Data quality tips for ETO touchpoints

Data quality is fundamental when entering new data into your Efforts to Outcomes (ETO™) software to ensure that any reporting and data analysis that you do is accurate. This post outlines a few settings that an ETO Administrator can apply to your Social Solutions ETO database to ensure accurate data entry. These settings can also reduce the amount of time an ETO Administrator may spend on additional user training, manual data quality reporting, and manual data quality reviews.

1.  Completion Restrictions

ETO administrators can set how many times an ETO Touchpoint is completed for a specific site, program, or enrolment. With this setting, a user cannot create more ETO Touchpoints than the number of records granted by the completion restriction. For example, if the completion restriction is set to one, only one record using a specific Touchpoint can be created for a particular participant.

Completion restrictions are often used on assessment Touchpoints. For example, a set number of assessments should only be completed per participant or a set number of assessments should be completed per program enrolment.

2.   Update Period

An update period is the number of days that a user can edit or modify a saved Touchpoint before it is locked. The record is no longer editable after the update period is exhausted.

There are four options in the update period settings:

1. Add an update period restriction based on the number of days after the initial completion date (an exact number of days can be selected)
2. Add an update period restriction based on a cross-referenced date value in another location of your ETO database
3. Remove the update period restrictions based on a user’s access level to your ETO database
4. Add a message to Touchpoints that are locked from editing (the default message is “System Locked,” but this can be edited by an ETO administrator to say something different)

The update period setting guarantees that users don’t modify previously created records after a certain amount of time. This setting maintains the accuracy of historical data in your ETO database.

3.  Advanced Date Formatting

Use the advanced date formatting setting to restrict users from creating new ETO Touchpoints based on three criteria:

1. Restrict date taken to (x) number of days in the future from the actual (audit) date
2. Restrict date taken to (x) number of days in the past from the actual (audit) date
3. Don’t allow the date taken to be outside of a program enrolment when recording

The advanced date formatting options ensure that data entered into ETO Touchpoints is accurate and appropriate to the date of enrolment, the timeframe for Touchpoint completion, and the program requirements for dates of completion.

4.  Security Settings

Security settings are set up for each ETO Touchpoint by an ETO Administrator and need to be set for each type of subject, including individual and multiple participants, individual and multiple entities, anonymous and general subjects, families, and custom collections.

An ETO Administrator can set up ETO Touchpoint security settings to enable users to add, edit, view, and delete Touchpoints that they themselves enter or that other users enter into your ETO database.

Limiting user access to ETO Touchpoints ensures that the right users have access to add, edit, view, and delete records. ETO administrators therefore don’t need to audit every move a user makes in your ETO database.

5.   General Touchpoint Settings

View Only

Set any ETO Touchpoint field as “View Only” or “View Only After Initial Save.” This setting ensures that data entered cannot be changed or updated after initial data entry.

This setting is often used for initial intake records or when sensitive participant data should not be edited or modified after it is entered.

This setting also ensures that data fields that have been reported are not changed after running a report.

Date Taken Blank by Default

“Date Taken” is a required field in Touchpoints which defaults to today’s date.

If the date is different than today’s date when entering a new Touchpoint, you can set the field as date taken blank by default. This forces users to enter the correct date rather than default to today’s date.

This setting is often used for Touchpoints where the date completed impacts internal processes, funding requirements, or reporting. This setting is also used when someone other than the data entry user completes manual data entry forms before today’s date. Instead of defaulting to today’s date, which may be incorrect, users are forced to enter a different date.

For more tips, see 5 Ways to Streamline Data Entry with ETO Touchpoints.