Create, Edit or Delete Resource Records

Create, Edit or Delete Resource Records

Resource Record Types

There are 4 types of Resource Records available within iCarol. Your organization can choose to use 1 or all of these record types to meet your needs. The Resource record types include:
  1. Agency: a legally recognized organization (or division) that delivers services.
  2. Site: the physical location/branch from which clients access services
  3. Program: types of assistance an agency delivers to its clients; can be a group of specific services
  4. ProgramAtSite: The connection between a Program offered at a Site
If the feature has been turned on for your organization, you can add Site and Program records that belong to an Agency record. The following are points to consider when using this feature:
  1. Before you can create a new Program or Site record, first you must create a new Agency or edit an existing Agency.
  2. You can add as many or as few Program and Site records under an Agency as you wish.
  3. After you add a Program and Site, you can then make a connection between the Program and Site records, and certain information from the Site records also appears when viewing the Program records

Create Resource Record(s)

  1. Admin and Supervisors (and users with special security settings) can add resources to the resource database.
  2. You have the option to enter a lot of information in each resource and you can use key features such as:
    1. Identifying resource status (active, active but do not refer, not active)
    2. Highlighting resource on main resource page
    3. Sharing internal notes and instructions and make temporary messages for a specific time frame
    4. Verification status and details
    5. ...and much more.

Steps to add an Agency Resource (manually):

  1. Click on "Resources" on the left hand menu.
  2. Click on the "Manage Resources" text on the upper right corner.
  3. Click on the "add a new agency" button.
  4. You can now fill out resource information details, internal notes, temporary messages, search hints and verification details.Multiple search hints may be separated by spaces, commas or semi-colons.
  5. If you enter physical location information for the record click the 'Look Up' button to ensure accurate proximity is calculated when the resource appears in your search results
  6. Click on "Save" button.You now have the option to click on "save and add a program" which will take you to the next step of assigning your resource to a program or "save and view resource" which will show the resource information that you just entered and saved.
  7. Once saved, depending on the settings enabled in your system, you can assign the resource to Custom Categories, Taxonomy Terms, and add sites and programs.

Steps to add a Site or Program to an Agency (manually):

  1. Click on "Resources" on the left hand menu.
  2. Open an existing record
  3. To add a new Site:
    1. select the drop-down list at the top of the page under 'Manage Sites at this Agency' to '(add a new Site)'. The page will refresh with a blank Site record;
    2. enter data in the fields as you wish 
    3. click 'Save'
  4. To add a new Program:
    1. select the drop-down list at the top of the page under 'Manage Programs at this Agency' to '(add a new Program)'. The page will refresh with a blank Program record;
    2. enter data in the fields as you wish
    3. click 'Save'

Steps to create a ProgramAtSite (connection of a Program offered at a Site)

After you create a Site and Program, you can make a connection from the Program record to select one or more Site records as offering the Program, by completing the following steps:
  1. When editing the Program record, scroll down to the Sites section of the record and you'll see all the Sites under the this Agency listed under 'Available Sites'
  2. Click the Site(s) you wish to add as being a Site that offers the Program; to select more than one Site at a time hold "Ctrl" on your keyboard as you click each Site
  3. After you've selected the Site(s), click the 'Add >>' button and the Site(s) will appear under 'Sites offering this program'
  4. Click 'Save and view resource' and notice when viewing the Program record, the Site(s) selected appear under the 'Location information' section, and Site information is blended to appear within this Program record
TIP: You can remove a Site from offering the Program by completing the same steps listed above, but at step 2 select the Site(s) you wish to remove from under 'Sites offering this program', then click the '<< Remove' button, and click 'Save'.

Steps to import Resource Data

There are a few options to consider when adding resources to your database in bulk, which is considered a Resource Import.

Option 1: Resource Import Template: 

We have standard templates (a custom Excel spreadsheet) for you to use to bring over your resources from another source. These templates have been built with the complexity or levels of the resource data in mind and can be provided upon request by our Support or Client Solution team, or accessed from within your iCarol system depending on your settings. The following templates are available:
  1. Agency Only – This will provide one level for your resource data.
  2. Agency/Site/Program/ProgramAtSite – This will provide to most flexibility for resource data to include Program and Site specific information. Complexity of the data depends on your source data and it may be 2 Levels (Agency & Program) or 3 Levels (Agency/Site/Program).
Read the article  Resource Import Template Guidelines for instructions.

