The Hinds County Human Resource Agency (HCHRA) is the grantee and the lead agency in
Mississippi’s development of a statewide data collection system and implementing
ROMA. A task force comprised of executive directors and staff from each of the CAAs in the
state provides direction to HCHRA. The task force was responsible for devising a set of
scales to track family, community, and agency progress toward outcomes. It also designed
the Mississippi Service Delivery Dictionary to provide common definitions of programs to
agencies and the Mississippi Problem Directory so that a family anywhere would receive the
same rating on a scale regardless of where in the state it lived. The task force also
created a ROMA Outcome Reporting Form for all agencies to use.
HRCRA hired a computer programmer to develop client tracking software specific to
Mississippi’s needs and a research coordinator to analyze the proposed system and to
coordinate the data collection effort. The research coordinator, Lei Zhang, has worked
with members of the task force to provide training on data tracking to agencies throughout
the state.
During late 1998 and early 1999, client tracking software was installed at each CAA.
Soon after the installation began, the task force discovered that the computer programmer
had created software that was not what the task force had specified. It was not
user-friendly and did not collect data in all of the categories that the task force
desired. Since it did not serve the state’s data collection needs and the task force
and the programmer were not able to reach an agreement, the task force hired another
programmer to
redesign the software.
Although the need to have the software redesigned delayed Mississippi’s
implementation of data collection software, the task force also found the agencies’
feedback on the software useful in designing the second version. The new software, called
MS ROMA, will be disseminated early in 2000. Until then, the agencies are using the first
version of the software. Agencies will be able to easily transfer their data to the new MS
ROMA system.
Mississippi will have a centralized statewide database. Each CAA will be able to
compile data from its multiple sites, and the persons responsible for submitting the data
to the central database will be able to access the database from any computer with
internet access.
The next phase of Mississippi’s ROMA implementation project will be collecting
data on agency and community outcomes. The statewide task force designed agency and
community matrices along with the those for family development, and is researching tying
all of the matrices to the data collection process.
Other states and agencies have shown interest in Mississippi’s products. A ROMA
User Manual will be available in early 2000.
For more information, contact Patricia Colwell, Planning and Development Director,
Hinds County Human Resource Agency, P.O. Box 22657, Jackson, MS 39225-2657, 601/923-3930.
