CAN has a two-step, self-registration process. You must submit your confidentiality agreement and register online. When you complete your online registration, you will be given your login information. You will only be able to access publicly available sections of the database until your registration can be verified, which could take up to three (3) business days. CAN will contact you if you have not completed the process within 24 hours of beginning and request the other step be completed. Your agency must already be a Participating Agency before you will be granted access to secure sections of the database.

When you initially register for CAN, you will be able to login, but only access the public sections of the website. Your registration needs to be verified before you will be granted access to the secure sections of the database. While this process is completed, your status will be changed to "On Hold". When you are on hold, you will not be able to use your login information to access the system. Finally, when you are authorized for access, it will be at the level appropriate for your agency. You will not receive access to the resource database until you take the resource orientation. You can schedule this at www.can.org/training.

CAN requires you log into the system at least once every month in order to maintain your access to the Client Registry system.  Your account hasmay have been suspended. Should you require access to the CAN Client Registry now or in the future, please e-mail support@can.org requesting reactivation.  Resource Only access, which includes Calendar, Forums, and Resource Database, is an option should you no longer need access to the Client Registry- please let us know and your permissions will be adjusted.

After a participation agreement for either client or resource data has been signed and approved for your agency, click on "Join The Network" and follow the directions under "User Registration".

Users will need to print, fill out, and fax a Caseworker Confidentiality form to one of the fax numbers listed as well as register on our website for a username and password. Please note that the faxed agreement must include a supervisor's signature. They will be granted appropriate access within three business days of CAN receiving both the agreement and the online registration as well as verifying the user should have access.

Each agency has a unique ID number.  There are several ways to locate this ID number:

1. Look at one of the client records you agency is managing. The ID is under the case manager name.
2. Search the resource database in either Get Help or from the Services Provided/Referrals section, and the ID will be listed in the results. This only works for active and complete agency profiles.
3. Contact support@can.org and it will be sent to you.

To have your username and password sent to you, go to the portal you are using and click on the "User Profile" menu item on the top the page and use the "Remember Me" feature on the bottom of the screen.

Please note: If you have multiple accounts with the same address, this will not work and you will have to email support@can.org to obtain your login.

You should add the demographic information and required fields for all individuals in the household, but you do not need to change any other information if you do not want to. If you want to track just the Head of Households in your searches by case manager, you should not assign the case manager to the records of the household members that are added. We recommend you not add referrals/services provided to any dependent.

The "Agency Owner" is the agency that originally added the client record to the system.  It is system-generated and cannot be modified.  In exports, this field is called the Client Agency.  If you are trying to run an export of clients assigned to your agency, please use the Case Manager Agency field instead.

In order to be able to report on Services Provided, they must be added into the Resource directory and then noted into the Services Provided section. You need to take the Resource Directory training to receive access to Add and Edit Resources.

A referral is when a case manager links a client to a service at another agency that is potentially beneficial to the client, but has not been provided. A service provided is noted in the record when the client has actually received the service. So, while it's possible to have the same service listed in the referral and services provided section of one client's record, both would not necessarily be noted.  If your agency referred the client for the service and knows the client received that service, please do document it.

Please search again and include all associated disasters (check the box that says "check/uncheck all") and OLSA Archive Data.  If the record is in the top, you need to check the appropriate disaster in the record.  If it is in the bottom, you will need to import the record back into the live database, and remove any records with a status of "duplicate" from the household.  If it is this records that is marked duplicate, you can just change the status to open and you will be ok.  If you still do not find the client, please contact support@can.org.

There is not currently a way to edit saved case notes. This is an enhancement list addition. The same issue is there currently for referrals/service. However, you can edit the amount of services provided by entering negative quantities and/or unit cost. Either way, please make a notation in the narrative to indicate the error and correction.

We usually see this when a case manager uses the "refresh" or "back" buttons. You should not use those in CAN. The way internet browsers work, the record is saved again, but the fields reset. In order to avoid this problem, do not use those two buttons and save often.

To remove duplicates from the system, CAN will need your assistance to merge the records together. This would require that the cases both be assigned to the same case manager and we talk to go through the client record to determine which information is retained and what is deleted. For each record, it might take 5 minutes.

There is not currently a way for us to delete or edit a saved service, contact note, or referral.  To correct this, please enter it again, exactly as it is in the erroneous entry, except with a negative value.  Then enter it once more, correctly.  Then make a note of the error in the case notes.

Please search again and include all associated disasters (check the box that says "check/uncheck all") and OLSA Archive Data.  If the record is in the top, you need to check the appropriate disaster in the record.  If it is in the bottom, you will need to import the record back into the live database, and remove any records with a status of "duplicate" from the household.  If it is this records that is marked duplicate, you can just change the status to open and you will be ok.

Please go to the client's record and navigate to the Case Manager Assignment.  Just below the case manager's name, you should see a checkbox that reads "Remove case manager assignment". Check this box and submit the client record.  This will remove you as the assigned case manager.

