Planning to use the Outcomes Star online?
How the Outcomes Star Online can support you to get the most out of the Stars
Outcomes Star Online is the dedicated online platform for accessing Star resources, completing Stars on screen, recording and reporting on Star data. In this article, we set out a few things you might need to consider if you’re thinking about implementing Outcomes Star and Outcomes Star Online in your service.
More than software
Although Outcomes Star comes with a digital platform, it is so much more than just an IT solution.
Outcomes Star Online will only work for you if the Outcomes Star approach itself is right for your service, and if you embed it within person-centred practice.
Check out our other articles on this for more information: Which Star is right for you? and Is Outcomes Star right for you?
Watch the Star Online in action below:
Key features of Outcomes Star Online
Star online has a range of benefits to help you complete Stars with the people you work with, and record and analyse your data. We run regular free webinars on getting the most out of your data and Star Online reporting for all licensed Outcomes Star services.
Easy to use
- Browser-based with no software to download
- User friendly design that is intuitive to use with no specific training required – optional free webinars and support sessions available
- Simple to set up and manage
- Support from our friendly UK based helpdesk at set up and beyond
Unique features to support Outcomes Star best practice
- All published Star versions available
- Complete and compare Stars visually on screen and download as PDF
- Record multiple perspectives within a Star
- Configure and receive reminders for overdue Stars
- Ready-made reports for Star data, including by custom time periods
Compliant and secure
- Control who sees what with role-based access control within each service in your account
- Compliant to GDPR, Australian Privacy Act, ISO27001, ISO9001, Cyber Essentials Plus, UK NHS DSPT and DTAC, UK G Cloud 14 Framework
- 2 Factor Authentication as standard
Contact us for a demo to see the platform in action.
Integrating with your existing software
There are multiple options available to reduce duplication for practitioners and securely share data between systems:
- Single Sign On for Microsoft and Google identities via 0Auth2.0, available at no extra cost.
- API to sync all data in your account, for example to PowerBI
- APIs to integrate Outcomes Star Online with your case management software or electronic patient health records – automatically ‘pushing’ records into Outcomes Star Online, creating direct links to a record in Outcomes Star Online and syncing PDFs of completed Stars.
If you’d like to learn more please talk to us for more information.
Identifying your Account Lead
Each account is set up and administered by someone in your organisation taking on the role of Account Lead.
They do not need to have any advanced technical skill, but they will need to be aware and compliant with your organisation’s data protection policies (as they will have access to all data in your Outcomes Star Online account and undertake data management tasks).
They are usually a responsible administrator, co-ordinator, manager, IT support, or data analyst who can dedicate enough time to the role, and who understands how your organisation works and how you will use the Star.
You’ll need to let us know who your Account Lead will be when you confirm your licences and training, but this can be changed at any time.
You can also support your Account Lead through:
- Assigning users Service Manager permissions within services, to allow them to undertake some management tasks like creating user logins (see below for more information)
- Enabling the Assistant Account Lead feature (extra cost per year applies) for unlimited Assistant Account Lead roles.
Designing your account
Outcomes Star Online accounts are organised into 1 or more “services.” There’s no limit to how many of these you can have. A service can mean a specific service, a project, a single site team, a centre, or another operational ‘unit’ within your organisation.
A service can use more than one version of the Outcomes Star at a time.
Users must be linked to at least 1 service and can be given the role of Practitioner or Manager within each service.
Practitioners can be configured to have access to all service user records in a service, or only the ones where they are Lead Practitioner. Managers can create Practitioners and filter reports by specific Practitioners.
When thinking about how to set up your services, you should think about:
- How your support work and workforce is organised and structured – how are different groups of people supported
- What information about the people you support your members of staff need access to, and minimising that where possible in line with data minimisation principles
- How you need to report on the work you are doing, and if you need to compare any ‘unit’ to another
- If you will be using Outcomes Star Online alongside any other software and how information is structured there
You may also want to consider having multiple accounts for large scale or complex implementations.
We will talk this through with you before you get started, and your Account Lead will be offered one-to-one support sessions with our Outcomes Star Online specialists during set up.
The basics
You will need an account with one licence for each member of staff that requires a login to the Star Online and who will be using the Outcomes Stars. These members of staff will also need to complete core Star training.
You don’t need any specific equipment to use Outcomes Star Online – but you will need a computer, laptop or mobile that can access the internet.
Each user will need to be able to receive emails from [email protected].
You may need to complete a DPIA or other information governance due diligence before implementing Outcomes Star Online. We can support you with any compliance requests – just get in touch on the details below
Getting started
If you’re ready to get started or if you have any questions about Outcomes Star Online or any aspect of Outcomes Star Online, get in touch with us