Westchester County, Local District of Social Services
Type: Baseline Survey
Created by: Center for Technology in Government
Administered by: Westchester County

In June 2006, the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) engaged with the NYS Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) to conduct an assessment of the use of mobile technologies in child protective service work. Westchester is one of three districts in NYS participating in this assessment, the others are New York City, and Monroe County. The aim of this assessment is to evaluate how portable technologies impact the work involved in child protective service investigations. This baseline survey – to be filled out only one time per person, will gather data about experiences and expectations with mobile technologies and CPS work.

1) For each task below that you normally perform, please record the approximate number of hours per week you spent on it prior to using the mobile device:

CONX – Related Activities
Activity	Approximate hours/week	Don’t normally perform
Progress Notes		□
Your To Do’s		□
Event List		□
Searches: Person, Address, Case, Resource and Staff		□
Review Intake Information		□
Adding/Relating Person		□
Adding/Changing Case Worker or Planner		□
Demographics		□
Safety Assessment		□
Risk Assessment Profile		□
Reassigning a Stage		□
Investigating Conclusion		□
Create an FSI		□
Stage Progression to FSS		□
Changing Case Status		□
FASP		□
Other, Please explain
Non-CONX Related Activities
Activity	Approximate hours/week	Don’t normally perform
ACRSPLUS		□
CRIMCHECK		□
E-Mail		□
LTS (Legal Tracking system)		□
PROMIS (Preventive Organizations Management Information System)		□
PTS (Placement Tracking System)		□
Network Drive containing your files		□
Network Drive shared with other users		□
Other, Please explain

2) Prior to the pilot my progress notes were about the right length.

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

3) Prior to the pilot my progress notes were usually complete.

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

4) Prior to the pilot my progress notes had adequate details.

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

5) Prior to the pilot my progress notes were usually up to date.

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

6) Prior to the pilot I was usually able to prepare my progress notes during down time.

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

7) Prior to the pilot I was usually able to use my downtimes to enter my progress notes into CONX:

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

8) Prior to the pilot I believed a mobile device would allow me to enter progress notes into CONX while in the field.

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

9) Prior to the pilot I usually entered my progress notes all at one sitting.

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

10) Prior to the pilot I usually entered all my progress notes during regular working hours:

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

11) What were your normal working hours prior to the pilot:

        __________ am to     __________ pm

12) Prior to the pilot, on average how many face-to-face field contacts did you have a week?

        __________

III. Usefulness – Time Savings

13) Prior to the pilot how frequently did you work at home to complete your progress notes?

[  ] Daily     [  ] A few times/week     [  ] Rarely     [  ] Never

14) Prior to the pilot how frequently did you stay in the office after normal work hours to complete your progress notes?

[  ] Daily     [  ] A few times/week     [  ] Rarely     [  ] Never

IV. Expectation of Specific Mobile Devices

15) Prior to the pilot I thought a transcription service would work well for progress notes.

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

16) Prior to the pilot I wanted to transcribe my progress notes in Spanish

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

V. Job Stress

17) Prior to the pilot, I normally was under a lot of work-related stress:

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

18) Prior to the pilot my open cases caused me a lot of stress.

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

VI. Data about the Technology

19) Prior to the pilot, I considered myself to be technically savvy :

Strongly Disagree      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Strongly Agree

20) Please record below the location and approximate amount of down time you had, on average, prior to the pilot.

21)

Location	Minutes/day
Court
School
Community Center
ACS Office
Clients’ Residence
Facility’s Residence
Other Residence
Other – Please explain

VII. Expectations of Technology

22) What was your opinion about Santrax functionality (capabilities, features, how it would be used to do your job…etc.) prior to the pilot?

High      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Low           [  ] no opinion

Please explain your answer with as much detail and examples as possible:

__________________________________________________________________

23) What was your opinion about laptop functionality (capabilities, features, how it would be used to do your job…etc.) prior to the pilot?

High      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Low           [  ] no opinion

Please explain your answer with as much detail and examples as possible:

__________________________________________________________________

24) What was your opinion about Santrax connectivity (connecting from cell phone/land-line to Santrax, accessing Santrax from the web…etc.) prior to the pilot?

High      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Low           [  ] no opinion

Please explain your answer with as much detail and examples as possible:

__________________________________________________________________

25) What was your opinion about laptop connectivity (wireless connectivity, connecting to the Internet and other online applications…etc.) prior to the pilot?

High      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Low           [  ] no opinion

Please explain your answer with as much detail and examples as possible:

__________________________________________________________________

26) What was your opinion about Santrax ease of use for your work prior to the pilot?

High      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Low           [  ] no opinion

Please explain your answer with as much detail and examples as possible:

__________________________________________________________________

27) What was your opinion about laptop ease of use for your work prior to the pilot?

High      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Low           [  ] no opinion

Please explain your answer with as much detail and examples as possible:

__________________________________________________________________

28) What was your overall opinion about Santrax for your work prior to the pilot?

High      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Low           [  ] no opinion

Please explain your answer with as much detail and examples as possible:

__________________________________________________________________

29) What was your overall opinion about laptops for your work prior to the pilot?

High      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      [  ]      Low           [  ] no opinion

Please explain your answer with as much detail and examples as possible:

__________________________________________________________________

VIII. Past Experiences with Mobile Technologies

30) Have you used Dragon Naturally Speaking in your work?      YES [  ]              NO [  ]

If yes, for what tasks? ________________________________________________

What do you like about using it? _________________________________________

What do you not like about using it?_______________________________________

31) Have you used a digital voice recorder in your work?      YES [  ]              NO [  ]

If yes, for what tasks? ________________________________________________

What do you like about using it? _________________________________________

What do you not like about using it?_______________________________________

32) Have you used a laptop in your work?      YES [  ]              NO [  ]

If yes, for what tasks? ________________________________________________

What do you like about using it? _________________________________________

What do you not like about using it?_______________________________________

33) What other mobile technology have you used in your work?

Other mobile technology ________________________________________________

For what tasks? _______________________________________________________

34) Are you currently using Santrax?      YES [  ]              NO [  ]

Name: ___________________________________ Date : ______ / ______ 2006

Title: _________________________ Position: _______________________