The transfer tool has been created to help with this. A case is "assigned" to a case manager and can only be reassigned by requesting a transfer, which triggers an email notification to the assigned case manager.

You will need to request the case from that case manager. Please see the Transfer FAQ's for more information on this process.

Please log into CAN and go to the client's record using the CAN ID listed in the subject line.  In the Case Management section, you will see a paragraph with the option to accept or deny the transfer.  Please select the appropriate response and save the record, then the case will be reassigned.

Please go to the client's record and navigate to the Case Manager Assignment.  Just below the case manager's name is a field labeled "Reassign To".  Click these words, search for the new case manager, and select them from the list that appears.  Save the client record.  The case is now reassigned.

First contact the currently assigned case manager (or the agency if the case manager is no longer there) via their contact information listed in the client record.  You should also follow your agencies protocols for case transfers (i.e., any paperwork they may require).  Then click on the box for the case transfer in the top right hand section of the green case management portion of the clients record.  This will send an e-mail to both you and the current case manager.  The case manager has 10 days to respond and either accept or deny the request, after that the case will go unassigned and you could then assign yourself.

Yes, as long as they are active CAN users. To do this, search for that case manager from the client's record by clicking the words "assign to" or "reassign to", choose their name from the search results, and submit the record. The case will now be assigned to that case manger.

Exported files are saved as a delimited text file which are also compressed in a Zip file format (e.g. Records.zip). The Zip file needs to be "unzipped" using a program such as WinZip (Windows) or Stuffit (Mac). Most users find Excel (or other spreadsheet programs) to

To open and import the file with Excel:

1. Goto File, and select Open.
2. Select "Text Files" from the "Files of type" drop down in the Open file dialogue box.
3. Navigate to the text file name and select Open.
4. Select "Delimited" as the Original Data Type (varies depending on what operating system or version of Excel you are using)
5. Select Next. Select "Tab" as the Delimiters type. Select Next.
6. If the Data Preview window correctly displays the imported data select Finish.

To import the unzipped text file into Excel using the clipboard:

1. Open the text file, click "Edit" then "Select All".
2. Once all are highlighted, click "control" or "CTRL" and "C" to copy the info.
3. Open Excel, click in the first cell and click "control" or "CTRL" and "V" and the data will paste into Excel.

Most reports should run in less than 30 minutes. If your export has taken several hours to process, there may be a problem with your report or the system has encountered an error.  Be sure to check the report logic statements to verify that there are no contradictions that might create a loop condition.

When multiple users are running reports on the system, it may take longer to run your report. You do not need to wait on the Export Processing screen. Close the screen or even log out of the system to complete other tasks. When you return to the system, your completed report will be available on the Export Wizard start page as the last run report.

Registered users with authorization from their agency's Point of Contact (POC) are eligible to apply for for report access. The POC should send an email to training@can.org authorizing a user to take the Export Wizard training. This email should include the user's name and email address associated with their CAN account.

Once the training is completed, the user's account will have access to create exports reports for their agency. Typically, only one or two users from each agency are granted report access to reduce strain on system resources.

CAN is a user-driven tool, and we appreciate the feedback.  Please send suggestions for changes to support@can.org and we will log and prioritize them, and get back to you if we need additional information. Please know that we consider all suggestions, but must balance the needs of all users and the overall structure of the system when deciding which changes to implement.

Galvanized by the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, seven of the nation's leading nonprofit disaster relief organizations came together to assess the lessons learned from that unprecedented tragedy. One of the most important findings of this assessment was that disaster relief agencies, whether national or local, did not have a unified way of sharing information with one another. While each agency might have a high degree of information management competence within its own sphere, they were not able to fluently share data. Ultimately, this meant that the people who need help the most in the wake of a natural or man-made disaster were left to their own devices to find a way through the web of relief services offered. To ease this burden, the Coordinated Assistance Network (CAN) was established. CAN partners participate in community-led preparedness and response coalitions that focus on ways to best leverage resources to most effectively serve those in need. CAN works with these coalitions to develop innovative solutions that make tangible improvements in how relief and recovery services are provided to individuals and communities as a whole.

Registered users are granted default access to Regional Portals based on the state listed in their registration profile. If you need access to other regional portals, please e-mail support@can.org from your registered email account outlining those regions you need added.

You can either use the Start/End Display Dates to reflect one day or put a check in the "Restrict Profile to Agency Staff" box at the bottom of the service profile so that only your agency can see that resource.

Our first recommendation, and the one that is required in the Participation Agreement, is to have at least one person from your agency designated to add resources into the directory. This person will be required to take the online Resource Orientation before receiving access to add and edit resource in the system. If you have large amounts of resource information to be added and do not have the personnel resources to enter them, you can also check with your local community resources, perhaps a local Information and Referral source or AmeriCorps, who might be able to enter that on your behalf.

FastTracks is a tool to help aid case managers with references and services provided. It is a short list that case managers can customize with their most used resources so that they don't have to do a search each time.

If you log in to the system, go to the calendar, and click on the event, towards the bottom, there is a yellow button labeled Edit this Event.  That will allow you to make your changes.