Homelessness Data Self-Assessment

 We've done Crystal Reports training with a number of students, and we find that while some students take to the materials (relatively) easily, others find it a struggle. But here's the thing - if you find it a struggle during the training, you're probably still going to be struggling when it becomes your job to write new reports for your community. So maybe learning to manipulate data through Crystal Reports isn't a good fit for your skill set. So maybe you shouldn't have taken the training after all. Only problem is, usually you don't find out whether Crystal Reports training would be a good fit for you until the training has already started, and by then it's too late. 

If only there was some way of knowing in advance whether you're going to like it or not... 

Are you considering learning Crystal Reports? Or are you trying to figure out which of your staff you should get trained? We've put together a short self-assessment that has a sample set of shelter data, containing fake clients and fake book in dates and book out dates. You will be asked to manipulate the data and respond to some common questions that frequently arise when working with shelter data. 

Note: this self-assessment is not HIFIS 4 specific or Crystal Reports specific, so even if you want to use another database, this is still a good self-assessment. 

Here's the actual test, though: while you're completing the self-assessment, where would you place yourself on the spectrum of super-frustrated to kind of enjoying yourself? If you actually sort of had fun with the test, you probably will do well developing reports. If you found the test on the painful side, maybe you might want to rethink Crystal Reports training.