contact Type”. Contact type can be set on the People form, the Parent-to-Parent Form (if enabled), or the NetCIL- IRLog application. When you first begin to interact with someone, it’s usually because they are seeking information and referral assistance; therefore when a new person is entered into the database, their contact type defaults to “Information and Referral.” When you begin to provide services to or set goals for someone, they then become a “Consumer,” and you should set their contact type accordingly. But in order to change their contact type to “Consumer”, a minimum amount of information must be provided to comply with RSA/ 704 requirements. The mandatory fields are: First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, Gender, County, Disability, Race, ILP or Waiver Info. If any of these fields are not provided, the staff will not be able to change the contact type and will be prompted with a list of missing fields. Once set, the database will never automatically change a person’s contact type. If you stop providing services to a consumer, you may wish to set the consumer’s status to “Inactive”.

Definition of “Transactions”

Every case note, work log entry, provision of service, or goal is considered by the NetCIL Client database to be a transaction. Each transaction has an associated date, which normally will be written automatically as the current date and time when a record is entered. You can always edit the dates of any of your records. In order for statistics regarding these transactions to be included in a report, the transaction dates must fall within the reporting period as described in the following sections. For the purposes of determining activity for a given reporting period, only consumer history records with a recorded service will be evaluated by NetCIL reporting software.

NetCIL Client Main Form

The Main form, which is the default form that is loaded on startup, has controls that are divided into three distinct areas: Data Entry, Database Administration, and Interaction. Buttons are organized into two distinct groups: Black text for data entry and reporting, and blue text for database controls.

Most database administration functions have now been moved to NetCIL Manager. For more information, refer to the NetCIL Manager User's Guide.

The Main form allows users to set several options - font size, screen size, logo size, system timeout, and button styles as described below:

The user can adjust the font size of button controls by clicking on the + or - icon, the screen size to take advantage of big screen monitors, or choose where they want to display the button icon by selecting an option on the Button Style drop down list. They can also decide not to display any button at all by unchecking the “Opaque” checkbox. Font sizes can also be adjusted by selecting Alt+ or Alt- and the screen size can also be adjusted by selecting Alt Up, Down, left and right arrow on your keyboard. When the screen displays is properly set and adjusted, the editing options can be saved. If a user selects "Save Options" and then exits the NetCIL Client application, the saved options will be set when the user restarts NetCIL Client.

To minimize the chance of accidentally overwriting data, most NetCIL Client forms require that a user "unlock" records by pressing the function key F3 or clicking the appropriate link. For users with a privilege level of 5 or above, selecting "User Knows Best" on the Main form will override this requirement, and allow record edits without the need to unlock them.

NetCIL Client input forms are designed to display full-screen when correctly configured as mentioned above. At lower or higher resolutions, input forms will shrink or expand to utilize all of the viewable screen area. Users with vision impairment who use a screen resolution of 640x480 may find that some controls are difficult to read. In such cases, we recommend the use of the Windows screen magnifier that is integrated into the NetCIL Client application. Some newer "Letter Box" monitors may not display correctly due to incompatibilities with their graphics interfaces. Selecting "Do Not Resize" on the NetCIL Client Main form may prevent display problems from occurring. Users using screen Readers like JAWS or Window Eyes should also check the Screen Reader checkbox in order to disable some of the functions keys that may interfere with their screen reader.

The generic logo on the main screen can be replaced with your agency logo by storing it as a file called “logo.jpg” or “logo.png” in the same folder as your file server. “.png” files are only supported for Office 2007 and 2010 installations. If you’re using NetCIL Online, ed2c customer support will normally place your logo file in the appropriate web directory for you. With the Main screen displayed, level 10 users can also select function keys F4 and F5 to make the logo appear smaller or larger. Adjust the logo size as desired, select “Save Options”, exit and restart the application. The selected logo size will be scaled for all users upon next logon as well.

By default, NetCIL Client is designed to automatically terminate if no activity is recorded for 90 minutes. Level 10 users can adjust this value by selecting the “Accessibility Features” button near the bottom right of the Main screen. The following dialog will appear:

Enter a “System Timeout” value (in minutes) as desired. If a value of 0 is chosen, the system will never time out. If the “All Users” checkbox is not selected, users who have checked the “User Knows Best” option will be exempt from the system timeout limits. Note that the Accessibility Features menu also allows all font and screen sizes to be reset to their default values.

All data in the NetCIL Client Database is stored in a Microsoft Access file server. The location and size of the file server is indicated in the lower left portion of the Main form, circled in red as shown in the graphic below. The file location is a hyperlink; clicking on this link will open a window to the directory where the file server is located.

Data Entry - The People Form

The People form is divided into three sections. The top section is used to perform record searches, the middle section contains basic demographic information, and the bottom rows of buttons allow access to transaction data and reports.

Before entering a new record, it's good practice to perform a search in order to minimize the chance of duplicate entry. There are several ways to search for records in the People form:

When function key F5 is pressed, a pop-up search form will appear:

When searching by name, a dropdown list that contains all records in the database will be displayed, along with their contact type and telephone number. Only the selected record will be returned.

When searching by keyword or query, all records that match the search request will be returned. For example, if you have associated 35 consumers with a keyword phrase called Friday Night Book Club, selecting this keyword will return all 35 records in the People form.

At the bottom left corner of the People form there is a record navigator. If many records are returned as the result of a search, you can scroll through the records by clicking on the right arrow located next to the record number until the desired record is displayed.

Other search methods in the people form allow you to search by Last Name, Social Security Number, Home Phone Number, or Work Phone Number. Several function keys are available to "jump" the cursor to the desired search field, or to unlock the currently-displayed record for editing:

F7: DBID to search by Database ID number

F9: To search by Last Name
F10: To search by Social Security Number
F11: To search by Home Phone number
F12: To search by Work Phone

Note that function key F3 is used to unlock existing records for editing. Clicking in the search fields, or the F3 Edit and F5 Search labels, has the same effect as pressing the corresponding function key.

Last Name searches can utilize the wild card character *, and are not case-sensitive. For example, a search for sm*th will return all records with last names Smith and Smythe. You can enter as many wild card characters in the search string as you wish. Sm*th* will return all Smiths, Smythes, and Smithsons. Note that the use of wild cards may result in slower search results. All other searches will only return records that match the search criteria exactly. The results of the most recent search will be displayed in red in the right-most portion of the search section.

Selecting the Show All check box in the upper right corner of the People form will display all records in the database. You can then use the record navigator to find the desired record, or you can use the built-in search and filter capabilities of Microsoft Access.

