Eva Data Quality Tool

Eva is a data quality tool developed and maintained by HUD. ICA uses this tool to monitor overall data quality throughout the year and agencies are also encouraged to use the tool to stay on top of their own data quality.

The tool makes use of the Hashed HMIS CSV report. This is an export from Community Services that pulls HUD-defined data for all projects included. 'Hashed' indicates that all personally identifying information (PII; such as name and Social Security Number) are removed from the export.

The Hashed HMIS CSV export is uploaded to the Eva website. Because the data does not have PII and the data is not stored on the website, it is safe to upload our data to Eva for reviewing data quality.

HUD Resources & Links
Process
- Run hashed HMIS CSV export from Community Services
- Upload to Eva
Review the data
Getting Support

HUD Resources & Links

The tool: Eva

General info: Eva - HUD Exchange

Quick Start Guide: HMIS Eva Quick Start Guide v 1.2 (hudexchange.info)

Process

Run a hashed HMIS CSV export from Community Services

Users should set first set their EDA to the provider they want to run the report for. If planning to run for a reporting group, set your EDA to one of the providers included in the reporting group.
In Community Services, go to the Reports page, and then click on the Hashed HMIS CSV
Click Start New Export
In the prompts, give it a meaningful Name (I)
1. this could be "AgencyA ProjectB DateRange"
  Select all relevant Entry Data Types (II)
2. Recommend: RHY, HUD, PATH, Standard, VA, Basic
  1. Note: you must select all Entry Types that your project(s) use. Selecting extra Entry Types does not impact your report.
Select Provider or Reporting Group (III) and (IV)
1. If you choose Provider, you will select one particular project to check data quality for
  1. Select the particular
2. If you have a Reporting Group established, you can select Reporting Group and check data quality for all projects in the reporting group
  1. If you wish to have a reporting group created for a group of projects, reach out to your System Administrator (mohmis@icalliances.org)
Enter the Start Date (V) and End Date (VI)
The export will go into the "Exports Scheduled in the Last 30 Days box. When the Status is Completed, click the magnifying glass to open. This brings up a new window where you can verify the parameters you set for the export.
Click Download Results. This downloads a zip file.
1. Note - unlike for other sites, it is okay to open the zip file before uploading to Eva.

Upload to Eva

Once you have your zipped Hashed HMIS CSV, navigate to Eva: https://hmis.abtsites.com/eva/.

Go to Upload HMIS CSV Export (teal below).
Click Browse, and then browse to the location where you saved your Hashed HMIS CSV.
If the upload is successful, you will see this-
1. If you don't see this, it means there are high priority errors that need to be addressed before the tool can check data quality. These are often, but not always, structural errors. We recommend downloading the error file and sending it to the helpdesk (mohmis@icalliances.org).
If you do see "Upload successful", move on to reviewing your data.

Review the Data

View Client Counts

On the left panel, click on View Client Counts (teal, below). Additional instructions can be found by clicking on the 'plus' side on the right side of the screen (purple, below).

Here, you can look at Summary and Detail information for each project included. Select the project for which you want to view information in the drop-down bar (yellow, above). You can also download the system-wide information (red, above) - this includes all projects included in the Hashed HMIS CSV export.

This view gives limited client detail information, including Relationship to HoH (Head of Household), Entry and Exit Date, Move in Date, and Status (Active/Exited, Move-in/No Move-in) but no personally identifying information.

Assess Data Quality

On the left-hand panel, click on Assess Data Quality, and it'll expand to show 3 areas of data quality.

Each section gives you a summary, some guidance, and ability to download files identifying specific errors.

Check PDDEs

PDDEs are Project Descriptor Data Elements defined in the HUD Data Standards Manual. These elements, including project information, funding information, and bed inventory information, are entered into HMIS by ICA System Administrators after consulting with the project. End users are not able to change PDDEs themselves.

If you see errors in the PDDE section, download the file and send to helpdesk (mohmis@icalliances.org) for review.

