Documentation, Intakes, Assessments
Your iCarol system enables you to create an unlimited number of different Contact Form versions. Use Contact Form versions to
- Document interactions with consumers
- Assess risk
- Accept intakes
- Any activity where documentation and/or data collection is needed
Contact Forms are made up of configurable fields that you can add to or edit as needed to be responsive to new contracts or business opportunities, community events, or funder requests. iCarol Contact Forms can include fields such as:
- Dropdowns
- Checkboxes
- Matrixes
- Free text
- Formatted text
- Text with Data Validation using regular expressions
Client Management
Collect and track information about your client relationships with iCarol Profiles. Use Client Profiles to store:
- History and background information
- Demographic data
- Custom field data
- History of referrals provided to the client
- Recent Contact Records
- Follow-up history
Managing Profiles is easy with iCarol. We provide tools that help identify potential duplicates and merge Profiles so that contact history and client data is always attributed to the right person.
Outbound Contacts
The Outbound Contacts module is the perfect fit for any organization that makes scheduling, outbound calls to a group of clients. Especially useful for:
- Maintaining client lists
- Documenting outbound interactions
- Telephone Reassurance programs
- Safety checks for people discharged from the hospital
- Friendly check-ins to people living with serious and persistent mental illnesses
- Other proactive outbound calling programs
The Outbound Contacts module is comprised of robust client management tools, as well as scheduling and documentation for interactions occurring as part of your Outbound Contacts program.
Resource Management
Use iCarol to build and curate a service inventory or resource database of referrals and service provider information to refer your consumers to. Key elements of iCarol’s Resource Management tools of iCarol are:
- Flexibility and scalability to your needs based on the size and complexity of the information you store and maintain
- Uses the Inform USA approved Agency/Program/Site hierarchy
- Over 100 Standard Fields
- Unlimited Custom Fields
- Control over what fields are visible while Viewing or Editing within iCarol, or as seen by the pubic if using our Public Resource Directory tools
- Create custom Categorization or integrate the 211 Taxonomy*
- Assign Coverage Areas to resource records
- Flag records with internal notes for your Resource Managers
- And more!
iCarol Resource Database tools are suitable no matter the size and scope of your referral needs. iCarol is used by small, local helplines with just a few dozen community resources, as well as 211 organizations that focus on Information and Referral for large metropolitan areas or statewide networks.
iCarol’s Resource Database tools were build with Inform USA standards in mind to accommodate those centers seeking to gain and maintain Inform USA accreditation.
In addition to the many resource management tools provided with a base subscription to iCarol, we offer a number of optional add-on tools* to handle the more advanced needs of organizations heavily focused on high quality and large-scale information and referral services.
* Additional costs may apply
Shift Scheduling
Set up a custom, online shift schedule for your staff or volunteers.
- Create one-time and ongoing shifts for your volunteers or staff to view online
- Assign workers to shifts, or grant access for them to sign up online
- Request coverage and enable substitution capabilities for easy shift swapping among your volunteers or staff
- Receive automated email or SMS shift reminders, helping your busy volunteers or staff remember and hold to their shift commitments
- Track hours for reporting, record keeping, or payroll purposes
Volunteer/Staff Management
Your dedicated people, whether they are volunteers or paid staff, are an essential part of carrying out your mission. You can keep their information organized and easily accessible in iCarol, with additional tools that boost program efficiency, quality, and security.
- Set up detailed profiles for your Volunteers or Staff
- Use Volunteer/Staff profiles to store their contact information, emergency contacts, background information, and more
- Track each worker’s Skills and Achievements, trainings attended, certifications earned, and set reminders for when they’re due for renewal or recertification
- Set an overall security setting that aligns with their role at your organization, or explore dozens of Advanced Security Settings that more granularly control what they can see, do, and access in your iCarol system
Internal Communication
iCarol believes in helping you build and nurture your team by including several internal communication tools with your standard subscription.
Chatboard
Your Chatboard is a forum space to communicate internally between volunteers, staff, managers, and board members. With the Chatboard you can:- Post messages to be read and reviewed by your volunteers or staff
- Organize information into forums
- Restrict or segment access to topics based on role, if needed
- Receive feedback internally for your services to improve
- Encourage group discussion among your volunteers and staff
- Foster team cohesion
- Build a teamwork atmosphere Connect volunteers and staff with others in your organization that they may not interact with on shifts
News
Post announcements, news alerts, or include any attachments (like training manuals), that need to be accessible to your iCarol users.