Datasheet View

Once you have checked the Show All checkbox, you may want to view your data as a spreadsheet instead of the standard NetCIL Client form view. To do so, double click on the first name of a person. You can go back and forth from one view into another by double clicking on the first name of person. If you cannot use a mouse, you can select View, Datasheet View (for MS Access 2000 to 2003). Or if you are using MS Access 2007, maximize the ribbon first, then select View, Datasheet view. Please note that the user will have the same privilege level on either view.

Importing a Contact from Outlook into the People Form

If have a contact in your Outlook address book that you would like to import into the People Form of NetCIL Client, you must first save your Contact as a V-Card in Outlook by pressing Save As and Exporting the Contact as a V-Card form (.vcf format). Remember the location where the V-Card is saved. Then, open the People form and select New. Click on the Import /Export Contact icon (see below) or press [F2] on your keyboard. A window will open and will ask you to locate the V-Card file. Navigate to where the V-Card is saved and select Open. You will then get a message saying that the V-Card was successfully imported and after you click ok, your contact will appear on the People Form of NetCIL Client.

Import/Export Contact Icon

Exporting a Contact from the People Form to Outlook

If you have already entered a contact on the People form of NetCIL Client and would like to Export it into your Outlook address book, you can do so by first pulling the record up on the screen then clicking on the Import/Export Contact icon or by pressing the [F2] key on your keyboard. A window will open and ask if you would like to open this file? Click Ok to proceed. Your Outlook address book will open with the new contact. Select Save and Close to keep this contact.

Sub-Forms

Below is the list of all sub-forms. When selected, the bottom row of buttons will open pop-up forms that allow entry of a variety of transactions that are related to the displayed record. Each of these functions is discussed in the Data Entry sections of this manual.

The Send Letter button allows you to add a person into the queue to receive a letter. When you click on the button, a dropdown list of pre-configured letters will appear. Select the appropriate letter from the list and Exit the form. This process will have added this person automatically into your letter queue when you perform your next Mailing.

The Report button will generate a detailed report which will display information previously entered in all sub-forms of the People form.

The Resume button helps generate a resume for an individual by transferring some information previously entered on the People form (Name, Address, Telephone Number and Email) and in the Employment form (Employer and date).

The Notes Report generates a report of all notes previously entered.

The Delete button will only be available to level 10 users or Database Administrators.

The New button allows you to enter a New record.

The Exit button closes the People form.

Data Entry – People - Notes Form

General Information on Notes

The Notes sub-form provides a method to record general interactions with an individual. As new records are written, the date and time of entry and the user’s ID are automatically recorded so that a transactional history can be compiled. An Initial Entry record is automatically generated when an individual’s data is first recorded. Do not delete this record, as it is used for reporting purposes. To enter a new note, press the New button and select a category for the entry from the drop-down list in the Category field. Select a category that relates to the information that you need to enter. Please note that the default category is General Case Note. The Date field can be edited as necessary. Hours spent on the interaction can be recorded in fifteen-minute intervals. If services were provided and/or your work was performed as part of a grant, specify Grant Type and Services as applicable. Contact Type is an optional field that can be used to further categorize your notes. For official state and federal reports such as New York VESID, California CILR or the federal RSA 704 reports, please note that only a note for which a service was selected will count as "served" during the period.

When the Notes form opens, it will automatically sort records in chronological order, and it will display the most recently-written note. Focus will be set to the “New” button; pressing enter, ALT-N, or clicking the “New” button will enter a new record. Once the record has been created, a timer will automatically start, and will update once per minute. This feature allows users to open a notes record when working with a consumer so that NetCIL can keep track of the amount of time spent. The timer will automatically fill the appropriate time value in the “Hours” field once eight minutes have been reached. NetCIL is designed to round all time values to the nearest fifteen minutes; therefore seven minutes will round to zero, eight minutes will round to one quarter hour, 23 minutes will round to one half hour, and so on. You can turn the timer off at any time by entering a value in the “Hours” dropdown list and then clicking out of the field or pressing enter. As long as the “Elapsed Time” value is displayed (as shown in the example below), the timer will continue to update the “Hours” field.

To edit an existing record, the user may have to first press the F3 function key if the User Knows Best check on the Main form is not checked. There will be cases where the database user will only be allowed to edit his or her own records. A user with privilege level 5 or above will be able to edit all notes. Below level 5, users will only be able to edit their own notes. Only the database administrator, the level 10 user will be able to delete any notes.

You will also note that the selection of certain categories causes additional edit fields to appear. For example, on the People form, when the Contact Type is changed from Consumer to Inactive Consumer, the notes will open automatically to the category Consumer Becomes Inactive, and an additional field appears next to the Grant Type drop-down box where you can record the reason why the individual became inactive. The following graphic illustrates such a case:

Appointment / Reminder Feature

It is also possible to set a reminder or an appointment from NetCIL Client to your Outlook Calendar. To do so, press the New button and select Appointment / Reminder from the Category drop-down list. Set the Date of your appointment/reminder and use the Hours drop-down list to set the approximate duration of the appointment. Write a brief description of your appointment/reminder in the Notes field as illustrated below:

On the appointment date, a reminder message will automatically appear when you log on to NetCIL Client. This reminder message will only appear on the date set. Just select Yes to View your appointments.

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Copy Appointment to Outlook

To copy the appointment/reminder to your Outlook Calendar, click on the V-Calendar Icon

located just above the Notes field on the right. This will open Outlook Calendar. Just Save and Exit to keep the appointment/reminder. If you set a time in the Date field and a duration in the Hour field, Outlook will transfer the reminder at the exact time that you have set. If you do not want to save this appointment/reminder in your Outlook Calendar or if you do not use Outlook, just skip this step.

Multiple Services

Often during interaction with a consumer, more than one service will be provided or work will be performed under more than one grant. The most accurate way to record such activity is to write multiple case notes – there is no limit to the number of notes that can be recorded. By writing multiple notes, the amount of effort expended for the provision of each service will be accurately recorded. All reporting in the NetCIL Client system is based upon the number of hours recorded by service or grant.

The notes field is a free-form area where you can record any comments regarding your interaction with an individual.

At your option, you can also specify the core services that are provided during each interaction. Any or all of the core services check boxes can be selected. Note that these boxes are provided for your internal reference only, and are not used for reporting.

Apply Services / Notes to Goals

The Notes form also allows you to assign provision of a service to any goal that has been previously recorded for a given Consumer. An Apply to Goal dropdown list is displayed showing all goals, even if they have been closed. The dropdown list displays the Goal Description and Goal Start Date. A Sample Services Applied to Goals query will display goals, services, hours, and dates for all records.

