AHAR 101 and AHAR Exchange 101
September 2009
Agenda
1. Introduction to the AHAR
• Who, what, when, where, why
2. Key AHAR Reporting Requirements
• Standard data outputs
• Common data quality issues
3. Data Collection and Submission Process
4. Data Collection Tool – AHAR Exchange
5. Questions and Answers
Introduction to the AHAR
What is it?
• An annual report to Congress about the number and
characteristics of people who use homeless residential services
and their patterns of use.
• HUD’s emphasis on HMIS implementation and AHAR participation
– AHAR participation status is a question in HUD’s CoC funding
application
• It can be found online at:
http://www.hudhre.info/documents/3rdHomelessAssessmen
Report.pdf
or
www.hmis.info
Introduction to the AHAR
Who reports to the AHAR?
• The current AHAR can cover an entire CoC or a
jurisdiction within a CoC, including the residential
programs located in those areas:
– 102 AHAR Sample Sites: Community Development Block
Grants (CDBG) jurisdictions, which can be large cities,
cities with 50,000 or more people, urban counties, and nonentitlement (or rural) areas. Some CDBG jurisdictions
coincide with the geographic boundaries of CoC (e.g., large
cities).
– Contributing Communities: CoCs that provide CoC-wide
data.
Introduction to the AHAR
• 2009 AHAR
– Reporting Period: October 2008 – September 2009
• The AHAR reporting period is a 12-month timeframe
• Anyone who accesses an emergency shelter or
transitional housing program during the time period
should be included in your AHAR Data.
– Data Collection Period: October – December 2009
2009 AHAR Schedule
Activity
Schedule
2009 AHAR Reporting Period Ends
September 30, 2009
AHAR Exchange: Webinar and Conference Call
Training
September 21 – October 1,
2009
Submit Complete Draft of AHAR Data
November 15, 2009
Ongoing Review of AHAR Data by Research Team
Within 2 days of receipt
Submit Complete and Final AHAR Data
December 15, 2009
HUD Publishes 2009 AHAR Report
June 2010
Introduction to the AHAR
What data are reported to the AHAR?
1. HMIS data:
– Based on HUD’s Universal Data Elements
– Limited to emergency shelters and transitional housing programs
only
2. CoC Exhibit 1 data:
– Housing Inventory data
– Populations Chart
– Subpopulations Chart
AHAR Reporting Requirements:
HMIS Data
HMIS data are reported in 4 program categories:
1. ES-IND:
2. ES-FAM:
3. TH-IND:
4. TH-FAM:
all persons served in emergency shelters
for individuals
all persons in families served in
emergency shelters
all persons served in transitional housing
for individuals
all persons in families served in
transitional housing
aggregates information from 4
5. SUMMARY: mostly
reporting categories
AHAR Reporting Requirements (con’t.)
• HMIS Data:
– An unduplicated count of persons within 4 program
categories.
– Persons should be reported in multiple program types
if they were served accordingly. (AHAR Exchange is
programmed to adjust for cross-over.)
– Only HMIS participating programs provide data.
(AHAR Exchange has built-in adjustment factors to
account for non-participation.)
AHAR Reporting Requirements:
CoC Data
• CoC Exhibit 1 Data:
– Accurate bed inventory information is critical – used to
calculate adjustment factor, bed utilization rates, and
understand possible biases in program participation.
– At present, CoC Exhibit 1 is the only source of
unsheltered counts, and the reliability of street counts
can vary.
– Until the program-specific data elements are
incorporated, the subpopulation counts are an
important source of information.
AHAR Reporting Requirements for Participation
To participate in the AHAR, your HMIS must be capable of:
1. Producing a one day point-in-time count, average day count, and
longitudinal counts.
2. Identifying clients with multiple program use—e.g., how many
people in ES-IND were also served in TH-IND.
3. Counting persons by household type—e.g., individual adult male,
adult in household with children, or unaccompanied youth.
