This user guide gives an overview of how to locate and view Investigations information.  Access in HCSIS is determined by the user’s scope (which cases can be seen) and role (which documents can be viewed).

Additional help is available on every HCSIS page by clicking the Help hyperlink located in the upper right hand corner under the Mass. Gov logo.  When the user clicks Help, a new window will appear with a description of the screen and definitions for each field.

Below is a list of the topics covered in this guide:

Investigation Process
Alerts
Data Entry
Process Management Screen
Printable Summary
Notices
Reports

Investigation Process

The diagram below is a high level diagram of the Investigation Process.  

Create
Case

Investigations
Path

Area Office
Path

FYI
Path

Path?

Disposition
Entered
Alert

Decision
Letter
Alert

Action
Plan

Case
Closure

Each of these processes is briefly outlined in the pages that follow.
Create Case

Below is a partial list of the steps included in this process:

1.	DPPC sends an Intake to DDS Central Office Investigations.
2.	DDS Central Office Investigations assigns the Intake to an Investigation Office.
3.	The Senior Investigator manually links the Involved Parties which includes the provider.  This provider linking determines the Provider’s access to the case.
4.	The Senior Investigator determines if a new case needs to be created or if the Intake can be linked to an existing case.
5.	If a new case is created, the Senior Investigator assigns a Disposition for the case.

Although there are numerous Dispositions that can be chosen, they can be grouped into three types: (1) Area Office Path; (2) Investigations Path; and (3) FYI Path.  Each is discussed below,

Area Office Path

Dispositions included in this path are:

	Administrative Review

In addition to issuing and finalizing an Action Plan, the Area Office (AO) must finalize an Administrative Review for the case.

Investigations Path

Dispositions included in this path are:	

DDS to Investigate
	Defer to Law Enforcement – DDS to Investigate
	DPPC to Investigate
	Defer to Law Enforcement – DPPC to Investigate
	No Dispute to the Facts
	Resolved Fairly and Efficiently

There are numerous documents completed for cases which are processed down this path.  The final step in this path for all of these Dispositions is for the Senior Investigator to issue a Decision Letter.  Once the Decision Letter is issued, the Area Office can create the Action Plan.

FYI Path

Dispositions included in this path are:	

	Dismissed
	Defer to Law Enforcement – Tracking Only
	Refer to Other Agency

No Action Plan/Resolution is required for these cases.

Action Plan

The Action Plan process consists of two steps:

1.	The AO issues an Action Plan.
2.	The AO enters the outcomes into HCSIS and finalizes the Action Plan.

The Action Plan is not considered complete until both of the above steps are done.

Case Closure

Cases are automatically closed by HCSIS when the following conditions are met:

1.	60 days after the Action Plan (Area Office Path and Investigations Path) or the Disposition (FYI Path) is finalized.
2.	All documents required by the Disposition are finalized.
3.	No appeal is filed.

Closed cases will no longer appear in the Process Management Screen, but will appear on reports and may be accessed from the Switchboard.

Alerts

An alert is an electronic message automatically generated in HCSIS to inform the user of an event that occurred within the system.  All alerts contain hyperlinks that will take the user directly to the appropriate HCSIS screen to view the information related to the alert.

To access the Alerts screen, click Home  Alerts hyperlink.

If the list of Pending Alerts is too lengthy, an Alert Search Filter can be used to narrow the search results.  The user has the ability to filter their alerts by Subject (Decision Letter Issued) or Module (Investigations).

The table below gives a list of some of the more common Investigation Alerts.  Note, not all roles receive every alert.

Alert Subject	Alert Trigger	Hyperlink Destination	
Action Plan/Resolution Finalized	The Area Office finalizes an Action Plan.	Switchboard	
Action Plan/Resolution Issued	The Area Office issues an Action Plan.	Switchboard	
Appeal Filed	A new Appeal is entered into HCSIS.	Appeal Screen	
Appeal Finalized	An Appeal Decision is entered into HCSIS.	Appeal Screen	
Case Assignment has been changed	The Senior Investigator reassigns the case to a different Investigation Office or Area Office.	Disposition Notice Selection Screen	
Decision Letter Issued	The Senior Investigator issues a Decision Letter.	Decision Letter Notice Selection Screen	
Disposition Changed	The Senior Investigator finalizes a Change of Disposition.	Disposition Notice Selection Screen	
Disposition Entered	The Senior Investigator finalizes the initial Disposition..	Disposition Notice Selection Screen	
Investigation Report Extension Filed	The Senior Investigator approves a Report Extension request.	Switchboard	
Revised Action Plan/ Resolution Issued	The Area Office issues a revised Action Plan for a case that has been appealed.	Switchboard	

All of the above alerts will be automatically deleted 14 days after the alert is generated.

Data Entry

The Data Entry screen, also known as the Switchboard, displays hyperlinks for all of the case’s documents.  The documents displayed will vary depending on the Disposition and the document links will vary depending on the user’s role and the document’s status.

To access the Data Entry screen, click QM  Investigations  Data Entry.

A case header appears at the top of each Switchboard with the following information:

Field	Description	
Name	The name of the first Alleged Victim for the case.	
SSN	The masked SSN for the displayed ALV.	
Area/Facility	The Area/Facility that is responsible for the case.	
Additional ALV?	A Yes/No Flag indicating whether there is more than one ALV.  Only the name of the first ALV will be displayed in the header.  The names of the additional ALVs can be obtained from the Disposition Letter Notice.	
Log #	The case’s Log #.	
DPPC Intake #	The DPPC Intake Numbers associated with the case.  There can be more than one Intake # displayed.	
Investigator	The name of the DDS Investigator that was assigned to the case.	
Disposition	The current Disposition for the case.	

