No, discharged clients may also be included in the report based on the report's date range.  Specifically, the report looks at any clients with program histories in the selected program where the program stay overlaps with the "Roster Date Range" report period at some point.  As a result, the client could have been on the current roster for only part of the report period but still be included in the report contents.

Yes.  A date can be added to signature lines upon request.  For more information, please contact the Help Desk.

Yes.  Functionality is available (upon request) that will enable users to write group and progress notes for pending clients (those clients for whom intake has been processed but not admission).  To determine if this functionality is right for your program, please contact the Help Desk for assistance.

Yes.  A blank supervisor signature line can be added (by program type) upon request.  For more information, please contact the Help Desk.

The Worker drop-down selection list seen by users with the "Surrogate Data Entry" permission during the progress notes data entry process will include former employees if the termination dates for those employees are within the note editing window.  For example, if the default note editing window is 14 days and the employee was terminated 7 days ago, he or she would be available for selection.

Yes, with the Set Billable Flag permission assigned under System Setup > Permissions Maintenance. Once this permission has been assigned to you, view the note in report mode, uncheck the Include in Billing? checkbox, then click UPDATE SELECTIONS. (Keep in mind that if the checkbox is read-only, the note has already been included in an invoice and cannot be de-selected.)

ACT and CR program types are excluded from using the "Include in Billing?" feature. Those programs do not display this option, even for users that have the permission set. (If a report is run for a program grouping that contains ACT or CR programs, the feature is hidden then as well.)

The automatic progress notes created from discharge note sections cannot be turned off; however, the discharge note sections of the discharge form are optional, and when left blank no progress note is created.  Discharge note sections can be re-labeled to instruct users to leave them blank, or to only complete certain sections of the note, which will result in fewer progress notes being created.  If you would like to re-label these discharge record components, please contact the Help Desk.

Yes, the default is for the note written date to change to the editing date when a note is edited. 

  NOTE: There is an option that can be set behind-the-scenes (for the database as a whole, not individual programs) that will prevent the original note written on date from ever changing, regardless of whether the note is later edited.  If that's something you're interested in, please contact the Help Desk.  Please be aware though that use of this preference can sometimes be problematic for auditing purposes.

That is not possible at this time; instead, write the progress note using one of the available dates for the current program stay.  Once you've done so, contact the Help Desk to request that the note's date be changed to the correct previous program stay date.

When you select the discharge disposition note from the progress note index in data entry mode and click continue, the settings page that is then shown has two buttons at the bottom - DISCHARGE NOTE and CONTINUE.  If you click DISCHARGE NOTE you will then be able to make changes to the discharge note, including the discharge disposition, without changing the note type.  If you instead click CONTINUE and make changes to the note its type will change to criteria for discharge.

Currently we do not have a way to filter amendments out of Service Contact ReportBuilders.  One possible workaround though, is to have staff always enter specific text in their amendments (for example, preceding the note text with "Amendment:") so that you could filter out any notes with that text. 

There is no way to change the writer of a progress note once it is written, even if you have the related "Surrogate Data Entry - Progress Notes" permission.  If the note writer needs to be changed after the note has been written and saved, you must delete the note in question and have the correct writer re-enter it, or re-enter it yourself under the correct writer's name if you have the surrogate permission.

Someone within the agency who has access to the Human Resources module will need to enter your job title in your Staff Information record.  That title will then show up on the signature line for your progress notes.

To delete a form included in a progress note, you must access the relevant note from data entry mode and click the red "x" icon next to the read-only name of the included form on the settings page.  Once an included form has been removed, you can then include a different form if needed or re-include the same form if you'd like to start from scratch.

  NOTE: The "Delete FormBuilder Form" permission is not required to complete this process as it is when deleting forms from other AWARDS locations.

Electronic signatures are displayed with progress notes when viewed in report mode.  Viewing a progress notes report can help you identify whether specific notes have been signed, and whom they have been signed by.

