Create, Edit, Delete Profiles
What are Help Seeker Profiles?
Help Seeker profiles allow your agency to store demographic information, alerts and instructions on people who seem to be interacting with your organization on a recurring basis or have otherwise been determined by your organization as needing a profile. This allows for more consistent reporting when looking at Help Seeker information in Contact Records .
The Help Seeker Profile is broken out into the following areas:
- Profile: standard fields included in all profiles, where you can store basic information like name, address and phone number, detailed information like history and notes about case assistance, and set different permissions and alerts that are seen throughout iCarol.
- the 'History' field is the only Profile field that can be edited from within the Contact Record; read this help article to learn more
- the 'Instructions when communicating with this person' field displays when the 'Place an alert' feature is used; read this help article to learn more
- Background: custom fields from your Contact Records that you set to include in Help Seeker profiles; data from these fields in the profile automatically populate into the fields in new Contact Records, saving time for your users and helping your organization gather the data they need for reporting
- Contacts: links to the most recent contacts connected to the profile
- Stats: statistics about how contact length and frequency, calculated using the Contact Records connected to the profile
- Referrals: links to recent referrals made in Contact Records connected to the profile
- Follow-Ups: links to Contact Records with recent follow-up activities scheduled, for Contact Records connected to the profile
- Website: if your subscribed to the iCarol PRD and have enabled users to create public accounts there, some information is available here about how they’re using it
How to enable using Help Seeker Profiles
Administrators of iCarol can choose to enable using Help Seeker Profiles within their iCarol system.
- Log in as an Administrator or user with access to Admin Tools
- Click on 'Admin Tools' from the left menu
- Click on the 'Setup' tab
- Click to enable or disable Help Seeker / Caller Profiles
How to view Help-Seeker Profiles
Help Seeker Profiles can be viewed in a number of ways within iCarol, the most common ways to access Help Seeker Profiles is by:
Clicking on the "Profiles" link from the left menu
Clicking on the "Profiles" link from the main Contacts page
From Contact Records (ReportVersion5+) after assigning a Profile to the record
Once a Profile is selected on the Contact Record (ReportVersion5+), the "Open Profile" link will appear. Clicking this link will open the selected Profile in a new tab, allowing quick access to viewing past contacts, referrals, follow-up activities, and instructions.
From Contact Records (ReportVersion5+) after a Profile Search
When reviewing Profile search results from the Contact Record (ReportVersion5+), clicking the Profile name will open the Profile in a new tab, allowing quick access to viewing the past contacts, referrals, follow-up activities and instructions before selecting and assigning the Profile to the Contact Record.
Repeat vs Non-Repeat Profiles
Within each Profile, your organization chooses to set it as 'Repeat'/'Regular' or 'Non-Repeat'. It is best practice for your organization to develop processes around when to define help seekers as 'Repeat'/'Regular' or 'Non-Repeat', using the following information as a guideline:
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The defining difference between these 2 profiles is the “Repeat Profiles” has the setting selected “Is a regular Help Seeker - appears in drop-down list in Contact Record forms”, and the “Non-Repeat Profiles” do not have this setting selected
- Once this distinction is defined within a Profile, you’ll see “Repeat Profiles” found in the Profile list on the main Contacts page, within a Contact Record, and on the advanced search page, but you won’t see “Non-Repeat Profiles” in that list
- Repeat and Non-Repeat Profiles can both be found in the link to Profiles on the advanced search page, when searching past contacts, and when searching the Name field in a Contact Record
- Repeat and Non-Repeat Profiles are both included in the Help Seeker Profiles Data Export files
- Repeat and Non-Repeat Profiles are both viewed by clicking the help seekers name wherever it appears as a hyperlink
Important Notes:
- When using the Outbound Contacts feature the use of Outbound Help Seeker Profiles is available. Read this help article to learn more about the Outbound Contacts feature and how to use Outbound Help Seeker Profiles
- If your organization is subscribed to the Programs feature, you can limit which Help Seeker Profiles are available to users in your system, based on Program assignment. Read the Knowledge Base article on Programs to learn more.
- An Admin at your organization may choose to disable this feature in 'Admin Tools' in their left side menu, on the 'Setup' tab, by deselecting the checkbox next to 'Enable Caller Profiles - keep demographics, history and instruction information up to date'
Default new Profiles as a repeat when created
Administrators can now configure if new Profiles should be created as "regular callers/contacts" upon creation.
To configure this setting:
- Log into iCarol as an Admin
- Click on "Admin Tools"
- Click on the "Contacts & Profiles" tab
- Click to enable/disable the "Create new Profiles as regular callers/contacts" setting
Tip: iCarol Support can save you time by setting all of your existing Help-Seeker Profiles to 'non-repeat' at once. Please create a ticket with the iCarol Support Team to request this update.