4. Generating frequencies by basic demographic characteristics.
5. Cross-tabulating total length of stays within each programhousehold type, by gender and age.
6. Totaling the number of households with children by program type.
AHAR Reporting Requirements: New for 2009 AHAR
Changes to the 2009 AHAR:
• Supplemental report on veterans that relies on current
reporting requirements (ES-IND, ES-FAM, TH-IND, and
TH-FAM) but only applied to veterans
– Excludes household members other than the veterans
– AHAR Exchange will be modified accordingly to allow
communities to report on veterans separately from all
sheltered persons
– Priority will be placed on completing the regular
submission process before turning to the data on veterans
AHAR Reporting Data Quality
Three Key Data Quality Indicators:
1. Bed Coverage: the total number of beds in HMIS divided by the
number of beds in the CoC
• Communities must have at least 50% HMIS bed coverage in 1
or more reporting categories
2. Bed Utilization: the number of people served on a given night
divided by the number of available beds the same night
• HMIS participating agencies must be recording accurate entry
and exit dates for all clients served during the reporting period
• Looking for utilization rates between 65%-105%
3. Data Completeness: a low rate of missing data across all questions
• HMIS participating agencies must be collecting the HUD
required Universal Data Elements
Data Collection: Most Common HMIS Data
Quality Issues
1. Low provider coverage: must extrapolate based on
limited information.
2. Missing exit dates: produces an over-count of
persons served and exceedingly high bed utilization
rates.
3. Missing entry dates: produces an under-count of
persons served and very low utilization rates.
4. Missing data: high percentage of missing data on
certain questions (e.g., disability and veterans
status).
AHAR Exchange
• AHAR Exchange is a web-based data collection tool for
communities to report their data
• To access AHAR Exchange go to http://ahar.hmis.info/.
• This site is accessible through Internet Explorer (6+),
Firefox (2+) and Chrome.
Login
• To begin entering data, choose the login option from main menu
• User names and passwords for AHAR Exchange are the same as
those in www.HMIS.info
• A site may have several users assigned to it so different community
stakeholders can read and write data in the reporting categories.
Main Menu
• AHAR Exchange
has 7 Main Menu
Options:
– Home,
– Site Status,
– My Data,
–
–
–
–
Upload,
Messages,
Users,
Files,
– Reports,
Home
• By clicking on ‘Home’, the user
will always be brought back to
the AHAR Exchange Home
Page.
• On the AHAR Exchange Home
Page, you can access AHAR
and general resources.
– The same resources can be
found under the “Annual
Homeless Assessment
Report” topic on HMIS.info
Site Status
• The Site Status page allows
users to see sites and reporting
categories assigned to them.
• This page also allows the user
to see what stage the reporting
category is currently in. (Ex.
activated, in progress, not
started, in review, confirmed,
complete)
My Data
• The My Data page is where
the AHAR 5 data should be
entered.
• On this page you will see five
reporting categories.
• ES-Family- Emergency Shelters
for Families
• ES-Individual- Emergency
Shelters for Individuals
• TH-Family- Transitional Housing
for Families
• TH-Individual- Transitional
Housing for Individuals
• Summary- Summary of the four
reporting categories
My Data (continued)
• ‘Not Reporting’: Select this if you
will not be reporting data for a
reporting category
• ‘Zero Provider’: Select this if you do
not have any providers within a
reporting category
• If you choose either option, AHAR
Exchange will inform your Data
Collector that this reporting
category was marked as such.
• Otherwise “Enter Data”
My Data (continued)
• Each reporting category has a number of features that can
tell you the status of your data as well as links for you to
enter, edit and view your data
• Additionally, if a community submitted 2008 AHAR data,
they will be able to navigate to it on the My Data page.
• The 2008 data is read-only and available through the
drop-down on the top left of the My Data or Reports page
Users
• The Users tab allows
communities to assign multiple
users to be able to read and
write data in AHAR Exchange.
• Primary Contacts can add
additional users using the
“Users” menu option
– Primary contact is
ultimately responsible for
the data
– Audit log keeps track of
changes to the data.
Multi-User Login
• Process for adding a user:
– Click on the “Add Contact” button
– Enter email, first name, last name
– By default, new contacts have “read-only” access
• Add “write” access, if desired
Multi-User Login
• Access is linked through HMIS.info
• All users must have an account on HMIS.info in order to
access the AHAR Exchange
– The primary contact will be alerted, if the new user does not have
an account
– A “placeholder” will be created.
• Once the user creates an HMIS.info account using the same
email address, he/she will have access to the site.
Entering Data for a Reporting Category
• From the My Data page the user
can access the questions in
each category by clicking ‘Enter
Data’.
• Once inside each reporting
category the user can navigate
through the questions.
Entering Data for a Reporting Category (continued)
• The user also has the ability to
select questions from the drop
down list below each category.
Entering Data for a Reporting Category (continued)
• To complete the report fill in the
answer to each question.
• To access the next question
click on the ‘Save & Next’ button
either below or above the
question on the right side of the
page.
• To access the previous question
click on the “Save & Previous”
button below or above the
question on the left side of the
page.