Datasheet View for Notes

Notes can be viewed as forms or datasheets (spreadsheet). To switch modes, select View…Datasheet View or View…Form View when the Note form is open. The view can be toggled by double-clicking the Date field. Please note that new records can only be added in the form view. Existing records can be edited in either view, as long as a user has sufficient privilege.

Preview Notes

As shown on the graphic below, there are options to Preview Notes, to Preview This Note or preview My Notes. At the bottom of the Notes screen, the From and To fields will allow you to enter a date range for your report. The notes that will appear on the report will only be the ones included in the specified period. If no dates are entered, the report will include the entire note history record. If the Preview this Note button is selected, the report will only include the note shown on your screen. The My Notes button allows you to preview only the notes that have your initials, during the selected date range.

Data Entry – People – Goals and ILP

This form allows the user to define the ILP (Independent Living Plan) and set goals for their consumers. Once you have selected ILP developed on the People form, click on Goals and ILP and press the New button to set a new goal. This will drop down the list of preset Goal Standards. Make your selection from the list (if you have some preset goals), if not, select an option from the Significant Life Area drop down list. This list is set by RSA and cannot be modified. If the goal will improve the consumer's access to either Assistive Technology, Health Care or Transportation, make your selection from the Access Category drop down list. If not applicable, this field can be left blank. Set the Goal Start Date, a Goal Target Date and an Actual End Date when the goal is completed. You may set as many goals as you wish to for anyone in your database and add any notes that pertain to the Consumer Activity, Consumer Progress, Staff Activity and the final Outcome of the goal, as shown below. Only the Significant Life Area, Access Category, Start Dates and Actual End Dates fields are currently used for federal and state reporting purposes.

The Goal form also allows you to better define the Independent Living Plan. By clicking on the ILP Checklist button, a new screen will open with a list of options that are normally required when developing an Independent Living Plan for a consumer. You may select any or all of the items. When you do so, NetCIL Client automatically writes a case note to record each element of the checklist. Once completed, you can preview or print an IL Plan report that can be signed and placed in an individual consumer’s paper file.

Reactivating an Inactive Consumer and setting a new ILP

If a consumer became inactive and reactivated at a later date, a new ILP can be set in the Notes form. Be before this can be done, the contact type must be reset to Consumer. On the People form, change the contact type back to consumer, the notes should automatically open showing the category: consumer reactivates. Still while in the notes forms, you can now set the new ILP by clicking the New button and selecting the Category: ILP Developed . New goals can now be configured in the ILP & Goals form. Please note that if you want to preview the ILP, if no date is entered in the From and To fields, the report will only display the current ILP. But the screen will alert you that there were previous ILP developed for the consumer, as seen on the graphic above in red.

Datasheet View for Consumer Goals

Goals can be viewed as forms or datasheets (spreadsheet). To switch modes, select “View…Datasheet View” or “View…Form View” when the Goal form is open. The view can be toggled by double-clicking the "Goal Start Date" field. Please note that new records can only be added in the form view. Existing records can be edited in either view, as long as a user has sufficient privilege.

Data Entry – People - Disabilities

An individual’s primary disability can be recorded on the People form. If additional disabilities need to be recorded, you can do so via the Disabilities form. Select the disability from the drop-down box, assign it a rank, and enter the date and any notes as applicable. The disability listed on the People form should be #1 on the Rank column.

If you try to change the primary disability on the People form, you will notice that the Disabilities form will automatically open and display a warning message and will list 2 disabilities ranked #1, as shown below:

To correct the problem, just re-order the disabilities and make sure that the one listed on the People form is ranked #1.

Data Entry – People - Employment

Use Employment History to enter data about a consumer’s past or present employment. Enter applicable data as desired. The number of days worked is automatically calculated based on the dates that you enter. If the employment is current, leave the end date blank, and the number of days worked will be calculated based on the system clock.

Data Entry – People - Education

The Education History button is used to record the education experience of a consumer. Select the applicable Education type from the drop-down box, the date, and any appropriate comments.

Data Entry – People - Income

The Income/Benefits History sub-form is used to enter data about a consumer’s income and benefits history. Select the type of Income/Benefits from the drop-down list, and then enter the Amount, Start Date, End Date, and Notes as applicable. This form allows you to select multiple sources of Income and Benefits. Reports that calculate income will use this information rather than data from the employment section.

Data Entry – People- Housing

Use Housing History to enter present or past housing data for a consumer or to specify a Housing Type from the drop-down box. Enter the Date, Address, City, State, and Zip as appropriate. When an address is entered on the People Form, it is automatically transferred onto the Housing History sub-form. Every time a change occurs on the People form, the old record will be kept in the Housing History but the new address will remain first as to show current address.

Data Entry - People - Assistance

The Assistance sub-form is used to enter data on equipment that is loaned by you to an individual, or to enter information about any assistance equipment that they may already possess. Select the equipment type from the Assistance Equipment drop-down box, indicate if the equipment is a loan, and in such cases enter a loan date and a return date. When the equipment is returned, enter the Returned Date. The Borrower Form button will display a Borrower’s Agreement form for the consumer to sign. The View Inventory button allows you to enter, edit, and manage your inventory. By checking the Equipment Loan box, the item will automatically be removed from your inventory until it is returned.

Data Entry – People - Mailing Lists

The NetCIL Client database administrator has the ability to create mailing lists. This sub-form allows you to associate a person with those predefined mailing lists. You can associate a person with as many mailing lists as you wish. Mailing lists provide an easy way to manage correspondence. This feature allows you to list which documentation or newsletters each consumer is receiving.

Data Entry – People - Referrals

The Referrals sub-form is directly linked to the NetCIL I&R Log application All data recorded from I&R Log will appear in the Referral sub-form. The Referrals button is used to specify any referrals that you make for an individual. Select the Service and enter the Hours, Request Date, Completion Date, Grant, Referred from Organization, Referred to Staff, and Referred to Organization as appropriate.

If you refer the person to a Staff and leave the Completion Date blank, the staff who received the referral will be alerted next time they open NetCIL Client. The message will indicate that they have Open Referrals and whether they want to View them or not. As long as the Completion Date is left blank, the Open Referrals message will continue appearing every time they logon to NetCIL Client and the referral will be counted as a Service Requested but not Received in the Service section of the RSA/704 and various state reports.

Data Entry – People - Documents

NetCIL Client gives the user the capability to link external documents to a specific person.

From the People form, click on Documents. Then click on the Add Site Documents button.

