Introduction

Below, we will demonstrate the process that a new complainant will go through to register an Housing complaint with the DFEH. We will first demonstrate how the complainant will complete the Intake PCQ forms, and provide instructions on how call center personnel will be able to complete the complaint Intake for the complainant if they are for some reason unable to. Each facet of the account registration and intake process is thoroughly detailed below.

Table of Contents

1. Registering a Complaint
2. The Complainant Intake Form
3. Editing an Unsubmitted Intake Form
4. Auto-Assignment Process

Registering a Complaint

When a complainant first visits the DFEH Website, they will be greeted by the Main Page.

From this page, they can file a complaint by either:

1. Clicking the "File A Complaint" link on the left-side menu

2. Clicking the icon on the right

Either option will take the user to the Jurisdiction Questionnaire. Here, the complainant is asked a series of questions to validate if DFEH has jurisdiction. The first question they will be asked is whether they want to file a complaint for investigation or whether they creating an employment complaint for filing purposes only. If the latter is chosen, the user will be notified of their right to sue and will skip forward to Account Creation.

If the former is chosen, than they will continue with the questionnaire to determine how the complaint is processed by Houdini's Auto Assignment. Once the complainant has selected a response, they will click the Continue button to move onto the next question. The previous question will then be disabled unless the complainant clicks the Back button to change it.

The user will then be able to select from 5 types of complaints:

· Employment

· Housing

· Ralph

· Unruh

· CC54 (Civil)

These 5 types of complaints share a lot in common, but they do have some differences. For each type, there are specific data elements that must be collected before, during, and after investigation. These data elements will be collected in case information fields. For the purposes of this document we will detail the Housing complaint.

Once the complainant has selected the complaint type, they will be prompted to answer a series of questions to determine whether they eligible to file for a complaint. This process will help the complainant determine whether the DFEH can help them with their complaint, and if not they will be directed to the proper agency which can provide help. Once they have answered the questionnaire, then they can proceed to register a new account.

The complainant will be prompted to enter their first and last name, phone number, email address, and password. Upon entering and verifying this information and clicking the Sign-Up button, an email will be generated and sent to the email address provided.

The user must then click on the link provided in the email to finish account creation. Below is an example of a confirmation email sent by HoudiniESQ.

Once the link is clicked, the account is properly created within HoudiniESQ. The user is then taken to the login screen. In addition, an email is sent containing the complaintant's login details as a reminder.

The complainant will then log into the DFEH Remote Client Access system, where they will find the Intake form. This form will allow them to enter all pertinent information about their case.

The Complainant Intake Form

The first screen that the complainant will see upon logging in is the Disclaimer. By clicking the Acknowledge button at the bottom, the complaintant is acknowledging and agreeing to the terms in the notice in full. The complainant can opt out of this agreement by clicking the Logout button; however, in order to proceed to be able to file the complaint they MUST acknowledge the terms to continue.

Next, instructions will be provided for the complainant, as well as information about how the complaint will be handled once submitted. Once the user clicks Next, they will be able to fill out the complaint.

The complainant can navigate to any of the fields they wish using the buttons to the left. They can also choose to Logout if they do not have time to finish the Intake form, and they will be able to complete it at a later date.

The Name & Address Form will allow the user to complete filling out details about their name, address, phone and email information. Some of this is ported over from account creation, but all of the fields outlined in red are required before the complainant can proceed.

Next, the complainant will fill out the Demographics form. This form can quickly and easily allow us to gather race, gender, and ethnic information that may be useful in the case, as well as religious preferences. This information will be used for Auto-Assignment to ensure the most qualified staff member is handling the case. The complainant may also opt to not fill out any of this information; however, the Age field is required. Once they are finished, the complainant can click Next to continue to the Case Details form.

The Case Details form will let the complaintant fill out case information fields directly from the Matter Type that have been designated with the Intake Designer. These will be saved to the Complaint. The example we are using here is the Housing PCQ form. Once the complaintant is finished filling out all pertinent fields, they can click Next to move on to the next form.

The Case Notes form allows you to fill in any notes that the complaintant may want to add to the Complaint. These will be saved into the Notes tab of the Complaint for review later. These are entirely optional.

The complainant can also add Related Parties as Contacts. Simply click one of the Related Party slots which says "add" and enter their information. If the Related Party is a Respondent, then the case will be assigned based on their return address information. The intended design is to add a Respondent first, then add a Respondent Representative, and a Witness after that. The complainant can skip any of these, or they can also add more after the suggested 3 related parties. Once finished, the complaintant can move on to the next form.

In addition, the complainant can upload files that are related to the complaint using the "Upload Files" button on the menu. Clicking on this button will display a List View of all the files which are currently associated with the case. Clicking he Add (+) button on the List View will allow them to upload files with the Bulk Uploader tool.

The Bulk Uploader will allow the complainant to simply click Add Files to select files from their operating system of choice. They can remove files with the Remove Selected button.

When the complaintant has finished editing the Intake form, they can click on the "submit" button to save the information they have entered. The resulting case will then be opened within HoudiniESQ and automatically assigned to Staff based on the information they have entered.

Editing an Unsubmitted Intake Form

In general it is expected that the majority of DFEH complaints will be filled out online. however, HoudiniESQ does provide DFEH staff with access to incomplete Intake forms and the ability to create Intake forms on behalf of a Complainant. An example would be a Complainant is unable to complete the Intake form online, doesn’t understand a specific question or simply does not have Internet access. In this case the Complainant calls the Call Center and ask for assistance. The Call Center Staff Member can filter the Matter/Case/Complaint Dashboard to view only Intake records. The Call Center Staff can then find the Complainants incomplete Intake form by last name, phone number or email address. From this point forward the Call Center Staff Member can assist the Complainant with their Complaint and complete the Intake process on their behalf.

Assisting a complainant in this process is simple. First, go to the Matter Dashboard, change the Matter filter drop-down at the top to Intake, find the Intake form in question and click "Complete Intake".

The Intake Form will be displayed, with all the functionality of the version the Complaintant would see from the RCA. From here, simply assist the complaintant in the process of filling out the Intake form, then Submit the form using the "submit" action at the bottom of the frame on the left hand side.

Auto-Assignment Process

Once a new Complaint has been submitted, it will be assigned to a DFEH employee via Auto-Assignment, based on criteria from the case such as location, language and type of complaint. The employee which is assigned the case will be notified via the GTD (Getting Things Done) menu that they have a new case. Additionally, the manager of that employee's division will also be assigned to the case and notified via the GTD.

From the GTD, the employee can simply double-click the notification and then click the "View Item" button to begin working on the new case.