Setting up the Database

Requirements: To download and use this database you will need:

• Microsoft Access 2000 or later
• WinZip or similar software to decompress zipped files. (If your computer does not have the software to open this file then there is trial software available from this link here: http://www.winzip.com/ Install this software first on your computer and then come back to download the database).
• Internet access

Download the Database

1. Follow the "Downloads" link from this webpage to download either the example edition of the database or the blank, (you may wish to download both but we recommend using the example database first to help you become familiar with how it operates before you start to enter your own data).
2. The database will be downloaded as a .zip file and will need to be "unzipped" on your own computer.
3. Save your unzipped database file to your preferred folder on your computer.

Setting up the drop-down menus in the database
We recommend that you open the example database to practice. When you open the database you will see a form like the one below, in the links on the left hand side you will see a title for "Setup page",  click that and it will take you through to the setup page.

Figure 1 Introductory Page (with links to important parts of the database)
 

In order to make this database as an efficient and user-friendly as possible it uses drop-down menus wherever possible for entering information, so in order that the menus include the information that you need to enter you need to visit the tables listed below (by clicking on the links in the Setup Page) and edit their contents before you start to use the database.

List of Drop-down Menus
You will see the following list on the setup page:

• Client's needs
• Medical diagnoses
• Disabilities
• Commissioners
• Sources of referral
• Services provided
• Types of contacts
• Welfare benefits
• Discharge shared care pathways
• Staff / volunteers roles

Click on "Clients Needs" and it will take you to a table like the one below:

Figure 2 Screenshot of the "Client need or issue requiring support" Table
 

If you need to add an additional need to reflect the common needs of YOUR clients then place your cursor in the bottom right-hand cell, type in the additional clients need and press enter / return on your keyboard.

Once you have done that you will see that the table now includes the new "need" you have just entered and the database has automatically given it a new ID number in the left-hand column. You do not need to do anything with this ID number - it is simply there so that the database can connect all the bits of data together and the keep correct records for each of your clients. After you have edited information in this table close it by clicking the close button.

You may find that if you delete any row from any of these tables and then enter a new line row at the bottom the database will enter a new ID number however it may be out of sequence. This doesn't matter, it is simply the way the database links all the different pieces of the information together to make sensible records.

This example looked at the "client need or issues" but after you have gone through the list of drop down menus using the same steps you will find that the drop down menus on your database forms will include the new options you have entered. (We will look at the database forms in the next section so this will be demonstrated).

You will not need to revisit these tables very often, only if you want to add new clients needs, medical diagnoses, Commissioners etc, to change the answers available in the menus in the forms.

Entering details about your staff and any volunteers
Before you start to enter information about your clients you need to enter information about the staff and volunteers who actually have "contact" with your clients, that is, they provide the service to your clients. To do this go back to the Introduction page and look at the links on the left hand side for "Service Details", click it to go to a form that looks like this:

Figure 3 Screenshot of the Organisation Details Form
 

In this screenshot you can see:

• The drop down menu,
• The "?" links are to get online help,
• The white asterisks showing which information is essential to enter 
• Guidance note at the bottom of every page.

This is where you enter information about your organisation and its policies. They are grouped under; risk management policies; service conduct policies, asking you to record which policies you have in place and the date of when they were last updated.

There are also a collection of fields to describe how your organisation manages responsibility and a further section about the type of organisation you are.

Go through this form from top to bottom selecting the appropriate answers from the drop-down menus and entering dates is appropriate including the appropriate boxes.

If you need any further explanation for guidance on the types of policies on the types of legitimate organisations in click on one of the question and follow the links to guidance on organisational types

Further down the form you will come to a button to click to save your organisational details. You will not need to enter this information again unless you update one of your policies and need to enter a new date or if you change your organisational type.

Figure 4 Saving your Organisation Details
 

 
 

Entering Staff Details
As you scroll down the form you will see a section for "Staff Details". Place your cursor in the boxes and type to enter information as before. Complete the rest of the form as far as you can for each member of staff.

Figure 5 Screenshot of the Staff Details Form
 

This part of the database helps you keep information on the make-up of your team and also helps you track some essential service standards such as ensuring your staff have up-to-date criminal records bureau checks, health and safety training etc.

This information on finances and "time" enable you to analyse the cost of each member of staff and your workforce as a whole, (this is not the salary or fees paid to each member of staff but is the actual in cost of having them in your organisation).  Typically this will include costs for employment, for any training and expenses such as travelling. These apply to volunteer staff too because whilst volunteers may not receive a salary they may be paid expenses and should receive some induction training to which you can give a notional cost in this database.

Finally the last parts of this form are about the number of hours a week your volunteers provide (as a minimum and maximum) and how many hours your employed staff are contracted to work per week, with annual leave and public holiday entitlement in hours. This information enables detailed analyses to cost certain clients, particular services you provide, or tracking costs back to particular Commissioners.

