Service Transactions with Fund Source
- Amy Bartels
- Aleia Fletcher
For the 23-25 biennium, OHCS requires that all direct payment service transactions be associated to a fund source and include an amount. These transactions can include (but are not limited to) rent payments, arrearages, deposits, utilities, and landlord engagement.
Examples of service transactions that are NOT direct payment would include food boxes, sleeping bags, and other non-cash items.
Before you get started, remember:
All transactions must be created from the profile of the person who is marked as Self (head of household) on the entry assessment. This will mark the head of household as the Primary Client on each transaction.
Include all household members who have been enrolled in your entry/exit project on the service transaction by checking the box next to their name (see below).
The start date and time of every service must occur after the entry date and time of the project enrollment. The end date and time of every service must occur before the date and time of the provider exit. If the date and time of a transaction does not sit in between the entry and exit, it will not be counted. If you create the entry before any service transactions and follow the instructions below, the transactions should already fall between entry and exit dates/times.
When creating a service transaction, make sure each field is filled out as appropriate. Some instructions for each field are below.
Service Provider – this is always the same as the entry/exit provider the client is enrolled in.
Start Date and End Date – will depend on your Service Type. Some services are provided for a single day (like case management or food) but others like rent payment assistance should be dated to cover the entire month that you paid rent for. In these cases, the start date should be the first day of the month which is being covered and the end date should be the last day of the same month unless
You are paying arrearages. An arrearage payment should have a start and end date of today and all months of arrears can be grouped into one transaction.
Ex: On October 1st, you are paying for July and August arrearages. The arrearages will be one transaction with a start date of 10/01 and end date of 10/01 (adjust the times as needed!).
You just enrolled the client into a provider or project mid-month, and the client is requesting rental assistance for that month. In this case, make the start date the date of the entry (make sure the time occurs after your entry time!) and the end date will be the last day of the month.
Ex: On September 15th, you are covering September rent and the provider start date of the project is also Sept. 15th. The September service transaction payment will have a start date of 9/15 and end date of 9/30.
Service Type – Choose an appropriate service type for the transaction.
Provider Specific Service – If there is nothing in the drop-down for this field, then ignore this field. Not all agencies will have this field set-up for use.
Service Notes – Include all months the transaction paid for and any other relevant notes.
Number of units – this is the number of months that was paid for by the transaction. For example, arrearages for July and August would be 2 units. A single month of utilities would be 1 unit.
Unit Type – the Unit Types available vary by project. Please use the Unit Type that makes the most sense for the type of payment you are recording. If you do not have a Unit Type option that works, contact the CoC HMIS Lead or the OHCS HMIS team.
Cost per Unit/Total Cost of Units – please do not fill out these fields.
Apply Funds for Service – click the chevron to expand this section and fill out all required fields.
Vendor – all transactions must have a vendor attached. Please search and make sure the vendor does not already exist in the system before adding a new vendor (only the CoC HMIS Lead or the OHCS HMIS team can create new vendors). If making a direct payment to a tenant, you can leave the vendor blank but please put that this was a “direct payment” in the Service Notes.
Client Co-Pay – this must be filled out any time a client is receiving a subsidy instead of a full payment.
Add Funding Source – a funding source must be added to all transactions and the transaction amount must be entered.
Follow Up Information - These fields are not required but they can be filled out if you want to send a reminder to yourself or another user about following up on this transaction.
Need Information - If the service was processed and paid, the Need Status is usually Closed and Outcome of Need is Fully Met or the option that most closely represents the outcome.