System-Level

The System-Level data quality checks looks at all projects included in your Hashed HMIS CSV.

Eva categorizes data quality issues into 3 levels of severity. The following descriptions are taken from the Eva website:

High Priority Errors
- Always indicates a data quality issue that can and should be fixed in HMIS.
- Aim for 0 High Priority errors.
- These errors affect multiple federal reports in a fundamental way and thus should be prioritized.
General Errors
- Always indicates a data quality issue that can and should be fixed in HMIS.
- Aim for 0 General Errors.
Warnings
- May be a data quality issue, but may also be an unexpected situation that reflects reality.
- Do not aim for 0 Warnings. It is ok and expected to have some warnings.
- End users should check that any data being flagged as a Warning is accurate in their HMIS. If it is not accurate, then it should be corrected. If it is accurate, it should be left as is.

For each of these data quality categories, Eva shows the Top 10 Issues and the Top 10 Organizations. You can toggle between these choices by clicking in the red squares below.

The Top 10 Issues reflect the Number of Enrollments affected by each data quality issue. These are great targets on where to start with data quality clean up.

Since you will likely only be looking at projects from one agency, you will only see one agency listed under the Top 10 Organizations.

You also can download the System-level data quality issues.

The downloaded excel file will have several tabs. Depending on what data quality issues are present in the dataset, not all tabs may be shown.

Tab	Purpose	Your Action
Export Detail	Report parameters	n/a
System Summary	Data quality issues found in the full report, listed by error type (High Priority, Error, and Warning) and how many enrollments are affected by that issue.	Sort by Error Type - address the High Priority errors first. Sort by Enrollments - address the issues affecting the most enrollments
Organization Summary	Same as System Summary, but attributes data quality issues to each organization. If you are running your report for only one agency, this will be the same as the System Summary.	Sort by Error Type - address the High Priority errors first. Sort by Enrollments - address the issues affecting the most enrollments
Guidance	For each data quality issue, this provides guidance on how the issue must be addressed. Some explanations refer you to the Data Standards Manual to understand how the data element should be collected and reported.	Refer to this tab to help understand how to address the issues noted in the other tabs. You can also reach out to the helpdesk (mohmis@icalliances.org) with further questions.
High Priority Errors	Detail information on each High Priority issues, including client ID (called Personal ID), and relevant information such as Entry Date.	Use these details, including Personal ID (Client ID) and Entry information, to look up the client and entry in HMIS and fix the issues.
Errors	Detail information on each Error, including client ID (called Personal ID), and relevant information such as Entry Date.	Use these details, including Personal ID (Client ID) and Entry information, to look up the client and entry in HMIS and fix the errors.
Warnings	Detail information on each Warning, including client ID (called Personal ID), and relevant information such as Entry Date.	Use these details, including Personal ID (Client ID) and Entry information, to look up the client and entry in HMIS and fix the warnings.
Overlap Details	For overlapping enrollments, this shows all affected clients. Each row corresponds to a client and shows information for one entry and then information for the other entry.	Use these details, including Personal ID (Client ID) and Entry information, to look up the client and entry in HMIS and resolve the warnings.
Referral Details	Details on Coordinated Entry Event Referrals that may be missing a Result Date or may have been delayed in getting the client to housing. This check is only applied to CE Event referrals which are expected to have an associated Result and Result Date (4.20.2 responses 10-15, 17, 18. Please see the HMIS Data Standards for the complete list of CE Events.)	Check if these clients should have had a Result Date recorded in the CE Event record.

Organization-Level

This shows errors and warnings in the same way as System-Level, but for a specific organization. Remember, if your Hashed HMIS CSV file only includes one organization, this will show the same errors as the System-Level. However, this view will identify the Top 10 Projects with data quality issues, which may be helpful if running for multiple projects.

Select the Organization (see teal box below) and then you can download data quality issues specific to that organization, and see the Top 10 Issues and Top 10 Projects for High Priority Errors, Errors, and Warnings (purple boxes).