This post is a summary of the linked case study below about Sonoma County Human Services’ (SCHSD) implementation of Bonterra Impact Management (fka Apricot by Social Solutions Global, Inc.). Sidekick Solutions was the contractor for initial implementation and continues to support SCHSD’s expansion of the solution.

Background

Sonoma County Human Services Department utilizes Bonterra Impact Management (fka Apricot software) for its shared outcomes measurement objectives, encompassing multiple divisions and a host of community-based organizations and collaboration partners. More recently, Bonterra Impact Management has been deployed to support the County’s ARPA funding award.

SCHSD adopted Bonterra Impact Management to support its shared measurement and collective impact goals. Concerned that a growing share of Sonoma County’s general fund was going towards criminal justice costs, county officials decided changes must be made; SCHSD sought ways to “invest early, invest wiser, and invest together” to drive greater impact. The method of determining where, when, and how to invest had to be evidence- and results-driven. Upstream Investments is the backbone support of the effort and Bonterra Impact Management is the technology for case coordination and impact evaluation.

Solution

Sidekick Solutions was the contractor responsible for initial implementation and configuration of the Bonterra Impact Management (fka Apricot) platform. Initial implementation included requirements discovery, design, configuration, user acceptance testing, and deployment services in collaboration with the SCHSD system administrators, evaluation analysts, and program delivery stakeholders.

SCHSD’s Bonterra Impact Management platform is now designed for a common data model centered around a Participant Profile with comprehensive demographic data disaggregation, a Social Determinants of Health intake, and results-based accountability measurement across 70+ partners and their 110+ funded projects.

Sidekick Solutions uses the full suite of customization tools in the Bonterra Impact Management (Apricot 360) platform, including back-end SQL functionality and conditional rules to integrate multiple programs and site/locations into a common data model. Designing a common data model in the platform ensures that a Bonterra Impact Management instance has a unifying schema rather than becoming a single database partitioned into multiple siloed databases.

The solution design enables:

• A common data model to support Results Based Accountability data collection and reporting across prevention and intervention based programs
• A shared platform that can enhance relationships between community stakeholders with shared data and provide visibility to common outcomes, including stakeholder groups in:
  • Upstream Investments and PREE Division
  • Family Youth and Children’s Services Division
  • Employment and Training Division
  • County Probation Department
  • Office of Equity
  • Multiple School Districts
• Reporting on participants served tied to funding streams, what those individuals and families present at intake (Social Determinants of Health screen), and which service areas they participate in by County Priority Area

Outcomes

• Platform actively supports 500 users across 21 programs, 3 department divisions, 2 county departments, and 26 CBO partners, and allows for case management and reportable data collection across 210 forms
• Launched a central intake that includes an Equity-informed Participant Profile, Social Determinants of Health screen via the PRAPARE tool, and a contract management system to aggregate reporting across 110+ grantees and programs for County-level shared measurement
• Utilize Bonterra Impact Management and external web tools to support the READY initiative, which is a partnership between local School Districts and the Human Services Department to assess Kindergarten Readiness of children and correlate that with Parent surveys
• Developed a common data model to support Results Based Accountability data collection and reporting across prevention and intervention based programs

Sonoma County is using Bonterra Impact Management as a shared outcome measurement system to shift the focus from reactive to preventative and coordinated case management across all of its partner organizations.