Network representatives and select Texas CASA staff met with Evinto on Wednesday, Nov. 16, to discuss six identified needs that were prioritized in our network-wide meeting on Nov. 10 to discuss Optima concerns. Please see below for the responses we received.
Need of the Network: For all active cases to be added to the drop down list for those of us who are not assigned to cases but frequently are working within cases.
Answer from Evinto: Users can access any person’s set of cases by going to the cases button and choosing the Supervisor’s name and hitting Apply. The “Go to My Case” button function will not change.
Need: For volunteers to be able to see hearing notes. This would be so very helpful for a number of reasons. We’d like to find out what is possible here.
Answer: Programs can give, or not give, access to hearing notes. Go to Lookup Tables > Volunteers > Volunteer Configuration > toggle ON hearing notes. One thing to note here: If you do turn this function on, volunteers will also be able to add or edit hearing notes.
Need: Back button. Multiple Optima users in our state have agreed there is an issue here of needing a back button or not successfully being able to use a back button.
Answer: The internet, the mouse, and Optima software all have back buttons. ONLY use the Optima back button or the tab buttons along the top of the Optima screen (that also return you to that particular “home” page). The browser and mouse back buttons may or may not show you the previous screen.
Need: Confidentiality. We are operating under increasingly strict requirements from the Health and Human Services Commission in many areas, and confidentiality is certainly one area of focus. We need to ensure throughout all of our program operations we are complying with these requirements. So, in particular, multi-factor verification and 90-day password changes are areas of concern.
Answer: Evinto explained some of their inherent and built-in security measures. In addition, documents can be password protected before upload to restrict access to certain sensitive records. One idea was to have Evinto meet with HHSC as well. In addition, the local program may set a policy for password updates. The Optima administrator can reset the password for users (User Administration > enter user name > reset password) and volunteers can change their password as well (Volunteer Dashboard and top right corner “change password”). Tamea Byrd (Texas CASA Chief Finance Officer) sent the HHSC DUA and SPI agreements for their review. We will discuss this further once they have had a chance to look at those requirements.
Need: Creating two reports for CJD and CFE.
Answer: Linda Cicchillo with Optima, Stephanie Cash and the group will meet to discuss details on the CFE and CJD reports, and writing will begin in January.
Need: Multiple Activity Types selection within one log. There has been previous discussion of “rolling” activity types that allow multiple selection of activity types without leaving the case. This is really the top priority for our network. As you can imagine, for instance, when you see a child in their home, you are also seeing the caregiver. When you go to court, you are also meeting with the Attorney ad Litem and CPS caseworker. Some way to capture all the different activities that occur within one event.
Answer: The time spent on each action is the issue with multi-selection of Activity Types under one entry. There’s no way to know what time was spent on what activity. Previously discussed was a “rolling” selection that would allow a new activity to be selected still within that case and then it’s simply a copy and paste on most of the entry. This will take a longer discussion and problem solving. Texas CASA will set a follow up meeting.