Before you can begin entering participant data into PIMS, you must enter some basic program information and definitions for your site.  Some of this information is used to build drop-down menus on the data entry screens, as well as perform date calculations for immunizations and well baby schedules.  The following items need to be gathered:

1. Site definitions – Definitions for service start date (enrollment), service end date, and enrollment eligibility (e.g., does the site offer home visiting services universally, or does it depend on a positive screen and/or assessment)
2. Service Levels – Accreditation standards require that sites have “well-defined” levels of service (LOS) for participants receiving home visiting.  You will need to determine what levels of service your site will use, what they will be called, how many home visits are required at each level, the case weight for each level, and what criteria need to be met for participants to move from one LOS to another.
3. Groups – PIMS allows you to assign participants to one or more “groups”.  These can be anything the site defines, and can be a way of identifying participants by characteristics (e.g., teen mothers, Spanish-speaking mothers) or by the funding source.
4. Immunization Schedule – Determine what immunizations are given on what schedule by your health department or pediatric clinics.  You will need to determine what window of time is acceptable for an immunization to be considered “on-time”.  Generally this will be one month.
5. Well Baby Schedule – This is similar to the Immunization Schedule above.
6. Instruments – Determine what evaluation and assessment instruments your site will use for child development screenings and other participant assessment and follow up, and on what schedule they will be administered.
7. Site/Program Information
1. Program description and community demographics
2. Funding sources
3. Collaborating hospitals and clinics
4. Collaborating community agencies
5. Staff information – Your site will need to assign an ID number to each staff member (program manager, supervisors, Family Support Workers, Family Assessment Workers, and others).  IDs and demographics are entered for each staff person, but no names, so the site must maintain a spreadsheet that tracks names and corresponding IDs.  IDs can be any alphanumeric combination of up to 15 characters.
6. Staff training – For each staff person, you will need to enter training dates and titles for HFA core trainings, orientation training, wraparound trainings, and trainings for evaluation instruments.
8. Other Information
1. Database administration – You will need to decide what level of access permission each staff person will have.  Users can be granted “admin” permission, which has no restrictions, or they can be restricted to seeing only the records of their clients and a subset of reports.
2. Race/ethnicity subgroups A through H – Sites can identify up to eight additional racial/ethnic subgroups in order to more accurately capture demographics of their community.  For example, the standard subgroups for Latinos includes only Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and “other Hispanic”.  But your site may have many other groups from Latin America that you would like to identify.  You will need to maintain a spreadsheet that maps “Other A” through “Other H” for your site, and make sure users enter data consistently.
3. Format of Screen, Assessment, and Intake IDs – Sites need to decide how to format ID numbers that are entered into PIMS.  They can be any alphanumeric combination, up to 15 characters, and can include characters such as hyphens.
4. Referral Records – The Referral Record allows you to select what type of resource the family is being connected to, such as health care, counseling and support, and nutrition.  You will need to create a “map” that identifies for your site which of your community agencies correspond to which broad category, and make sure users enter data consistently.