Required Dates

Required Date Types

The master list of Required Date categories is configured in the User Defined Information Module, under the Documentation drop down menu. The categories indicate the certification or requirement that must be completed. Each category is configured with types that affect their behaviour.

Importance

A Mandatory required date represents a critical certification that must be kept current and re-completed before it expires. If a Caregiver has an incomplete or expired required date that is Mandatory, warnings will appear when trying to schedule this Caregiver.

An Optional required date does not generate any scheduling warnings when it is expired.

Expiry Options

Required Date categories can be configured to one one of the following expiration options:

Expires On: Enter these requirements with the date they actually expire, rather than the date they were completed.

Actual Date (Certified On): Enter these requirements with the actual Certification date they are completed. These requirements automatically expire after a length of time that is specified for the category.

No Expiry: This requirement or certification will never expire once completed. Use this for one-time certifications not requiring renewal, such as an initial orientation or probationary review.

Working with Required Dates

Entering Required Dates

To add a required date to a person, open the appropriate module (Client, Caregiver) and select the desired person in the results in the Find Area. Click on Required Dates under the Documentation menu or tab.

Add a new Required Date using the Add button on the toolbar and select the appropriate Category, Status and the date.

You may also use the Quick Add feature to add multiple requirements to a person at once.

Incomplete Requirements

Particularly when training new caregivers, you will often find it necessary to add required dates to a person's profile that must be completed before the caregiver is eligible to work, but have not yet been fulfilled.

Incomplete required dates will also be shown on any report that lists expired required dates.

When the requirement is fulfilled, edit the record, changing the date to the correct certification or expiration date and set the Status to "Completed".

Note: If the date on an Incomplete required date is set to a future date, this requirement will not show up as an expired requirement until that date. This can be useful if a new requirement is instituted effective of a particular date. (For example: a new legislation requires that after a certain date all caregivers must complete a particular training or certification.) Add the required dates to each person, with a Status of "Incomplete" and date set to the effective date of the legislation. As caregivers complete the certification, update the records to Completed with the actual dates.

Renewing Requirements

When an expiring requirement is re-certified, do not edit or replace an existing required date record, but add in a new entry with the new certification or expiration date. This allows you to maintain the history of this person's re-certification. Only the most recent entry is considered when determining whether or not this requirement is expired. For example, in the example below, the CPR Certification requirement has been renewed several times. The latest re-certification is still active, so it will not be considered expired despite the additional historical records.

Reporting Expired or Expiring Required Dates

There are four different Required Dates reports:

Required Dates Coming Due (Printed Report)

This report shows Required Dates that are or will be expired within a given date range.

Required Dates Coming Due Letter (Printed Report)

Similar to the Required Dates Coming Due report, but in a letter format that you can mail to individual Caregivers. The body text of the letter is configured in the User Defined Module, Reporting, Mail Merge Letter.

Required Dates Completed (Printed Report)

Similar to the Required Dates Coming Due report, except this report shows which requirements have been completed within a given date range.

Required Dates Completed (Screen Report)

A grid listing of all Required Dates and their expiration dates attached to the selected people.

How to Create Required Dates Categories in User Defined Module

From the Main screen, click Setup, then click User Defined.

Next, click Documentation, then Required Dates tab.

Click the Add button and the category screen will open for you to populate the fields. Click Save when finished. Repeat for each Required Date category you are entering.