Uniti Client Management System

Uniti is an intuitive, flow oriented client relationship application which aids the management of students within a university counselling or students services environment. Using a flexible but functional process flow, any client registering with the system is tracked through all the stages of support until finally being discharged at the end of the process. The system is internet browser based and, by using the proper IT set up, the system may be accessed by any practitioner at any time with the appropriate security credentials.

Process Flow

Each stage of a client’s progression is fully documented with registration, referral, tracking and summary forms. There is a client file which is created automatically on registration and along with this file other electronic documentation can be attached, such as PDFs, images and normal office documents. The system uses a sequence of “inboxes” to contain clients of a particular status. The client may appear in more than one of these boxes depending on their circumstance. All of the columns of each of the inboxes may be sorted in order by clicking on the title of the columns.

Clients and sharing

Any client may be seen by any number of practitioners. This is achieved by the client sharing mechanism. A client is allocated to practitioners through a referral mechanism so that there is a full audit trail of the client’s progression through the system.

Notes and Documents

Each interaction between practitioner and client is fully documented. This includes the tracking of appointments and the associated notes as well as ad-hoc notes which may be necessary after having an impromptu meeting with a client, i.e. during email exchange or a telephone conversation. Notes are input into the system using a fully formatted text input environment allowing copy and paste from other electronic documents such as Word.

There is a full documentation interface which allows the practitioner to locate and view all the associated documents and notes for each of the clients. There is an optional privacy setting which allows the system to display notes to the authors or other contributory practitioners of the client, rather than those with general access to the system.

Document Upload

As well as holding the notes generated from counselling practice, the system also has a document store available for each of its clients. This accepts documents converted into an electronic format, such as scanned documents from a client’s GP or a PDF document sent by other support practices.

Bespoke Documents

Uniti facilitates the creation of bespoke documents. These documents can capture and promt the capture of any information required by the practitioner from the client. Documents are created in in the application using the form designer. Firms created can be:

Used internally by the practitioners
Sent to the client for completion
Sent to a third party for information sharing

The system also facilitates Triage, Referral and Treatment Summary by the use of internal system forms. Using these predefined forms, a full history of the client relationship can be tracked from registration, initial consultation through to discharge.

Appointment System

The appointment system has proved to be very effective in reducing the time and effort in tracking and controlling appointments. All appointments are mapped on the system to provide confidence that:

Every client is offered an appointment in a timely fashion
Practitioners do not need to 'find' appointments as these are tracked and presented by the system
Free appointment slots are tracked and offered
Expired/Cancelled appointments are returned back into the system for re-allocation
All appointment history requests are tracked
There is a correspondence handshake to ensure that both Practitioners and Clients are available before an appointment is confirmed

When an appointment is requested, the necessary electronic request is sent to the practitioner's email, as well as the client’s, to allow easy entry into a calendar diary system, such as Outlook or Thunderbird.

The status of an appointment is tracked and can be updated or cancelled accordingly.

There is closed loop tracking on all appointments made to ensure that each appointment has a corresponding session note attached. Failure to present a note for an appointment is highlighted to the practitioner in the outstanding notes 'inbox'. Offered appointments are tracked and have an expiry period for acceptance. There is an email request mechanism that tracks the status of any offered appointments. There is a single click allocation appointment mechanism. This scans the appointment database for free appointment slots and presents these available appointments to the user, facilitating the creation of an appointment request.

Visibility of offered appointments is presented to the practitioner each time they use the application. Every client in the system has a colour coded appointment icon. This icon has three modes.

The Calendar icon. This signifies that the client is in need of an appointment

Red tentative information icon. This shows that an appointment has been offered, but has not been accepted

White confirmed information icon. This means that the client has a confirmed appointment.

Amber icon shows that the appointment request has expired

Red icon is for an appointment needing to be re-scheduled

As soon as the appointment is in the past, the appointment icon reverts to the calendar image. This ensures that the practitioner is always advised on the appointment status of their client at a glance.

The administration of all appointments may be done by either the practitioner or an appointed administrator on behalf of the practitioner.

Re-occurring Appointment Control

The appointment environment allows the creation of re-occurring weekly appointments within the system. A practitioner can now easily schedule future appointments with their client knowing that the appointments presented are free. There is also the facility to change multiple appointments within the system simultaneously.

Appointment Handshaking

Appointments are offered and accepted by the system by using a combination of email and web services. When an appointment is created an automatic email is sent to the client offering the appointment. The email contains all the information of the appointment with a 'Manage my Appointment' link on the email. Clicking on the link takes the client to the appointment management section of the application. They now have the opportunity to either:

Accept the Appointment
Reschedule the Appointment
Withdraw from services

The appropriate acceptance / cancellation message is sent again to all parties. When everyone has accepted the appointment a final email is sent which contains an electronic appointment attachment which can automatically enter the appointment details into the user's Calendar Application.

Security

There are multiple levels of security within the application. Access is achieved using standard user-name and password. Practitioners are requested to change their passwords every six months. Standard browser encryption is used to serve the web environment using the HTTPS protocol. All documents that are uploaded are encrypted during the upload process and all information in the database is also encrypted to ensure client privacy and protection of sensitive information.

Printing

All notes and uploaded documents may be printed and there is an option to print all the client notes in a comprehensive format.

Searching

One of the main advantages of the application is the ability to get to information fast. You can search the database for appropriate keywords or simply the client name. The status and location of any of the search results are returned in an instant to give direct and fast access to the history and status of that client.

Short-lists

Each practitioner has a short-list or bookmark facility to keep track of clients of most interest. Clients are easily added by clicking on the Add to Short-list icon and then appear in the short-list box until removed.

Feedback

There is a feedback facility which allows the completion of a feedback form which is also stored in the system in an anonymous or client referenced format. The feedback facility is also available for the group environment.

Groups

There is a group facility within the system which allows the creation and administration of group therapy and/or group workshops. This system tracks the flow of individuals through the group process, easing the need for time-consuming administration. Each group session has an attendance register and the ability to add and remove clients. One can also attach a note specific to the client whilst still maintaining notes at a group level.

Reporting

It is possible to run a report at any time to extract key information of activity within the system. These reports are date driven and can be processed at any time to give a current snapshot of the system.

Alerts

Certain boundary constraints have been built into the system such as time to first appointment, time since last appointment. Any client who triggers one of these boundary points is automatically raised as an alert and highlighted within the alerts section of the system for immediate action. This ensures that a client never becomes 'lost' or 'forgotten' within the system.

Client under risk

Each time a practitioner logs into the system, the home screen displays a list of all clients who are marked as being at serious risk. This makes practitioners aware of these clients on a daily basis.

Customisation

Each form can be custom tailored to suit the needs of the university. The look and feel of the application such as the colour scheme and branding can be customised.

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