A Profile in Performance Management and Successful Change
Jewish Family Service, Greater Dallas (JFS) is “an open door to those in need” and known as a one-stop shop for mental health and social services. People in the Dallas area of all backgrounds, religions, and income levels rely on them as a community staple and have for over 65 years. They also are committed to using a data-driven approach to assess their outcomes and impacts, and recently built a custom performance management system to fit their growing needs.
What they offer:
• Mental health, family violence, and special needs services for children, teens and adults
• Specialized social services to older adults
• Emergency assistance (financial help, food pantry, etc.)
• Career services programs
An Upgrade
JFS was ready to upgrade their data system to capture their services more accurately and efficiently. Their old system was no longer keeping pace with their growing programs, and they knew a new data collection system could significantly improve their reporting to their stakeholders and funders.
After researching the Social Solutions Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) software and exploring their options, JFS hired Exact Change Strategies (ECS) to target their goals by building a custom data and performance management system.
In the initial stages, ECS interviewed the JFS leaders and staff to understand the workings of their current system and how their programs operated in community settings. It was imperative for ECS to grasp the real-world flow of clients through their services and opportunities to collect information along the way.
JFS did not just want to count the number of people served each month, rather they wanted to understand details about the results, outcomes, and impacts of their programs on the people they served. They also needed to be able to create intricate reports based on their data, which added to the value of tightening up their overall performance management process.
The Clarification Process
JFS worked closely with ECS to identify the priorities and outcomes important to them to finalize a blueprint for their new customized ETO system. Everything was mapped out by ECS before any work began to help JFS leaders and staff envision a smooth and successful change process. With this vision – along with ongoing guidance, encouragement, humor, and a can-do attitude – JFS and ECS formed a successful partnership.
Staff ambassadors from every major JFS service area played a central role throughout the system design and implementation process by providing guidance, feedback as well as receiving individualized training from ECS. As a result, they were highly engaged and committed to the success of the new ETO system.
Halfway through the project, JFS leaders realized that the new custom system would be able to do even more than originally planned. It was then that they started anticipating future needs such as creating intricate billing reports in ETO from the data they were collecting. They decided to put in a little more time enduring this process to invest in an even more powerful and responsive automated system.
Its Impact
Within the first year with the new system, JFS realized dramatic results. Their data collection is now entirely paperless, leading to
faster and more accurate information collection by their team. The new system allows them to capture a broader range of services that
they had been previously providing but not counting, using this new cache of information in both in their internal and external services
and communication.
Most importantly, the custom ETO system has room to adapt and grow. The most exciting part for JFS is that their new level of efficiency allows staff focus most of their time on their core mission of serving the thousands of clients that come through their doors daily for critical support.
I would absolutely recommend Exact Change Strategies
to other organizations. I would tell them that you’re going to get a lot of value for your money, and you will have a better understanding of the product you’re buying if you use a custom implementation team like them instead of just the standard. We plan on a long relationship with ECS as we continue to assess and identify new ways to capture information and outcomes. We’re not done with them!