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summary
Team Versailles worked with COTS, a homeless shelter in Detroit, to identify underlying challenges in addition to the client's initial concerns through contextual inquiry. We conducted qualitative research by use of semi-structured interviews and employed affinity diagrams to arrive at recommendations. This project was carried out in a team of 5 over the course of 12 weeks as part of the Contextual Inquiry and Consulting Foundations course.
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Please reach out to me for the final consulting report
about COTS
COTS (Coalition on Temporary Shelter) is a Detroit-based homeless shelter that offers emergency shelter, transitional housing, and comprehensive support services to individuals experiencing homelessness. Their mission is to provide both immediate and long-term assistance, empowering participants to become self-reliant.
the problem
COTS collects information from individuals seeking shelter for various purposes, including marketing, grants, tracking, service improvement, and advocacy. However, the client struggles with managing this information effectively, leading to confusion, wasted time, and data uncertainty. They requested the team to offer recommendations on their knowledge management system, workflow, and data collection protocol that would ensure data quality, reduce staff burden, and uphold client dignity.
the process
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background
research
contextual interviews
process mapping
affinity diagrams
making
recommendations
background research
To understand the COTS data collection process as well as the role that a process map can play in its agenda, we as a team generated 5 individual background research reports. We gathered information about the general background, psychology of the homeless, data lifecycle models, data privacy, process mapping, and market analysis. As the content is NDA protected, please reach out to me for a copy of my research report on the 'Best Practices for Data Entry management in Homeless Shelters'.
contextual interview
Based on our research, we formulated interview protocols for staff members, coaches, and participants, resulting in seven interviews. During the interviews, our team iteratively developed and validated a real-time process map depicting the participant's journey, from their arrival at the shelter to their departure. The outcome of this process is presented below as a swim lane chart.
process mapping
The swim lane chart was employed to delineate the 'who does what' process which provided clarity and accountability for each role.
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Process steps were placed within a horizontal 'lane' and decision points, tasks were marked.
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Once each role's responsibilities were established; connections, communications, and handoffs were marked to bring out inter-relationships.
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This helped highlight redundancy, breakpoints, and inefficiency in the process. Please feel free to reach out for a walkthrough but below is a simplified version.
affinity diagrams
To review interview notes, an affinity diagram was created. Members documented their insights on sticky notes and grouped them based on their relationships. Groupings led to overarching themes, with each group serving as a key finding or supportive evidence.
findings
The contextual inquiry process produced findings closely related to the data collection problem being confronted by COTS. Each of these findings is applied to different steps of COTS’s data collection protocols and workflow. The findings have been categorized into three major groups.
reccomendations
Using the key findings, we composed a set of recommendations on a short, medium and long-term basis. During the recommendation formation stage, we conducted additional research to avoid any underlying conjecture.
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FINDING 1
The data collection process is potentially overwhelming for the participants
BACKGROUND
​The shelter is required to obtain information from the participants, which needs to be encoded into the national homeless database HMIS.The same information is also stored for record keeping purposes as part of a standardized enrollment process.
RECOMMENDATIONS
SHORT TERM GOAL
COTS may adopt a just-in-time (JIT) approach to gathering information from participants, collecting it when needed by the process owners.
MEDIUM TERM GOAL
To enhance the participant experience, consider improving the aesthetics of questionnaires by changing typography and colour, replacing blank spaces with checkboxes, and including a "refuse to answer" option to reduce pressure.
LONG TERM GOAL
Have a multi-channel system of gathering information. It offers another modality of answering difficult questions. It could be via interview, a questionnaire, online submission, social media, or SMS. .
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FINDING 2
There is an increased risk to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of personal information given the presence of multiple platforms.
BACKGROUND
COTS mainly uses three platforms to collect and store data: the national database HMIS, a case management software, and a project management software.
RECOMMENDATIONS
SHORT TERM GOAL
Due to diverse use cases, we chose not to compare platforms but to mitigate privacy risks from multiple ones. We recommend data minimization, which limits the processing of personal information. This involves reviewing stored data, assessing the necessity of each piece, and adjusting access controls.
MEDIUM TERM GOAL
Data accuracy is vital for data privacy. Consistent with the privacy principle of “right to access”, participants should have the right to access accurate information. If using multiple platforms leads to data inaccuracy, COTS should opt for the platform best suited for the data gathering purpose.
LONG TERM GOAL
COTS should explore the case management system's features to enable participant profiles and real-time data access. This ensures data accuracy, as participants can review and correct their information.
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FINDING 3
There is diminished opportunity to conduct post-services tracking.
BACKGROUND
COTS tracks participant progress through coaching sessions, but attendance is voluntary and may vary on participants' willingness and conditions. It also relies on those who graduate and willingly update their progress.
RECOMMENDATIONS
SHORT TERM GOAL
COTS can incentivise participants' engagement through rewards like freebies and gifts. They may also invite past "graduates" to share their coaching experiences as resource persons.
MEDIUM TERM GOAL
COTS can multiple channels for checking in, such as SMS, snail mail, email, or phone calls, to ensure effortless communication. For instance, including a pre-paid shipping label with snail mail communication could be considered.
LONG TERM GOAL
COTS may conduct a survey to understand reasons behind participants' disengagement with coaches. Gathering actual data on their reasons can be valuable in addressing the issue effectively.