To get a more general, at-a-glance, picture of which notes have been signed, you can use the Progress Notes ReportBuilder or Service Contacts ReportBuilder.  Using that reporting tool, select "E-Signed" as one of the included variables.  When the report is then run, it will display "Yes" in the E-Signed column for any notes that have e-signatures, and "No" for those that do not.

In order to backdate contacts log entries that contain notes users must have both the "Backdated Contacts Log/Group Notes Data Entry" and "Backdated Progress Notes Data Entry" permissions.  Unless a user has both of those permissions, the backdated contacts logs will remain locked.

AWARDS uses the backdated note editing window (set using the System Setup module, Business Rules, Service Records Editing Rules feature) to determine how long to look for note writers.  Specifically, as long as a note written by the former employee has a date within the note editing window and the employee's end date is within that window, he or she will continue to be available for selection in the worker drop-downs.

For programs using configured billing in AWARDS, all note are billable by default (given they meet the parameters of the invoice generation process.)

  NOTE: This permission does NOT allow electronically signed progress notes to be unlocked.  Only progress notes that have been locked but not electronically signed can be unlocked using the method noted here.

To allow users with the appropriate permission to complete the unlocking process, an "Unlock" link is listed next to any locked progress note in the progress note index in data entry mode.  Click the link to unlock the note.  When prompted, click OK to confirm the unlocking.  The index page is then re-displayed, and the note in question will no longer be displayed as locked.

Progress notes can be written for discharged clients by selecting "roster archives" on the client selection page within the Progress Notes feature.  Note that if the note is being written for a date that is not recent, the user may need the "Backdated Progress Notes Data Entry" permission in order to complete the note.  If the backdating window does not extend back far enough, it can be adjusted using the System Setup module, Business Rules, Note Editing Rules feature.

Yes.  Unless the program is in a program type that begins with "CR," a contacts log record will be created when a progress note is entered. Note that there is the option to override the exception in the case of CR programs.  For more information on that exception, please contact the Help Desk for assistance.

It is important to many AWARDS users to record what the criteria for discharge will be from the point of admission. In order to aid in this, a "Criteria for Discharge Narrative" progress note is automatically generated for a client and seen within the progress notes report when that data is entered in the criteria for discharge text box in the client's service plan. Even though this type of note is automatically generated, it can be deleted as usual by the person who "wrote" it.

In the progress notes report you can only view notes written more than two weeks ago if at least one of the following is true:

  You are the primary service coordinator of the client for whom the notes were written.

  You have the "Backdated Progress Notes Viewing" permission.

  You are in the "Executive Officer" or "Direct Care Program Director" user groups.

When writing service plan linked progress notes it is important to keep in mind the following:

  They cannot be linked to a goal/objective/service/need whose start date is after the note date.

  They can only be linked to an admission note for 28 days after the admission note's due date.

  They cannot be written for a date that is more than 90 days after the last plan review was completed.  (Note that simply entering a done date for the plan using "Update Schedule" from the plan index is not enough - the system looks for actual review text within the plan when determining whether or not a review has been completed.)

The contents of the signature selection list on the progress notes data entry page varies based on the method used to configure e-signatures in the program:

The Record ID data variable available for inclusion in services-related ReportBuilders includes a unique ID for each record.  As part of that ID there is a preceding letter code that also identifies the type of each services record; specifically:

P = Progress Note
C = Contacts Log Record
S = Supportive Services Checklist
G = Group Note
A = Group Attendance Record

If you know that the service plan contains the data you are trying to link to but you are receiving a "no match found" error during the note writing process, check the start date on the part of the plan you are trying to write a note against.  Service plan linked progress notes cannot be linked to a goal/objective/service/need whose start date is after the note date.  Typically the "no match" error is the result of trying to write a note for a date that pre-dates the start date on the part of the plan being worked with.

If the date of discharge is within the date range in the date date selection list, the date of discharge is the default note date.  If the discharge date is prior to the earliest date available in the drop-down, that earliest date is the default note date.

