Background

You may find it useful to communicate with a case manager or other staff person at another agency within the Orange County CoC to coordinate on care for your client. You can do so by using the secure messaging function within Clarity. You can also send messages to other HMIS users at your own agency. With the ability to search messages, this is an excellent and secure way to keep track of conversations and information, as well as build staff morale and collaboration. Messages sent to users inside or outside your agency are kept in the same inbox.

Please note that there is no guarantee that the staff person you message will respond to your message. This is a completely secure messaging system, so it is permissible to use real client names (as opposed to Unique Identifiers). It is required that all staff use ONLY Unique Identifiers for any message interaction (i.e. email) outside of this secure messaging system. 

 

Accessing New Messages

If you have a new message, it will be indicated by a number next to the envelope icon in the top right corner of the screen.

 

 

To read a message, mouse over the profile photo and select the icon that looks like a piece of paper.

 

 

Replying to Messages in Your Inbox

To reply to a message, enter your response above the line and select the Send Response button. To return to the inbox screen without providing a response (or after sending your response), select the Back link.

 

 

Creating a New Message

To create a message, select the New Message button in the top right corner.

 

 

Select the CoC from the first drop-down menu, the agency from the second drop-down menu, and the message recipient from the last drop-down menu (only users within the selected agency will be listed).

 

 

Enter your message into the large text box. Notice that you can format your message using bulleted/numbered lists, italic, and bold text. Once the message is complete, select Send Message.