If you do not complete all this information at the start you can come back and do it later however you will see that the fields that have a white asterisk are essential to answer the queries that we know people typically people want from their database.

Use the buttons at the bottom of the "Staff Details" section to save each record, and to open a new record.

Figure 6  Navigation Buttons
 

When you have entered information for one staff member/volunteer click on the right facing arrow for "Create a new record" to go to the next record and you will see the fields become blank so that you can enter information about your next member of staff. Continue to enter this information until you have entered details of all of your team.

Close this form and you can now start to in enter information about the clients receiving the usual service.

Entering information about your clients

If you go back to the first introductory page you will see in the links on the left hand side the link for "Main Client Form", clicking on this link to go to the form that looks like the one below. Use this for entering information about your clients:

Figure 7 Client Details
 

Client Details
The top of this form is where you enter information about the clients themselves. It is the information which doesn't change a great deal such as client's date of birth, address, next of kin and the GP Practice where the client is registered. As you go through this form placing your cursor in each field a prompt line appears at the very bottom of the screen to give you some assistance. Again, the fields that have a white asterisk are "essential", - whilst the database will let you carry on and leave these blank IT WILL NOT be able to provide the information that we know people may need - "you can't get out what you don't put in".

If you can wish you can enter information about all your clients at this stage. You will see a set of buttons in the "Client Details" part of the form that work the same as those on the "Staff Details" form.

Note: On this form there are three sets of navigation buttons, To navigate through clients records use the buttons in the "Client details" section only. The others are for navigating the "Episodes" and "Contact" respectively.

Episode Details
You will see on this form there is a section looking at "Episode" details and we need to understand what "episode" means.

Figure 8 Screenshot of the Episode Details part of the form
 

An "episode" is what the database calls a period of time in which any client of yours is in contact with your service. Each client's episode starts when they first had contact with you (at their referral date) and ends when they have the last contact with you and leave your service. An "Episode" is therefore a collection of "contacts" and may last for only one day - if you meet a client just once - or may last many years if the client is in touch with you for a long time.

Perhaps the best comparison is if you have a course of treatment or go on a training course. The course will have a start date and a finish date, between which you will have appointments or training sessions that make up the actual course. In this example:

• You would be the "client"
• The course would be an "episode" and 
• Each appointment or training session would be a "contact".

You can go on two or three courses at once, or you may go on one course after another, so they can be "parallel" or "serial" courses, it's the same with "episodes".

So, in this Episode section we need to enter information about when clients came into contact with your service. Fill the form by placing your cursor in the cell as you have on the previous forms and look at the bottom of the screen for a prompt line to help you.

You will now see that any changes you made earlier in the tables that make up the drop-down menus, such as medical diagnoses or staff members, now appear in the drop-down menus in this form.

Again there are several fields to complete for each client's episode but those with a white asterisks are necessary in order to be able to answer the common questions we have identified is needed through the design of this database.

Contact Details
As you scroll further down the form you'll see the third section where you enter information about each contact between this client and your service.

Figure 9  Screenshot of the "Contacts" part of this form
 

Use your cursor to select a cell and enter information as before noting the guidance at the bottom of the page. If at any point you need to change or add an answer in a drop down menu:

1. Close the form you are working in (MS Access will automatically save your records).
2. Go to the Set up Page again and lick on the link to open the table you need to make the change in.
3. Come back to your form and the drop down menu should now include the option you have just added.

Finally...

The sequence for entering information.
It is important that you enter information about your clients in this sequence...
1. Clients details first followed by
2. Episode details followed by
3. Contact details

... because the database WILL NOT let you enter contact information for an episode that has not begun, because contacts are part of an episode, - in the same way that a single training session is part of a training course in the example we used earlier. Similarly the database WILL NOT let you enter an episode unless it "belongs" to a client.

This is logical because you would not be able to have a contact (an appointment or a meeting or a telephone conversation) unless you have a client with which to contact therefore when you enter information about the contact the database has to attach this to an episode and that episode in turn has to be attached to a client hence the sequence:
1. Client
2. Episode
3. Contact

Security
This is your responsibility and a serous topic to consider including:

• Locating your computer in a safe place:
• Is it a laptop or desktop, in lockable office, do you have strong enough password and do you virus check you PC frequently?
• If you keep copies of any database other than on your PC then are they safely stored and encrypted?
•  Who will have access to your data and how will you control this?
• Ensure you are operating within the law? 
• Looking at the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act as appropriate.

It is beyond the scope of this guidance to answer these points for you but we recommend you look into these, perhaps starting with web searches.

MS Access Help (which you can get through the Access programme itself using the menu at the top of the screen) will help you with some password protection.

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