This will automatically add a sample Word document pre-configured with bookmarks. When used with NetCIL Client, this sample document will auto-fill values from your database using the following bookmarks. You can auto-fill values in your own documents by using Microsoft Word and creating bookmarks that match the bold-face values to the left of the colons below. To experiment with this sample document, place it in the “Consumer Documents” folder where your file server is located. Then, retrieve a record using the NetCIL Client “People Form”, press the “Documents” button near the bottom of the screen, and select “Add Site Documents”.

You can also add external documents (pdf files, Excel spreadsheet, Word documents) to the person file by simply clicking on the New Document button. Enter the name of the document and browsing to its location by clicking on Open. This process will link the document to the person or consumer.

Data Entry – People- Keywords

Keywords provide another way to make associations in your database. The NetCIL Client database administrator can create a set of keywords in order to classify groups; the sub-form allows you to associate any keyword with any person in your database. Press the Keywords button at the bottom of your screen, then the New button to add a keyword association. You can repeat this process as many times as you wish. When done, press Exit to return to the People form. By associating people with keywords, you will enhance your search capabilities.

Once the keyword link has been established, you can retrieve records linked to a specific keyword by selecting F-5 and selecting By Keywords: as illustrated below.

Data Entry – People - Domestic

Use the Domestic Status sub-form to enter an individual’s marital status. Select the applicable Marital Status from the drop-down box, the number of Persons in Household, the Date, and any comments as applicable.

Data Entry – People - Insurance

The Insurance History sub-form is used to enter data on the insurance status of an individual. Enter data as appropriate. To add additional information click the New button at the bottom right of the screen.

Data Entry – People - VR / DFB

The VR/DFB Status sub-form is used to record Vocational-Rehabilitation data about an individual. Enter data as appropriate. If the consumer is not a client of DR/DFB this form can be left blank.

Data Entry – People - Attendant

The Attendant Info sub-form is used to record information about an individual’s attendants or attendant needs. Enter data as appropriate. If the consumer does not have an attendant this form can be left blank.

Data Entry – People - Transport

The Transport Info sub-form is used to record information about an individual’s transportation needs or capabilities. Enter data as appropriate. Note that multiple transportation records can be written, so that changes in a consumer’s transportation capabilities can be recorded. To add additional transportation information click the New button at the bottom right of the screen.

Data Entry – People – Grants / Progs

The Grant sub-form is used to intake a consumer into a grant or program. By pressing the New button you can select a Grant or a Program from the drop-down list. Set the Intake date and a comment if you wish. Certain grants or programs have an associated Requirements Form, where you can record any required additional information. When you press the Req. Form button the associated Requirements Form will appear, or you will see a message that says, No form has been defined for this grant. Complete the form as applicable and press Exit to return to the Grant History sub-form. The Grant History sub-form allows centers to gather statistics and run reports based on specific grants or programs.

Data Entry – People- Relationship

The NetCIL Client application has the ability to associate many of its data elements with other elements in the database. The Relationship sub-form allows you select any person in your database (from the drop-down list) and associate them with the individual whose record you are editing. You can also specify their relationship in the Relationship field. This is useful if two of the consumers are related in some way such as husbands and wives or roommates.

Data Entry – People - Organization

The Organization sub-form allows you to associate a person with an organization. Every organization that has previously been entered in the Organizations form will automatically appear in the drop-down list. You can associate a person with as many organizations as you wish.

Data Entry – People - Volunteers

This sub-form is used to identify people in your database who are willing to work as volunteers. The form is designed to categorize volunteers by the types of activities that they are willing to perform as well as the times that they are available. If your organization does not have a volunteer program this form can be left blank.

Interaction - Finding volunteers

If you wish to retrieve a specific list of Volunteers based on specific criteria, NetCIL Client gives you the capability to do so. On the Main form of NetCIL Client, in the Interaction section of the screen, click on the Volunteer button and select the desired criteria by checking the appropriate checkboxes then select Toggle filter on the MS Access Ribbon, as circled in red on the graphics below.

Data Entry – People - BFS

The Blind Field Service Report can be accessed through NetCIL Manager in the report dropdown menu. This report lists the number of consumers with visual impairments that your agency serves during a given time period. These consumers are categorized by: age, gender, race/ethnicity, type of vision impairment, cause of vision impairment, duration of vision impairment, onset of impairment, education level, living arrangement, as well as non-vision related impairments. Please note that this grant requires a specific configuration of your file server. Please contact Engineering Data if you need additional configuration for the Blind Field Service grant (or Chapter II grant).

Data Entry - Work Log - General

The Work Log is used to record staff activity related to Community Services or Activities, trainings, seminars and Group Case notes.

To record staff hours, press the New button to add a new record. Then enter the date of your Work Log activity. If your Work Log entry is related to a Community Activity that has already been configured through NetCIL Manager, choose that activity from the drop-down list.

Record the number of hours you spent on the activity from the Hours drop-down list (you may want to include your travel time or administrative time in your entry). If the activity is associated with a specific grant, choose that Grant from the drop-down list.

If the activity has taken place outside your agency you can list the location in the Site drop down list along with the mileage from your agency to that location.

NetCIL Client users from California must choose an activity type from the Community Service Old drop-down menu for the Work Log Entry to be counted on the State CILR report. For more information on the California State Report, please refer to the CILR Data collection protocol.

Enter an Entry Type from the drop-down list to record a more detailed entry that best describes the type of Work Log activity.

If the Work Log activity is associated with a project or task that has already been configured through the Project Form of NetCIL Client, select it from the Project or Task drop-down menus. See the Projects section of the manual for more details.

If the activity involved the public or more than one consumer enter the number of Attendees in the that box.

You can also associate to Work Log entry with an Organization or Event that has already been entered in the NetCIL Client Organizations and Events forms .

For California only: If the Work Log entry is related to your AT services choose from the AT Targeted Outreach drop-down menu and make sure the AT box is checked.

Then enter a brief description of the activity in the Notes field. These descriptions do not have to be lengthy because they will not show up on any of your reports, they are just for your internal reference.

If you are unable to enter all your Work Log activities on the day that they occur you can change the date on each new Work Log entry to reflect the actual date that the activity occurred. These entries will then be listed in chronological order within your Work Log.

Data Entry - Work Log - Group Case Note

If your Work Log entry involved more than one consumer and you would like to post the Work Log entry directly to the consumers file, you can use the Group Case Note feature from the Work Log.

Start by entering the necessary information that best describes your entry. Enter the date of the activity, the number of hours you spent with the consumers. Choose a Grant from the drop-down menu if the activity is associated with a specific grant. Once you have finished your entry, press the Group Case Note button at the bottom of the screen.