Immediately above the case header is a Search hyperlink.  Searching for a case can be done using one or a combination of search criteria.  Searching by DPPC Intake # or Log # will generate one result and automatically open the corresponding Switchboard screen.  Searching for a case using any of the other search criteria may result in one or multiple matches.  If there are multiple matches, a Log # hyperlink will appear at the bottom of the Case Search screen for all matching cases.  Clicking on a Log # hyperlink will open the corresponding Switchboard screen.

This is the best method to locate an Investigation case, since the search includes both open and closed cases.  The user can also search for cases from the Process Management screen (limited to open cases only) or by generating the Investigation Case Listing Report (limited to a maximum of 3 years).

Process Management Screen

The Process Management screen is where the user can view the current status for all open Investigation cases.  Once a case is closed in HCSIS, it will no longer appear on this screen.

To access the Process Management screen, 
click QM  Investigations  Process Management.

Searching for a case can be done using one or a combination of search criteria.  After entering the criteria, click the Search button.  Once the search is complete, the results will be displayed on the bottom of the Process Management screen.  Each of the results displayed will contain a Log # hyperlink.  Clicking on the hyperlink will bring the user to the case’s Switchboard.  When the user returns to the Process Management screen, the most recent search results will be displayed.

Search screens have the rule less is more.  The less criteria that is entered for the search, the more information will be displayed in the results.  If too many records are returned, the user can narrow down the search by supplying additional search criteria.

One of the fields available on the Process Management screen is case status.  This field displays the next document that needs to be completed in the Investigations process.  Be careful when using this field as search criteria.  If a Decision Letter has been issued for a case where the Investigation Checklist (a data collection document) is not finalized, the case would not appear when searching for cases with a status of Awaiting Action Plan / Resolution.  The status for that case would be Awaiting Investigations Checklist.

Printable Summary

A Printable Summary is a simple listing of the prompts and responses for a document that is formatted for printing.  Most Investigation users have access to only the DPPC Intake Printable Summary which contains information sent from DPPC concerning the allegation.

To access the Printable Summary screen, 
click QM  Investigations  Printable Summary.

The DPPC Intake Printable Summary will usually contain multiple hyperlinks.  Each link will contain the following information:

•	DPPC Intake # - The number to the left of the dash.
•	Version Number – The number to the right of the dash.
•	Intake Date – The date of the Intake.
•	Redaction Type – See below for a description of the redaction types.

To obtain the most recent version for an Intake, the user should always select the highest version number.

The following redaction types are available in HCSIS:

•	Area/Facility/Region Redacted which redacts the Reporter.

•	Reporter, Complainant, HRC Redacted which redacts the Reporter, the full allegation, and the Alleged Abuser.

•	Reporter, SC Redacted which redacts the Reporter and the full allegation.

The redaction types that are available to the user will vary depending on the user’s role.

Notices

Notices are formatted documents that can either be printed or saved to disk.  

To access the Notices screen, click QM  Investigations  Notices.

The notices that are available to the user will depend on the case’s Disposition and status, as well as the user’s role.  The following are some of the Investigation notices that are available:

Notice	Description	
Action Plan / Resolution Report	This notice contains recommendation for remedial actions designed to redress any harm to the individuals involved, as well as the outcomes.  Note, this data is updated nightly so this notice will not be available until the day after the Action Plan is issued.	
Decision Letter	This notice summarizes the allegation, the evidence considered by Investigations, and the findings of facts and conclusions for the case.	
Disposition Letter	This notice contains the official notification of the Senior Investigator’s decision of how the case will be handled.	
Investigation Report	This contains the formal report for the case prepared by the Investigator for cases that were investigated by DDS.	
Public Log Report	This notice is a public record of the case made available upon request for inspection by members of the public.  It contains procedural information about the case.	

When the user selects one of the available notices, a Notice Selection screen will appear.  The Case Log # and Report Format fields will usually be pre-populated.  Clicking the View Report button will give the user the option of selecting whether they wish to Open the notice in order to view and/or print it; or to Save the notice to disk.

Reports

To access the Reports Menu, click QM  Reports  Reports Request.

A detailed description for all HCSIS reports can be found in the Reports User Guide which is available from the DDS Internet Home Page.  The following Investigation Reports are available to most HCSIS users:

Report	Description	
Action Plan/Resolution Report	This report contains recommendations for remedial actions designed to redress any harm to the individuals involved, as well as the outcomes, sorted by the Alleged Victim’s Name.  It is the same information that is contained on the Action Plan/Resolution Notice.  Either a date range (which is limited to one year) or the Case Log # is required.	
Investigations Case Listing Report	This report provides a detailed listing of cases created within the entered date range.  The date range limit is 3 years for this report.	
Investigations Counts Report	This report gives counts for each Disposition Type as well as a count of the findings for each applicable Disposition. 	
Investigations Outstanding Summary Report	This report gives a detailed list of the cases which have a document outstanding as well as the details of which document is outstanding.  The date range limit is 3 years for this report.	
QE Provider Investigation Report	This report lists all cases with an issued Action Plan that is linked to the selected Provider, sorted by Investigation Office and descending Date Received.  This report is from the legacy database and is being replaced by the Investigations Case Listing Report.	

All of the above reports include data up to the end of the previous day.  Unless specified otherwise in the report description, a date range is required and is limited to one year.

The user is also required to select one of the following report formats:

Report Format	Description	
PDF	A formatted read-only document used by Adobe Acrobat.  This is the recommended report format to choose.	
Rich Text	A formatted Microsoft Word document.	
Plain Text	A text file with limited formatting.