Hi, we are about to get Liquid Logic's IAS computerised system as a replacement to SWIFT which was, franly, useless. I really can't imagine Liquid Logic can be any worse and from what I have seen of it so far it looks a lot better. Does anyone have experience in using it? We are in the process of tailoring it to our authority's needs so all info would be greatfully received.
Thanks
ps - is this the right place for this thread to be?
I have a peripheral experience of using it (it isn't the main system I use but our borough does use it) and I can confirm that it is infinitely better than SWIFT.
Of course every system has it's problems which probably are more apparent to people who use it on a day to day basis (I just dip in from time to time to extract case notes and find out specific information).
AIS has been introduced in my two recent LAs. It is a new front to Swift, and has several significant problems, the main one of which is that the previous SAP assessments cannot be uploaded to it. As a result, no-one has any assessments or care plans on the new system, so all reviews/assessments etc are 'new'. This has meant that my last few months have been really heavy on date entry. The flip side of this coin is that, once everyone has at least one assessment or care plan on the system, doing new ones is LOADS quicker as you just update the previous one.
AIS is horrible to use at first, believe me, but once you're in the swing of it, it's a lot better than Swift. Make the most of your training, never take the title of a 'super-user' (hiding to nothing), and look at how other LAs have introduced it.
Incidentally, in one of my previous LAs, the system wasn't Liquid Logic - it was Northgate. No idea if this is a different provider of the service, different programmer etc? Who knows. Just be prepared to be frustrated initially!
'He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master' - HST.
Thank you for your replies, is AIS the same as Liquid Logic's IAS?? We don't have any electroninc records at the moment, SWIFT is only used for dates and timescales eg date assessment started, finished, sent to service user etc so there is not a lot to transfer over.
I am assuming we will be able to do away with paper files, has that been the case for yourselves?
I have nothing to say about IAS but I will say that even a carrier pigeon and an abacus would be better than SWIFT which makes me want to cry about three times a week.
Yes, I agree, it is crap and the people who were responsible for purchasing it should be sacked. It makes me laugh, or may be choke, it's hard to tell sometimes, the way workers are blamed for not 'doing' swift properly by the five people who know how to do it as that is all they do. Dreadful, dreadful system.
Ooh, i agree with chirpy cockney regarding sacking the people who purchase Swift. We have used a partial version of Swift and have been shifted over onto a certain company's AIS...except certain parts of AIS have not been purchased due to cost implications. So from half-baked Swift, we go to half-baked AIS, a land where social work staff spend three quarters of their time completing admin tasks, crying when the system freezes and loses work, endlessly retyping informaiton that when the system was purchased we were told would not happen as it would default in, and admin staff are being made redundant as we do their job - and our own. Now we have performance audits coming back to us saying ooh, you've not scheduled the future review properly or linked the right needs to the right assessment/care plan. Cos we ain't experts in admin. Never mind that the actual service user is or is not satisifed with their care plan/ assessment, it's whether it's been inputted correctly that counts :( Know that the IT has to be in good nick for everything to work, but this is why personally I feel admin/back office functions are essential in allowing social workers and social care workers to get on and do their own job! phew rant over. Thank sugarlumps for web anonymity...
We use the ICS PARIS syatem which, compared to some, is a technological marvel but is so all encompassing and controlling that using it is a bit like being asked to climb Mt. Everest with a refridgerator on your back whilst managers take pot-shots at you with sniper rifles.
And I'm not exaggerating. Much.
There ought to have been a tried and tested national system from the outset - of course most employers will not purchase the best / additions and leave frontline practitioners to wate time - totally false economy!
Liquid Logic is the best system Ive used (and I've used a few: Carefirst, Framework-i, Liquid Logic and Childview). I was told in my interview that by the time my training comes round I won't need the training as its so user friendly. Dont get me wrong, it has its hiccups, but she was right, I was using the system competently within a week or so.
Well that's good to hear Thinkpink, I've used carefirst and issis in the past but neither of these was as bad as SWIFT. It seems like the add ons make all the difference so I shall see what we end up with re Liquid Logic and whether ,as you say Rupert, we end up with false economies being made.
Pops, interestingly (or maybe not) my experience of SWIFT has been the opposite of yours. I came from an authority that was paperless to an authority that still has paper files (when you can find them) and SWIFT. What has amazed me is that I sit and push my keyboard out of the way to fill in a form that has been printied off from SWIFT by an admin worker. That form is put onto a hard file - made up by admin - and then passed to me for me to then complete in pen and put in a pile for admin to then input what I have written on the form! I totally agree we need admin but not to hinder a process, they could be doing far more useful stuff and maybe will do with Liquid Logic. Gosh even after all these years I can be optomistic :)
Hi Chirpy Cockney
I appreciate that this is an old posting that I am replying to, however I would be interested in your views - have you now moved to LL IAS?
For the record, IAS and AIS are entirely different. AIS is Northgate's attempt to drag SWIFT into the 21st century by bolting a web front end onto the old SWIFT database. IAS is an entirely seperate product from Liquid Logic.
What are your thoughts on IAS?
Hi there, it is liquid logic we are moving to from Swift. We are not up and running yet. I have seen an overview and tbh anything will be better than Swift - nothing could be worse!
From what I say at the overview it looked fairly easy to use. Getting away from paperfiles will be a godsend. I can't remember if I said further up but I moved from a paperless office back in time to paper files and Swift and it is dreadful.
Of course the proof will come when we are using it. I think atm decisions are being made by senior managers as to what extras they want to buy. I wish I could be involved in those conversations but sadly not
Do you know of LL at all?
O
Hi
I have experience of both systems - much more from the back end than the front. I would say that Liquid Logic's offering has a much nicer feel from the front end. My role in Social care is as a third party consultant in reporting, so I can only really comment on the back end database. Needless to say that what LL gains in the fron end it lacks in the back, having been designed primarily as a workflow system. This makes reporting from it an interesting challenge.
Do you know if you use Business Objects?
One piece of advice I would offer objectively is not to underestimate the size of the piece of work to atain useful reports following migration. The systems work in significantly different ways and therefore, those reports which were useful and indeed critical to people in the SWIFT world, suddenly become redundant and pointless in an IAS world. I have seen several migration projects where even a yuear on from migration they are still without any decent level of reporting from IAS.
I would be interested in hearing how the move goes - often I am called in after migration to try and dig a way out of the hole so some feedback on the thoughts and processes before that point would be extreemly interesting.
What is your role? are you from the practitioners side?
Kind regards
John
Hi Blodymtatws - what are the other two that you are comparing to?
Hi John,
I was comparing it to Care First and DRAIG (not sure if you are familiar with that, I am only aware of it being used in the Welsh LA I used to work in). I found Liquid Logic more....erm....logical to use in its layout, and I liked the ability to use free text - and the big selling point, the fact that Core Assessments were more concise and to the point. There were a few hiccups in the LA where I was in placement at the time of using it as I found it quite flexible but if you make a mistake (for example I accidentally closed a case and it was a bit of a hassle reversing this so I could add the bits I needed) but I think on the whole this was a bit of teething trouble as people got used to recording in a different way.