A new window will open and your note will be automatically transferred. Select a Contact Type and a Service to associate with the activity. If you have already associated some people with a specific Keyword on the People / Keyword sub-form , enter that keyword and those consumers will automatically be listed. Or you can choose every person separately by selecting them on the People drop-down list. Once a person is selected, use the Enter key on your keyboard to move to the next line. Repeat the process for every person that you want to select.

After finishing the case note click the Post Case Note button at the bottom of the screen. A confirmation message will appear. Select OK to close the confirmation message. Every person selected will now have the note in their records. Just select Exit to return to the Work Log window.

Data Entry – Organizations

The NetCIL Client database can store information about any of the Organizations with which you normally interact. As with most NetCIL Client forms, a facility is provided to search for organizations in your database. To conduct a search, select one of the following methods:

F3: Unlock current record for editing

F5: To display a list showing all organizations in your database

F9: To search by Organization

F10: To search by City

F11: To search by a Keyword associated with an organization.

If a keyword is associated with more than one organization, all of the organizations associated with that keyword will be returned. The number of organizations will appear in the Record field at the bottom left corner of the form. By clicking on the right arrow located next to the record number, you can navigate through the list of organizations that were returned by the search.

F12: To search by phone number

To add a new organization to the database, press the New button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Enter all desired information such as Organization, Acronym, Type, Primary Contact, e-mail, and Phone. You may also associate keywords with the organization in order to enhance your search capabilities. An organization can be associated with as many Keywords as you wish. You can also enter notes to briefly describe each organization in the Notes field. Once the organization has been entered into NetCIL Client, you can Export it to your Outlook address book as a V-Card by pressing the icon or by pressing the Alt+v on your keyboard.

(Export to Outlook Icon)

A security warning window will open and ask you if you want to Open this file. Press Ok to view the V-Card.

Once the V-Card is open, you will need to press Save and Close to keep this organization in your address book.

Please note that if you do not use Microsoft Outlook, the Export feature will not work.

It is advisable that one or two people within your agency be given the responsibility of maintaining the organization list to ensure that there are no duplicate organizations listed within the database. If everyone in your agency enters organizations it is likely that several organizations will be repeated within the list and it will become difficult to accurately document your activities with each organization.

Data Entry - Community Activities

Independent Living Centers who need to submit a federal RSA/704 Report have to record hours spent working towards their Community Activities goals. Community Activities must be entered into the NetCIL Client database via the Community Activities button or through the NetCIL Manager Config menu by an agency administrator.

Community Activities are long range or overarching goals related to community wide issues that the ILC wants to achieve as a whole. These Community Activities should be created by the Executive Director or other management staff from the agency's yearly plan. Therefore, there should only be a few Community Activities created each year. The Community Activities screen should not be used as a Work Log to Record meetings or outreach activities.

To add a new Community Activity click the Community Activity button on the front screen of the NetCIL Client database. Then click the New button in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Create a title for the Community Activity that briefly describes the activity. This title will appear in the Community Activity drop-down list in the Work Log Form and will be used by staff to record their hours. For California Centers, select a Goal Type (704 old) from the drop-down list to be associated with that specific Community Activity.

Record a Start Date for the Community Activity along with a Target End Date. Once the Community Activity has been completed, enter an Actual End Date for that activity. When the Actual End Date has been entered, that Community Activity will be listed on the 704 report as completed and once the date has passed, that Activity will no longer appear as a choice Community Activity drop-down list in the Work Log Form.

Select an issue from the Issues drop down list to associate that specific Community Activity with an issue tracked by the 704 report. If the issue you are working on does not appear in the drop-down list, a database administrator can add another issue to the database table called Community Issue Codes. Choose an Activity Type that relates to the specific Community Activity you are creating. This information (Community Issue and Activity Type) will also be recorded on your annual 704 report.

When a Community Activity has been completed enter an Actual End Date and an Outcome Score into the drop down list.

For California Centers: If a specific Community Activity is related to AT services select from the AT Targeted Outreach drop down list and make sure the AT box is checked so that activity will be recorded within the AT section of the 704 report.

Enter a brief description of the Objectives and Outcomes for each Community Activity. These fields will automatically be transferred onto the Community Activity section of the federal RSA/704 Report.

Projects and Events previously configured can also be associated with each Community Activity that will appear in the corresponding drop down lists.

Entering time spent on a Community Activity

Once a Community Activity has been added to the database via the Community Activity form, it will appear on the Work Log form in the Community Activity dropdown list. Each time a staff person spends time working on a specific Community Activity those hours should be recorded in that staff person's work log. These hours will be calculated and recorded in the appropriate sections of the 704 report.

Each Community Activity must have a name in order to appear in the Work Log drop down list. Staff members must choose a Community Activity and select the number of hours they spent working on that activity within their Work Log. The total number of hours spent by each staff on each Community Activity will then be summed up automatically on the 704 Report.

Data Entry – Projects

You can search for Projects in much the same way that you search for people. To do so, utilize one of the following methods:

F9: To search by Project Name – list of projects will be displayed in the dropdown box.

F10: To search by Keywords that are associated with a project. If a keyword is associated with more than one project, all of the projects associated with that keyword will be returned by the search. You can view the number of projects returned from a search by examining the Record field at the bottom left corner of the form. By clicking on the right arrow located next to the record number, you can select the project that you wish to open.

F11: To search for projects starting on a certain date.

F12: To search for projects ending on a certain date.

To add a new project, press New and then enter a Project Name, Project Description, Start Date and End Date if applicable. By clicking on Goals or Keywords a drop-down list will appear from which you can select associations as you see fit. The following graphic illustrates the Projects form:

At the bottom of the form there are additional buttons:

The Narrative Report button will generate a Narrative Report as a Word Document that will show the Project Name, Date, and Description, with Work Log entries and Community Goals linked to it.

The Project Report button will generate a detailed report on a specific project and all information pertaining to it.

Data Entry – Projects - Tasks

The Tasks button will open a sub-form that allows you to associate tasks with a project.

To enter a task, press the New button, and enter the Task, Estimated Hours, Start Date, Target End and Actual End dates as appropriate. You can select any number of your staff members to be associated with the task. Staff members must have previously been entered as database users. You can also select any number of volunteers to be associated with a task. Volunteers must be designated via the People form.

Data Entry - Events

The Events form allows you to enter events that can then be associated with Projects and Goals. As with most forms, there is a section that allows you to search for an event.

