Cases

Overview

The main record of the Recovery module is the Case, which encapsulates all the other records into a single, managed record. Although it appears complex, there are very few required fields within this form, meaning users can simply collect the information they know, and leave the rest unfilled.

Cases provide the following features:

• Users adding Cases can nominate a Case Manager and Field Officer by searching existing users, entering a new requestor or nominating themselves. These officers have special permissions to view and edit Cases that they manage.

• Easy information capture through sections and fields for capturing notes, multimedia, documents and sketches.

• Contact Details for the Primary Contact and other Affected Persons or Organisations. The system tracks consent and permission to share with external agencies and provides permissions and fields for additional privacy and security control. Additionally, their attendance at relief centres can also be tracked through integration with the Relief Registration register.

• An Affected Property can be looked up and attached to the request and associated with an owner or tenant. Additionally, damages to Private Assets, Agriculture, Livestock and Environmental Health Assessments and identified hazards can be attached the the property. A map can be annotated to show the property. Attaching a Property is optional, to allow you to record impacts to assets where the owner or occupier information is not yet known, or in the instance of assisting persons who may be homeless.

• Initial Impact Assessment (IIA) data can be processed using the Assessments register.

• Infrastructure damage (such as damage to public assets, roads or bridges) can be associated with a Case, or managed as a standalone record

• Various workflow fields allow for prioritising, assigning, setting of due dates and tagging to aid in management.

• Ability to create Needs & Tasks to help meet an Applicant's Recovery needs and to refer Cases to external agencies with security policies for access levels.

• Financial tracking of damages and impacts to property

• Assignment and management of Cases can be handled by Recovery Coordinators or Recovery Managers

• Users with permission to send the contents of the Case can create a Communication Message with Persons as recipients

• Detailed Case Files can be generated using the Correspondence functions. Using the consent and information sharing policies to observe security and privacy, Case Files can help for example to provide evidence in legal or insurance claims.

Sub-Items

The following information can be recorded as sub-items in relevant sections of the Case record.

Access to each of the listed registers is based on your system's configuration and license.

Access

To access Cases:

• Cases must be enabled for the event.

• Go on duty with an appropriate role such as a Recovery Officer or Recovery Manager. If you can't access it you may need to ask your administrator to check your permissions.

Locate the Cases register under Recovery > Cases in the menu.

Finding Cases

The register includes a number of features to assist in finding Cases:

• Datagrid view

• Map view

• Filters including workflow, A&TSI, applicant sharing consent, property damage, priority, saved searches, assignments, classifications and tags

• Combination filters and search by most fields including property type

Links to Cases can also be found in Sub-Items such as records of Affected Persons, Relief Registrations etc.

Viewing Cases

Open and view a case record, the records are long and have multiple sections so when working with specific attributes (such as persons or damage), it can be useful to collapse sections that you don't need to work with.

As each section is completed, new fields and options will become available.

The Contacts, Property Damage, Needs & Tasks and other sub-items can be opened and viewed in detail using the View button.

Case Settings

Case records are divided into the following sections (sections may or may not appear depending on what information is entered, your permissions level, and what mode you're viewing):

The form is in an interactive questionnaire format, making it easy for Case and Field officers to complete even on a mobile device or iPad.

Broadly speaking, the following steps are made based on key case considerations:

1. Are any contacts known? If so, complete the Contacts section

2. Is there an affected property? If so, then complete the Impacted Property section including any property damage.

3. Are any follow-up services or tasks required? If so, then add Needs & Tasks

4. Update the record

The system caters for various scenarios including the following:

• Homeless or displaced people where there is no property to record

• Visitors from another region

• Properties that are owner occupied or tenanted

• Impacted or damaged businesses and their owner or manager details

• Damaged property that is vacant or for which the owners or occupiers are not known

• Visitors to evacuation or relief centres who have long term recovery needs

• Affected owners who don't live at the address

• Damaged property or infrastructure which is declared hazardous

Record Notes

When editing, you can record notes as you make changes which will appear in the Activity log.

See Recording Notes

Affected Persons

If you know any affected people or organisations associated with the case, you should add their details starting with the applicant.

If you do not know any contacts

Sometimes you may not know the applicant (for example, if you are adding the case via a field inspection or initial impact assessment), in which case you can skip this section for now, and a counter will help you track cases without applicants.

If you know the contacts

Select The affected person(s) are known if you know the contacts, and then a series of sub-forms appear.

