Introduction, access and key concepts OTIS – Outcomes Tracking Information System OTIS has been developed to support the Family Services Outcomes Test. An outcome is what is achieved, rather than what is delivered. It is the actual change or difference resulting from action at the individual, program, system and population levels. OTIS enables Family Services workers and clients to capture a baseline of outcomes data at the start of an episode of support, and then compare this with data recorded at each review and at case closure. It will also allow community organisations and DHHS to test the use of de-identified, aggregated outcomes data in service planning. Privacy restrictions Access to the detailed outcomes data recorded in OTIS is limited to workers in the agency that the client's episode has been assigned to. The global search function will return the client name and agency for all clients in OTIS that match the name entered. However, a user will only be able to access episode details for clients that are assigned to their agency. Before creating a client record in OTIS ensure that the client is aware of how their data will be used and agrees to this. The Consent to create Client record check box on the Client details page has a tool tip explaining this. Access to OTIS training & production environments OTIS is a web based application. Access to OTIS is based on individual licences for case workers. If you are part of the test but do not have log in details, access to OTIS can be arranged by emailing [email protected]Your profile will be set up and you will be sent an email invitation from ‘[email protected] with a link to ‘get started’ and set up your access. In order to log in for the first time you will need to refer to the instructions that will be sent to you on how to follow get started link. Once you have logged in once from the email, you will be able to go directly to the OTIS URLs: Training environment URL – To access the training environment paste this link into the address bar of your web browser and press Enter https://wa-otis-portal- training.azurewebsites.net/#/dashboard The training environment is clearly marked with ‘Training’ displayed prominently in yellow at the top of each page.
Transcript
Introduction, access and key conceptsOTIS – Outcomes Tracking Information System
OTIS has been developed to support the Family Services Outcomes Test.
An outcome is what is achieved, rather than what is delivered. It is the actual change or difference resulting from action at the individual, program, system and population levels.
OTIS enables Family Services workers and clients to capture a baseline of outcomes data at the start of an episode of support, and then compare this with data recorded at each review and at case closure. It will also allow community organisations and DHHS to test the use of de-identified, aggregated outcomes data in service planning.
Privacy restrictions
Access to the detailed outcomes data recorded in OTIS is limited to workers in the agency that the client's episode has been assigned to.
The global search function will return the client name and agency for all clients in OTIS that match the name entered. However, a user will only be able to access episode details for clients that are assigned to their agency.
Before creating a client record in OTIS ensure that the client is aware of how their data will be used and agrees to this. The Consent to create Client record check box on the Client details page has a tool tip explaining this.
Access to OTIS training & production environmentsOTIS is a web based application. Access to OTIS is based on individual licences for case workers. If you are part of the test but do not have log in details, access to OTIS can be arranged by emailing [email protected] profile will be set up and you will be sent an email invitation from ‘[email protected] with a link to ‘get started’ and set up your access.
In order to log in for the first time you will need to refer to the instructions that will be sent to you on how to follow get started link. Once you have logged in once from the email, you will be able to go directly to the OTIS URLs:
Training environment URL – To access the training environment paste this link into the address bar of your web browser and press Enter https://wa-otis-portal-training.azurewebsites.net/#/dashboard The training environment is clearly marked with ‘Training’ displayed prominently in yellow at the top of each page.
Production environment URL (real data): To access the real version of OTIS use this link https://outcomes.dhhs.vic.gov.au
Key concepts in OTISOTIS is a relatively simple application. The main components – clients, episodes, phases, and questions are described here:
Client - OTIS captures outcomes against individuals. Each child and parent that you are working with should be created individually in OTIS. Clients are global, which means that once created, high level identifying details of an individual are returned when an OTIS user in any organisation searches for them.
We need to view interventions with clients as part of a pathway, not as isolated events. This already happens in practice but our IT systems do not do this well. OTIS is a nod to the future, with a common client layer enabling us to track outcomes not just within an intervention but across interventions.
Episode – ‘Episodes’ of outcomes tracking run parallel to the case, and end when the case ends. They are attached to a client. Each individual in a case has their own episode of tracking. Clients can have multiple episodes over time. Every episode has multiple phases: a baseline, may have reviews, and will have final measures. Episodes are private to the agency that created them – other organisations cannot search for or view episodes. Case group - you can (and it is recommended you do) group the episodes of family members into a ‘case group’ for easy management. When your case closes, you will also close all episodes in a case group. Episode ‘phases’ - Episodes have phases which correspond to your Child & Family Action Plan review periods.
‘Baseline phase’ captures measures at the commencement of the Family Action Plan. ‘Review 1’, Review 2, Review 3 – each time you finish one phase you either generate a new phase or - Finalised the episode – this is our ultimate goal – to finalise an episode will mean we have baseline and
closure data. Early closure – if required, you may close an episode or a group of episodes without answering all the
questions
Questions are generated for individuals based on the ‘drivers’ you have selected - OTIS generates questions for individuals, depending on how the episode is set up by you:
Roles – The role of the individual in the case (parent, child, both, neither) is set by you when you create the episode. The role is the major driver of the questions – children only get 3-5 questions, parents 16-19 questions (exact number depends on the diversity and inclusion flags that are selected)
Diversity & inclusion flags - Additional connection and identity questions are generated where a person has identified themselves as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or LGBTQI, and you have selected this when you set up the episode
Orientation to OTISIn OTIS you general pathway is to
1. Create client and episode. The question set for that individual will generate when you create the episode. Note that to avoid duplicate client creation you will always need to search for the client before creating a new episode.
2. Respond to all ‘Baseline’ questions in the questionnaire. You can save and return to the questionnaire as much as you need to. Once all questions are answered you can finalise the phase. Finalising the phase will prompt OTIS to re-generate all the questions again, this time as the ‘Review 1’ phase.
3. Respond to all the same questions again, this time in the ‘Review 1’ phase. Once all questions have been responded to you can either generate another phase or finalise the episode.
The next page gives a visual overview of the 3 main areas and functions of OTIS. Use it to orient yourself as you get used to the system.
Note also that helpful tool tips are included throughout OTIS – click on the ‘What is this? and (question mark) icons.
OTIS guide 1 – introduction, key concepts
Figure 1. Process flow of OTIS
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