F9: To search by Event name

F10: To search by Keyword

F11: To search for events with a specific start date

F12: To search for events with a specific end date

To enter a new event, press the New button (or ALT + N) and enter an Event Name, Time & Date, Event Type and a Description as appropriate. By clicking on Associated Goal or Associated Project a list of previously entered goals and projects will be displayed. You can associate the event with as many goals and projects as you wish. If you wish to record a work log entry to be associated with the event, press the Work Log button at the bottom of the screen.

Data Entry - Outreach

Outreach represents a special type of project or event. As such, a special form is provided to record outreach activity. If the outreach activity involves recurring events, consider the creation of a Project with the same name as the activity. By doing so, you can allocate and segregate all of the hours that you spend on the outreach activity and associate that time with one of your organization’s goals. If the activity is not a recurring event, it’s still a good idea to associate the effort expended with one of your organization’s projects.

The following graphic show the outreach form.

The Outreach form can be used to collect information about Outreach, Training and Educational Activity programs. Enter the Title of Activity, Date and Time as appropriate. You can associate any Participating Staff member and/or Organizations with the outreach event, and answer specific questions related to the activity. The Outreach form also lets you associate a Project and record the hours spent on a specific activity. By pressing the Report button you can generate a detailed report of the Outreach Activity. By pressing the Copy to Work Log button, the Work Log form will open and some of the information will be transferred automatically onto the form. You must however be careful when using the Copy to Work Log feature as it will duplicate the hours on the Work Log form. All hours recorded on the Outreach and Work Log form will be added onto the 704 report if they are linked to a specific Community Activity. .

If several staff members attend the same outreach activity only one staff person should complete the Outreach form. The person who completes the form can include all the names of the other people who attended the activity.

Data Entry – Inventory

Some Independent Living Centers maintain an inventory of the adaptive equipment that can be loaned to consumers. To create an inventory list click the Inventory button on the front screen of NetCIL Client. To add a new item to the inventory list click that New button at the bottom right-hand of the screen.

Add a description of the inventory item in the Item box. If your Independent Living Center uses some type of identification code for each item you can enter that information in the Identification (Optional) box. Enter the number of inventory items that you have in the Beginning Inventory box. If the item is associated with a specific grant that has been entered into the NetCIL Client database you can associate that item with a grant. You can also enter the date that you acquired each item in the Date Acquired box.

Once all your inventory items are entered into the database, you can run a report to monitor how many of each item you have by clicking the Quantity On Hand button at the bottom of the screen.

Interaction - Letter Form

Correspondence – An Overview

NetCIL Client application can manage correspondence with people and organizations whose address information is stored in its database. It takes full advantage of the mail merge and object-linking features that are a part of Microsoft Office. With NetCIL Client and Office you can configure correspondence in a variety of formats, target any group of people from within your database, and track the flow of information to those groups. When entering personal information into your database, select the preferred method of communication in the “Letter Format” dropdown box near the bottom of the Personal Information screen. The supported formats are audiotape, Braille, CD, letters in either standard or large print, and e-mail. The default is a standard letter. If the contact does not wish to receive correspondence, select None from the dropdown list.

Any pre-configured letter can be sent from the Personal Information (People) screen. To do so, press the Letter button near the bottom of the screen, select the appropriate letter name from the pop-up menu, and press “OK”. A copy of the letter will be queued for printing.

You can also generate an e-mail message to an individual from within the People form. If you have entered a valid address in the e-mail field, double-click the field, and if your workstation is properly configured, an e-mail message will be generated for you to edit. If you send the message, a record will be written to the individual’s history notes to indicate the time that the message was sent. If you are unable to generate an e-mail message, then your workstation mail system has not been properly configured. Contact your system administrator for further assistance.

Each letter name can have two documents associated with it. One document is designed to contain a standard-format version, and the other a large-text version. A sample of each type is included with the NetCIL Client application.

In most cases, your organization will choose to send e-mail or pre-printed correspondence to its contacts. In such cases, you need only to define a name for the correspondence in the Letters input form. You can then generate an e-mail message, or create mailing labels to place on the correspondence.

How to Send Letters and Make Labels

In order to send a new letter to a group of people, perform the following steps:

· If you only wish to generate e-mail or mailing labels, skip to step 2. Otherwise, write your letter using any OLE-compliant word processing application, such as WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. Create two versions – one with large text. You may want to begin with a copy of the sample letters, as they are formatted with the correct margins, hanging indents, and spacing to be compatible with the application’s reports. It would probably be a good idea to store your finished letters in a folder that is accessible to everyone who uses your network.

· Open the Letters form from the Main form. The Letters button is located in the Interaction section of the form. A graphic of the form is shown below:

1- Click on the New button at the bottom of the screen and enter a descriptive name for the letter in the Letter Name field.

2- If you only wish to generate mailing labels or send e-mail, skip to step 8. Otherwise, right-click the Standard Format File field. Select Insert Object…from the pop-up menu.

3- Select Create from File from the next dialog box, as shown below.

4- Make sure that the Display as Icon check box is cleared, and that the Link check box is checked. Browse to the folder where you stored the letters that you created, and select the appropriate document name.

5- Repeat steps 4 through 6 in the “Large Format File” field. If you want to print your letters on blank paper using a custom logo file, repeat steps 4 through 6 in the “Logo File” field. For best performance when including a custom logo, use a 100 dot-per-inch GIF or bitmap image, 6.5 inches wide by one inch high. You must have an OLE-compliant application on your computer that can edit your logo image type. Examples of applications that can process GIF images are Corel Draw, Microsoft Photo Editor, or Adobe Photoshop. MS Paint, an application that is supplied with Microsoft Windows, can process bitmap images. Bitmaps therefore don’t require special software for editing, but they are larger than GIFs, and they don’t support transparent backgrounds. Sample logo images of each type, formatted with the appropriate characteristics, are included with the application.

6- Once a letter has been configured as described above, it can be edited by double-clicking on the appropriate field in the Letters form. If you selected the Link option as described in step 6, any changes that are made to letter documents will automatically update all corresponding letters that are sent using the NetCIL Client application.

7- From the application Main screen, select the name of the appropriate letter from the Send Letter dropdown box.

8- If you want to send your letter to all consumers, organizations, organization personnel, or to everyone in your database, you can do so by making the appropriate selection in the Select Group dropdown box. Note that organization addresses can only be printed as mailing labels. If you need to send alternate-format correspondence to a contact within an organization, list the contact in the People form and specify the format that is desired. By doing so you can also automatically track the date and time when the correspondence was sent.

9- If you want to send your letter to every person and organization on a mailing list, select the appropriate list from the Mailing List dropdown list.

