Policy & Practice | Fall 2023

demonstrate that they are good stewards of taxpayer money. Moving Forward Agencies like Brunswick County DSS, with a data-driven understanding of case and client information, can identify the most impactful ways to support the commu nity and advance the next generation of human services. Technology providers can help by listening to agencies’ needs and evolving our solu tions to address them. The possibilities are endless if every piece of data collected throughout the life cycle of every case can be turned into meaningful insight to inform ethical, equitable decisions and actions. Lauren Hirka is the Director of Product Marketing at Northwoods. Lauren works with partner agencies across the country to help them realize the impact of new products and functionality as changes roll out, plus understand their challenges to inform future features.

to target services accordingly. For example, an agency that regularly makes referrals to counselors or therapists may benefit from executing a public information campaign about additional mental health programs and resources that those community members could access. n Consent management. Creating reports that track the expiration dates on digital releases of informa tion or consent forms can empower workers to proactively work with clients to keep these forms current. This ensures no lapses in collabora tion or services based on outdated documentation. n Quality assurance. Going paper less doesn’t happen overnight, and reporting can help manage the process by tracking activity per case to identify what still needs to be scanned into the system. This way things that previously got lost in the shuffle of paper will no longer fall through the cracks. Agencies don’t have to scramble to prepare for audits, or sacrifice time spent with families, and can easily

great data in Traverse. The way we’re organizing it, we can pull it out in a meaningful way,” she said. “Rich used to spend hours trying to gather infor mation monthly for reports and now he can just hit a button and get what he needs.” Unlocking Meaningful Insights Brunswick County DSS is one of 41 Northwoods customers that use Traverse. Collectively, these agencies have completed more than 5 million forms and added more than 41 million content items. Here are a few ways the data previously hidden within these forms and documents can now be extracted to advance person-centered service delivery. n Targeting services. Referral forms are some of the most ubiquitous forms that caseworkers complete across all human services programs. Creating reports based on the zip codes listed on these forms can help agencies understand which areas or neighborhoods are sending the most referrals to different types of providers and use that information

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Fall 2023 Policy & Practice