Success Stories

Making life better for clients and for staff - Judson Center Case Study

Judson Center, a Michigan-based social service agency, intends to be “a leader in providing dynamic, innovative and effective solutions to the challenges facing children, adults and families.” No small task, to be sure - and the leadership of Judson Center realized long ago that they would have to use the best tools available to accomplish this audacious goal.

In September of 2000, they determined that the TIER® system was the best tool available for the job they needed to do - and their clients have been reaping the rewards. One example of this is the use of TIER® in their Supported Employment program, which supports clients in their journey to independence through productive paid employment. Prior to implementing TIER®, clients frequently got the wrong pay for the work they did - the result of a complex and error-prone system for recording their work time. Naturally, getting the wrong amount of money in a paycheck is a very upsetting experience, which required substantial amounts of staff time helping the clients straighten out the mess.

Through the use of TIER®, rather than manually inputting information consumer by consumer (for over 250 consumers daily) Sequest developed a process by which Judson staff can enter attendance information in a variety of ways- by site, by employer or by individual consumer. With this process, they now have the ability to edit and process payroll in less than an hour, where previously it had taken 10 hours. Now staff members who were tied up in data entry are being redirected to where they can make a difference - with the clients themselves. And the error rate on client paychecks is way down, too.

Clinical processes are being improved, as well, with the availability of “real time” reports on client progress.

“We are able to identify “triggers” which alert us that a case may need a more intense level of service, a change in service plan or a supervisory review. This helps us to catch problems before they develop, and help us help our consumers meet their service goals.” - Judson Center Staff

Needless to say, this all adds up to success - for Judson Center, but more importantly for the clients of Judson Center. Here’s how one client summed it up:

“I have friends. I think that makes me successful. I have money in the bank. I also have a sports card collection. I think Judson Center helped make me successful. They found me jobs and the job coaches helped me when I needed it. I learned new skills. I also made new friends.” - Jim, a Supported Employment client