Transcript Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Your Agency’s Silver Lining:
The Resource Department
Cathleen Dwyer Kelly, CRS, CIRS
Principal, CDK Consulting
[email protected]
www.CDKConsulting.com
Resource Departments are often
overlooked, but without them,
I&Rs could not do their jobs.
Overview
What is a Resource Department?
 What does a Resource Department do?
 Why do you need one?
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Resource Department
Responsibilities
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keeping the resource database up-to-date;
producing printed and/or electronic
directories or any other database products
(such as mailing labels or database on the
web);
supporting the community’s need for
information by disseminating call center
statistics (the number and types of services
requested, unmet needs in the community,
etc.)
AIRS Standards and the
Resource Department
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Standard 5: development of inclusion/exclusion
criteria for the database;
Standard 6: development of a standardized profile
for each organization listed in the resource database
 includes 17 required, six recommended and seven
optional data elements;
Standard 7: indexing the database in a meaningful
manner to allow retrieval of the information therein;
Standard 8: adherence to a classification system or
taxonomy
Standard 9: regular maintenance of the database.
Development of Inclusion/Exclusion
Criteria (Standard 5)
Standard
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The Resource
Department must
develop, maintain,
and publish
guidelines regarding
the scope of its
resource database.
must be reviewed,
at minimum, once
every three years.
Competency
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A Resource
Specialist must be
able to understand
the criteria
established and
have the ability to
apply them
consistently.
Development of a Standardized Profile
(Standard 6)
Standard
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The information
within the resource
database must be
collected using a
standard survey
document (often
called a “profile”) to
ensure consistency
within the resource
database.
Competency

Determining how to
structure an
agency—how to
organize an
agency’s information
into these
components—
requires research
skill and analytical
ability
Required Fields
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fax number;
URL (Uniform Resource
Locator—their Web site
address);
e-mail address;
legal status;
days and hours of
operation;
name and title of the
director;
documents required;
languages other than
English
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how one applies for the
service;
eligibility;
target populations
served;
fee structure and
methods of payment;
geographic area served.
Why Your Organization Needs A
Resource Department
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Gathering, understanding and
structuring this detailed information
required by AIRS necessitates trained
professional staff who are inclined
toward detailed, analytical work. This is
a different skill set than that required of
I&R Specialists who respond to phone
or in-person inquiries
Indexing the Resource Database
(Standard 7)
Standard
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Ensure the database
is indexed properly
using the AIRS
Taxonomy.
Competency
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Ensure indexing is
consistent (every
agency that offers a
particular service
should be indexed
using the same
term)
Accurate (the
correct term is
chosen for the
service)
Indexing Competencies
indexing is a labor-intensive process that
requires staff who are
 familiar with health and human service
concepts,
 have high reading comprehension and an
excellent vocabulary.
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For this reason, indexing the resource
database should be the responsibility of a
trained professional and is generally
considered a Resource Specialist’s primary
job responsibility.
Adherence to a Classification System
(Standard 8)
Standard
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Resource Department
must keep its version of
the Taxonomy current
by adding and changing
terms and references as
the Taxonomy evolves.
AIRS Standards dictate
that new taxonomy
upgrades must be
integrated within six
months of issuance.
Competency
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Adding new terms
to the Taxonomy or
changing definitions
often involves reindexing the
resource file to take
advantage of the
new terms and to
ensure accurate
indexing.
Database Maintenance (Standard 9)
Standard
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The Resource Department
needs to periodically
contact all of the agencies
contained in the
database.
Resource database must
be “totally updated” at
least annually, regardless
of the number of agencies
listed, and a mechanism
must be in place to
ensure interim updates or
ad-hoc updates as
needed.
Competency
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The difficult aspect of
database maintenance
is ensuring that the
Resource Department is
adequately staffed to
update the entire
database once per year
and to process ad-hoc
changes within an
acceptable period of
time
Database Maintenance (Standard 9)
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investigating and correcting database information
which has been reported to be erroneous;
restructuring agencies in the event of a merger or
reorganization;
adding new agencies, sites, or services/programs;
deleting discontinued agencies, sites, or
services/programs;
reindexing entries to reflect Taxonomy changes; and
reindexing entries to reflect changes in services
offered by an agency
Core Competencies for Resource
Specialists
Analytical skills
 Interviewing skills
 Writing skills
 Understanding of and interest in the
human service delivery system
 Technical skills
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The Work Environment—Behavioral
Competencies for Resource Specialists
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Independence:
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Teamwork:
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manage a workload with little supervision
be self-motivated
interact with other Resource Specialists to ensure
consistency
discuss informational needs with I&R Specialists
Flexibility:
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work on different types of projects and agencies
complete repetitive, detailed tasks as well as
complicated analysis of programs
Behavioral Competencies for Resource
Specialists
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Organization:
juggle multiple projects at one time
 concentrate on each project with great
respect for detail
 adhere to a structure and rules for
consistency
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Resilience:
withstand criticism
 work with agency staff who may be
negative or disinterested
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Concepts to be Included in a Training
Program
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an overview of
information and
referral (including
listening to I&R
Specialists take
calls)
an overview of
major health and
human service
programs (if
needed)
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using the software
understanding the data
structure employed by
the software
a review of the
inclusion/exclusion
criteria used for the
resource database
understanding the tax
classifications of
organizations—nonprofit, for-profit, etc.
Resource Specialist Tasks and Skills
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profile / data collection
form review
Taxonomy overview and
indexing training (one of
the most difficult skills to
learn)
style manual review
(conventions for entry)
interviewing skills
(procedure for agency
phone contact)
research skills (finding
information, utilizing
search engines, common
sources for information,
fact-checking)
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organization skills
(prioritizing, handling
paperwork, etc.)
data collection
procedures;
structuring resource
database entries—what
constitutes an agency,
a site, and a service;
determining legal
names for agencies and
organizations; and
indexing.
Concepts to be Included in a Training
Program
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overview of information
and referral (including
listening to I&R
Specialists take calls)
an overview of major
health and human
service programs (if
needed)
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using the software
understanding the data
structure employed by
the software
a review of the
inclusion/exclusion
criteria used for the
resource database
understanding the tax
classifications of
organizations—nonprofit, for-profit, etc.
Evaluation Checkpoints
number of updates completed;
 difficulty level of the updates;
 the total workload managed;
 quality of updates (accurate indexing,
proper grammar, accurate assessment
of services); and
 interaction with agency staff.
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Benefits of Having a Resource
Department
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Resource Departments
save time
 save work
 make your organization look professional
 helps you adhere to AIRS Standards
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Further Reading and
Resources
www.airs.org - look in the library for
helpful articles download a copy of the
AIRS standards – free from AIRS website.
 www.211taxonomy.org - library has great
articles
 join the AIRS Networker and Taxonomy
Listservs (links from AIRS.org)
 [email protected]
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