Early system management work focuses on implementing system of care principles. Much of the start-up work, such as hiring staff, staffing committees, developing progress reports, and developing system and child outcome measures, is performed on an ad hoc basis given the pilot nature of the emerging system of care work. The most important objective of this phase should be designing what you think will work best for your community. You will learn much about various system management components and their value during the latter phases of planning and implementation. That information will guide what features of system management you ultimately sustain. Pre-planning can last up to 6 months.
Activities, Questions to Consider
- Identifying staffing needs to manage the work (administrative assistant, systems of care director, work groups).
- Is there an identified lead person (system of care director) to oversee the day-to-day operation of the systems of care effort?
- Is there adequate administrative support to ensure timely execution of all governance activities and procedures, including resolution of barriers to implementing individualized case plans?
- Identifying data collection, tracking, and assessment needs.
- Will there be an interagency management information committee? Within a system of care it is customary to have an interagency committee that looks at data across systems. Their early work could be to see where there is duplication of data between the systems. Later they may want to see if they can construct a unified cross-agency data system that meets all Federal and State requirements and eliminates duplication and is customer friendly in that a user of the humans service system needs to be only interviewed once
- Identifying other resources necessary to manage work (e.g., money, staff, training)
- Ensuring families are involved meaningfully in all systems of care activities.
Key Partners
- Administrative governance team members
- Leaders from all agencies involved in your system of care
- Family leaders
- Evaluators from each agency involved; possibly university evaluation partners
- Evaluator
Sustainability
- Secure funding to hire a manager (director) for your system of care.
- Secure funding for administrative support to ensure consistent information on individual children and families, as well as system-related information.
- Think strategically about the sustainability of your work, beginning from the earliest stages of your system of care planning.
- Begin thinking about tasks and activities that need to be routine and the personnel who would accomplish them.
- Keep all involved parties actively engaged in system management through various communication channels.
- Develop initial plans (e.g., strategic plan and logic model) and document changes along the way.
- Share the responsibility for sustainability planning and strategic thinking among all stakeholder groups.
Resources
Contra Costa County, California – Parent Partner Job Description (PDF - 19 KB)
A two-page job description that details the responsibilities for three aspects of the parent partner position: parent partner, parent advocate, and parent leader.
Pennsylvania – Project Manager Job Description (PDF - 26 KB)
A four-page job description that details the responsibilities of the State system of care coordinator position. While some of the position responsibilities are grant-related, much of the job description concerns a State leadership position to implement the infrastructure for a system of care in two counties and at the State level.