Penelope by Athena Software

Penelope User Review

We have used Penelope Case Management system since 2003. It is very versatile and many changes have been done to make it portable and easy to use. The ability to create documents for our own needs is a fantastic function of the system. We have created Initial Assessments, Progress/Closing Documents, activity notes and outcome tracking forms all for our specific needs. The ability to customize fields at all levels for the system to track information we need for grants and statistics is also very helpful. I would recommend this system to any one agency or organization that tracks a variety of data elements and wants to organize your data to meet your needs.

Pros

The versatility. It has a ton of user defined fields that can be setup in any combination that works for your agency. Billing is relatively simple and creating service units and activities is easy to do. Tech support has been very good over the years and the system is very rarely down. System outage issues just don't exist.

Cons

I would like to have a report writer system build into Penelope instead of using pivot tables to create customized reports.

Penelope has been a great tool for our programs. I have enjoyed learning all she has to offer

Pros

I like the ease of reporting functionality. It is very easy for me to see how often our clients are being serviced & how they are progressing within our programs. I like being able to link records with family members so we can get a wholistic view of what is happening with more than one client in a family group. The technical support that has been given to us has been fantastic.

Cons

Penelope is more suited to a clinical environment. There are a number of features within Penelope that we do not use. Some screens are hard to navigate & has some functions that are not relevant to our program needs. In the beginning of the process members of the Penelope project team with MPREC had a teleconference with customer rep. This was a very long drawn out meeting & was one that all of us did not get any benefit out of. Please when introducing your product find a better person to try to sell the program. Her presentations were very monotone & quite boring. We found ourselves drifting away from the meeting.

Some pluses, some frustrations

Pros

Penelope has many features that other software does not, like pulling statistical reports and tracking anonymous client interactions. It gives flexibility in some areas to customize and tailor your software experience to your organization. Generally, it functions well for its purpose.

Cons

Penelope is difficult to learn and is not very intuitive to use. It's not visually appealing. The statistical reports don't always have the capability to capture the information you need. There are quite a few small, annoying processes that leave new users frustrated (like re-opening a case file and having to delete the "end date" before you can put in new information. Shouldn't re-opening it automatically invalidate the end date?)

We love Penelope!

We are a care coordination division of a TPA, providing case management, utilization management, care transitions, and chronic condition management services to 80,000 members. Penelope has been so easy for us to use. The nurses love it, because they can communicate with other team, have our MD remotely look at notes, and we can easily pull case reports for underwriters. I used Penelope in my former job, and when we did this start up, it was the first thing I thought of to use. The support staff are friendly and understanding, and are great with training. I would highly recommend.

Pros

The reports are easy to to understand - especially to non-user stakeholders and our clients. The forms are easy to create and adjust, and the billing/ cart system is easy for my staff to use for their billable hours.

It does a lot

Overall, there are a million types of software for mental health out there. And Penelope is a solid, experienced, reliable, excellent customer-service option that keeps getting better. I trust Penelope, I like that it keeps improving, and I look forward to seeing some of the problems fixed!

Pros

Penelope offers a wide range of options for customizable software. Our counseling center is a practice of about 50 professionals, and in the search for software, we realized that our software needs are a bit unique. Penelope was able to offer customizable options and reports (reports are an additional cost) that fit our needs.

Cons

It's expansive (which is good), but keep in mind that it takes time to train, set up, install, teach others, and learn how to best use. In addition, the reports are sometimes be transferred to excel and other times not. There is no mobile version yet (they are working on it), but mobile use is important for in-the-field or during-the-commute work. SO when the mobile version is up and running, it will be amazing.

Flexible, configurable and reliable (so far)

I've been using Athena's Penelope Case Management Tool in our Community Acquired Brain Injury service for over 8 years. In that time it's proven itself a valuable and reliable source of organisational data as well as an essential tool for sharing person-centred information within a multi-d team. It's powerful out of the box, but can be configured to many different kinds of interaction. Being cloud based, it makes accessing the records you need easy, whether you're working onsite or off. Athena have managed to evolve the system impressively, and it has more than kept pace with changes in the way we work and use technology.

Pros

Powerful feature set and configurability. Cloud based.

Cons

Interface could do with some tweaks to improve navigability

Penelope has allowed our staff to work more cohesively by providing a user friendly database.

