2. Agenda + Full Disclosure
• How Good Systems are like Old Washing
Machines
• “The One Trick Pony” vs. “The Hammer”
• extendedReach
• Panel discussion
3. Social Work
• Caseworkers operate fairly independently
• Contract-based / rules
• Funding organizations with possibly multiple
agencies
• Remote / On the Road
• Detailed – lots of information!
4. “The Information Pyramid”
Amount of Information Required
Funding
Leadership
Supervisors
Caseworkers
Support the bottom of the pyramid to
succeed
5. The Computerization of Social Work
• These factors make the industry prime
candidate for technology
• Specifically Internet/ web-based
• Value in connections – both within and
outside of your agencies
7. Most Importantly
• Better tools = better casework
• Access to information as needed
• Focus on casework not on paperwork
• Don’t let kids fall through the cracks
8. The Transition
• Eventually all social work activity and reports
for all programs will be documented in a
computer system
• How will your agency transition into this
period?
• Early vs. Late Adopter?
9. Where are You Now?
• “Real Old School”
• “Just Old School”
• “New School”
10. Look At
• How your workers record information
• Where the information is kept
• How the information is distributed
11. Real “Old School”
• Handwritten case notes
• Activity logs handwritten on form or kept in
Excel
• Reports typed into Microsoft Word and kept
on network drive
• Centralized spreadsheet or Access database
12. “Old School”
• Some limited use of forms/MS-Word/e-mail
• Mostly centralized data entry into a central
database or billing system by support staff
(admin, finance)
• Management reports distributed by e-mail /
paper
13. “New School”
• Direct access to system by caseworkers
• Real-time data
• Built-in document management
• Dashboards
• Easy-to-use for everyone
• Web-based
14. The Good News
• These “New School” systems are affordable
• They are how things will be done
• They provide quick ROI
15. Impact of the Internet
• Internet growth of late 90’s
• Compared to gold rush
• Now in a period of innovation
16. The “Killer App”
• More like early days utility industry
(Jeff Bezos – Amazon.com)
• Didn’t run out of gold
• Utility industry – killer app was “light bulb”
• For Internet, it was email and dot-com web
apps
17. After the Light Bulb
• 1890’s – Electric fan
• 1905 – First vacuum – 92 pounds
• 1908 – Washing machine
18. Where We Are Now
• About this evolution point with Internet
• Applications on the Internet are like Electric
Appliances of Early 1900’s – but will keep
getting better
• “Computerization” and “Internet” will be
synonymous
19. Purchased vs. Hosted (Software as a Service)
Purchased Hosted
Database Server License Yes -
Annual Database Maintenance Yes -
Application License Yes -
Annual Application Maintenance Yes -
Monthly Application Subscription - Yes
Database Backup/Restore Service Yes -
Server Hardware and Software Yes -
Salary Technical Support Personnel Yes -
Upgrade / Maintenance Computers Yes -
22. “One Trick Pony” vs. “The Hammer”
• The story of the one trick pony
• Specialized vs. Generalized
• Don’t expect one piece of software to do
everything
23. Advantages of Specialized Software
• Reduced implementation time
• Reduced cost
• Increased functionality
• In Internet-based environment – can’t be a
master of everything
• Over time specialized software will interact
with other specialized software
24. Flexibility
• When implement software – have a choice –
change the process to meet the software or
change software to meet process.
• Focus on 3 touch points
• Agencies that are most effective are flexible
in the process and have the ability to do
either
25. Things to consider
• Support for your workflow
• Security
• Integration with your financial system
• Make sure you aren’t implementing an “Old
school” centralized data entry system.
28. The extendedReach Story
• 1999 - Developed first foster care system for
Bethany Christian Services.
• Most systems were financial/operations
based
• 2001 - Developed Early Impact System for
Bethany – caseworker focused
• The stack of paper
• 2003 –extendedReach – Early Impact System
• 2005 –extendedReach – Foster Care System
29. Where we are now
• 12 organizations (11 in Michigan; including
DHS)
• 26 locations across 6 states
• 660 users
• 12 different programs
• Continue to expand
30. Some of Our Customers
Child and Family Services of
Northwestern Michigan
31. Lessons Learned
• “Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant”
• “Better Together than Apart” – even though
everything isn’t always fair
• Focus on the caseworker
32. Takeaways
• Affordable solutions are here today – and will
continue to improve and expand
• Don’t accept solutions that don’t meet your
specific needs quickly and easily
• Opportunities ahead to improve quality of
care and efficiency
• Don’t accept “Old School” solutions
