Interested in a New HMIS Account, Reactivating an Account, or Password Reset?
Visit our HMIS Account How-Tos page to learn how to get an HMIS account and resolve common HMIS account issues.
HMIS Training Materials and Resources
HMIS Program-Specific Guidance
Guidance on how to use HMIS on specific programs
Where to Get Answers
If you have questions on a particular topic that can't be found in the "HMIS Training Materials and Resources" section above, this resource will guide you to the right person or resource to turn to.
HMIS New User Training
New users can enroll and take the online HMIS Basic Navigation Training Series. The training series prepares the new HMIS users with the fundamentals of using HMIS and policies governing its use. Tracks for Individuals/Youth, Families and Street Outreach are provided to learn the HMIS skills needed for your particular context.
HUD Resources
Resources from the U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including the HUD Data Standards Manual.
Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ)
HMIS accounts
If you do not log into your account for 30 days, your account will go to an Inactive state.
If you let your account fall Inactive, you will be faced with the following setbacks:
- You will be unable to access your HMIS account
- Additionally, if you haven’t logged into your account for 90 days, you will also have to retake the HMIS Basic Navigation Training Series. Then after completing the retake of the HMIS Basic Navigation Training Series, you will have to wait for your account reactivation to be processed
- Finally after your account is reactivated, you will need to log into your account within a limited time frame; otherwise, your account will return to an Inactive state again
Refer to the HMIS Account How-Tos page for specific steps to reactivate your account.
Depending on how long the account has been Inactive, you may be instructed to retake the HMIS Basic Navigation Training Series to restore it to an Active state
We strongly recommend you to set a recurring calendar reminder to log into your HMIS account once every 30 days, if not more frequently. We suggest you set a reminder to log in on the 1st and 15th of every month or similar schedule.
Searching for Participants
Look through each record and use the record that is the most complete (and accurate). If you can’t decide between two or more records because they have the same level of completeness/accuracy, then choose the one with the most program enrollments to be the record you will use moving forward (the "dominant" record). This will facilitate the merging duplicate records.
As a follow-up step, you should consolidate these duplicate HMIS records, so there is only one HMIS for this participant.
See the answer below to "How do I consolidate (merge) duplicate HMIS records of the same participant?" for instructions.
Duplicate HMIS records
Please note down the Unique Identifiers of all the duplicate records you found, and indicate which one you chose to use moving forward as "Dominant".
If there is information on the Profile tab of duplicate records that is not found on the Dominant record’s Profile tab, please copy that data into the Dominant record’s Profile tab.
If there is a duplicate enrollment please review and consolidate all services and notes into one enrollment on the dominant record.
Then submit a ticket to HMIS Support to start the merge process and receive further instructions.
Program Enrollment and Exit
You would start the Exit by clicking the "Exit" link on the Program Details screen, located to the right of the "Notes", "Files", "Chart" and "Forms" sub-tabs. However, the specific steps to exit a participant from a program will vary by program. See your Program Coordinator for specific program guidance.
Household Management
Global level households
The global level household is really a convenience for Clarity users to help them understand the makeup of a household.
- The only important field is designating who is the "Head of Household" - it is required to set someone as Head of Household.
- Also it’s possible for Looker reports to refer to this Head of Household at the Global level because the Global-level Head of Household is an exposed field that can be brought into a Looker report
- Note: the Global household relationship settings are not compliant with HUD data standards
Program enrollment level households
The household relationship setting here is compliant with HUD data standards, and any report in the Report Library that uses Head of Household in its logic will reference the household relationships set at the Program enrollment level
- Examples of such reports are APR, data quality report, any export reports, program details report, reports on income, roster report (basically any report on http://la.clarityhs.com/report)
- Note: The Program-level Head of Household must have a start date that is on or before the start date of all other household members.
Interaction between Global Level and Program Enrollment Level households
Relationships set at the Global Level do not pass down to the Program Enrollment level, though the Head of Household set at the Global Level is the pre-populated selection during Program Enrollment
- And vice versa, relationships set at the Program Level do not trickle up to the Global Level.