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Here you will find a basic glossary of the most commonly used Penelope terms. If you cannot find what you are looking for, please use the search located at the top of the page.

Individuals (clients) are the core unit of information in Penelope. Individuals can be added to cases as Case Members and Service Files as Service Participants. Individuals have a range of attributes such as Profile information, Demographic, Collateral Contact and Account Information data.

A Case is the core clinical information unit that unites all Service File information that relates to an Individual, couple or family (grouped as Case Members). A Case can have one or more Case Members (who also have their own Individual Profile) and may also have one or more Service Files.​

Cases are not assigned to any particular Worker (like Service Files are) but rather belong to the Agency as a whole. The Case file is meant to be the single point of access for all services provided to a given Individual or family.

It is possible for an Individual to be a member of multiple Cases however this is configured by your System Administrator and generally not required.

Service Files are instances of service that are tracked within an Individual’s Case. Each Service File represents a single instance of service (i.e. Individual Counselling, Family Dispute Resolution etc) that your agency is providing to a given (set of) Case Member/s. The Case Members participating in a given Service File are referred to Service Participants.

Service Units are the core statistical and billing unit in Penelope and are used to track the services you are providing (e.g. Counselling Session, Phone Call, Home Visit, Group Session etc).

Service Units can also be used to track mileage, food stamps etc and are added to the Cart in Service Events by the Workers involved in delivering the service (or any other worker with access to the event). Service Units are created by the System Administrator (or other workers with appropriate security permissions)

Service Units are sometimes also called Cart Items in Penelope.

Events are scheduled events or appointments in which Workers, Individuals or Resources can participate. They may be scheduled before or after the fact as required. There are three main types of events that Penelope allows you to track:

These are appointments scheduled within a specific Service File and can include one or more Workers as well as resources and attendees. These appointments have a Status (e.g. Booked, Cancelled, Show, No Show etc), Notes, Documents, Attachments and a Cart to record Service Units.

For non-group appointments you can book new events from within the Service File by clicking a Book New link. You can also book another appointment from an existing event by clicking the Book New button at the top left or from your My Home page by clicking the plus (+) icon beside an Individual’s name in your My Case Load.

You may want to book a non-scheduled Service Event if the event has already occurred or was unexpected. Please note that non-scheduled Service Events do not appear in the Workers Calendar or Master Schedule.

Group events are handled a little differently and are booked from the Group page in Penelope.

These are events that are typically administrative in nature (e.g. staff meetings) and do not appear in any client’s Service File (although Individual clients may be added to these types of events if necessary).

Resources as well as Workers may participate in Indirect Events. You may schedule these type of events from your My Home page by clicking the Book Indirect Event link.

Informal Services are informal programs where a Case is not required in order to track an individual’s participation.

Anonymous Services are usually brief one time services offered by your agency. These services do not require the creation of an Individual, Case or Service File and do not show up under any Case’s or Service File.

The System Administrator level should be assigned as a role or function within your organization rather than a day to day login level worker.

Event Status refers to the status of each Service Event (appointment) in Penelope. There are eight different possible Event Status types in Penelope:

Booked indicates an appointment has been scheduled with a client but that the appointment has not yet been resolved.

Show indicates that the client(s) attended the Service Event as scheduled. If billing is enabled and charges apply (e.g. there are items in the Cart) changing the appointment status from ‘Booked’ to ‘Show’ will trigger the billing (i.e. will make the item ready to be invoiced).

Cancelled indicates that the client cancelled the appointment with sufficient prior notice. No charges will apply and the time slot can be used for another appointment. The cancelled appointment will remain on the client’s Service File. Client(s) will be removed from the attendees tab on the event.

Cancelled by Therapist indicates that the appointment was cancelled in advance by the Worker associated with the Service Event. Client(s) will be removed from the attendees tab on the event.

Late Cancel: Billed as No Show indicates that the client did not provide sufficient notice for their cancellation (e.g. if your agency requires 24 hours notice to cancel an appointment). If billing is enabled at your agency the client will be charged for the items associated with the cancelled event. This Late Cancel event will remain in the client’s Service File. Client(s) will be removed from the attendees tab on the event.

Late Cancel: Remove Billing – Same as above. However your agency will not be charge the client for the items associated with the cancelled appointment. This ‘Late Cancel’ event will remain in the client’s Service File. Client(s) will be removed from the attendees tab on the event.

No Show indicates that the client did not show up for the appointment and provided no prior notice. If billing is enabled the client will be charged for the Service Items associated with this event. This event will remain in the client’s Service File.

Re-Scheduled indicates the client(s) or Worker(s) rescheduled the appointment with sufficient prior notice and mutual consent. No charges will apply and the appointment time slot can be used for another event. The rescheduled appointment will remain in the client’s Service File. Client(s) will be removed from the attendees tab on the event.

Groups are specific instances of service that your agency offers which include one or more unrelated people (e.g. an 8 week group called Anger Management Education 2019 running within an existing Case Service called Education Courses).

The Blue Book is your agency’s personalized phone book and will typically contain a list of community contacts, service partners, referrals etc along with information like the type of services provided by the agency, where they are located and contact information etc.

Collateral Contacts form a ‘Rolodex’ of external contacts for each individual client in Penelope (e.g. a collateral contact could be a doctor, lawyer, a family member not receiving treatment, a teacher, parole officer etc).

You can opt to disregard the amount charged for Service Units at the Service File level by applying a fee override. This override will take effect for all cart items that have not been invoiced and is expressed as an amount the client will pay.

CMS 1500 is the standard paper claim form used when a paper claim is allowed by a funder (e.g. the paper version of the EDI 837P). The CMS-1500 can be used to bill various government (Medicaid, Medicare etc) and private insurers. CMS refers to ‘the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’.