How to Create a Help Seeker Profile
Create Profiles Manually
- From the main Contacts page, click the ‘Help Seeker Profiles’ link in the contacts table on the left side of the page
- At the top of the page click the link to ‘Add a Repeat Help Seeker’
- Fill out the information as you wish, explained in more detail below, and click ‘Add’ to save the profile
Create Profiles by uploading/importing records
- If you have a long list of caller profiles you want to add, this upload option allows you to enter multiple caller profile details at once using a predefined excel spreadsheet template.
- You can use this tool whenever you like, and it will import up to 1,000 profiles at a time.
Steps to add multiple Caller Profiles at once using the upload feature (Admins only):
- Click on Admin Tools on the left hand menu.
- Click on the "Setup" tab
- In the Enable Call Reports section, ensure that "Enable Caller Profiles" is check marked.
- Click on the "import caller profiles into iCarol..." link.
- Carefully follow the listed steps and read provided description.
- It will provide you with a pre-set excel template that you fill out with caller details and save to your computer. Adding/removing columns or changing column descriptions will cause errors when you try to import the data.
- If your excel spread sheet contains data entry errors the system will not proceed with the upload but instead give you a detailed description of the error so that you can correct it, save the file and try again.
Create Profiles manually using a past contact record, by completing the following steps:
- When viewing a past contact record, click the link under the Help Seeker’s name to ‘Create profile’
- The profile record will load with some information populated from the contact record
- Add to and change the information as you wish, explained in more detail below, and click ‘Add’ to save the profile
Automatically create Profiles after a contact record is submitted
There is a call report setting whereby a new caller profile, if one was not already selected in the call report, will be created on every new call. This setting is used by clients who wish to enter every caller into their database with a caller profile. This enables greater tracking of repeat callers.
This setting can be enabled in one or more call reports and must be enabled by iCarol Support. If your organization wishes to enable this setting, please have a designated Support Contact from your organization go to 'Help' in their left side menu and submit a case requesting the setting be enabled, including the names of the call report forms it should be enabled in.
Before deciding to enable this feature, it's important to consider the following points:
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If a profile isn't selected in a call report, even if there is an existing profile the call report could be connected to, as soon as that call report is submitted or saved as a draft a new profile will be created
- As soon as you save a call report as a draft, if the call report has the setting to edit the Profile history from within the call report enabled, then the 'History' field becomes available in the call report to edit
- If this setting is enabled, your users must be trained to always search for a profile to connect their call report to before they 'Submit' it
- when the Profile is created, the Program associated with the Call Report used to create the Profile is also automatically associated with the Profile
- when the Profile is created, custom fields from the call report set to appear in the Profile are automatically populated with entries from the call report used to create the Profile, as long as the appropriate settings are configured in the call report form
- Duplicate profiles could potentially be created for the same help seeker by mistake, and they must be corrected manually by someone at your organization. There is no tool to batch connect call reports to a profile, or batch delete duplicate profiles; this means all work to correct duplicates must be done manually by someone at your organization
- You should also develop a process where someone is responsible for reviewing all profiles in your system to minimize the chances of duplicate profiles being created.
- It is suggested if you enable this setting, you set-up a process whereby, at a set interval, caller profiles are reviewed for duplicates, and a separate process for how the duplicate profiles should be addressed.
- Further steps must be taken to ensure a new caller profile will appear in the list of caller profiles to select from in a call report, and that information about the caller will be automatically populated into future call reports.
- It is suggested that if you enable this setting, you set-up a process whereby, the caller profiles in your system are updated to making the following changes:
- Under Permission, check the box next to "Is a regular caller - appears in drop-down list in call report forms"
- Enter information into the Profile tab notes (i.e. History, Keywords, Case Assistance, etc.) and enter or update custom fields on the Background tab of the caller profile
Tips to prevent duplicate profiles from being created:
With this setting enabled, duplicate profiles can be created if your users aren't trained to always search for a profile in every call report before submitting the record. To avoid duplicates from being created, we recommend adding static text to your call reports where this setting is enabled that says something along the lines of "You must search for a profile to connect to your call report before submitting every call report. Use the information in this help article to learn about the different ways you can connect and search for profiles. If a profile does not exist for the individual, submit the call report, or save it as a draft, and a new profile will be created."
How to edit a Help Seeker Profile
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When viewing the Profile, click the 'Edit' button
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Update any information as you wish and click 'Save'
Profile History of Changes
When changes are made to Profiles, who, what, and when changes are made will be added to the History of Changes. The history of changes can be viewed from the Profile by:
- Viewing the Profile record
- Clicking "History of changes to this Profile" found on the bottom of each page.