Consent to share personal information should be recorded. There are three options for this which will display a message in a colour coded box at the top of the Case to indicate its current consent status.

Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander question

For assisting in the provision of cultural support you must specify if any of the group is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. If yes, this question will be asked for each individual in the case with an additional question asking if 'culturally specific support' is needed. If the response is yes, a reminder will appear to 'Please add a Need/Task record to manage it' prompting you to add a Need/Task for the case using the 'A&TSI Specific Referral' category for assignment to DFFH.

Adding primary contacts

The first contact you add will be the primary contact. You can add multiple primary contacts to the case if needed by clicking the Add Another button directly under the applicant form.

You can then add additional related persons and organisations by clicking the Add button below the Add related persons and organisations in addition to the applicant heading.

When completing the primary contact sub-form:

1. You may search for existing primary contacts — this searches only the current event, and allows you to avoid duplicates.

2. Primary Contacts can be individuals or businesses

3. If they are living in a temporary address as a result of displacement, check the Has been displaced to a temporary address checkbox, and then enter their temporary address in the fields provided.

4. If they are attending a relief centre, check the Attending Relief Centre box, and then select the relief centre in the field provided.

5. Nominate their preferred postal address.

   1. Use address of property in this case — this will use the case's primary property address which will be entered later

   2. Use temporary address — if the primary contact is using a temporary address, this will use the temporary address

   3. Specify other address — allows another address to be specified

6. Nominate their preferred method of contact

Adding additional contacts

If the primary contact represents a family, then affected family members can be entered here. If the primary contact is a business owner, their affected staff or customers may be entered.

To add an additional contact:

1. Press Add Another for each affected contact

2. You can search existing affected persons to minimise duplication, or add new data

3. You do not need to re-enter the primary contact here

4. If the affected person is attending a relief centre at the time of entry, check Attending Relief Centre and select the relief centre.

5. If the affected person has been displaced, you can specify their temporary address. Note that for families, it is usual to assume the family is living at the primary contact's temporary address.

Impacted Property

Many cases will have affected (or possibly affected) properties.

For example, any primary contact with a property within the municipality should have their property recorded. Visitors to the municipality are an example of a case that will not have an affected property.

If there is no affected property

If there is no affected property, you can skip the entire section.

If there is an affected property

If you specify Add a property within the municipality, then a subform will appear with additional options for the property.

1. Enter the property's Address. This will look up your local property database and will match the asset database, and confirm the location of the property on a map.

2. Specify the Property Use by ticking on the appropriate checkboxes. You can select multiple property uses for the property if needed.

   If you click on the Residential Property Use checkbox, three additional checkboxes will appear: Residential - Primary, Residential - Secondary and Residential - Unclassified. If you click on the Residential checkbox and don't choose one of these options, Residential - Unclassified will be automatically selected on save of the case.

3. Specify the Primary Contact's Relationship to the property.

4. If required, enter any additional Property Details to aid in identifying the property and its purpose. This is useful for farming and business cases.

Property Damage

If you added a property, you can now define any property damage in the Is any property, buildings or private assets damaged? field.

If there is no property damage, then you can answer No and skip this section.

If damage is known, select Damage has been confirmed.

In some cases, you may not know whether there is any property damage, for example when entering cases from a relief centre. If this is the case, select Damage is possible and requires inspection/followup. This activates the inspection workflow counter that guides post-impact assessment teams to coordinate field inspections to determine the damage.

The following sections will only appear if you specify Damage has been confirmed.

If you know the applicant's insurance details, you can specify in the Is the property insured? and Insurance Details fields.

Affected Private Assets

Affected private assets includes homes, sheds, machinery, fencing and economic loss. Your administrator can also define custom asset types specific to your area.

To add an affected asset:

1. Click Add New to enter any affected private assets such as homes, vehicles, fencing, etc.

2. For each private asset:

   1. Select the asset type

   2. Enter the number of units damaged or lost

   3. Specify the damage level

   4. Enter a description of the asset and its damage

   5. Upload any photos

   6. Enter an approximate damage value

Some assets have additional fields. For example, fencing offers fields for the internal and external fencing length, in kilometres.

Affected Agriculture

Tip: Agriculture types can be defined by your administrator to match your local area.

To add details on the affected crops:

1. Click Add New to enter each impacted agriculture crop

2. For each crop:

   1. Select the agriculture type

   2. Specify the damage level

   3. Enter a description and a damage level

Affected Livestock

For each type of livestock, click Add New to record the details. Make sure to save the Case.