The "crisis" selection is primarily used for clinic billing purposes where a second service can be billed for a given day only if it is a crisis service.  For general purpose use, the crisis designation does not have any actual functionality behind it and is instead used for labeling and reporting purposes.  Note that in the progress notes report, any note that has been set as being a crisis note will show up with "- Crisis" after the note type, and the progress note report settings page contains a "Crisis Notes Only" progress note type selection that will limit the report content to those notes set as crisis notes.

A service plan linked note is linked to a specific goal/method/objective on the client's service plan that matches the service type selected for the plan.  Only one goal/method/objective can be selected in a service plan linked note.  Once the note is saved the corresponding section of the service plan is locked from data entry.

A periodic summary note - which can also be labeled "monthly note," "weekly progress note," or something similar - includes a list of program attendance and services received (both individual and group), and a summary of the client's attendance in the program since the last periodic summary note was written.  The periodic summary note lists ALL goals/methods/objectives on the service plan, regardless of which service type is selected for the note, and the note writer can select the parts of the service plan that were worked on since the last periodic summary note was written.  This action does not create a linkage to the service plan, and does not lock it from further editing.

If multiple electronic signatures have been applied to a record, the ReportBuilder's Locked by E-Sign Date data variable populates with the date on which the first of those signatures was applied.  It is that date on which the record was locked from further edits.

When two progress notes are written for the same date and time, AWARDS sees both as two sections of the same note.  As a result, only one duration is shown in the report because it is expected that a single note would have a single duration.  When it is a general chart note and service plan linked note that are written for the same date and time, the general chart note will always be displayed first in the report and the duration information will therefore be pulled from that note.  In order to have duration information appear for both notes, the note writer must adjust the start time on one or both notes so that they are no longer the same.

While the surrogate data entry permission gives a user the ability to access/edit notes as another writer, the user does not take on that writer's permissions.  The user will be limited by their own permissions, even though they are working with the note as someone else.

All users with chart access permission to the selected program are included in the worker selection list seen in data entry mode by users with the surrogate data entry permission.

The writer selection list is initially limited to users with caseloads in the selected program.  Click Expand Writers List if it is necessary for the writer selections to include all users with chart access who have written a note for someone in the selected program in the last 90 days, regardless of whether those writers are current employees or have been terminated.  When using Roster Archives, the Expand Writers List includes all users with chart access who have written a note in the program in the last 390 days.

In a single-agency AWARDS database, members of the "System Administrators" and "Executive Officer" user groups have the ability to save report formats to be used by other agency users.  In a multi-agency/HMIS AWARDS database, the option to save reports for other users is available to the "System Administrator," "CoC Executive Officer," "CoC Executive Support Staff," and "Agency Executive Officer user groups.  People who are not members of the specified user groups can only save report formats for themselves.

If a signature line for a default signer role has been configured for the progress note and a user meets that role, his or name is automatically displayed in the signature selection drop-down in data entry.  For example, if a signature is configured to include the primary worker as the default signer role, the user assigned as the client's primary service coordinator (set up under Services - Individual > Service Coordinators) is automatically selected for that signature on the progress note.  That selection can then be changed if needed.  If no user meets the specified role (for instance if, in this case, no primary service coordinator is assigned to the client), the signature line's staff drop-down does not default to a value and must be set manually.

Based on program setup the Progress Notes Editing Index page in data entry mode may include a list of service types and dates for face-to-face service plan linked progress notes from last month and this month.  The list of notes from last month is only included on the page up till and including the 9th of the current month.  After that date only this month's notes are listed.

There are several reasons you may be able to sign notes in some programs and not others:

  Each program must configure its own electronic signature rules.  If a given program has not set those rules, electronic signing is not allowed for that program's notes.

  Because each program sets its own electronic signature rules, they will vary.  As a result, your worker type may be able to sign notes in one program and not another, or the signing window may vary from program to program. 

