Please note, HMIS will be down for a short time on Wednesday, May 25th, beginning at 5:00 PM to conduct a system upgrade and routine maintenance.

The planned upgrade includes a reduction in the size of the database, which is expected to provide a noticeable increase in speed and overall performance, as well as corrections of issues recently experienced by our users.

Both the upgrade and maintenance should be conducted within an hour so we expect the system to be available by approximately 6:00 PM.

This post is to serve notice that on Thursday, April 14th at 4:00 PM, our system will be taken offline for some minor improvements to address recent performance issues. We expect to be back online by 5:00 PM and apologize for any inconvenience.

As you know, our staff has been focused on improving system speed over the last two months. These efforts have involved the upgrading of servers and varied software utilities. These upgrades have produced a number of unexpected and unwanted side effects. To resolve these issues, we have retained SQL specialists to audit our system and recommend changes. These consultants have confirmed that it is desirable to move everyone from 32 to 64 bit servers. However, recent work-arounds to integrate these changes with the 32 bit-based Crystal Reports appear to have neutralized expected performance gains, and in some cases reduced performance. This has caused us to hold back on our expected schedule for upgrading everyone to 64 bit servers.

Fortunately, the SQL audit and other new developments allow us to present some promising options and plans:

1. Interim Adjustments for All Customers. During the last days of 2010, we will provide a temporary utility that allows users to move transparently from MetSYS to reporting tools without having to log-on separately. This will enable us to provide the seamless reporting functionality of the current 32 bit-based Crystal Reports while moving everyone to a 64 bit platform.
2. Long-term Plan to Integrate Upgrades and Improve Performance. A few days ago, SAP announced that they have released a version of Crystal Reports that works on the 64 bit platform provided by MS Visual Studio 2010 [http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/crystalreports-dotnet].

This will make it possible to return to full integration of MetSYS and Crystal Reports. However, it will also require the installation and configuration of new software and utilities. Given that there have been many changes during the last few months, we believe that it would be prudent to move cautiously with these upgrades. As a result, we will be reviewing and testing them over the next few months before deploying them to live use.

Parallel to these steps we will also be progressively upgrading your servers, hard coding selective data entry controls, streamlining our data base, and hard coding standard HMIS Case Record screens. Some of these changes will be made during the first month of 2011 and all should be completed within the first quarter. We expect that these parallel adjustments will incrementally lead to notable improvements in system performance.

We will keep you informed about these and other enhancements, and welcome your observations and comments.

Best regards,
Fred Best
MetSYS Inc.

The upgrade to the new operating system was successful.

There are two remaining issues:

1. If you are running FireFox or Chrome web browser, there is an incompatibility with the Reports section. At this time we are urging all users that will require access to reports to use only Internet Explorer 8 or Safari web browser. Firefox/Chrome will simply cause the Reports page to reload with no access to the report.

2. The load balanced server is temporarily offline as it is also being re-purposed to the new operating system. This could potentially cause a performance decrease over the next few days as the server is being configured and installed.

If you notice any system instability, please open a support ticket by emailing support@bitfocus.com.

Thank you,
Robert Herdzik.

The upgrade to the new operating system was unsuccessful, and the system was reverted back to its previous state.

The issue was found to be connected with the Crystal Reports Report Viewer. The issues were two fold:

1. FireFox Web Browser would not load the parameters screen (Internet Explorer & Safari were OK).
2. Any reports using Charts, Graphs, or graphics would not correctly load.

All other aspects were tested to work correctly, but due to the issues found with the Reporting tools, we were forced to revert back to the prior operating system until a solution can be found.

This post is to serve notice that on Monday, November 22nd @ 4:45PM the HMIS system will be down for 15 minutes to conduct a planned system upgrade. All users must be logged off at that time.

The system upgrade will involve an upgrade from Windows 2003 Server, to Windows 2008 R2 Server. The upgrade to the new operating system takes advantage of several routines that lend up to a 40% increase in system stability and performance.

There will be no noticeable affects other then, hopefully, a decent performance increase. We will be monitoring the system during and after the upgrade to ensure a successful upgrade.

Thank You,

Robert Herdzik

Please make note, the HMIS System will be down on Thursday, October 28th and Friday, October 29th to complete a planned merger of the Northern Nevada, Balance of State, and Southern Nevada HMIS Datasets into a single statewide system. Friday October 29th is Nevada Day, which should limit data entry impact.

During this update, the system will be inaccessible. Please make your plans accordingly to ensure data entry can be caught up after the update.

This is a fairly significant update. While we do not plan on having any system issues after the merger, as always, there is a chance there could be some unexpected and unforeseen complications. Please be patient as we work to resolve any of these issues if they do arise, and please feel free to report any issues you do discover to support@bitfocus.com so that we can help resolve them as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your patience,
Robert Herdzik

As of Monday, June 21st 2010, an update from Microsoft is causing a conflict with the Crystal Reports system.

When running a Report, Icons, such as the Calendar are not displaying. When inside a report, icons such as the Print Icon are also not displaying, causing an issue exporting and printing reports.

This issue is known, and steps are being taken to remedy the situation.

On Thursday, June 10th at 4:00 PM, the HMIS System will be down for 2 Hours in order to complete an update to the Case Record system.

The update will streamline some of the process of Case Record intake. No new training will be required, as the changes are not drastic enough to warrant it, and those familiar with Case Records will be naturally familiar with the slight usability tweaks.

We are very excited to launch our latest Weekly HMIS Report, focused on providing data analysis on CoC Programs, such as the HPRP and SHP Programs.

This is the first time we have been able to provide such a level of data analysis. We expect to see discrepancies and will be on hand to help with corrections.

It is vital to the success of your program, and the ability to produce the APR that these reports are reviewed and analyzed weekly to ensure your data entered is correctly. As the old saying goes, “Garbage in, Garbage out”.