System Setup

Version Available From: 1.0

System Configuration Areas

Once the software has been installed, the first thing may wish to do is Configure your system to match your current business setup. For example, if you and your staff are familiar with calling your clients “Service Users” you may wish to amend the nomenclature of the system to reflect this. It will make the system users feel more at home and comfortable in the new system from the outset.

There are several areas of the system where the same kind of thinking takes place, however, not all of the following areas are designed purely to make your users comfortable. A number of categories and dropdown lists in the system are configured here, all of which have important roles to play in terms of system setup. Deciding upon these items below at this stage is really beneficial, but is certainly not to say that you cannot come back and amend if you see fit. It will, however, provide a strong platform to work from.

If this is your first time logging into the system, use username ‘root’ with no password to gain access. New users will be created in the following article.

Groups

Groups help segment your data, which you may wish to do for a number of security or reporting reasons. All Workers, Service Users and Locations in the system must belong to a Group. As part of your configuration, you may wish to split your records up into several Groups, or have them all under one.

Groups aid security in that you can allow system users to only see records which belong to the Groups they have access to. In other words, if the record does not belong to a Group they have access to, it will not exist for that user.

Groups are selected via the General Details screen of a Worker, Service User or Location. To amend the drop down list of Groups first make sure you log in to the system using credentials which have permissions to edit this area, then navigate to Settings > Groups and use the Add and Remove buttons to amend the Groups list.

Worker Categories

Worker Categories are represented by a dropdown list in the Worker General Details screen (similar to Groups). They are used to label different types of Workers that might be present in your database, usually referring to different job roles or titles (e.g. Support Worker, Senior, Nurse etc.). These Categories are useful in reporting upon Workers, and can also be used to denote the default Contract that is applied to a Worker when they are entered into the system. In other words, the Contract can be dependent upon their Category. However, you can also amend the Contract manually and in some cases this is more suitable.

To amend the listings for Worker Categories first make sure you log in to the system using credentials which have permissions to edit this area, then navigate to Settings > Categories. This is the area of the system where many dropdowns such as this can be edited. Using the tabs along the top of the screen, click on ‘Worker Categories’ and use the New and Delete buttons to amend the list as appropriate.

Client Categories

Client Categories are represented by a dropdown list in the Client General Details screen (similar to Groups). They are used to label the different types of Clients or Service Users that might be present in your database, allowing you to separate them for reporting reasons. They are sometimes used to denote the different types of care that the individuals require or the type of service they access (e.g. Dementia, Older People, Physical Disability etc.).

To amend the listings for Client Categories first make sure you log in to the system using credentials which have permissions to edit this area, then navigate to Settings > Categories. This is the area of the system where many dropdowns such as this can be edited. Using the tabs along the top of the screen, click on ‘Client Categories’ and use the New and Delete buttons to amend the list as appropriate.

Shift Types are usually representative of the types of availability (an

Visit and Shift Types 

Visit Types in the system denote the different types of care that your services will be providing (e.g. Personal Care, Domestic etc.). It is important to set correct Visit Types, not only so that your Workers are clear about the intended reason for the calls they make and for reporting reasons, but because the amount paid to Workers and charged to Clients for the visit can be set depending on the Visit Type, allowing for great flexibility within Rate Sets.

Shift Types are usually representative of the types of availability (and Unavailability) that Workers may present (e.g. Standard Shift, Sickness, Holiday etc.). It is important to define these as early as possible when building a database as they can impact on the availability patterns you set for Workers.

To configure both of these areas first make sure you log in to the system using credentials which have permissions to edit this area, then navigate to Bookings > Visit/Shift Types. From there you can use the New and Delete buttons in each half of the screen to amend the list of system Visits and Shifts.

Worker Nomenclature

The default system name for your members of staff who provide care within your business is ‘Workers’. However, this nomenclature can be amended if necessary.

First, ensure that you log into the system as a supervisor (only supervisor/admin access have permissions to view the settings required to amend this). Navigate to Settings > Application Settings and click OK to a message that will appear letting you know that if any changes are made then the system must be restarted. Then use the search box at the top of the screen to search ‘workername’. Alternatively you can scroll to look for the setting. The setting ‘WorkerName’ will have ‘Worker’ next to it by default. You can overtype this to be whatever you want, e.g. Carer.

Client Nomenclature

The default system name for individuals who you provide care for within your business is ‘Clients’. However, this nomenclature can be amended if necessary.

First, ensure that you log into the system as a supervisor (only supervisor/admin access have permissions to view the settings required to amend this). Navigate to Settings > Application Settings and click OK to a message that will appear letting you know that if any changes are made then the system must be restarted. Then use the search box at the top of the screen to search ‘clientname’. Alternatively you can scroll to look for the setting. The setting ‘ClientName’ will have ‘Client’ next to it by default. You can overtype this to be whatever you want, e.g. Service User.

Reference Code Names 

The General Details screen of both Workers and Clients contain two fields each, known as Worker Reference Code 1 and 2, and Client Reference Code 1 and 2.

The name of these fields can be configured to allow you to use these areas to collect clearly labelled information for your database.

First, ensure that you log into the system as a supervisor (only supervisor/admin access have permissions to view the settings required to amend this). Navigate to Settings > Application Settings and click OK to a message that will appear letting you know that if any changes are made then the system must be restarted. Then use the search box at the top of the screen to search ‘client.refcode’ or ‘worker.refcode’ depending on which you wish to edit. Alternatively you can scroll to look for the setting. The settings:

‘Client.RefCode1Name’

‘Client.RefCode2Name’

‘Worker.RefCode1Name’

‘Worker.RefCode2Name’

can all be edited to display what you wish to label the field as by typing in the Value column next to the setting. Note that the settings will not apply until the system is restarted.

Employee Checklist 

Worker Checks allow system users to use a predefined list of requirements for needs to be done/seen/checked when recruiting new members of staff. The list that populates for an individual can vary depending on their Worker Category (see above).

The list is ‘generated’ for an individual when a new Worker is created on the system, in that once it saves the initial information it will create an Employee Checklist relevant for that employee. This means that if necessary you can have several Checklists for different types of staff.

To amend the Employee Checklist go to Settings > Categories and use the tabs at the top of the screen to navigate to ‘Worker Checks’. You can then amend the list by using the ‘New’ and ‘Delete’ buttons as well as double clicking into an entry and overtyping the current information.

The ‘Mandatory’ tickbox means that if the functionality is active, those workers without Checks marked as completed will not be allowed into the rota. 

You can create different lists for different categories of worker by choosing from the menu on the left of the screen if necessary.