There are several reasons you may be able to sign some notes and not others:

  You have already signed the note.

  The note date is outside of the signing window specified for your worker type using the System Setup module Business Rules feature.

  Your program may set up to allow only certain worker types to sign notes.  Your worker type as it relates to different clients may vary, impacting who you can sign notes for.  For example, if the program is set to allow electronic signing by primary service coordinators, you'll only be able to sign the notes of clients for whom you are the primary worker.

There are several reasons you may not be able to sign a progress note for one of your supervisees:

  The program in which the note was written has not configured its electronic signature rules, or has not configured them to allow work supervisors to sign.

  The progress note date is outside of the signing window specified for your worker type during electronic signature rules configuration in the System Setup > Business Rules feature.

  You have already signed the note in question.

  You are not set up as the note writer's work supervisor under Human Resources > Staff Information.

  The note's date of service is not after the date on which the work supervisor assignment was entered into AWARDS.

In the event that you are unable to write a progress note for a client for a specific date in the past, first check that client's admission date. AWARDS will not allow you to write a progress note for a client prior to his or her admission date unless the program is specifically set up to allow data entry for "*pending" clients.  If the admission date is prior to the note date, next verify that you have the backdated progress notes data entry permission.  Keep in mind that this permission expires every 7 days, so even if you had it in the past you may no longer have it now.  And finally, if you have the backdating permission but are still unable to select the required note date, verify that the backdating window is set far enough back to include that date.  This is done using the System Setup module Business Rules feature.  (Your supervisor may need to assist you in checking for the permission and setting the backdating window if you do not have access to the necessary features in the System Setup module.)

It is expected that "Incident/Review" notes will document sensitive information related to incidents.  As a result, access to notes of this type is limited - in order to view them you must be the note writer, the note writer's supervisor, the program director or deputy program director, or someone with the "Incident Review Data Entry" permission.

Those cells in the Excel version of the report for which functions will not work are noted as such with a green triangle in the top right corner.  if you click on a cell that has one of these green triangles in it, an exclamation point is displayed.  Click the exclamation point for an explanation of why the function is not available.  In the case of the summary portion of the progress notes data report the functions such as "count" do not work in many cases because the number values are stored as text rather than numbers.

The summary information included in the report is provided so that the types of manual calculations that can be completed using Excel functions are unnecessary.  In the event that a manual calculation is still required, you will need to convert the text values to numbers.  To do so, click the exclamation point mentioned above, and select the corresponding option.

Sign with options are only available for the images you uploaded during the process of setting up your electronic signature.  For example, if you uploaded only a full name image and not your initials, only the "No Image" and "Full Name Image" options will be available when signing notes.  Likewise, if you did not upload any images, only the "No Image" option will be available.  For more information on uploading signing images, see Maintaining Your Electronic Signature.

The name associated with disposition notes is that of the last person who edited the information in the corresponding text box on the client's discharge form.

The Progress Notes Index page displays a dollar sign ($) next to notes that have been used for billing purposes (via the BillingBuilder).  For e-signed progress notes, the $ displays in addition to the lock icon.  For other locked notes, the $ displays in addition to the closed radio button.

Removing an e-signature on a billed note will display the Unlock link on the note index, which then allows users (with the Unlock Progress Notes permission) to remove the billing status of the note and make it available for editing.  Note that unlocking the note will not delete the invoice associated with the progress note; it will only remove the billing lock on the note.  For this reason, we promote the best practice of unposting the invoice batch containing the associated invoice, instead of unlocking the progress note on the index.

  NOTE: If a billed note is unlocked on the index, depending on the edits made to the note users may have to access the invoice batch and manually delete the invoice.  Specifically, if the user changes the date, duration, service type, location, linkage to the service plan or anything else that determines whether an invoice may be created, then the invoice created using that note should also be deleted.  If the batch has already been posted and remittance information has already been received, then a reversal must be submitted.  If just the note text was edited but the settings remained the same, the invoice does not have to be manually deleted.

