Introduction

As a user of Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud Case Management (NCCM) one of the best tools I’ve found in the package is the Assessment function.

Every human services organization likely does some form of assessment with clients. Whether this is a specific tool like the Self-Sufficiency Matrix or the VI-SPDAT, or a more informal needs assessment focused on a conversation about what brought them in – every organization needs to understand what their clients need and to collect that information in a formal way.

Choosing the Right Assessment

There are a number of strategies for choosing the right assessment. If you are in a particular sector you might have assessments that are used more commonly. For example, behavioral health organizations frequently use the PHQ-9 to assess depression in their clients, while crisis lines may use the C-SSRS (Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale).

Housing organizations who are funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are often required to use the Vulnerability Index – Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (VI-SPDAT), PDF file. The VI-SPDAT means that whether you are doing a housing intake for someone in California or Idaho, a common understanding of each client’s situation and their relative risk will be available.

Beyond the assessments that are already in use, you might be interested in adopting a new one that your industry may not use. If you wanted to track client growth more specifically, you could use something like the Self-Sufficiency Matrix. If you wanted a basic alcohol screening for a new program, the CAGE or DAST-10 assessment might work.

Regardless of the option you choose, once you have one in mind you need to decide how you will use the assessment you’ve chosen.

How to Use Assessments

There are pros and cons to every strategy. Some organizations complete assessments only on intake to gauge where people are and then. Some organizations administer them regularly throughout a client’s work with the organization. Some only do a start and end assessment to see growth.

Regardless of the specific strategy you choose, I would recommend that you at least complete every assessment twice. Once at intake, and once at some point before the client finishes their work with you. That doesn’t need to be right at exit, but by having 2 data points you can track and plot the client’s growth in those areas measured by the assessment and ensure they are improving.

Provisio and Assessments

Provisio Partners, as human services and Salesforce experts can often recommend the right mix of assessments for your organization’s unique needs. In addition to helping you choose an assessment in a collaborative way, we can also build many assessments so they can be filled out right inside Salesforce.

Once an assessment is in Salesforce and you’ve enrolled a client in the Nonprofit Cloud Case Management program engagement they will be using, you can even put numerical assessments on a graph and watch as a client’s score goes from 1 to 5 to 7 on a measure of client stability. Progress!

Conclusion

If you’re a human services organization considering implementing Salesforce, consider Provisio Partners as your human services implementation partner. You can learn more about Provisio Partners at http://www.provisiopartners.com.