HOMES DATABASE TO REMAIN AVAILABLE UNTIL AUGUST

Below is the text of a press release just put out jointly by Bob Wyatt, the ED of the Muttart Foundation and George Ghitan, CEO of Hull Child and Famioly Services (developers and co-owners of the HOMES system).

Please keep sending me the names of database systems you are looking at and I will see what I can find to post about them.

Mike Boyes

The HOMES database will remain available to existing clients until August 31, 2010.

George Ghitan, Board chair of the Canadian Outcomes Research Institute (CORI) and Bob Wyatt, CORI’s vice-chair, said the extension of service was made possible as a result of further support from The Muttart Foundation.

“We have heard from a number of clients since the announcement of CORI’s demise,” they said. “We appreciated the expressions of sympathy and of goodwill. We also heard very clearly of the problems that would be created because of the proposed March 31 termination of the HOMES database.

“The Muttart Foundation’s Board of Directors has agreed to provide additional funding to allow the database to be kept operational until August 31. We are grateful for that support and glad that we can provide some additional breathing space to users of the database.”

Because a number of HOMES users are funded on a government fiscal year, they would be entering data until March 31. Termination on that date would make it difficult for them to complete their year-end data entry, and impossible for them to download the data they require for their reports to funders.

Ghitan and Wyatt said they have been contacted by a number of organizations with proposals about the HOMES database. In some cases, commercial firms are seeking to find ways to transfer data from the HOMES database to their own software. Other suggestions have included different ways for the HOMES database to continue to be owned and operated within the nonprofit sector.

Some agencies have expressed concerns about the costs of moving to other software, particularly in a time of major concern about the possibility of further funding reductions.

CORI has not endorsed any alternative product, and will not do so. Users of the HOMES database will need to make their own assessments of products offered to them and of the costs of those products.

The extension to August 31 will also allow CORI’s Board of Directors to examine other options to continue to serve agencies which have relied on HOMES to assess their achievement of outcomes and to improve the quality of their service.

“We cannot yet promise what the future will hold,” said Ghitan and Wyatt. “We will explore the suggestions and options we have received and consider other options. We will keep users advised of developments as they occur.”

It is clear, however, that CORI cannot continue in the form in which it existed before November 30, 2009. Because of termination of funding arrangements by other funders, there are not adequate resources to operate in the same way. Other options may be possible, but need to be explored in greater detail.

The additional funding from The Muttart Foundation will allow CORI to maintain one IT staff member as well as the staff member who operates the help line. This limited staffing model will not allow for any significant changes to the operation of the database. Any improvements would depend on some other arrangements being established. Whether that can happen is still not clear.

Additional information will be sent to users when it is available.


George Ghitan Bob Wyatt
CEO Executive Director
Hull Child & Family Services The Muttart Foundation


January 20, 2010