August 2009

Gravitas launches CORS - the new case outcome recording system for smaller charities and community organisations

CORS is a new flexible case outcome recording and monitoring system created for smaller scale charities and community organisations. Building on its experience of problem-solving in social care settings, developers Gravitas were keen to fulfil the need for a system that would increase efficiency and keep recording processes to a minimum.

Smaller scale community groups and partnership providers don't have the staff resources to manage complex business information systems. They are however concerned about upcoming requirements for 'Outcome Focused' requirements and 'Personal Budgets'.  By merely attending a centre the service user may meet certain outcome objectives such as socialisation or anxiety reduction.

These groups are often established to tackle specific social problems in individual areas in which they have expert knowledge or an interest - such as teenage knife crime or mental health day care. They need to store information securely and efficiently, but usually have little or no knowledge of such systems. Any that are commercially available are generally targeted at large, profitable organisations.

Gravitas found that in one case a group used a 'worry book' at the end of each day to write down things that had happened; another relied on the sign-in register to count centre attendance. In both cases they needed a record of what activities each person had undertaken and what outcomes or risks were associated with their attendance.

A primary benefit of CORS is its ease-of-use. By selecting a service user from a drop-down menu list against a certain date or activity, the associated outcome tables will be populated for management reporting functions. Case managers/workers also have the capacity to include ad hoc information such as risk issues or information pertinent to intervention.

Accurate recording in this way is necessary to fulfil funding targets. Additionally CORS uses the basic information being recorded to produce evidence and risk-related professional records, plus other reporting functions. These deliver benefits such as searching for historical information, emerging patterns and workflow management, all of which have proved invaluable to the organisations Gravitas works with.

Priced from just £199 ex VAT, CORS is priced to be accessible to even the smallest community group.