Introduction

This quick guide gives a general overview of the functions available to providers in the HCSIS Investigations Module.  Additional help is available for 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 of each field. 

Access to information in HCSIS is determined by the user’s scope and role.  The user’s scope determines which cases can be accessed, while the user’s role determines which documents can be viewed.

Only one provider can have access to an Investigation case.  The Senior Investigator determines which provider was responsible for the Alleged Victim (ALV) at the time of the alleged abuse and manually links the case to that provider.  This linking is what gives the provider access to the case.

There are two provider roles that can view Investigation information in HCSIS.  The Provider Investigations Designee has access to all of the topics discussed in this document.  The Human Rights Coordinator is the other provider role available in HCSIS and is more limited.  A table is included at the end of this document compares these two roles.

After logging into HCSIS, the user navigates to the Investigations Module (QM Investigations).  This will cause a third level Investigations Menu to be displayed.  There are a number of options available from this menu, but providers only have access to the following options:

Menu Option	Description	
Data Entry	The main screen in Investigations that lists the Disposition, the documents associated with that case and Disposition, as well as each document’s status.	
Process Management	A screen where the user can view the current status for all open cases.	
Printable Summary	A screen that displays the Printable Summaries for the case.	
Notices	A screen that displays the Notices currently available for the case.	

Each of these topics is discussed in a separate section of this document.

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.

From the Home Page, the user can access their Alerts by clicking the Alerts hyperlink which is located in the top left hand corner of the page.  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 the Provider Investigation Designee Alerts.

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 which requires that new documents (Investigation Report or Action Plan) be completed.	Appeal screen	
Case Assignment has been changed	The Senior Investigator reassigns the case to a different Investigative Office or Area Office.	Switchboard	
Decision Letter Issued	The Senior Investigator issues a Decision Letter.	Investigation Notices	
Disposition Changed	The Senior Investigator finalizes a Change of Disposition.	Investigation Notices.	
Disposition Entered	The Senior Investigator finalizes the initial Disposition.	Investigation Notices	
Investigation Report Extension Filed	The Senior Investigator enters a Report Extension into HCSIS.	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 date of alert.

Data Entry

The Data Entry screen, also known as the Switchboard, displays hyperlinks for all of the documents for a case.  The documents on the Switchboard change depending on the Disposition and the links change depending on the user’s role and scope.  The Provider Investigations Designee has access to the following documents in HCSIS:

Document	Description	Status	Access	
Administrative Review	This document contains the Area Office’s Review for a case and will only appear if the Disposition is Administrative Review.	Finalized	Read	
Action Plan / Resolution	This document contains recommendations for remedial actions designed to redress any harm to the individuals involved.  A second screen contains the outcomes for each action in the plan.	Issued	Read	
Appeal	This document contains some basic info concerning an appeal that was filed for the case.	Created	Read	

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.	
Log #	The case’s Log Number.	
DPPC Intake Number	The DPPC Intake Numbers associated with the case.  There can be more than one Intake # displayed.	
Investigator	The name of the DDS Investigator assigned to the case.	
Disposition	The current Disposition for the case.	

Immediately above the case header is a Search hyperlink.  This is the best method to use to locate an Investigation case in HCSIS, since the search includes both open and closed cases.  The user can also search for cases using the Process Management screen (limited to open cases only) or the Investigations Case Listing Report (limited to a maximum of 3 years).
Process Management

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 the Process Management screen.  Cases are automatically closed 60 days after the last document is finalized (either the Action Plan or the Disposition) unless an Appeal is filed.

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 up the case’s Switchboard.  When the user returns to the Process Management screen, the most recent search results will be displayed.

One of the fields available on the Process Management screen is case status.  This field displays the next document that needs to be completed.  If there are multiple documents that are ready to be completed, the document that is due first will appear as the case status.   This field should only be used as a guide in managing one’s workload.  There are over 20 different case statuses.  The status displayed in this field may not always be accurate for use as selection criteria.  For example, the status of Awaiting Action Plan / Resolution would not include a case whose Decision Letter has been issued, but whose Investigation Checklist (a data collection document) has not been finalized.

Printable Summary

A Printable Summary is a simple listing of the prompts and responses for a document that is formatted for printing.  The only Printable Summary that is available to providers is the DPPC Intake Printable Summary.  This printable summary contains the information sent from DPPC concerning the allegation.  

The Printable Summary screen will usually contain multiple DPPC Intake 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.
•	Redaction Type – See below for a description of the redaction types available to providers.

The following two redacted versions of the Intake are available to the Provider Investigations Designee:

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

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

Clicking on an Intake hyperlink will cause a printable summary for that Intake to be displayed.  To obtain the most recent version for an Intake, the user should always select the highest version number.

Notices

Notices are formatted documents that can either be printed or saved to disk.  The notices that are available from the menu will depend on the case’s Disposition and status as well as the user’s role.  The following notices are available to the Provider Investigations Designee:

Notice	Description	
Action Plan/ Resolution Report	This notice contains recommendations for remedial actions designed to redress any harm to the individuals involved, as well as the outcomes.  Note, this information 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.	
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 Cust 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

The following HCSIS Investigations Reports are available to the Provider Investigations Designee:

Report	Description	
Action Plan/Resolution Report	This report lists Action Plan information (including outcomes) for a specific case or cases, sorted by the Alleged Victim’s Name.	
Investigations Case Listing Report.	This report lists all cases that meet the user specified selection criteria.  A date range for case created is required and may not exceed 3 years.	
Investigations Counts Report	This report provides the total number of cases broken down by Area Office and Disposition Type sorted by Regional Office and Area Office.  A date range for case created is required and may not exceed 1 year.	
Investigations Outstanding Summary Report	This report lists all cases that currently have an outstanding document.  A date range for case created is required and may not exceed 1 year.	
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.  A date range for case created is required and may not exceed a year.	

All of the above reports include data up to the end of the previous day.  The user is also prompted to select one of the following report formats:

Report Format	Description	
PDF	A formatted read-only document used by Adobe Acrobat.	
Rich Text	A formatted Microsoft Word document.	
Plain Text	A text file with limited formatting.	

Comparison of Provider Roles

The Provider Investigations Designee has access to all of the topics discussed in this document; the Human Rights Coordinator’s access is more limited.  The table below compares the two Provider Investigations Roles:

Function / Role	Provider Investigations Designee	Human Rights Coordinator	
Switchboard	YES	YES	
View Administrative Review	YES		
View Action Plan	YES	YES	
View Redacted Appeal Information	YES		
Process Management Screen	YES	YES	
Printable Summaries and Notices			
Intake Printable Summary (Provider Redacted)	YES		
Intake Printable Summary (HRC Redacted)	YES	YES	
Action Plan/Resolution Notice	YES		
Decision Letter Notice	YES		
Disposition Notice	YES	YES	
Public Log Notice	YES		
Reports			
Action Plan Resolution Report	YES		
Investigations Case Listing Report	YES		
Investigations Counts Report	YES		
Investigations Outstanding Summary Report	YES		
QE Provider Investigations Cases Report	YES		
Alerts			
Disposition Entered Alert	YES	YES	
Disposition Changed Alert	YES	YES	
Decision Letter Issued Alert	YES		
Action Plan/Resolution Issued Alert	YES	YES	
Appeal Filed Alert	YES		
Revised Action Plan/Resolution Issued Alert	YES	YES	
Investigation Report Extension Finalized Alert	YES		
Appeal Finalized Alert	YES		
Action Plan/Resolution Finalized Alert	YES		
Case Assignment Has Been Changed Alert	YES