[Next Page][Table of Contents]
Clear roles and referral
processes
Direct administrative
communication
Short term planning
Case files
Wide Area Networks
linking local area networks
In a collaboration, agencies have agreed to coordinate the operation of a joint program within a single management. But the mechanism for managing a program across organizations may be very thin. Internet may be used to support general administrative functions.
A collaboration may be especially complex to outsiders. Program home pages offer the ability to clarify the purposes of the program and to "map" the relations between agencies. Key pages can specify the elements of the program and the key persons and agencies responsible for each. It may also be important to identify the preferred procedure for contacting staff about the project.
In an active collaboration, staff may wish to communicate on a routine basis via Internet. When staff is at different sites, E-mail may be an efficient tool. In some cases, case management may also be handled this way. Additional effort would be required to ensure the security of these systems for case management.
Short term schedules, arrangements for sharing responsibility for an event, and other documents that staff at different sites may reference to coordinate their work may be created. Responsibility for short term materials may be shared by creating templates of such planning pages that can be edited and placed into reserved locations by any staff familiar with a word processor. A simple password system is appropriate to restrict access to a working group.
Databases with case management information can be a part of a home page system on pages protected from inappropriate access by passwords. This may be particularly appropriate for less secure information such as current lists of participants, program choices or program status of participants, etc.
In instances where case management is more complex or security is critical, agencies may wish to create an independent Wide Area Network (WAN) to connect staff computers at different sites. This also permits using existing database programs to manage cases. If a Local Area Network (LAN) is already in place, the WAN is not a difficult extension. Users will see computers at a remote site as though they were other computers on the local network.
Wide Area Networks are much more efficient if the computers can be linked over digital lines (ISDN). This is an additional, but not substantial expense.