Entering Data for a Reporting Category (continued)
• Additional information about
each question and footnotes are
below the question in the ‘Help’
Box
On Screen Validation
• If a mistake is made, you will be
alerted by an error message.
However, this will not stop you
from accessing the rest of the
questions in a reporting
category. Errors will be noted by
an error alert on an individual
page and by the validation
report.
Validation Report
• After you finish the last question
and click ‘Save’ you will be
brought to the validation report
for the category. The validation
report will indicate if the data is
valid or if there are any errors
within the report.
Submitting Your Data
• After you have entered your
data and corrected any errors,
choose ‘Submit for Review’ from
the My Data page. The data for
that reporting category will then
be sent to your AHAR Data
Collector for review.
Confirming Data
• After data has been submitted
and reviewed and all reporting
categories are complete, the
‘Confirm Data’ button becomes
active.
• All data must be confirmed by
December 15th.
Overall Workflow
• When you ‘Set: Not Reporting’ or ‘Set: Zero Provider’, the category status
is immediately changed to “In Review”
• If you are entering data, the status is changed to “In Progress.” You have the
option to “Submit for Review” at any time.
• Note: Options for Summary category depend on other categories.
– E.g. If there is at least one category reporting, then you cannot mark the
status as “Zero Provider”
• AHAR Data Collector reviews the data:
– If your data needs additional work, then the status will be changed back
to “In Progress.” You will be able to make any necessary changes.
– If your data are good, the AHAR Data Collector will mark the category as
“Complete”
• Once data for all five reporting categories is complete, you will be able to
“Confirm” that the data best represents your community.
Veterans Only
• In 2009, communities will be submitting separate data for
veterans
• Veteran data is due after “All Persons” Data
– Veterans categories are not activated until communities
submit their “All Persons” Data
– Draft Veteran data is due February 1st
– Final Veteran data is due March 1st
Veterans Only
• Access Veterans reporting through Site Status or dropdown on My Data screen
• The “Veterans Only” logo on the top right reminds you
which type of report you are working on
• Messages and data input labels all specify the reporting
type
AHAR Exchange Reports
• The reports option on
AHAR Exchange allows
you to access various
reports on the data for
your community.
• Some reports are for use
during the AHAR data
collection process, while
others are for general
community use.
AHAR Exchange Reports (con’t.)
• Data Summary: This report will be generated by the Summary reporting
category. The Data Summary report provides an overview of your AHAR data
and is used to finalize your data.
• Extrapolated Counts: For jurisdictions with < 100% bed coverage, provides
homeless counts that include estimates for providers not participating in
HMIS.
• Demographics Report: Provides the percentage of persons in each
demographic category.
• Prior Living Situation: Shows and categorizes the prior living situations of
homeless people counted in the AHAR data.
• Length of Stay: Breaks down the amount of time each person used shelter
during the AHAR reporting period.
• Long Term Stay: Presents demographic data on those who used ES for
more than 180 days and compares to the entire homeless population.
Other AHAR Exchange Features
• XML Upload
• Built-in data validation
• Send messages to AHAR Data Collection Team
• Additional reports for local/community use
Additional Features
• Application Security Features (in accordance with HUD
guidelines)
• Time out after 15 minutes of inactivity
• Lockout after 3 successive failed logins
• Change password every 45 days
• Data Stored in a Secure, Professional Hosting Environment
• Redundant Hard drives
• Nightly Backups
• Intensive Physical Security, (e.g., 24/7 Surveillance)
• Section 508 Compliance (accessible to the visually impaired)
The Sandbox Feature
• A special feature of AHAR Exchange is the AHAR
Exchange Sandbox.
• The Sandbox is a “dummy” AHAR site which was
designed for public viewing and testing the AHAR data
collection screens and for generating and testing upload
files
• To access the Sandbox site go to sandbox.hmis.info/.
• Communities may use Sandbox year round to monitor
AHAR data quality
Resources – 2009 AHAR Schedule
Activity
Schedule
2009 AHAR Reporting Period Ends
September 30, 2009
AHAR Exchange: Webinar and Conference Call
Training
September 21 – October 1,
2009
Submit Complete Draft of AHAR Data
November 15, 2009
Ongoing Review of AHAR Data by Research Team
Within 2 days of receipt
Submit Complete and Final AHAR Data
December 15, 2009
HUD Publishes 2009 AHAR Report
June 2010
Conclusion
Questions or comments:
• E-mail AHAR Team at:
[email protected]
• Submit question through “Ask the Expert” on:
www.hmis.info