1. What is NCAtrak?
q NCAtrak is a computerized, web-based case tracking system developed to help Children’s Advocacy Centers and other programs track case specific information in a user-friendly, reliable manner. Flexibility is built into the system so that centers can customize fields as well as add some fields they feel would benefit their program, regardless of organizational structure.
q Initial NCAtrak development was funded through a cooperative agreement provided to National Children’s Alliance by the U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). On-going operations of the system are funded by subscription fees paid by member organizations using NCAtrak.
2. How was the system designed?
□ The system was designed with all types of CACs in mind, and tested utilizing “pilot test sites” that represented a variety of organizational structures. Pilot sites for this project:
§ National Children’s Advocacy Center – Huntsville, AL.
§ Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center – Niceville, FL.
§ Midwest Children’s Resource Center – St. Paul, MN.
§ Children’s Advocacy Center of Hamilton County, Inc. – Chattanooga, TN.
§ Memphis Child Advocacy Center – Memphis, TN.
3. Who is eligible to purchase the system?
□ Any program who has a need for a Case Management System.
4. Steps in getting connected.
q Connecting to NCAtrak is more than just connecting to a Web site. However, as users of NCAtrak, your team will become part of the NCAtrak User Community. This community is committed to two objectives:
§ Secure use of the NCAtrak system.
§ Successful use of the NCAtrak system.
q Every organization desiring to use NCAtrak must commit to these objectives. The steps below describe how all participants in the NCAtrak User Community learn to meet these objectives.
A. Contact NCA for the “NCAtrak Application Packet.” - Packet includes the “NCAtrak Application” and “NCAtrak Participant Agreement.”
B. Carefully review and complete the “NCAtrak Application” and the “NCAtrak Participant Agreement.” - All NCAtrak subscribers are required to comply with policies and procedures designed to protect NCAtrak and the confidentiality/privacy of the data in the system. Be sure your organization understands these responsibilities and expectations, including requirements for computers and networks used to access NCAtrak.
C. Submit the completed “NCAtrak Application Packet” and “NCAtrak Participant Agreement” document along with your initial (first year) fee to NCA. Once all your paperwork and fees have been processed you will be contacted by NCA to register for the Online Initial NCAtrak Training.
D. Select two representatives from your organization to serve as NCAtrak Security Officers. Typically, the Security Officers are the people who participate in the On-line Initial NCAtrak Training and are responsible to manage all the administrative / security-oriented functions of NCAtrak for your local needs.
E. Participate in the Online Initial NCAtrak Training. This training is very hands on and designed to give you time to do initial entry of key data and initial set-up of important features in the system.
5. What are the requirements for computers and networks used to access NCAtrak?
q NCAtrak is built to be cross-platform (PC/Mac) compatible and supports most popular web browsers.
q Google Chrome is the preferred web browser.
q Adobe Acrobat Reader – We recommend staying current with latest free version.
q Virus/Spyware, Firewall software – routinely updated.
q Internet connection must NOT be through a wireless network unless that network is established and maintained by a full-time network team such as you would find in a hospital or other fully staffed Information Technology (IT) Department. Permission to use a wireless network to access NCAtrak is granted by NCA only after a formal request for a waiver is submitted and review by NCA. NCA realizes that some CACs have installed wireless networks for their centers however wireless computing increases the opportunity for confidential/private data to be accessed by unauthorized parties. Data transmitted between computers, stored on computers, and transmitted between the internet and computers on wireless networks is more vulnerable to hackers. To meet the objectives for secure and successful use of the NCAtrak System the user community has agreed to limit the use of wireless networks to those that are installed and maintained by IT departments with technical expertise to adequately configure and maintain security setting and respond to breaches in security. Several center using wireless networks have installed a wired internet connection for the computers used to access NCAtrak. They take out the wireless network card, (or turn it off) when accessing NCAtrak.
6. How much does NCAtrak cost?
q Each NCA member organization must purchase annual access to NCAtrak. Subscription fees for NCAtrak will be as follows:
Initial Year $3,163
Annual Renewal $2,163
7. What does the subscription fee cover?
q Access to the NCAtrak Web Application - You can authorize access to NCAtrak for an unlimited number of users from your organization and partner agencies.
q Unlimited cases, MDT meetings, reports - There is no restriction to the amount of data you enter or data your retrieve from the application.
q NCAtrak System Operations and Maintenance - Because NCAtrak is a Web-based Application your organization does not have to buy servers or pay for technical support to perform maintenance, enhancements, or upgrades. Instead, the maintenance and operations costs for NCAtrak are shared by the NCAtrak User Community. NCAtrak is operated and maintained by VisualShare, Inc. for the NCAtrak User Community according to the Governing NCAtrak Policies and Procedures.
q Automatic Upgrades to the NCAtrak system – You never have to install a new version of the system. Updates, bug-fixes, enhancements are all automatically available when you logon.
q Data Back-ups - Multiple types of data back-ups performed and maintained for you.
q Participation fees for two (2) participants - for the Online Initial NCAtrak Training.
q Telephone or online support consultation services for center specific issues and instruction (up to 3 hours) - following the initial training your Security Officers can set-up additional personalized telephone consultation and technical support. Technical support is available 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.
q Access to all Online Training offered throughout the year.
q Ability to submit on-line requests for system improvements.
8. How do the fees apply?
□ The fee cannot be broken down but is rather a complete charge for the package of the system and services to support your use.
□ Once you are online, your organization will receive an annual invoice to pay your fee. On time payment of annual renewal fees will continue your organizational access to NCAtrak without interruption.
