• AIRS – Alliance of Information and Referral Systems
  • AHAR – Annual Homeless Assessment Report
  • APR – Annual Performance Report
  • ATA – Agency Technical Administrator
  • CAPER – Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report
  • CES – Coordinated Entry System
  • CDBG – Community Development Block Grant CoC - Continuum of Care
  • CH – Chronically Homeless
  • CoC – Continuum of Care
  • DOB – Date of Birth
  • DQSC – Data Quality Sub-Committee
  • DV – Domestic Violence
  • ES – Emergency Shelter
  • ESG – Emergency Solutions Grant
  • EVHI – Ending Veteran Homelessness Initiative
  • Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
  • HMIS – Homeless Management Information System
  • HoH – Head of Household
  • HOPWA – Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS
  • HPCC – Homeless Prevention Call Center
  • HUD – Housing and Urban Development
  • NOFA – Notice of Funding Availability PIT - Point in Time
  • NP - Non-Participating (Agency is listed as not using ServicePoint or no longer in operation)
  • PATH - Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness
  • PPI – Personal Protected Information
  • PSH – Permanent Supportive Housing
  • RHY – Runaway and Homeless Youth
  • ROI – Release of Information
  • RRH – Rapid Re-Housing
  • SH – Safe Haven
  • SHP – Supportive Housing Program
  • SRO – Single Room Occupancy
  • SSI – Supplemental Security Income
  • SSN – Social Security Numbe
  • SSO – Supportive Services Only
  • SSVF – Supportive Services for Veteran Families
  • UDE – Universal Data Element
  • TANF – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
  • TFA – Temporary Financial Assistance
  • VASH – Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing

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    DFSS Quarterly Report Submission Guide

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    Paul Schmitz
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    Timeline 

    Two reports are due for each project: Quarterly Entry-Exit and Performance Outcomes report. These are typically due on the 7th or 8th of ever quarter (January 7th, April 7th, July 7th, October 7th). The Department of Family and Support Services typically sends out an email with this information, please use that as a final reference for when your reports are due.

     

    Reports Due

    The following reports are due for all projects: 

    • Quarterly Report (Tracking Entries and Exits)
    • Performance Outcomes

    Carryover reports are also required for the following project types: 

    • Shelter
    • Youth Transitional Housing and Safe Haven

    Unlike Quarterly and Performance Outcome reports, these are due in January and in August/September, again, please reference DFSS's email. 

     

     

    Context

    Grantees of the Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) are required to submit quarterly reports as part of their grant. This report has traditionally not been required to be sourced from any particular data system - providers were expected to manually source and fill in data for each report sent in.

    While many providers have used HMIS data to inform their DFSS quarterly reports, there have always been gaps in the data elements between what HMIS collects (which aligns directly with HUD data standards), and what DFSS collects (which aligns with data elements required by the Illinois Department of Human Services).

    However, starting the first quarter of 2019, DFSS and All Chicago looked to begin the process of sourcing data for the DFSS quarterly report from HMIS.

    The main goal of changing the quarterly reporting process are as follows:

    1. Reducing the administrative burden on agencies, and
    2. Improving the quality of data in our system to help make data-informed decisions

     

    Training Videos and Previous Webinars

     

    Instructional Walk-through of Reports (Downloading and Interpreting)

    :30 - Introduction
    1:10 - DV Providers
    1:40 - Overview of First Quarter Report
    3:40 - Color Legend
    4:45 - Reference Tables and Manually Sourced Cells
    5:45 - No Date of Birth
    7:00 - Gender and Family Composition
    8:45 - Running the Report
    9:50 - Overview of Report Folders
    10:40 - Viewing the Report through ART
    11:30 - Scheduling the Report
    15:40 - Opening Your Scheduled Report
    17:40 - Reviewing the Quarterly Report (with Client Details)
    19:15 - Entry/Exit Summary Tab
    21:00 - Filling in the Report
    22:45 - Trouble Shooting Missing Info
    23:20 - Entry/Exit Demographics Tab
    23:55 - Special Needs Tab
    25:13 - Services Tab
    26:00 - LOS Tab (Length of Stay)
    26:40 - Carryover Report
    28:35 - Performance Outcomes Report
    30:15 - Submitting the Report

     

     

    December 18, 2023 Webinar

     

     

    Client Details Reports (Not to be submitted)

    Client Detail Reports are designed to assist you in locating any issues or missing data you may have.

