Taking on someone new

By the end of this page you will have taken someone from a first enquiry through to being accepted into a service, with a Case Worker assigned and their consent recorded.

This is the longest job in the system. It is one form in three steps, and the system saves your place as you go.

The words in the pictures

The pictures in this manual were taken on one organisation's system. Yours uses some different words. The buttons, and where they sit on the screen, are the same.

Where a picture says	Your screen says
Care Journey	Service Episode
Entry	Referral
Kaiāwhina	Case Worker
Whānau	Service User

Before you start

Have these to hand:

• The person's name and date of birth
• Which service you are referring them to
• Who referred them — the agency or person
• Whether they have consented, and how

Can't see the New Entry button?

The button only appears for staff in an intake position, and for supervisors and programme managers. Case Workers do not see it — work reaches them already allocated. If you think you should have it and don't, ask your administrator to check the positions on your services.

Starting a new entry

Click + New Referral at the top right of the screen.

The menu down the left is always there. The button for starting a new entry sits at the top.

The form opens on step 1 of 3. A bar across the top shows which step you are on.

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Step 1 — Who they are, and why

Choose the service first

Pick the service from the list before you fill anything else in.

Choose the service first. It decides which extra questions appear further down the page — change it later and you will be answering them again.

Find the person

Click the search box and start typing their name.

Type two or three letters and wait. Matches appear underneath with their date of birth, so you can tell two people with the same name apart.

• If you find them — click their name to select them.
• If they are not there — click Create new client and fill in the short form.

Only name and date of birth are needed to get going. The rest can be filled in later.

Always search before you create

Creating someone new here also creates a new whānau group for them. That makes a duplicate more disruptive than it first looks — their history ends up split across two records. Search first, even if you are fairly sure they are new.

If the person you pick already has other open Referrals, a warning appears once you select them. Read it before you carry on.

Say why they are coming

Fill in the details of the enquiry itself — how urgent it is, when it came in, how it reached you, and what it is about.

Write the reason in plain words. It is the first thing the next person reads, and it shows at the top of their record from here on.

Working down the numbers:

1. Who it is about — the person you picked a moment ago. Change swaps them if you have the wrong record.
2. Referral type — who made the enquiry: the person themselves, a family member, a school, or a professional.
3. Urgency level — this one matters. It sets how long you have before the first contact is overdue, shown under each option.
4. Date of referral — when it actually reached you, not the date you are typing it up.
5. Channel — how it arrived. A phone call, an email, in person.
6. Reason for referral — a sentence or two, in plain words.
7. Organisation — who referred them. Type a few letters to search; if they are genuinely not there, you can add them.

Say who referred them

Search for the referring agency, then add the person's name there if you have it.

Underneath, you may see extra questions specific to the service you chose — often about risk. These change from service to service.

The risk questions below the referrer belong to the service, not to the system. A different service asks different ones.

When the page is complete, click Continue.

This is the point where it is saved

Clicking Continue at the end of step 1 creates the record. It gets a reference number and sits as a Draft. From here you can safely close the page and come back to it later.

Before you click it, nothing is saved.

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Step 2 — Consent

If they are under 18

Add the parent or guardian who is giving consent, and say how they are related.

The relationship field is free text — 'Aunty', 'Grandmother', whatever is true.

Record how consent was given

Say whether it was verbal, written, or electronic.

Verbal consent is allowed and is recorded as such. It does not stop you continuing — but the signed form will show up as a deadline later.

Attach the paperwork

If you have a signed form, upload it. Click Upload, choose the file, then tell the system what kind of document it is.

Choosing the right type matters — it is how the system knows whether a required document has been supplied.

Tick what they have agreed to

Tick only what they actually agreed to. This list is your organisation's, so it may not match another service's.

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Step 3 — What happens to it

This is the decision. You have three choices, and which one you pick depends on how sure you are.

Option 1 — Send for approval

Use it when you are not certain they meet the service's criteria, and you want a manager to decide.

Choose the supervisor or manager who should look at it.

It leaves your hands and waits for them. Pick a real person — it does not go to a general queue.

Option 2 — Accept

Use it when they clearly meet the criteria, but you are not ready to say who will work with them.

Check the start date. It defaults to today, and it is the date all their deadlines are counted from.

The start date sets the clock

Deadlines for consent forms, assessments and other paperwork are all counted from this date. If the work actually started last week, change it now — it is much more awkward to fix afterwards.

Option 3 — Accept and assign

Use it when you know both the service and the person who will do the work.

Assigning here saves a step later. The person you choose sees it on their dashboard straight away.

Done

If you see this, it worked. There is nothing else you need to click.

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Filling in the rest

Accepting someone does not mean their record is complete. Open them from your list and work through the tabs when you have time.

Intake info

Everything from step 1, in one place, editable.

Family background

Iwi and ethnicity matter for reporting as well as for the mahi. If you do not know yet, leave it — do not guess.

1. Who you are working on — their name and reference number, always in the top corner.
2. The section you are in — the list down the left is every part of their intake. A number beside one means that many things are still outstanding.
3. Ethnicity — how the person identifies. There is a second, optional one for anybody who identifies with more than one.
4. Language and beliefs — first language, religion, anything spiritual that matters to how they are supported.
5. The compliance strip — the running count of paperwork still due. It follows you down the page.

Fill in what you know and click Save changes. Leaving something as Not specified is a real answer — better than a guess that ends up in a report.

Who else is around them

The support network is everyone else involved — whānau, and professionals from other agencies.

People already in the system show as suggestions. Adding an existing person is better than typing them in again.

To add someone new, click Add contact and fill in the form.

Say whether they are whānau or a professional. It changes how they are grouped.

1. Support Network in the list down the left — where you are.
2. People already added — each one shows how they are related. The pencil edits them, the bin removes them.
3. The new contact — say whether they are whānau or a professional first, as it changes the questions underneath. Then their name and how they are related.

Click Add to network when you are done. Nothing is saved until you do.

To change someone already there, open them and edit.

One person can hold more than one role. Tick all that apply rather than picking the closest.

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If it does not look like this

• No + New Referral button — you are probably in a Case Worker position, which does not have it. See the note at the top of this page.
• The service list is empty — you have not been given a position on any service. Your administrator fixes that.
• The risk questions never appear — you have not chosen a service yet. Choose it first and they load underneath.
• You lost what you typed — you had not reached the end of step 1. That is the point where it saves.

What next

• Working with someone — what to do once they are accepted
• Writing up what you did — visits, calls and notes