Option 2: Custom Import Project:

If you don't have an easy way of getting your information into our standard import templates, then we will propose a special paid project. We will work with you to understand the structure and size of your current database to scope a Custom Import Project. This would include a quote and estimated time frame for the work.

Option 3: Database sharing with another Agency:

Your agency may have a relationship with another agency in your area who is willing to grant you access to their database on an ongoing basis. This can include making referrals, running statistics and making the resources visible via your public resource directory published on your public website. This feature may have an additional cost associated with it, so if you're interested in learning more about sharing resources with another agency, have a designated Support Contact from your organization submit a case from the Help area to request more information about pricing.

Edit Resource Record(s)

When you're 'Editing' your resources in iCarol, you can determine which level of the resource you're in by looking at the top of the page, where you'll see the following, depending on the resource level selected:
  1. Agency will appear with a Gray bar at the top of the page, above the 'Agency Name' field
  2. Site will appear with a Blue bar at the top of the page, above the 'Site Name' field
  3. Program will appear with a Green bar at the top of the page, above the 'Program Name' field
  4. Program-At-Site will appear with a Yellow bar at the top of the page, above the 'ProgramAtSite Name' field; note, this level is only accessible after you select a Program offered at one or more Sites, and if you have the setting enabled in your system to be able to edit Program-at-Site records. Most organizations don't choose to edit this resource level. 

Impact when making changes to Resource name

When you make changes to a name of a resource record it impacts statistics in the following ways:
Calls that were referred to resources prior to the name change, will still show the old resource name (when viewing call reports and in resource & referral statistics)
The new resource name will only apply to any referrals made after the name change was made

Move a program to another agency (Agency/Site/Program hierarchy only)

You can re-assign a Resource Program to another Agency as follows:

First, find the resource you want to modify. You can do this by performing a search on the main Resources page. Or you can click on Manage Resources, List all Resources and find it on the list. Then:
  1. Click on the Edit button
  2. Click on 'change agency to which this program belongs' (bottom right in box).
You should now see a pop-up box (if your blocker is not on) called 'Change Parent Agency'
  1. Type in new Agency name and click on 'search'
  2. Click on 'Change to this Agency now' to save the change.
  3. Click on 'Close Window'.

Inactive or Deleting a Resource Record

Sometimes you need to remove a resource from your database for many reasons, including but not limited to the resource is: a seasonal service (ex. holiday meals, school supplies, etc.), temporarily out of funding, a disaster response or relief resource, or unable to be verified.

You can decide set the resource to 'active, but do not refer', set it to 'inactive', or delete it entirely. Review the following information, and complete the steps after you've determined how to handle when resources need to be removed from your database. 

Steps to make a resource 'Inactive' or 'Active, but do not refer':

  1. When viewing the details of an active resource, click the 'Edit' button at the top of the page
  2. Under the Agency Information section, set the 'Status' field to 'Inactive' or 'Active, but do not refer'
  3. At the top or bottom of the page click the 'Save' or 'Save and view resource' button
Important notes about setting resources to 'Inactive' or 'Active, but do not refer'
  1. It is best practice in iCarol to mark resources with either of these statuses, rather than deleting the resource entirely from your database
  2. When resources are marked with either of these statuses, they will still be available everywhere in iCarol (ex. Data Exports, Statistics, Resource searches)
  3. Users can adjust their filters to include or exclude resources marked as 'Inactive' or 'Active, but do not refer' when searching for resources

Steps to delete a resource:

