Tools & Resources

Provider Participation Inventory

The completed tool also serves as documentation for the following scorecard questions:

Single Adults Scorecard: Questions 2A, 2B
Youth Scorecard: Questions 3A, 3B
Family Scorecard: Questions 3A, 3B

Additionally, the tool supports the responses to the “Homeless Service Provider Participation” section of each population scorecard.

The Provider Participation section of the Quality Data Toolkit provides further background and context for using this tool. 

How to Complete the Provider Participation Inventory

Set up: Provider Name and Provider Type

The Provider Participation Inventory (PPI) should include all local homeless response system providers that serve folks experiencing homelessness in your community, regardless of funding source. Other community organizations that serve both individuals experiencing homelessness and the general population, such as institutions, health care systems, meal centers, police departments, hotlines, or others should be added if they have programs that specifically focus on people experiencing homelessness and/or are a critical part of the provider landscape. 

If a provider runs multiple programs, consider adding a row for each program, using the provider type column to differentiate between program types. Crucially, if a provider serves multiple populations (e.g., both Youth and Single Adults), you must add a separate row for each population type. Do not combine multiple populations into a single row. 

The PPI can be built using the local improvement team’s shared knowledge, or by using the most recent Housing Inventory Count (HIC) as a starting point. We recommend using HIC data for any community that functions within an entitlement CoC (i.e. not a region of a Balance of State). Below you will find detailed instructions for each method.

Completing the Inventory

How to identify the “Household Type Served”

This field should reflect the specific population served by the provider program listed in that row. You will select from three core options: “Single Adults,” “Youth,” or “Families.” Important note for multi-population providers: If a provider serves multiple populations do not combine them into a single row. Instead, create a separate row for each population they serve. For example, on the Sample Inventory tab, “Lab Lane” would be listed on one row with “Youth” selected, and listed again on the next row with “Single Adults” selected. This ensures that the estimated numbers and data contribution levels for each specific program remain accurate and do not artificially inflate your system-wide totals.

How to Complete “Estimated Households Served (#)” and “Estimated Individuals Served (#)”

These fields are an estimate of the total number of households and the total number of individuals served by each provider during a typical month and should be based on your team’s best understanding of your current state. When entering these numbers, ensure your estimates reflect the specific population you selected in the “Household Type Served” column. For example, if a provider serves 100 people total (75 Single Adults and 25 Families), you will enter “75” in the row where “Household Type Served” is “Single Adults” and “25” in the row where “Household Type Served” is “Families.” The “Estimated Households Served (#) is an optional field. Please reference the BFZ Reporting Reference Guide or the section on Tracking Population Statues for more information on the definitions of “Single Adult,” “Youth,” and “Family.”

How to Identify the “Estimated Level of Contribution to BND”

This field is an estimate of the percentage of individuals in the selected population served by the provider that are connected to the BND and should be based on your team’s best understanding of the current state of each provider. If the BND is populated by HMIS enrollments and the provider enrolls every individual served into HMIS, enter 100%. If the BND is based on enrollment into Coordinated Entry and the provider only connects approximately a quarter of the individuals they serve to Coordinated Entry, enter 25%. If a provider is not contributing to the BND at all, enter 0%.

Optional Fields

Estimated Households Served (#): While the tool tracks individuals, your community can also track household estimates here if it is helpful for your system planning.

Method of Contribution: The response to this question depends on how by-name data is collected across the system. The objective of this section is to provide more context on how each provider connects individuals to the BND. Some examples of values to use are “HMIS,” “CE Enrollment,” “HMIS or CE Referral,” etc. For example, if the BND is generated by HMIS data and the provider does not participate in HMIS, but does refer all individuals to an HMIS participating access point, or collaborates with an HMIS participating provider to connect folks to HMIS on site, note “HMIS Referral.” This is an optional field and can be used in any way that is most helpful. 

Sub-Population: If your team would like to look at a specific sub-population, such as veterans or chronically homeless individuals, use this field to indicate those sub-populations. This is an optional field and can be used in any way that is most helpful. 

Notes/Next steps: Use as needed. This field could be used to document when the provider row was last updated.

How to document providers that end services:
In order to maintain a historical record of your provider landscape, you can retain a provider on the list even if they have stopped services. To do this, clear all of the cells except the Provider Name column and add a note to the Notes/Next Steps column with the date the entry was changed.

Analyzing the Inventory — What Comes Next?

After the inventory is complete and all fields are filled out your team can use the inventory to determine next steps and as documentation to support:

Single Adults Scorecard: Questions 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D
Youth Scorecard: Questions 3A, 3B, 3C, 4A, 4B, 4C, 5
Family Scorecard: Questions 3A, 3B, 3C, 4A, 4B, 4C

By changing the dropdown filter at the top of the sheet, you can analyze gaps for each population individually or system-wide.

If the “Estimated Level of Contribution” is below 100%, the cell will be highlighted yellow to indicate the provider does not contribute 100% of their data for that population to the BND. If the contribution level is 0%, (i.e. the provider does not contribute to the BND), the cell will be highlighted red. 

If the percentage calculated for Providers contributing to the BND is under 90%, it will be highlighted red. In order to increase the percentage to above 90%, more providers need to contribute to the BND. Look at the inventory to determine which providers are not yet contributing to the BND (as indicated by a 0% in the “Estimated Level of Contribution to BND (%)” column). 

If the percentage calculated for Individuals served by providers contributing to the BND is under 90%, it will be highlighted red. In order to increase the percentage to above 90%, either more providers need to contribute to the BND, or the level of contribution for the current providers needs to increase.  For example, if a provider serves 50 individuals, but only add those who have been formally assessed to the BND, consider working with that provider to have them add all unassessed individuals to the BND as well.