Performing Environmental Health Assessments

It is common to perform Environmental Health Assessments (EHA) of affected properties.

1. If performing an EHA on an existing case, find the case in the Recovery Case datagrid, and click the case to load the view form, then click Edit. If the case cannot be found, click New Case to add a new case, and fill in the basic particulars as above.

2. In the Environmental Health Assessment section, click Add New

3. Complete the form

4. Click Save to save the form

The Environmental Health Assessment is a long questionnaire suited to specialists. The top part of the form looks as follows:

Needs and Tasks

Needs and Tasks are used for any services, tasks and immediate needs that require actioning by a provider. This can be a recovery team member or team or an external agency or provider. Needs and tasks can be referred or assigned.

Needs and Tasks are Sub-items. You can add as many as needed. These will be created in the Needs & Tasks register where you can view the full details. Note that you can only create them through Cases, not to the Needs & Tasks register.

When an external agency is assigned a task and has the required consent, they can manage it through Needs and Tasks.

Other Information

The Other Information section contains optional fields for any additional or miscellaneous case handling instructions and information required to perform case tasks not listed elsewhere in the case. These are typically only visible to case managers and the responsible case officer.

Special Case Notes can be used to record information in the form.

Case Documents can hold one or more file attachments.

Communication

The Communication section may contain a Message History in the form of a delivery report of anyone sent this case details.

Workflow

The Workflow section of a Case is used to record information about the record, including the status, priority, assignments any related referral or relief information.

Status

Users set the status of the request by editing the request and changing the value in the Status field.

Statuses are indicated visually and colour coded on the datagrid which allows them to be filtered. Cases have the following Statuses, in order of which they can be set:

Priority

Priority indicates the Case as Urgent, High, Low or Normal Priority.

Case Officer

Case Officer is the person ultimately responsible for the Case. A Coordinator selects a person from the list to assign the Case, or a Case Officer can assign new cases to themselves.

Field Officer

Field Officer is the person who usually conducts on site inspections of properties or interviews contacts in person. A Coordinator selects a person from the list to assign the Case. It can be the same person as the Case Officer, i.e. a Case Officer can assign new cases to themselves.

Referral Source

Referral Source indicates if the Case has been referred from an external agency which is selected from a list. Referrals can come from various sources, however only one can be selected. The Referral Date indicates the date that the Case was referred.

External Case ID

Cases from an external source can be referenced using an External Case ID. This helps them to be reconciled for review.

Relief Registration

Relief Registration indicates whether the Case began as a visitor to a relief or evacuation centre. This will provide a link back to the original relief registration record.

Hazard Status

Hazard Status indicates whether an officer has recorded any hazards on inspection of damage.

Classification

Refer to: Editing Register Items: Classification.

Financial

The Financial section allows coordinators to record dollar amounts for the Total Cost Estimate and Total Cost to Date which is based on any costs logged against the Case.

The system automatically calculates the total cost based on assigned Tasks.

The Total Cost Estimate can be entered manually, however if the total cost of assigned resources exceeds the estimate entered the total of those assigned tasks will be automatically displayed.

Administrative

Save this item as a template can help save time by creating a type of blank Case that already has sections pre-filled. Once a template is created, you can use the Create a Copy command to copy a template.

Correspondence

Refer to: Editing Register Items: Correspondence

Activity

Refer to: Viewing and Opening Register Items: Activity

Updating Cases

When updating Cases:

• Make sure to add notes using the yellow Record Notes field, these can be useful as the case is managed.

• Workflow should be progressively updated to reflect the current status of the case.

• Ensure that the contact details are progressively filled in as information becomes available.

• Update the priority as more is known about the needs of the case.

Adding Cases

To add a new Case:

1. From the Cases register, in the New item menu select the New Case button (or drop down the list from any other register and select it)

2. Complete each section of the Case Settings as required. Note that some options may open up new sections to complete.

3. Save the Case

New Cases will appear with a Status of New.

Bulk Actions

The following additional bulk actions can be performed on Cases via the Actions menu:

Importing Cases

A System Administrator can import Cases in bulk via the Import system using the Recovery Case Import option.

Reports

Several of the Built-in Recovery Reports are based on Case data. This includes Recovery Case with Detailed Applicant Data and Cases with basic applicant. These are also available from the Actions menu.

You can also run reports to detect possible duplicate entries and view files and images attached to cases.