Agency/Site/Site-Service Records

Collect information about community resources and define by area served. Use the Standardized Text Entry feature to create pick lists for resource specialists for improved quality and uniformity of data entry. Attach service terms to the site that delivers the service, and add service details to the Site-Service record. Attach a Dated Message to the Site or the Site-Service to alert the call specialist of additional information of a temporary nature. Complete the seasonal service date fields when the Service is only available during a specified period of the year. Make records inactive if you want to temporarily remove them from the search function. Mark records as a template, then use the template data to fill in data for related records. Make the service part of a program, or give a single service a formal program name. Include an unlimited number of telephone numbers, and mark whether each is confidential. Mark records to appear in website and directories. Track dates update requests have been sent to service providers, and dates updates were returned. Tracks dates: record creation, record changes, date update request is sent to service provider, date returned update request is returned, and date the service provider record is formally updated. Internally tracks all data changes and allows rollback to recover deleted data. Use the mass email functionality to send Update Request Reports to service providers; create/save custom cover letters with instructions.

Service Term/Program Maintenance

Maintain a system of service terms (either Taxonomy or Keywords). IRis allows the user to import an AIRS/2-1-1 Taxonomy subscription file into IRis 4.0. The user may then enable or disable entire levels, branches, or individual terms. When using a keyword system for services, the user may add/delete terms from a user-defined list. The software includes many user-requested features related to maintaining the list of service terms:

• Create a message to appear whenever a certain service term is selected for a referral search (useful for specifying instructions and reminders to the call specialist).
• Create and edit definitions for the each service term
• Add "Use Reference" terms to Taxonomy terms
• Simultaneously attach one service term to multiple Sites
• Create user-defined Taxonomy terms (for specialized I&R agencies)
• Easily apply taxonomy updates using the built-in import/update utility
• Create user-friendly service groups/categories to quickly locate service terms used most frequently

Needs List

Create your own Needs list, or use the AIRS national needs list. This includes the capability to associate service terms with need terms, thereby reducing frustration for the call specialists and increasing statistical accuracy.