When filtering on a date be sure that the date is entered using mm/dd/yyyy format.  If a different format is used the report filter will not work properly.

Location is only captured for notes that have a corresponding contact log record created for them, and collateral contact notes do not.  As a result, the location information is not saved in such cases, regardless of whether a location is selected.

Assessment notes do not get service types associated with them.  An assessment is supposed to be a general, broad over-arching assessment that touches all types of services, so no one service type will be tied to it.  If the service type is important, you can add a new progress note type that's similar but which will not have the hard-coded rule about not saving the service type.

  NOTE: To have a new progress note type added for a program type, please send a request to the Help Desk.

If the add additional filters link is not displayed, it is an indication that you have reached the maximum number of filters for a given report - eight.  No additional filters can be added in such cases, and so the link is hidden.

When reports in AWARDS are not immediately displaying information updated in the same database login session, it can be indicative of a memory cache issue.  To get around this, press <CTRL+R> while viewing the report page, or click your browser's refresh icon.

The Progress Notes ReportBuilder displays only the first 300 characters of any progress note.  To view full progress note text, please use the Progress Notes feature in report mode and run a general progress notes report.

In the event that there is a locked note for a specific date, time, service type, progress note type, and face to face selection, and the user attempts to enter another note using the same settings, the system will interpret that as the user making an amendment to the existing note. In order to differentiate between the notes, the user should specify a different start time for the new note.

There is a default note editing window in place for all users in a program for progress notes data entry purposes.  This window, set using the System Setup module, Business Rules, Note Editing Rules feature, is 10 days by default (but can be adjusted as needed for each program).  If a note was written for a date that is outside of the default note editing window it will only be accessible from the Progress Notes feature in report mode and cannot be edited without the "Backdated Progress Notes Data Entry" permission.  Keep in mind that there is also a set backdating window for each program, and if the note was written outside of that window adjustments can only be made to it if the backdating window is extended using the System Setup module, Business Rules, Note Editing Rules feature.

For each note three distinct dates are captured - the contact date, the date written, and the date last modified.  While the label on the progress note itself always refers to "date written," the system relies on behind-the-scenes preferences to determine whether what is shown there is in fact the date written, or is instead the date last modified.  In the case of service contact ReportBuilders through, it will always show you the data that you request.  If you choose to include the "Date Written" data variable for example, it will always show you the true value for when the note was written.  If you are seeing a discrepancy between the date written on the note and the date written for that note in a ReportBuilder, it is an indication that your database has been set up to display the date last modified on progress notes rather than the true date written.

If you would like us to adjust how progress notes work in your database so that the date written always shows you the true written on date on both the note and in ReportBuilders, please contact the Help Desk; otherwise, you may choose to change the selections in your ReportBuilder report from "Date Written" to "Date Modified" - doing so would result in your report and the notes display being consistent.

Changing the sort order of an individual detail or summary table on the report page overrides any sorting for those tables specified in the report settings or in a saved report format.  However, the functionality is designed so that such changes do not impact the contents of the Excel file version of report data, nor are they saved when a report format is saved.  If it is necessary to sort the data in the Excel file, Excel has extensive sorting functionality for that purpose.

If multiple notes are written for a single day, only the first note for that day will have a link.  When clicked, that link will open in report mode all notes for that date.  If it is necessary to view and print each of the notes for a specific date individually, you must use the Progress Notes feature in report mode.

Unlike notes such as general chart notes, weekly progress notes and periodic summary notes are not set to record information such as duration, time, or face-to-face.  As a result, that information will not be saved even if selections are made by the user.  There is an option that can be set that will capture this information for weekly progress notes and periodic summary notes; however, the option (which is set by program type) is only turned on upon request.  For more information, and to see if this option is right for your agency, please contact the Help Desk.

  NOTE: Keep in mind that the name of a periodic summary note can be customized for each program.  As a result, the periodic summary note may instead be labeled "monthly note," "weekly progress note," or something similar.