I like this program!!

At first it was daunting as there is SO much information but once we figured it out I love it! I'm part of the team that works on our documentation to make things flow easier. It's great to be able to tailor it to our company needs.

Pros

Being able to read my staff input by generating a report whenever I need it. Being able to pull reports to the tableau so I can see my numbers just like that.

Cons

Only being able to access from work computers with the VPN installed there. Would be great to be able to access from personal computers.

EXcellent system for client files and caseload management

We love Penelope for report writing and for documenting outputs for different projects including quality assurance reviews - we know that we are not using Penelope to it's full capacity and there is a lot more potential for improved and different methods of reporting.

Pros

The user interface for our frontline counsellors is very intuitive which is efficient in getting new users up and running and is excellent for day-to-day casen documentation and file management

Cons

Customization of the software was a challenge for us to understand our needs with respect to the many different functions and options available - using the sandbox was helpful in working out a few of the errors we made in planning

UI is poor. Reporting function only in PDF. not SMS friendly. Case file structure = privacy issues

Pros

it has a diary schedule linked to cart items. it's god if you only want Penelope to do one thing, ie, ATAPS service & payments

Cons

UI poor resulting in clunky data entry and more time spent entering data. not mobile / tablet friendly Reporting function does not provide dashboard, only reports in pdf or that you have to cut and past into Excel. Case file / service file structure creates privacy issues - we may have to move away from this product on the basis of legal advice Lack of technical support available in Australia

Well developed database

Overall really good experience, staff are knowledgeable and great to work with

Pros

This is a really well developed database. Such flexible features to customize it to your needs.

Cons

There are some restrictions with the features and reporting that require work on our end to make things work they way we need it to work. You are not able to delete errors so you are left with a lot of extra entries that make certain parts busy and confusing.

Penelope from the Perspective of Reporting and Program Surveillance

I was hired to obtain, process and analyze the raw Penelope data because the built in reports were not sufficient for our reporting purposes. To be fair to Athena, I've observed this is true with any database system; built in reports for any database are static and the reporting needs of non-for-profit organizations are dynamic and shift at least annually. Initially, I had trouble using my credentials to log into Penelope's ODBC interface. It took a couple of months for Athena to figure out the issue was on their end. Once I was able to download the data, I had to figure out where everything was at and how to link it together. Athena's data dictionaries were invaluable, but you have to become familiar with the databases to correctly merge them and prepare the data. Now I can track anything entered into Penelope.

Pros

Penelope is comprehensive in terms of documenting service appointments, client assessments, referrals, notes, agency workshops and meetings, etc. One can access the raw data via ODBC and prepare the data for reporting, projections for grant writing or program surveillance. One can also use the built in reports for these. There is a feature that allows appointments to sync with Microsoft Outlook that is very handy. Athena Software has a lot of documentation for Penelope that I have found extremely helpful. Managers can look at staff caseloads easily.

Cons

I found that support for accessing the raw data, especially in terms of data preparation is very limited unless you pay for a support meeting. They do provide data dictionaries and data maps which I found very helpful. Using login credentials for downloading the data can be frustrating initially because they are not immediately actualized by the engineers. Once that occurs, ODBC works fine and is reliable. With other issues Athena responds fairly quickly. Also, they do not provide support for using R. Thankfully, there is sufficient documentation from R developers that enabled me to figure it out.