Internal Chat
While signed in to iCarol, volunteers and staff can use your iCarol system to silently and securely chat with one another.
- Encourage and enable silent communication in a contact center setting
- Limit distracting background noise
- Reach a supervisor or other staff member, silently, when in need of guidance or assistance on an interaction, and avoid placing callers on hold
- Communicate with your volunteers or staff when you are off-site
- Maintain contact and supervision with staff working second and third shifts, weekends, or those who work remotely
Events Calendar
Set up, organize, and track your organization’s events, training and outreach work.
Reporting
The information you put into iCarol is pulled back out with colorful, instantly available reports, ready to go on demand and designed for the needs of the work you do.
- Run dozens of different ready-to-go charts and graphs
- Copy and paste charts and graphs into emails, reports, or grant applications
- Export chart and graph information to Excel for further manipulation or to create your own custom charts and graphs
- Filter information by client location, time period, Contact Record type, or Volunteer/Staff member handling the inquiry
- Drill into pie charts to see more granular data
- Filter reports using the information you collect on your Contact Records
- Export full data tables of your Contact Record, Shift, Volunteer and Staff, Resource, and other information for offline use. These tables can be used to keep copies on your local devices, or for advanced analysis, pivot tables, or queries in exterior programs like Microsoft Access or Excel.
Setup and Support
Setup costs for a standard iCarol system include our Standard Implementation during your initial implementation period. All customers enjoy Standard Support* to help you in your ongoing use of iCarol.
*A Premier Support option is available as well, please contact us for more information!
Live Chat and SMS/Texting
For a variety of reasons — Privacy, personal preference, convenience, culture, availability of technology — people are abandoning the phone call in favor of typed communication like texting, Live Chat, or engaging in self-service options on the web. If you want stay relevant and reach everyone in need of help, you must offer your services over these new channels in addition to the traditional ones.
Messaging services like Live Chat and SMS/Text capabilites offered directly within the iCarol software so you can meet people where they are and on the channels they prefer.
Warm Referral, Waitlists, Capacity Tracking, and Closed-Loop Referral
Human service organizations must often go beyond providing assistance during a single interaction. Collecting outcomes and determining whether the consumer successfully received assistance from referred organizations, if their needs were met, or they still need help, are becoming vital parts of social service organizations’ services.
iCarol’s ReferralQ feature enables you to document and track “warm referrals” made to your partner Community-Based Organization’s or programs within your own agency. Referrals are added to a dashboard, or “queue,” while they await services for easy progress tracking, triage, and more, to ensure consumers awaiting services don’t fall through the cracks.
Forms and Surveys
A growing number of people prefer self-service or electronic means to explore options and engage with organizations, rather than make a phone call. Having online engagement options available to your community not only means you can help more people, but it reduces wait times and prevents calls from going unanswered.
iCarol’s Public Web Forms feature enables you to invite community interaction online. These configurable forms allow your partners and help-seekers to send you information that is then submitted directly into your iCarol system to become part of other workflows.
Programs
Some organizations have multiple departments with distinct privacy needs. iCarol’s Programs (also called Program Restrictions) allow them to manage all departments within a single system while keeping data—such as Contact Forms, Client Profiles, and Shift Calendars—accessible only to the staff and volunteers assigned to that program.
Automated Follow-ups
Contact centers can efficiently maintain engagement with help-seekers despite high volume or staffing challenges by using iCarol to send scheduled follow-up emails or SMS texts automatically on a configurable schedule. This streamlines outreach, reminders, and survey collection, boosting follow-up rates while minimizing staff workload.
- Schedule and delivers automated follow-up emails or texts based on custom timelines.
- Send periodic check-ins and resource reminders to help-seekers.
- Issue survey requests and assessment links to clients for quality assurance and outcome tracking.
- Send friendly reminders if surveys or assessments remain incomplete.
Allow follow-up activities to close automatically after a specified period.
Public Resource Directories
With iCarol’s Public Resource Directory option, you can embed your Resource Database on your website where it can be searched or browsed by your web visitors. This allows multi-channel access to your services for those who prefer self-service over engaging directly with your specialists, while still providing them with relevant and expertly curated search results.