When creating and editing profiles, the following are important notes in regard to how the feature functions:
- You can add additional fields to Help Seeker Profiles using the setting 'Available in Help Seeker Profiles, and will transfer in from existing contact record'; read the Knowledge Base article titled 'Transferring data from Profiles to Contact Records' to learn more
- There are 2 main types of Help Seeker Profiles, which are as follows:
- Repeat Profile – Any profile created in an iCarol system that has the setting selected ‘Is repeat Help Seeker – appears in drop-down list in contact record forms’
- (Non-Repeat) Profile – Any profile created in an iCarol system that DOES NOT have the setting selected ‘Is repeat Help Seeker – appears in drop-down list in contact record forms’
- The only difference between these 2 types of Help Seeker Profiles is the Repeat Profiles appear in the following areas:
- Main Repeat Help Seeker Profiles page, accessed by clicking Help Seeker Profiles in the contacts table on the left side of the main Contacts page
- Help Seeker drop-down list that appears within contact records and on the Advanced Search page
- There are several other areas of iCarol where both types of Help Seeker Profiles appear, which are explained in detail in the related help article ‘How to connect a Help Seeker profile to a contact record’.
- It is entirely up to your organization to determine when to create a Repeat Profile or Non-Repeat Profile, or not to use Profiles at all, using the information above to help you make your decision.
- The ‘History’ field of the Help Seeker profile is the only field in the profile that can be updated from within a new contact record; all other fields in the Help Seeker profile must be updated by editing the profile record. Most organizations use the ‘History’ field to note recent incidents related to the profile that other users should be aware, or as a way to communicate about updates that might be needed to a profile. Read this help article to learn more about enabling the setting to edit the 'History' field from within a contact record.
- The Profile record is separate from the contact records connected to it. For example, your organization may set ‘Age’ be included in the Profile record. In the Profile record you have selected the Age as ‘24’ but in a contact record, record the Age is selected as ‘25’. The Profile record is not automatically updated with the information from the contact record, instead your organization must come up with a process to update the Profile records so they stay up to date.
- By default, only Admin and Supervisor level users can create or edit Profiles, but other users can be granted permission to do by adjusting their Advanced Security Settings to enable the setting ‘Can edit and create repeat Help Seeker profiles’.
Profile Automatic Updating from Contact Records
Profiles can be automatically updated from Contact Records (ReportVersion5+) as new information is gathered about the Help-Seeker during contacts and interactions. Enabling and using this feature can help keep your Profiles updated with the most recent information, reducing the need for duplicate data entry and requiring known Help-Seekers from having to share their information multiple times.
How to enable "Profile Automatic Update"
To enable Profile Auto Updating:
- Log into iCarol as an Admin
- Click on "Admin Tools"
- Click on the "Contacts & Profiles" tab
- Under "Profile Settings"
- Choose the security level that "can update Profiles when submitting Contact Records."
- Choose if Profile fields should be updated with blank values when submitting Contact Records. This setting controls the default choice of updating or do not update with blank values.
- Choose if volunteer-staff users can choose to update Profiles with blank values when submitting Contact Records. Enabling this setting displays a second checkbox on the Contact Record (ReportVersion5+), allowing the volunteer-staff user to override the default selected in the above setting.
- Click "Save all settings"
Note: Choosing to 'update' Profile fields with blank values will replace populated Profile fields, such as phone number, address, etc., with blank values when that information is removed from the Contact Record before submitting.
How to use Profile Auto-Updating
When enabled, the selected Profile on Contact Records (ReportVersion5+) will automatically be updated when the volunteer-staff users' security level has permission to use the auto-update tool.
A new checkbox, "Update the selected Profile on Submit," will display at the top of the page when a Profile is selected on the Contact Record (ReportVersion5+). By default:
- new Contact Record is submitted for the first time, the checkbox will default to checked, which will automatically update the selected Profile when submitted
- draft or edited Contact Record is submitted, the checkbox will default to unchecked, which will NOT automatically update the selected Profile when submitted
If the volunteer-staff user can choose to update Profiles with blank values when submitting Contact Records, the "Update populated Profile fields with blank values on Submit" will display.
This checkbox will default to your preferred update preference, which the volunteer-staff user can change before submitting.
Show Contact Record Fields on Help Seeker Profiles
This tool allows you to choose custom questions and/or the Narrative to display on Help Seeker Profiles from one or more contact forms. Volunteer-Staff users with access to the Help Seeker Profile will be able to view, at a glance, some of the details from the contact records or interactions associated to that Help Seeker Profile directly on the Contacts tab of the Profile page, instead of having to view each contact record individually.
Step
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