10- If you wish to target a specific group of individuals, you can create a custom query that defines the group, and then select the query name from the Query List dropdown box. A sample mass mail query is included with the application. At a minimum, the query must include the PersonID and CommFormatID fields from the People table. For more information on custom query development, refer to Microsoft Access documentation.

11- When your selection has been made, press the Add to Queue button. All people in your database who have been designated to receive a letter will be added to the letter queue. If the Queue already had People in it, a warning message will alert you and ask you to clear the Queue prior to proceeding with the mailing, as shown below:

12- If you wish, you can preview the letters and labels before printing by selecting the Preview Labels button. If you are satisfied with your labels, just print directly from the Preview. When printing labels, the format (E-Mail, Large Print, Braille…) will appear if the format is set to something other than Standard in the upper right-hand corner of each label. To suppress this option, check the Suppress Format checkbox as shown in red on the graphic below.

If you wish to include each person’s name and address on a letter that you have created, select the Letters option near the bottom of the main screen. Letters will print with each person’s name and address correctly positioned for mailing in a standard number 10 window envelope. If you choose to print labels, addresses are designed to print three-across on standard Avery number 5160 or 5260 label sheets. A third option allows you to print addresses onto 3-panel pre-folded mailers. When printed, all letters are sorted by zip code.

- If you wish to print a letter or a label for someone whose Communication Format is set to email, a warning message will appear as shown below.

Select the No button, if you wish to send a letter or create labels instead of an email.

13- After a batch of letters or labels has been printed, you’ll be asked to confirm that all letters have printed correctly. No prompt will be issued in the case of e-mail; it will be assumed that the message was sent. If any letters need to be reprinted, answer No to the prompt, preview the letters again, and reprint as required. When each batch has processed correctly, answer Yes to the prompt, and all letters from that batch will be marked as having been printed. It may be necessary to iterate through the printing process several times before the letter queue will record all mail as having been printed. At least one iteration will be required for each type of correspondence and format that is in the queue.

14- When all correspondence has been mailed, press the Record Mail or Clear Processed buttons near the bottom of the Main form. If you select Record Mail, a transaction record will be written for each person for whom a letter has been sent, indicating the name of the letter and the time that the letter was sent. If a custom query was used as the record source for the letter, the name of the query will be recorded as well. If you select Clear Processed, no transaction record will be stored. In either case, all records in the letters queue that are marked with the print flag will be purged from the queue.

15- When printing letters as labels, the requested letter format will be printed in the upper right corner of each label unless you choose to suppress it. For alternate formats such as audiotape, Braille, CDs, labels will always be generated, and will list the requested format. The labels can then be affixed to tapes, CDs, or envelopes as appropriate.

16- If you encounter any problems while creating mass mail, it’s easy to start over. Select the letter Queue button, and examine the status of all correspondence that is waiting to be processed. You can easily clear the print flag on all records by pressing F6 or selecting Clear Status. You can also completely purge the queue and start over by pressing F8 or selecting Clear Queue.

Creating a Mass E-Mail

You can create a mass e-mail with NetCIL Client by simply clicking the Email All People button. Every person in your database with a valid email address will automatically be added to the BCC line (Blind Carbon Copy) of your email. Recipients of a BCC message will see only their own e-mail address. Please note that only the records in the People table containing a valid e-mail address will appear in your mass e-mail. By using this scheme, any attachments that you wish to include with your correspondence can then be-preformatted according to the recipient’s requirements (large print or standard).

The same process can be done if you want to email all organizations in your database. Simply click the Email all Organizations button to generate your email.

Database Administration – Creating an Archive

One of the biggest problems that afflicts all databases is the accumulation of “junk” records over time. Partially-completed and expired data can make it difficult to accurately track important information as it gets lost in a mountain of old digital “debris”. The NetCIL Archive function addresses this problem by giving you a simple facility to archive old data, while also allowing you to easily search and retrieve that data whenever necessary.

To access the NetCIL archive functions, select the “Archive” button in the Database Administration section of the NetCIL Main screen. Level 5 users can open the form to perform record search and retrieval functions; level 9 users can archive data.

In the lower right corner, a date value for archiving will be displayed. Records that have no recorded data since the selected date will be retrieved when the “Create Archive List” function is invoked. The default value will be the beginning of a fiscal year at least two years prior to the current date. You can set this value to any date that you desire. Once selected, press the “Create Archive List” button. A list of records will be created, showing names, date of last activity, and current status (contact type). Active consumers will be shown first, followed by inactive consumers, and then I&R contact types. Records will be sorted alphabetically within each sub-list. Other types such as agency contacts will be ignored by the archive function.

By default, all retrieved records will appear with the “Archive” checkbox selected as shown above. You can individually select or deselect records, or you can select and deselect groups of records as shown in the “Archive Options” section near the top of the screen. For example, you may wish to only archive records for deceased consumers. To do so, create an archive list, un-check the “Archive All” archive option, then check the “Inactive-Deceased” checkbox. Only records for inactive consumers who are listed as deceased prior to the archive date will be selected.

The archiving of consumers who are listed as “active” represents a special case; normally, consumers who have no recorded activity in over a year should be deactivated manually. The process for doing so is described in the Data Entry - The People Form section. In the real word, it’s often difficult to keep up with all consumer contacts; the NetCIL Archive function helps with that problem by allowing you to deactivate consumer records for individuals with whom you have had no contact for long periods of time.

After creating an archive list and selecting the desired records (or groups of records) as described above, press the “Archive” button. A message like the one below will appear:

Being a special case, active consumer records will be modified prior to archiving as follows:

- All open goals for selected consumers will be closed and set to “Dropped”.

- A deactivation record will be written, and the reason will be set to “Other”.

For all records modified, the date (or end date) will be the date of last recorded activity. Note that this function may affect the statistics of some reports that are run for the period that includes these dates of deactivation; therefore it’s recommended to only archive data that is at least two years old.

By default, an archive file will be created with the naming convention “yyyy-mm-dd-“ and the name of your NetCIL file server. The archived data will be placed in a folder called “Archive” beneath the directory where your file server is located. For NetCIL Online installations, this directory will normally be c:\NetCIL Data\Archive on your NetCIL cloud server.

When the archive function is invoked, an archive file will be created, and then confirmation to proceed with archive will be requested:

If you enter “Yes”, selected records will be then be purged from the active database. A confirmation message will appear, and a spreadsheet report of archived records will be created. Note that NetCIL Online users don’t need to compact and repair their file servers after archive; the function occurs automatically.