  1. When viewing the details of an active resource, click the 'Edit' button at the top of the page
  2. Under the Agency Information section, set the 'Status' field to 'Inactive' or 'Active, but do not refer'
  3. At the top or bottom of the page click the 'Save' or 'Save and view resource' button
Note, you must delete the lowest level of the record first before deleting higher level records. For example, if your organization uses a 3 level structure (Agency, Site, Program), you must delete all Programs attached to a Site before you can delete the Site, then you must delete all Sites attached to an Agency before you can delete the Agency.
Important notes about deleting resource records
If you decide to delete a resource rather than making it inactive, then information about the resource record will no longer be available in certain areas of iCarol. Before deleting a resource, consider the following:
  1. After deleting a resource, information will still be available in the following:
    1. Admin Tools 'Call Reports Data Export' files; resource name will be prefixed with ‘DELETED’
    2. Call Reports where a referral was saved
    3. Statistics 'Resources and Referrals'; resource name will be prefixed with ‘DELETED’
    4. Statistics 'Caller Needs based on Taxonomy' reports; resource name will be prefixed with ‘DELETED’
  2. After deleting a resource, information will not be available in the following:
    1. Admin Tools 'Resource Data Export' files
    2. Statistics 'Resources Added or Updated' report
    3. Statistics reports (any) when the 'Referred Resources' filter is used
  3. After deleting a resource record you cannot un-delete it
Once a Resource record is deleted, it cannot be restored or un-deleted.

Automatically change this resource's status

Resource editors can select settings on a resource record to automatically make it active or inactive on certain dates. These updates occur at about 6:30am Eastern time (US) only on the day specified.

To schedule a resource to automatically set to active or inactive, complete the following steps:
  1. Edit a resource record and scroll down to the Status section
  2. Select the checkbox next to 'Automatically change this resource's status...'
  3. If your resource is currently set to 'Active':
    1. Enter the date that you wish for the Resource to become inactive on next to 'Make Inactive on:'(or click the date picker and click the date)
    2. If you wish to set the resource back to active on a date in the future, after it becomes inactive, enter the date that you wish for the Resource to become active on next to 'Make Active on:'(or click the date picker and click the date)
  4. If your resource is currently set to 'Inactive':
    1. Enter the date that you wish for the Resource to become active on next to 'Make Active on:'(or click the date picker and click the date)
  5. Click 'Save' and the resources status will change on the date(s) selected
Important Notes:
  1. When the status of a resource changes, the History of Changes recorded the change as being made by 'Unspecified' at approximately 3:00am EST
  2. The date selections made must be after the date you're making the changes on, to ensure they are processed as expected. In other words, on April 9th you can't schedule the status to change on April 9th; you must choose a date in the future

Highlight and Search on Preferred Providers

Users with permission to edit resources can highlight selected resources as 'Preferred Providers/Referrals'. Enabling this setting makes it so when searching for resources, these records appear at the top of any list of search results, and the heading will have a green background; when this setting is not selected the (default) background color is blue.

Steps to make a resource a Preferred Provider:
  1. When creating or editing a resource, under the 'Temporary Message' section, select the setting 'Preferred provider - show at top of browse and search results'
  2. Click 'Save' and the resource will appear at the top of any list of search results, and the heading will have a green background

Highlight Key Resources on main Resources page

Users with permission to edit resources can highlight resources to appear by default on the main Resources search page, including when searching for resources from the link in the left side menu, or from within a call report.

After you complete a search, these highlighted resources no longer appear; they only appear the first time the main Resources search page loads. 

Steps to highlight resource:
  1. When creating or editing a resource, under the 'Temporary Message' section, select the setting 'Show on highlighted list on main resource page'
  2. Click 'Save' and the resource will be highlighted when you the main Resources search page first loads

    • Related Articles

    • Create/Submit, Edit, Delete Contact Records

      Create/Submit, Edit, Delete Contact Records Most users can create and submit contact records, unless they have a Trainee security level or their access rights have been limited by an Admin or Supervisor. Create/Submit Contact Records Steps to create ...

    • Manage ReferralQ (Create, Edit, Delete)

      What are ReferralQs? ReferralQ & Capacity Tracking enables you to document and track your Partner Community-Based Organization's (CBO) capacity to accept referrals, and update a help-seeker's status as they work with your Partner so you can obtain ...

    • Resource Field Choices

      Resource Field Choices Resource Field Choices enables resource managers to create a preset list of choices for some of the standard fields in resource records. This can help prevent typing mistakes, adhere to specific data entry and style guides, and ...

    • Custom Resource Fields

      How to use Custom Fields in Resources While resource records in iCarol contain many fields for many pieces of information, you may find that there is not an appropriate field for a particular piece of information which is important to you. Users with ...

    • Resource Database and Settings

      What is a Resource Database? Resources is a database of agencies, programs and/or sites that offer services in the communities you serve. Logging and making referrals to services or programs in the community is well integrated into the process of ...