Overview
Overview of the functionality and features of evince
Further Information
What is evince?
“A user-friendly, web based system which will help you manage, maintain and deliver information to families now and into the future.”
evince is the new information management system from Opportunity Links. It is is designed to support Family Information Services’ (FIS’) in their day to day activities.
Highlights
Information management
Detailed information can be held on both providers and their associated care-schemes, which can then be uploaded to the national ChildcareLink website and the free FIS website included with the product. evince is also fully compliant with the Ofsted data feed and the Opportunity Links children’s service directory standard, as published on GovTalk.
Further detailed information on the functionality available in evince can be found on the functionality sub section of this site.
Contact management
Users can record and share details of all their day to day contacts and the individuals they have contact with.
Search and discovery
evince includes a wide range of search and reporting functions, making it easy to identify, extract and report on data within the system. In addition to the standard search functions built into the system, evince also includes a custom query module, giving the user the power to access the data in the manner and format of their choosing. Finally evince also includes a mapping solution, which will helps users to locate records spatially and further restrict their search results
Relational linking of information
The database is designed to allow the majority of entities to be linked together, making it easy for users to build relationships and discover data through various access points. An example is the logging of qualifications against people and then people against specific care-schemes.
MIS and reporting
The system includes a reporting module, making it simple for users to generate HTML or PDF based reports on demand. In addition to the standard reports, evince also includes a reports designer where users can create their own customer reports. This combined with the query and search functionality provides a fully flexible solution allowing users to access, report and extract on data as required.
Ease of use
From the word go, Opportunity Links design team wanted to ensure that evince was as easy to use as possible. Our aim was to create a system which would require little or no training for existing CIS database users, and also to provide various online support and training resources to allow users to easily find the answers to any questions they may have.
Low cost of ownership
With the increasing financial demands on local authority budgets it is essential that evince is delivered within a cost model which gives a low cost of ownership, while delivering a solution that scales with your needs.
Roadmap
In addition to the functionality already available in evince from April 08, there is a detailed product roadmap setting out the planned developments to evince for the next twelve months. Proposed future functionality includes pathways to registration, recruitment, children centre’s, extended schools and early year’s census. The roadmap will be determined by the users and Opportunity Links. Further details can be found on the roadmap section of this site.
Technical Requirements
There are minimal technical requirements for using evince, in fact this was one of our key design requirements. The application is browser based and as such the minimum requirements are Windows XP or later and Internet Explorer 6 or later.
Please read the technical requirements section of this site for a full list of the requirements to run evince.
Support
Users of evince have access to a wide range of support services, both online, over the phone and face to face. Further details of the user support you will receive as part of your evince license can be found on our user support page.
Training
One of our key design aims when creating evince was it should be easy to use Specifically, those already using the ChIS system should require littler or no training and begin to use evince today. While we are happy we have met this design aim there will always be a need for some training and as you would expect we have a number of options.
As part of your license agreement you will have access to various online support and training resources. The online training will take the form of screencasts, which will be narrated demonstrations of key functionality areas of the evince system. For those who would prefer classroom based training with an Opportunity Links expert user, details of the training courses available for evince can be found on the training page.
