• 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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    HMIS Sample Client Assignment

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    Rischelle Fajardo
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    Table of Contents:

    1. General Overview
    2. Signing up for the Assignment
    3. Evaluation Criteria
    4. Completing the Assignment
    5. Receiving and Understanding the Feedback
    6. Additional assignment resources

     

    General Overview

    This is the final assessment that needs to be completed before users are able to receive their live HMIS credentials and enter data for their agency's project. 

    *Users that require Coordinated Entry 1474 access must complete the Housing Resource Specialist training in addition to or instead of, depending on need. 

    In this session, users will be provided sample client documents, in which they will choose ONE scenario that matches the project-specific course taken and the project they will be entering clients in. Using the information about the sample client, they will be expected to complete a full client record in the training site.

    The objective of this activity is to provide users with an opportunity to practice:

    1. assessing the knowledge that was gained through the courses;
    2. interpreting a sample client's information; and
    3. accurately entering it into the HMIS as they complete a full enrollment into their project.

     

    Signing up for the Assignment:

    This process has changed as of January 2026 and will be conducted using a waitlist in the LMS. 

    • Pre-requisites:
      • ATA has requested for data entry access for the user
      • Must have completed their Project-Specific course within the last 3 months
      • Must have completed the Introduction to HMIS and/or Data Management course within the last 6 months.
    • There will be 8 users completing the assignment at a time.
    • This assignment will expire after 10 days or 3 failed attempts, and users who do not pass within the allotted time will automatically be removed from the course and will need to request access again.
      • After 3 months, users must complete the project specific course again.
      • After 6 months, users must start all the way over and ATAs must re-request their training.

     

    Step 1: Navigate to the Course Catalog.

    Step 2: Search for "HMIS Sample Client Assignment." 

     

    Step 3: Request access and wait for approval.

    The waitlist can be viewed here: HMIS Sample Client Waitlist

    1. If you are eligible, you will be added to the waitlist (or the course itself if there is no one on the waitlist) within 1 business day
    2. If you are not eligible, you will receive an automated notification from Talent LMS that you have been denied, along with a confirmation email from the HMIS Team. 
    3. Please note that the waitlist is determined based on the time we received your request. Make sure you are only requesting the course once. Each time the course is requested, if you are eligible for the assignment, it will send your request to the end of the line.
    4. When you have been approved, you will receive another automated notification, along with an invite to the following week's Office Hour. 

     

    Evaluation Criteria:

    Creating a New Record

    1. Creating and navigating a client profile
    2. Entering them into an appropriate household
    3. Documenting Release of Information
    4. Determination of record locking

    Enrollment

    1. Accurately creating an enrollment into a project
    2. Completing 3 full assessments: Entry, Interim, and Exit

    Assessments

    1. Completing necessary demographic information
    2. Interpret sample client's housing history
    3. Completing and updating HUD-verified sub-assessments accurately
    4. Information consistency throughout the assessments
    5. Answered all relevant questions not in italics in assessments and sub-assessments.
      • Italics questions are mandatory data elements for youth (18-24) clients, but will not be assessed as part of the proctor.
      • Relevance depends on your project type (some questions are only for specific project types) and conditional logic (some questions are only answered based on previous responses).
      • If data isn't provided or can't be determined from the sample document/scenario, users should make up reasonable answers

    Project-Specific Requirements

    1. PSH/RRH: Entering Housing Move-In Date
    2. Outreach/PATH: Documenting contacts and engagements
    3. Services Only/Drop-in/Day-Shelter: Documenting service transactions

     

    Completing the Assignment

    When users complete their sample client record, they must submit their sample client ID within the assignment. It would be best practice to review the sample client with the ATA before submitting to ensure that the data is entered accurately and they are able to pass the assignment in a timely manner.

    Records with minimal to no errors will then receive their live site credentials, along with the End User Agreement to be completed and submitted to their ATA/Supervisor.

    Users having significant errors or difficulties will be provided detailed feedback for corrections via email. 

     

    Reminders: 

    1. Access to this assignment will expire in 10 days. This means if you do not pass the assignment before, you will need to re-add yourself to the waitlist.
    2. Access to this assignment will also expire if you do not pass by the 3rd attempt. You will then need to re-add yourself to the waitlist. 

     

    Receiving and Understanding the Feedback

     
    Feedback will be sent out via email within a day of submission. Depending on the number of submissions received from the 8 people in the current cohort, one should expect to receive feedback for at least one attempt per day. 
    • This means that if you submit two attempts in one day, depending on the number of submissions received, the second attempt may not receive feedback until the next business day.
    • An exception will be made if the attempt was submitted on the last day the course is valid for the user.

    ATAs will be sent a summary of the feedback the user receives:

    Learners will receive their score and a link to a more detailed feedback. 

    This will direct you to a google form that shows the same listed items above, along with guidance, links to relevant resources, and screenshots. An example of what the Client Profile section will look like:

    Each portion of the client profile or tab that is measured as part of the assignment will have its own section. Within that section, will areas or questions that were reviewed with the following possible results: 

    These mean that the question or data element was completed correctly. They will be highlighted in green and show a checkmark.

    Completed:  Some data were not specifically provided by the sample document and the user is instructed to fill in as appropriate.
    Completed and Correct The correct sample data was entered.
    N/A Some data elements are specific to a project type. There are also some conditional logic questions, which means some questions do not need an answer based on a previous question.
    No update needed Sub-assessments document changes that occur since the last entries. Based on the sample document, no update was needed at this point-in-time. 
    These mean that the question or data element is an error. They will be highlighted in red and show an X.
    Missing/Incomplete The data is missing or incomplete. 
    Not accurate to sample document The data entered in the system does not match the sample document.
    Not accurate to point-in-time Data is entered into the HMIS when the client reports it. The sample document provides the data by point-in-time (entry, interim(s), exit).
    Not accurate based on conditional logic There are conditional logic questions; some questions have conditions or rules based on a previous question, and may or may not need an answer. 
    Not accurate to provider This is an error in the selection of the provider (ex. ROI or enrollment)
    Not accurate to project type Some data elements are specific to a project type.
    Duplicate Sub-assessments document changes that occur since the last entries. Duplicates are new entries that do not reflect a change.
    *The following errors will result in an automatic pause and fail of the review:
    Incomplete or Inaccurately set-up Enrollment or Assessments: These are errors in selecting the Provider, Review Dates or Types. 
    Using EDA Mode

     

    Additional assignment resources

    • Office Hour: Every Wednesday at 11a, a 30 minute office hour will be available to answer quick questions about the Sample Client Assignment or HMIS Access process in general. 
    • Troubleshooting: These 30 minute meetings are for live support for one or more user(s) from the same organization, currently in the middle of their assignment to troubleshoot error corrections they may have. 

    Upon approval to the assignment, an invite to the office hour will be sent to the learner, and a link to book a troubleshooting will be available in the course itself. 

    An ATA must be in attendance to either meeting type with the user(s). Requests to join may be denied if the ATA is not. 

     

     

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