CSnet® - Benefits

It is so easy to be burned when it comes to software. Development processes are expensive and risky, and sometimes do not deliver what is intended. Buying and installing software is also risky, and often involves specialised support expertise and ongoing costs, not to mention hardware issues.

CSnet® is up and running, and access to a demonstration site is available to interested organisations on a negotiated time-limited basis. The benefits of CSnet® are summarised below.

Core case and project management functions

Core functionality involves a framework of community and individual strengths and needs to support-

• The collection and reporting of demographic data
• Strengths and needs based case and project planning
• The capture of work records in case notes, project notes and qualitative outcomes. This is done through each ‘session’, in which data collected reflects the assessed strengths and needs of each case or project, and which collect referrals made, workers present, and time taken
• Review of what is achieved, to update plans and document outcomes.

Multi program, multi site flexibility

CSnet® can be used with almost any community service activity. It supports -

• A typology of activity types, consisting of single or multi client casework or other activity, open and closed groupwork activities, and community development
• Use in a single site or multi site context
• The use of ‘funding tags’ to enable data to be extracted to support reporting to government agencies, without creating information silos or compromising the whole-of-organisation approach

Internal accountability and communication

CSnet® offers a transparent view of the workload of each worker to coordinators and managers. The system -

• Supports work allocation and worker and volunteer profiles
• Provides individualised dashboard for each user, summarising cases and projects allocated
• Highlights tasks under the case or project plan that are due
• Supports review sessions in which progress in a case or project can be assessed, and plans and priorities can be updated
• Supports messages being left regarding a case, group or project from reception or other workers

Comprehensive reporting

• Provides a range of case/client level, group level and/or community development project reports
• Provides aggregated data reports across sites, and within programs, including reports to meet funding agency requirements. Funding tags can be used to track activities that are to be costed to various funding sources
• Offers a specific report to support data entry
• Offers capacity to output data in MS Excel, to support the formulation of non-standard reports

Security and back up

• Users only see the cases or projects to which they have been allocated, or which have been shared with them
• The system uses the latest internet encryption and data storage security.
• Each user has a unique username and password
• Data is backed up on the hour at our data storage centre.

The involvement of clients and stakeholders

The views of clients and stakeholders is very important, both for identifying improvement opportunities and for documenting outcomes. CSnet® supports -

• The use of feedback instruments designed by services themselves or developed as part of the implementation process
• Client and stakeholder feedback using those instruments
• Clients and stakeholder attendance at sessions
• The capacity to offer selected access to partner organisations

The costs

When an organisation pays for CSnet®, it is renting the software, not buying it. For this reason, it is not responsible for keeping the software in operation – that’s what Community Link and its IT partner does. Of course, contractually, the organisation owns the data put in to the system.
An organisation pays rent for CSnet® on a quarterly or annual basis, according to the number of ‘accounts’ used. One user who has a distinct set of cases or projects requires one account, noting that cases and projects may sometimes be shared between workers.
Site location has no impact on the price of CSnet. The account costs get cheaper the more that are used, as shown in the table below.

Where more than 2,000 accounts are needed, costs are negotiable.

Other costs of which to be aware include –

• An annual hosting fee of $1,200 plus GST
• The costs of an SSL Certificate at $400 plus GST.
• Where substantial variation to existing functionality is required, the costs of tailoring the system on a negotiated basis.

Commencement of use of CSnet® includes a four month warranty period, during which any bugs logged by the service are fixed at no cost. Following that time, any bugs are fixed at an hourly rate, as set out in the Ongoing Hosting and Licensing Agreement.
For organisations wanting considerably more than 40 accounts, or where a substantive proportion of workers are certified as part time (24 hours a week or less), the price points in the table above are negotiable. Depending on how much tailoring and assistance with set up is required, there may be some upfront costs involved in setting up.
Comparative to building or purchasing systems, the best of which tend to have three to five year life spans, these costs are very competitive.

Getting going

CSnet®, as it is, is complete and pretty much ready to go for many programs. Depending on how much customisation is required, it is easy to get started, and with some training, is easy to use. Features of the start up process are -

• No new hardware needed. A service needs access to broadband speeds on the internet, and computers that run the Microsoft IE7 browser with a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024
• Training in how to use the system are included as part of the start up process
• Additional training or assistance with change management and practice issues is also available on a fee-for-service basis.

If no customisation is required, the details of the Ongoing Hosting and Licensing Agreement is discussed, and with an agreed implementation strategy in place, things can move quickly to going live.

If substantive customisation is required, Community Link works with services to project manage the necessary steps to implementation. These steps include -

• Planning the customisation strategy
• Specifying the technical change required
• Costing the changes required
• Attaching the technical specifications and agreed customisation costs to the Ongoing Hosting and Licensing Agreement
• Signing an Ongoing Hosting and Licensing Agreement, which sets out the obligations of the parties
• Building and testing the changes and additions required.
• Moving to implementation, according to the agreed strategy and timeframes.

Of course, for some services, implementing CSnet® will be an important practice change for many people. Where required, Community Link is able to support change management challenges as part of the contacting process.

More information? Check out the CSnet® overview. For information about how users are supported, go to training and support.
Register for access to demonstration site? Contact Community Link.

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