Note that it’s possible to create an archive without purging any records; to do so, simply open the archive form and select “Archive” without creating an archive list. The following message will appear:

A database copy that follows the naming convention as described above will be created. The To avoid the accumulation of too much archive data, the function only allows one database copy per day to be created.

Database Administration – Retrieving Records from Archive

Retrieving archived records is a straightforward process. Like with the People form, you can search for records by last name, SSN, home phone, or work phone. If searches based on those fields are performed in the People form and no matching records are found, the option will be given to search archives as shown below:

If you select “Yes”, the Archive form will open automatically, and the appropriate search field will be filled in according to your People form search. You can of course modify the search criteria as desired. Just like with the People form, the use of wild cards when searching for last names is allowed. For example, entering “sm*” in the last name field will return all instances of “Smith”, “Smythe”, and “Smithson” that are found. Search characters are not case-sensitive.

By default, the archive function will search all archive databases. Records will be returned from the most recently-dated archive first. The archive function will continue to look back in time until records are found or until all archive files have been searched. At your option, you can select a specific file to search by changing the “Archive Options” to “Select File”, pressing the “Select File to Search” button, and then selecting the desired file from the “Locate Archive File Server” dialog box as shown below:

Once a search has been performed, matching records will be displayed:

Select or deselect records or groups of records in the same manner as described above for archiving, then select “Retrieve from Archive”. A confirmation message will appear:

When retrieved records are displayed with the People form, the Notes field will indicate that the record has been retrieved, and from which archive the record came. In the example shown below, Jane Doe was an active consumer when archived; her record has been retrieved but she is still listed as an inactive consumer:

At present, only records from the NetCIL “People” table can be archived and retrieved.

Database Administration - Replication and synchronization

Replication – An Overview

The NetCIL Client application system is designed to support remote data collection. Users who can connect laptop computers to your organization’s office network can make a replica copy of your database, disconnect from the network, collect data anywhere, and then transmit the results back to your central database.

The replication scheme that is implemented in NetCIL Client uses internal business logic that is specific to the application, not the standard replication scheme that can be implemented in Microsoft Access. There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. The main advantage of an application-specific replication scheme is that the replication logic maintains better control of data exchange, since it has better knowledge of the application’s requirements than a generic replication scheme can possess. The database sizes are considerably smaller than they would be if generic replication were used. The application’s internal logic also automatically handles the resolution of write conflicts between database copies, whereas a generic scheme cannot. The only disadvantage of the specific replication scheme is that it does not allow for structural design changes to the file server while there are unsynchronized replicas. This disadvantage should not impose any problems in an operational environment, as file server structure changes are rarely needed, and they can still be effected after data synchronization.

All replication schemes must employ a method to handle write conflicts. A conflict occurs when two or more users using two or more copies of a database make edits to the same record in more than one copy. When data is synchronized, one user’s changes must be preserved while the others are discarded. NetCIL Client uses the following rules to resolve write conflicts between database copies:

· Changes to configuration tables and organizations are only preserved in the master (main) file server. For example, disability and services lists will always be copied from the master to the replica when synchronization is performed. Replica users should not attempt to configure tables themselves, as their changes will be overwritten, and doing so may result in the recording of erroneous data.

Changes to personal information in the People table are assumed to be more current in the replica than in the master. If a replica user makes changes to a record that existed before the replica was created, those changes will be made to the master record when synchronization is performed. Any changes that were made to the same record in the master will be overwritten. As such, care should be exercised if you have outstanding replica copies of your database. Instead of editing existing personal records in the master database, create new records, and your edits will be preserved.

· If two replicas make edits to the same record in the People table, the changes in the replica that performs the most recent synchronization will be preserved. You should be careful to coordinate with your colleagues if you plan to use multiple replicas. If two replica users must edit the files of the same person, always create new records instead of editing existing records. Doing so will ensure that all information is preserved.

There is nothing in the NetCIL Client structure that prevents you from implementing the standard Microsoft Access replication scheme if you wish, but it is strongly advised that you not do so. If you implement Microsoft replication and are not very careful, you may accidentally lose important data.

Make Replica

To make a replica database, perform the following steps:

1. Make sure that your laptop or workstation is connected to your network, and that the NetCIL Client application is connected to your main file server. You can verify the connection status by examining the “File Server” message in the lower left corner of the Main screen.

2. Press the Make Replica button. A standard dialog box will appear.

3. Navigate to an folder on your laptop’s or workstation’s local disk drive. It’s probably a good idea to keep your NetCIL Client data segregated in its own folder, but it isn’t necessary. To make a new folder while the dialog box is open, press the New Folder icon in the upper part of the dialog box, as shown in red in the picture above.

4. Enter a filename and press Save. You can use any name that you wish for your replica copy, but it’s best to pick a name that will be easy to remember. It isn’t necessary to specify a file extension (such as .mdb) with your filename. If you specify the name of a file that already exists, you will be warned before the file is overwritten. If the file is a replica that has just been synchronized with the master, there is no harm in replacing it with a new copy.

5. An exact copy of your master file server will be created. When the copy operation is complete, you will be asked if you want to connect to the new replica. If you answer yes, the application will connect automatically. Once you are connected to the replica, you can disconnect from your local area and work autonomously.

Synchronization

After you have collected a significant amount of data into your replica file server, you can transmit the information to the master by performing synchronization. To do so, utilize the following procedure:

1. Make sure that your laptop or workstation is connected to your network, and that the folder where your master file server resides is connected using the same drive mapping as was done before you made the replica. If you are at a remote location, you can make your connection via dialup networking over a standard modem, or via Virtual Private Networking (VPN) through an Internet connection.

2. Press the Synchronize button. Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: http://fogbugz.ed2c.com/default.asp?pg=pgDownload&pgType=pgWikiAttachment&ixAttachment=234&sFileName=synchronize.jpg A confirmation message will appear that displays the approximate time required for synchronization, based upon the size of your file servers and the speed of your network connection. If you answer “Yes” to the prompt, synchronization will be performed automatically, and progress meters will be displayed in the status bar area of the Main screen (lower left corner).

3. When the synchronization is complete, a report will be generated in preview mode. If any errors occurred during the synchronization, they will be detailed in the report.

4. If you are connected to your network via a low-speed dialup connection, it’s probably best to continue working with your replica database after synchronization, as the creation of a new replica may take a long time. If you have a high-speed connection, it’s best to make a new replica after synchronization. In either case, keep in mind that the longer you use a replica without creating a new one, the likelier that you are to encounter errors when you synchronize.

For additional assistance with any of the topics covered in this manual, licensed users are encouraged to contact ed2c technical support:

(888) 678-0683

techsupport@ed2c.com

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