Method for tracking and assessing program participation

• US 7,269,579 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2002
• Issued: 09/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Victoria M. Lovegren
• Original Assignee: Victoria M. Lovegren
• Inventors: Lovegren, Victoria M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Knight; Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, Jr.; Nathan H.
• Application Number:
  US10/245,944
• Publication Number:
  US 20030061231A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,819 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 707/103.Y, 434/322
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

Disclosed is a computerized decision support system and method for a) tracking participation within programs, b) capturing participant'"'"'s participation activity and assessment information in a format that can be easily analyzed and c) distilling the participation and assessment data into useful management and evaluation information. The repository of longitudinal data can be analyzed and reported for case-management and program-evaluation purposes. An assessment module enables analyzable assessment instruments to be custom-defined by the system user, e.g. a program manager. The customized assessment instrument is used to provide answer-restricted questions during an assessment interview, enabling virtually any data item to be tracked historically. The system captures date/time-stamped participation information at various levels of detail and stores this information in a way that can be easily retrieved and analyzed for program and participant-focused analysis. A set of industry-standard participation events can be tracked, with supporting detail, as well as less-data-intensive ad hoc user-defined activities. The data model underlying the system, and the implementation of this model within a relational database system, provides a great degree of flexibility, adaptability and efficient navigation through the database for analysis and reporting. Though numerous program-evaluation reports are provided, a set of intermediary aggregations of data is also available for efficient evaluation of additional program outcome measures.

Claims

1. A method of tracking, managing, and evaluating individual participation and overall performance of multiple programs, agencies, funders, and workers with a server with processor, memory, and storage means, comprising the steps of:

a) configuring a server to operate a database to store structured data;

b) accessing a user interface to add, edit, or delete data stored in said database;

c) maintaining assessment-instrument definition information stored in a first dataset in said database, wherein said assessment-instrument definition information is comprised of questions, question groups composed of multiple said questions, answer lists, answer validation data and assessment instruments comprised of said questions, said question groups, said answer lists and said answer validation data;

d) maintaining program information stored in a second dataset in said database, wherein said program information is time-stamped, and said program information is comprised of program attributes, agency information, agency provider information, individual provider information, program offering information, and funds and funder information;

e) maintaining participant information stored in a third dataset in said database;

f) maintaining participation information stored in a fourth dataset in said database, wherein said participation information is comprised of links to said first dataset, said second dataset, said third dataset, time-stamped information of assessment-events, and time-stamped information regarding major activities and minor activities of an individual, such that said information of assessment events and said time-stamped information regarding major activities and minor activities, collected using said assessment instruments, can be tracked over time;

g) creating a program offering comprised of said program information, wherein said program offering is defined by said funds comprising a pool of capital for operating said program offering where said funds are contributed by an agency funder defined by said agency information, an individual provider defined by said individual provider information, and an agency provider defined by said agency provider information which provides said program offering, whereby said agency finder and said agency provider are the same;

h) defining a program participation activity comprised of an individual described by said participant information, said program offering that said individual participates in, a program participation time indicating the participation time period during which said individual participated in said program offering, said individual provider who provides services to said individual through said program offering, and said assessment instruments that maintain said time-stamped information of assessment-events, and said information regarding said major activities and said minor activities performed as part of said program participation activity;

i) generating reports from said database by the steps of;

i) structuring and issuing a query to said database to retrieve specific information from said database;

ii) specifying a desired output for said specific information; and

iii) processing and formatting said specific information into said desired output to be sent to said user interface or another software product; and

,

j) creating a program report by said generating reports whereby said specific information is a set of outcome indicators represented by said outcome instruments and associated dynamic subject attributes across multiple said program offerings, multiple providers, and multiple individual participants over time, whereby said desired output enables said outcome indicators to be correlated to the individual participation in multiple said program offerings over time.

2. A method of claim 1, wherein said questions and said groups of questions are multi-response questions and multi-response groups of questions.

3. A method of claim 1, whereby a computer that is connected to said server by a local area network is used to access said user interface.

4. A method of claim 1, whereby said step of maintaining said participant information further utilizes said questions, said question groups, and said assessment instruments to capture dynamic subject attributes selected from the group consisting of address, school, job, and marital status.

5. A method of claim 1, wherein said step (c), said answer lists are imported from an external data source.

6. A method of claim 1, wherein said step (e) of maintaining participant information further comprises the steps of obtaining said information regarding major activities and minor activities by sending said assessment instruments to said user interface, accepting an input from said user interface, and validating said input with said answer validation data.

7. A method of claim 1, wherein each said question is of a type selected from the group consisting of multichoice, date, freeform, inherited answer, and numeric range.

8. A method of claim 1, wherein said information of assessment-events includes a means of representing a plurality of similar assessment-events conducted at multiple points in time.

9. A method of claim 8, wherein said steps (i) and (iii) of processing and formatting said specific information produces aggregate assessment results from said plurality of similar assessment-events conducted at multiple points in time.