WellSky | Community Services Built for Zero Report Suite

April 24, 2024

The WellSky Community Services Built for Zero (BFZ) v2024 report suite aims to provide communities with sufficient person-level and aggregate data to understand each person’s journey through your homeless response system. This information can be used for multiple purposes, including to aid case conferencing, create a by-name list, better understand inflow and outflow, or flag potential data quality issues. These reports are compatible with the WellSky Community Services HMIS system and utilize HUD standard data elements.

The author of these reports is Elizabeth Lockley and they were created in conjunction with the BFZ Data Coaching Team. If you have any questions, please contact the BFZ Data Support Team at bfzdatasupport@community.solutions or submit feedback here. If you are a BFZ participating community, you can also contact your Data Coach about questions related to the v2024 BFZ Report Suite.

This webpage is designed to be used as an implementation guide to support communities in the process of setting up and using the WellSky Built for Zero v2024 report suite as part of their day-to-day work. If you are looking for a specific resource please follow this link to see a list of all resources available.

There are two parts to the implementation process, (1) the prerequisites, or initial report setup and validation process and (2) using the reports to conduct regular data quality checks, report BFZ metrics, and create a By-Name List. In addition to following along on this webpage, the Quick Start Guide in the report manual is a great place to start. As questions arise, we will be updating this FAQ.

Prerequisites

👉 The report setup must be completed prior to using the reports for data quality reviews, BFZ reporting, or case conferencing. An ART Ad Hoc license, an HMIS System Admin license, and mapping and query customization skills are required to complete the work of this phase. Most of this work can be done one time. Depending on how often changes occur in your local homeless response system, parts of this phase may need to be revisited.

Mapping the reports

Estimated time commitment to complete this step: 4-8 hours, but can vary widely per community.

The reports will likely need to be mapped from the templated version to your local system. The templates can be found in the Business Objects Available Reports and Templates Folder (Public Reports → Available Reports and Templates → Unmapped Client Community Templates → Built for Zero Reports). Even though many communities will find the reports have already been automatically mapped to their local public folder (Public Folders → Universe Folder [cmtyname_live_folder] → Community Solutions Custom Reports → Built for Zero 2024 v1) in Community Services, the mapping process is more accurate if completed manually. Detailed instructions on how to map the reports can be found in the Mapping Built for Zero v2024 reports in Business Objects document.
An ART Ad Hoc license is required to map the reports.

Customizing the reporting logic

Estimated time commitment to complete this step: 1-5 hours, but can vary widely per community and level of customization.

There are various aspects of the report suite that can be customized to match local processes, specifically the inactive period. Section A.2 (Report Overview: Inactivity) of the report manual discusses how the inactive status is set up in the report and this document Customizing the Built for Zero v2024 reports in Business Objects includes video tutorials on various customizations, including how to change the inactive period from 3 months to immediate.
An ART Ad Hoc license is required to customize the report queries.

Reporting Group

Estimated time commitment to complete this step: >1 hour, but can vary widely per community.

Setting up a reporting group that pulls in system-wide data is a critical step to using this report. Section A.1 (Report Overview: Selecting a reporting group) of the report manual discusses how to set up the correct reporting group and how to set up the report parameters. Training Module 1: Report overview provides additional detail.
An HMIS System Administrator license is required for setting up a reporting group.

Report Validation

Estimated time commitment to complete this step: 3-8 hours, but can vary widely per community.

Once the reports have been mapped and customized, if needed, and the reporting group has been set up, you are ready to validate the report output. Training Module 1: Report overview provides tips for how to validate the report to ensure it is pulling in accurate, system-wide data.
We recommend re-validating the reports after any customizations to ensure the reporting logic was not unintentionally changed.
An HMIS System Administrator license is required for viewing system-wide data in the report outputs. This video provides instructions for scheduling the reports so that they can be sent to Business Objects users without System Administrator licenses.

Using the reports for regular data quality checks, reporting BFZ metrics, and creating a BNL

👉 Once the prerequisite steps are complete, the reports can be used for regular data quality checks, reporting BFZ metrics, and creating a BNL. We recommend regularly using the report to monitor data quality, at least monthly. The data quality monitoring and corrections should be completed at least 24 hours before using the reports to pull monthly active, inflow, and outflow metrics, to ensure accurate data is reported.

Using the reports for regular data quality checks

Estimated time commitment to complete this step: 2-6 hours, but can vary widely per community and current HMIS data quality.

We recommend setting up a data quality plan to support your monthly process. This webinar introduces a data quality monitoring tool (Excel, Google sheets) that will help you stay organized.
The Newly Housed and Inactive Clients Exiting (NHICE) report is designed for data quality monitoring by identifying individuals that have exited to a housed or inactive destination, but are still showing up as active due to remaining open project enrollments. Among other things, the report also identifies individuals that have been left open in a project enrollment when their Head of Household has been exited. For more details on how this report can be used to monitor data quality review Section B.4 (Report Details: Newly Housed Clients and Inactive Exiting (NHICE) Report) of the manual and Training Module 5: Newly Housed and Inactive Clients Exiting Report.
The Case Conferencing, Inflow, and Outflow reports can be used to identify individuals that are missing a HoH or DOB by filtering on the BFZ Household Type field. Training Module 6: Reporting BFZ Metrics with the reports provides more detail on the BFZ Household Type field.
The Case Conferencing report can be used to identify potential duplicate records and to review how individuals on the active list are engaging with Coordinated Entry. See Section B.1 (Report Details: Case Conferencing Report) of the manual and review Training Module 2: Case Conferencing Report for more details.

Reporting BFZ metrics

Estimated time commitment to complete this step: 2-3 hours, but can vary widely per community.

Once any necessary updates and corrections have been made, the reports are ready to be used to report BFZ metrics. Section C (Reporting Built for Zero Metrics) of the manual provides a general overview and Training Module 6: Reporting BFZ Metrics with the reports, goes into more detail. Additional resources are available on the webpage including a guide for creating pivot tables to report BFZ metrics, a guide to using Power Pivot in Excel, and this downloadable Excel tool for generating BFZ metrics, which can be copied and pasted into your Excel report outputs (the functions in this workbook were created in Excel for Microsoft 365 and may not be compatible with other versions).
In addition to reviewing the materials listed above when reporting BFZ metrics, we also recommend reviewing the following materials:
- Training Module 2: Case Conferencing Report to learn about who is included on the active list and how they are engaging with Coordinated Entry.
- Training Module 3: Inflow Report to learn about who is included in each inflow category.
- Training Module 4: Outflow Report to learn about who is included in each outflow category.
- The Built for Zero Reporting Reference Guide for details on BFZ population and subpopulation definitions.

Creating a By-Name List