Monitoring activities and outcomes enables the supervisor to track client progress as well as the caseworker s completion of essential casework functions. In addition, supervisors monitor achievement of casework activities and outcomes across caseloads. Finally, by monitoring the unit to determine if it is achieving its program goals, supervisors can identify trends necessary for planning purposes as well as areas in need of corrective action.
States vary greatly in the availability of computerized systems for collecting and providing data.
As appropriate, supervisors should make use of existing reports for monitoring purposes, thus avoiding duplication of effort and freeing the supervisor to focus on gaps in information. The key casework activities and outcomes are what supervisors must monitor on the case-specific level and caseload level. In order to create a system for monitoring achievement of client outcomes and caseworker performance, supervisors must decide how they will collect the data, how often they will collect the data, and then create a system to track their data collection efforts. For example, a supervisor may review every completed intake referral form for thoroughness of the information collected, the specificity of the information, and the accuracy of any conclusions drawn. The decision regarding the frequency of data collection efforts is based on how the supervisor plans to use the information.