HMIS Newsletter: April 2025

Table of Contents

1. Poll
2. Upcoming Events
3. Clarity Human Services - April 2025 Feature Updates
   
4. New Clarity Interface Feature Updates & NEW Features
5. Reminders from our Help DeskFederal Reporting Updates: SPM and PIT/HIC
6. Report Spotlight: [HSNG-108] Housing Census Report

Take this fun poll!

Submit your responses here.

Upcoming Events

HMIS Agency Leads Meeting: May 21, 2-3 pm

*Agency Leads Only | Register here

We are asking the designated HMIS Agency Leads and Security Officers to attend this bi-monthly meeting. Of course, if you absolutely cannot make it, please send a representative. Workgroup participants will support communications between the county, Bitfocus, and agency staff regarding community initiatives, training, privacy, security, program, and data management. 

Clarity Human Services - April 2025 Feature Updates

Here are some key updates of the Clarity system as of April 21st, 2025. Since this isn't a comprehensive overview, we recommend checking out the full article here for complete details. Below is a summary of the updates we think will be most helpful for you to know.

Note for All Demo’s Below: This demo is meant to highlight the functionality of the new features. Please note that what you see in Clarity may look slightly different depending on your access role, the HMIS agency/ies you’re connected to, and the community you work in. Some screens or icons might vary.

Ability to Direct Notes to Multiple Users

Users can now tag one or more other users in a client note by using the @ icon followed by their name or email address in the Note textbox. A notification with a link to the tagged note and relevant client record will be sent to the user's email associated with their Clarity account and/or their "Staff Inbox" in Clarity, depending on their preferences. 

This functionality can be used for the following types of notes:

• Referral Notes
• Client Notes
• Client Program Notes
• Contact Notes
• Location Notes
• Service Notes
• Coordinated Entry Event Notes

Watch the Demo:

Client Form Enhancements

Users have the ability to save drafts of forms, and they may also print a form while it is still in progress. Users with access to forms will now have the option to:

• Save & Create PDF
• Save Draft
• Cancel

Watch the Demo:

New Clarity Interface Feature Updates & NEW Features

Note for New Clarity Interface: Not all Marin users have access just yet. Want to check out Clarity’s new interface? Reach out to marin-admin@bitfocus.com to get set up!

New Caseload Management Functionality

End users with the appropriate access rights can view the following caseload information within a specific agency on the right sidebar of the Clients search page. They’ll be able to see their active caseload in:

• Active Enrollments
• Upcoming, Due, and Past Annual Assessments in Status Due
• And clients with the user assigned as the Case Manager in Case Manager

Watch the Demo:

New Client Search Filters

The design of the Client Search screen has been updated in the new Clarity Human Services interface to allow for filtering while searching for a client. With this update, a new filter icon appears that opens a menu with filter options. The filter options are:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Alias

Watch the Demo:

New Client Search Column Selector

The design of the Client Search screen has been updated. The Client Search screen also has expanded functionality to allow a user to customize their search results view by adding and removing columns from the search display results. The design of the Client Search screen has been updated in the new Clarity Human Services interface. In addition to the above update, the Client Search screen also has expanded functionality to allow a user to customize their search results view by adding and removing columns from the search display results. 

The default columns are:

• Client (Name and Unique Identifier)
• DOB (Date of Birth and Age)
• SSN (Last four digits of the SSN)
• ROI (Release of Information Status)
• Household Members icon (Icon only appears if there are household members; this column is not sortable)
• Housing Status icon (Icon only appears if client is housed; this column is not sortable)

The new, additional column options are:

• Alias 
• Gender
• Race and Ethnicity
• Veteran Status
• Custom fields on the Client Profile screen 
  

  Watch the Demo:

We know that keeping up with all the Clarity Human Services feature updates can feel a bit overwhelming but we’ve got you covered! If reading through all the details isn’t your thing, why not watch instead? Check out our Past Bitfocus Webinar to catch up on the latest updates. Just a heads-up you’ll need to register first to access it. Happy watching! 🎥✨

Reminders from our Help Desk Team 

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Reminder: Client Confidentiality/Privacy:

As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain the confidentiality of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) (Ex. name, SSN, DOB, etc.) we kindly remind you to use only the Clarity Unique Identifier (UID) when submitting any requests/emails/chats/tickets/reports/unsecured files, etc. to our Help Desk. The UID can be found on the client's profile screen within our system.

Additionally, please ensure to block out PII from any screenshots, reports, or files you send to us.

Using the UID instead of personal information helps us ensure your data remains secure and protected.