    These reports allow you to preview what your submission will look like when they are made available in the system (typically they are the first two tabs of each report), in addition to how those calculations were added up.

    Quarterly Entry-Exit Report

    This report includes the clients that have entered or exited your program during the quarter period.  There are 13 sections to this report that are then broken down into smaller sub-sections.

    Not all program models will have to complete all 13 sections, those that are not applicable to your program model will be grayed/blacked out; your report will reflect what you need to complete.

    The report is color coded:

    mceclip7.png

    The tabs on this report are as follows: 

    • Report Information
      • This is the general cover sheet required for submission
      • Shows the reporting parameters run
      • Ensure that the project has a Chicago Program Model type
    • Entry-Exit Summary
      • What is ultimately submitted to DFSS (through the submission reports)
      • Pulls in client information for clients that have an entry or exit during the quarter
    • EE Demographics
      • This lists out all of your clients in three tables:
        • Those that entered during the quarter
        • Those that came to the project before the quarter began (those that carried over)
        • Those that exited this quarter
    • EE Special Needs
      • Hosts three tables with the information:
        • Sourced from the disability subassessment
        • Sourced from the DFSS/IDHS supplemental
        • On clients that are considered chronically homeless
    • EE Income & Benefits
      • This lists out what income, non-cash benefits, insurance and food stamps the client has as they enter and exit your project
      • Breaks down each subassessment and sorts clients by those that are entering or exiting the project
      • Income, non-cash benefits, and the insurance records are pulled from their respective subassessments in the Entry Assessment
        • Food Stamps are sourced from the DFSS and IDHS Supplemental Assessment
    • Services
      • If a project utilizes Service Transactions in HMIS, this tab will be populated with the services provided
    • LOS
          • Length of Stay - looks at the start of the client’s entry/exit date versus that of the quarter’s timeframe 

       

      Question Required by Program Model

      The chart below will identify what questions are required based on the DFSS program model. To see an expanded view please click here. 

     

    Performance Outcomes Report

    The Details version of the Performance Outcomes report contains the following tabs:

    • Performance Outcomes - A
      • This features pre-filled green cells
      • Cells that are grayed out indicate that the measure is not applicable to your program model
    • Performance Outcomes - B
      • These outcomes are not tracked through HMIS
      • If the program model is either Coordinated Entry System Facilitator, Homeless Prevention Assistance, Rental Assistance Program Manager, Housing System Navigator, Centralized Shelter Intake, or Diversion, then you must complete this tab with your own data pulled from your own source
    • Details
      • Provides detail on the clients pulled in to calculate tab A

     

    Submission Reports

    These reports are exactly similar to the details report, they just lack the additional tabs that allow agencies to troubleshoot.

    The Quarterly Entry-Exit report has the following tabs:

    • Report Information
    • Entry-Exit Summary

    The Performance Outcomes report contains the following tabs:

    • Performance Outcomes - A
    • Performance Outcomes - B

     

    The Carryover report contains the following tabs:

    • Report Information
    • Carryover Summary 

    Submitting the Report

    Each project (not agency) should send their report files in one email to:

    Your reports should be saved as an Excel file with your agency and project name, and the type of report it is.

    • {Agency}_{Project}_Performance_Outcomes
    • {Agency}_{Project}_Entry-Exit 
    • For Shelter, Youth Transitional Housing, and Safe Haven
      • {Agency}_{Project}_Carryover
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