9. If we purchase access to NCAtrak, who can also access our data?
q Each CAC inputs their own data and maintains the integrity of their data. The CAC may share this responsibility with team members from partner agencies. There are many different approaches to gathering and entering data that work for current NCAtrak users.
q Information entered by your organization and authorized partner agencies will be stored in a secure NCAtrak server managed by VisualShare, Inc. The server is monitored for performance and security. Your data will routinely be backed-up for you and back-up tapes stored in a secure location.
q The table below outlines specific questions about others access to your data:
Who | Can they access our data? | To what extent? |
Your Organization | Yes | Your organization has access to your data; however, your staff will only have permission to access the system when your Security Officers grant them access. And your organization will decide what each user can view, update, access within each case record and in all other areas of NCAtrak. |
Your Partner Agencies | Maybe | You may give staff from your partner agencies NCAtrak access and again, your Security Officers will set up specifically what everyone can view, edit, access within the system. |
Other CACs or Multi-disciplinary Teams | No | NCAtrak does not allow organizations to access each other’s data. The system has been built to eventually, after a privacy analysis under federal and state laws is completed and each effected center agrees, allow for sharing of non-specific client data between centers. This functionality will only be completed and made available after all necessary steps such as Institutional Review Board Approval have been completed. |
NCA | Very limited data | NCA’s access to your organization’s data is restricted just like any other organization. However, NCA does have some administrative tools in NCAtrak that allow NCA to monitor system usage and access the statistics you submit for your bi-annual report. § NCA CANNOT – view case details, see confidential information, access case specific information, change any of your administrative settings, run reports against your case data, search your data, log in to your organization’s data, ask VisualShare, Inc. to pull up any case details from your case records or pull statistics about your cases without your knowledge and consent. § NCA CAN – log in to their section of NCAtrak where they have tools to manage organization accounts, view your CAC contact information, view contact information for your Security Officers so we can contact you if you have requested assistance, view comments or security incidents about NCAtrak entered by your users, access NCA Statistical Reports submitted by your organization. NCA also can determine if anyone is online and NCA tracks statistics about system usage for planning and management purposes. |
Chapters | No | You can create reports, print them, and share your data with your Chapter but your Chapter will not have access to your data. NCAtrak may be modified in the future to allow your organization to electronically submit statistics to your Chapter for state-wide reports like you do with your NCA Statistical Report but it will not allow Chapters to access your data without your knowledge or consent. |
VisualShare, Inc. | Yes, to perform system maintenance or provide your team with technical support when requested. | VisualShare, Inc. provides maintenance to the system and to the database. There is a very small team of personnel at VisualShare, Inc. who provide technical and programmatic support for NCAtrak and an even smaller number who occasionally interact with the data itself. Each member of this team signed a non-disclosure agreement and submitted to a criminal background check specifically looking for crimes against children. § VisualShare, Inc. CANNOT unilaterally log in to the NCAtrak Web site and see your cases, or run reports, or search your data, or change your administrative settings. § The NCAtrak team at VisualShare, Inc. CAN – based upon their job duties, access the system database to perform maintenance, or run special queries to help you with your specific trouble shooting or statistics gathering needs; access system logs and tools to monitor performance and security; access the same tools NCA uses to maintain organization accounts, and respond to comments or suggestions or security incident logs: complete server maintenance, restore the system from a back-up tape, and perform other maintenance activities, |
10. What does NCA do to be sure data in NCAtrak is secure?
□ NCA implemented a comprehensive security plan for NCAtrak to prevent, detect, contain, and correct security violations.
□ The NCAtrak Security Plan was developed based upon security practices recommended by the United States government and international cyber security institutes. The plan was designed to be “HIPAA Friendly” so organizations that are defined by HIPAA as 'covered entities' could be comfortable using NCAtrak.
□ The plan involves the entire NCAtrak User Community and details specific procedures to addresses the following:
General security –
§ NCAtrak asset classification and access management – Assigning roles and responsibilities for system operations and maintenance, security.
§ Security Incident Reporting and Response – What we are going to do when we detect a security concern.
§ Contingency planning – Preparing for when something breaks, or we have a disaster.
§ Security plan evaluation – Making improvements to the security plan.
Personnel security –
§ Security training – Teaching everyone to be responsible for security.
§ User authorization, supervision, and termination –Granting specific privileges for each user, creating, and terminating user accounts.
§ Password management – Keeping passwords strong and secure.
Physical security –
§ Hosting facility security - Keeping data stored in NCAtrak safe from unauthorized access.
§ Workstation security – Making my desktop / laptop secure.
Technical security –
§ User authentication and access control – How the system knows who can use NCAtrak and which CAC they belong to.
§ Intrusion detection and audit logs – Preventing, detecting, and responding to unauthorized access to NCAtrak.
§ Data integrity measures - Knowing who used NCAtrak and who made changes to case records.
§ Transmission security – Keeping the data safe while it travels over the internet.
11. Can I transfer existing data to the new system?
q Yes, and there are several ways to enter current and/or old case data into NCAtrak with varying costs. Some organizations use a data entry person from their own staff or a volunteer for a short period of time to focus on manual entry of a select number of cases. Others have purchased “Data Migration Services” to support the migration of large volumes of data into NCAtrak.
q Data Migration Services are available for an additional fee and are not included as part of the NCAtrak subscription fee. Costs vary significantly and are based on the amount of data to be migrated. Additional information about how the process works is available upon request.
12. Will I be able to get a copy of the software and install it on my computer?
q You will not need to install the system on your computer. You will access NCAtrak through a secure connection over the Internet.
13. What happens to our data if we choose not to renew our subscription?
q If the relationship between NCA and the Member Organization ends, your organization will have up to 6 months to move their data to another secure location. Costs associated with this transfer of data are the responsibility of the Member Organization and not included in the NCAtrak subscription fee.
14. Who should I contact for further questions or to get started using NCAtrak?
q NCAtrak Team
National Children’s Alliance
202-548-0090 ext.125