CAMS (Case Administration Management System) is a case management system that was developed over the last decade and is now in Version 3.0. It is currently used by over 32 agencies throughout Canada that vary in size, complexity, and geography.
It is designed to provide an integrated, and efficient system for community and social service agencies. It provides front-line workers with the tools they need to plan their work and to manage their cases, to track their time on each case, and to create effective and timely case reports. It can capture all contact reporting requirements, program activity, outcomes, and milestones, and can produce useful case and program reports. CAMS supports clinical supervision and management oversight and provides a wealth of data to support quality improvement, performance, good practice, and research.
We built CAMS with the needs of front-line workers as our foremost concern. We started out thinking that we needed an efficient electronic recording system. While we have achieved that, we also created a system that, at its heart, is a powerful tool to assist staff to plan their work thoughtfully. Screens follow the case file lifecycle. Key data is collected at each stage of the workflow from referral to intake, to assessment to setting goals, to reporting on progress and results, to allowing post-discharge follow-up activity to be recorded. The system accommodates the dynamic, non-linear, nature of human services. Case notes record the work done in relation to a case, and these entries populate a variety of reports.