ROI Upload Reminder:

The way your system is set up, there’s only one ROI needed per client, and the system will not allow overlapping ROIs. If you want to upload the new consent for a client that already has an ROI, you would need to end the existing one for a day before the new one is signed. Once you have done that, you can upload the new ROI.

Support Tip: Please Create a New Ticket for Each New Request

To help us serve you better and ensure each support need is easy to track and review later, we kindly ask that you create a new ticket for each new issue or question, rather than replying to an old or resolved ticket.

How to Create a New Ticket:

Simply send a new email to marin@bitfocus.com this helps our team respond more efficiently and ensures your request gets the attention it deserves.

Federal Reporting Updates: SPM and PIT/HIC

System Performance Measures (SPM) - Submitted!

The 2024 System Performance Measures were submitted earlier this month before the submission deadline on 4/11. 

Thank You - so much for your responsiveness to all our data quality emails related to federal reporting. Federal reporting is a stressful and time-consuming time for all, and we are grateful to have such a great team to work alongside and get it done! All of us at Bitfocus thank you for your effort to maintain high data quality!

HIC/PIT

Timeline Updates
Although we don’t yet have a confirmed timeline for the 2025 HIC/PIT submission deadline to HUD, we are expecting the HIC/PIT module to open in HDX soon. Once it opens, it should remain available for at least 30 days. This will be a high-priority task once it’s live to ensure we have enough time to complete and submit everything on time. In the meantime, we’ll continue with our regular Data Quality Cleanup and Review Process.

High/Low Utilization Review
Thank you to all the Agency Leads who have already shared updates regarding high and low utilization for the HIC/PIT! We’ll continue to reach out if additional information is needed.

Report Spotlight: [HSNG-108] Housing Census Report

What is the Housing Census Report?

Purpose
This report for housing programs gives you a day-by-day look at how many beds were occupied in your housing programs during a specific time period. It is based on entry and exit data. Here’s how it works depending on the project type:

• For Emergency Shelter – Night-by-Night projects, it uses bed nights to track occupancy 
• For Permanent Housing programs, it looks at Housing Move-in Dates to calculate when someone is housed.

The report separates the data by each program you select and shows the maximum number of beds available during the reporting period. This is based on what is entered in the Program Bed Inventory Screen.

The report will display the maximum bed occupancy (from the Program Bed Inventory screen) for each program.

• PH-RRH programs will display "Max Occupancy: Varies."
• For all other program types, if the number of units is greater than the number of beds, then a message such as "Max Occupancy: 20 beds / 52 units" will be displayed.

Who Can Run the Report?

All users can run the report. There are restrictions on which information can be accessed based on the user's access rights.

Report Location

This report can be found in the following locations in the Report Library:

Housing  → [HSNG-108] Housing Census

How to Run the Report?

Setting your reporting parameters:

Specifications and Universe

This report includes people who were actively enrolled in a housing project on each day of the reporting period but the exact rules depend on the project type:

Permanent Housing Including Rapid Re-Housing

• The person must be actively enrolled in a PH project at Point-in-Time (the date range you’re reporting on) 

AND

• Their Project Start Date (their housing move-in date) must be on or before that Point-in-Time (during the report end date)

Emergency Shelter - Night-by-Night

• The person must be actively enrolled in an emergency shelter project at Point-in-Time

AND

• Corresponding, Attendance generated, any Residential Service for the night of the Point-in Time (the date range you’re reporting on) 

Emergency Shelter (Entry/Exit) -  Transitional Housing

• Active enrollment in a corresponding project at the Point-in-Time (the date range you’re reporting on) 

Important Note: For all project types, if someone exited the program on that same date, they will not be counted in the report for that date. Just a heads-up: there may be multiple inventory records within the date range you select when running the report. The report will pull in all inventory records that fall within that full time period, and sum them together - which will result in what appears to be inflated inventory. If you have any questions about what is set up for your program’s inventory, first check in with your HMIS Agency Lead, and if they aren’t sure, feel free to reach out to our Help Desk at marin@bitfocus.com. 

Report Tables:

Drilldown functionality is available for this report. In other words you can click on any number in the # clients column (ie: 65) to see more detailed information about the clients included in that count. 

When you drill down you will see the client’s information (see image below)

• Unique ID
• Client Name
• Age (based on the specific date you selected)
• Data Quality Info
• Length of Stay (LOS)
  • LOS is calculated based on using the HMIS Standard Reporting Glossary, and depends on the project type, tracking method, and housing move-in date if applicable
• Project Start Date 
• Project End Date
• Responsible Staff

Note: Household members are grouped together with the Head of Household displayed in bold font like the image below (ie. C0982186A = Head of Household)

Questions? Your HMIS Administrator is happy to help.

Phone: 415-429-1400
Email: marin@bitfocus.com