Pros

For the first time our organization has been able to capture better client and partner data that has allowed our multiple departments to work more cohesively. The ease of use of the Smart Documents and Forms has enhanced the way we gather demographic and program information for grants and funding purposes. While the overall functionality of the database has been very helpful to capturing client and partner data, we hope further updates with the Search function and Calendar will better serve our organizational needs, for example searching by Event Description (specifically Indirect Events). Both the launch support and technical support team have been wonderful to work with and respond quickly to our inquiries.

Overall: Cloud Based, Easy to create Forms, and Smart Docs are great features. Reports within Penelope are great for capturing basic information. Easy for most staff to use.

Cons

It'd be helpful if more fields were more customizable and if reports could be more specific (more Breakdown options) in Penelope instead of having to utilize the Open Database Connectivity. Search function includes many fields to filter by, but not all the fields that we need- would like better customizable search options.

Penelope has given us great flexibility with our student counselor population!

Our student counselors are learning great skills in using an electronic records system. Reports are much easier to run, supervisors can access the progress notes and other documents at any time, and can be alerted to situations like suicidal ideation or risk.

Pros

Students have access everywhere; outcome measures are great, and the ability to see visual score charts across time is especially effective for clients.

Cons

It is hard to delete some mistakes. Written instructions are still not as clear as I would like. I still find it complex when setting up new outcome measures.

Penelope

Pros

It meets the majority of our needs for tracking clients, staff notes, documents and scheduling space in our building (both internal and external meetings).

Cons

I can't create mailing labels from Penelope, the calendar of meetings (outside groups can schedule days/times to use our meeting rooms) doesn't always sink between the appointment icon and the monthly calendar (side tab). Wish the calendar worked more like Outlook. Search should be for anything vs. having to click an option.

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.

Our experience with Penny, so far

Overall the staff at Penelope is helpful and knowledgeable. Penelope is pretty expensive compared to many other databases and the software does offer a good bit to help compensate for the cost. However, some of our staff feels that we should have received more hands-on assistance and instruction for the price. To some extent I believe that more from not having a local based team to work with and all Penny staff being located in other countries. Everything was handled remotely so, if there is any complaint I believe it is just not being able to work in person with anyone. All in all though, the team we had did a great job, considering the distance, and our staff is starting to really like the software as they are trained.

Pros

The tech support team is great and the flexibility of form creation is fantastic.

Cons

The configuration and data migration process was a bit confusing and more time consuming then we planned on.

Penelope Provides an Opportunity for Quality Training for our Students

1. Students are trained in an excellent Electronic Health Record system, and it prepares them well for their future career. 2. Overall I have been really pleased with Penelope, and glad we chose it.

Pros

1. Being able to purchase "generic" licenses--this works well for an educational/training context.
2. Being able to design our own forms and documents.
3. Great support.

Cons

1. It took enormous time to set up our system.
2. There are still some reporting issues that do not meet our needs.

We love the staff response/feedback

Save time, money and easy access to client files and staff schedules. More efficient with documentation and effective client planning within systems. Access to quick reports and better billing processes.

Pros

The fact that it's mobile friendly makes introducing the database a little more exciting to staff and executives.

Cons

The lack of application or mobile software for worker use. I always get the weird look when workers ask "is there an app?" and I say "No" I'd certainly like to change that response.

Excellent customer service! Very easy to use the site!

This program is primarily used for reporting on our cliental. This software coincides with what we are looking for as we can build it around our company!

Pros

It is nice that you can build the site around your company. When you have questions, a support staff member is very quick in response.
We have 6 programs running out this program, which makes it easy to gather demographic data for all of them, in one place!

Cons

The only negative was fixed. I had trouble trying to run cross reports for all our programs, but with granted access, I am now able to pull from an Excel spreadsheet for any report.

Penelope Is Great

Penelope is imply a great way to manage client data for records and progress tracking.

Pros

The software really allows us to keep accurate records of our clients in an organized, easy to follow manner.

Cons

When working with a group, it is not possible to schedule everyone at the same time which means different time slots for each group member. This blocks out more time than is real time for clinicians availability.

We use Penelope for scheduling, case noting, and financials. We've been very happy with it.

Pros

The best thing about using this software is the reliability and the customer support. I've been using this software daily for almost two years and the site has only gone down once for about half of a day. Within moments, customer service sent me an email telling me how I could still access the site using a different method. Also, any questions that I've had have been answered with clear and concise instructions within hours. The help section of the software also contains very clear instructions for performing many tasks.

Excellent clinical software

I am able to efficiently chart for each of my students. The layout and software is user friendly. It is quality!

Pros

The organization and ease it provides. I utilize Penelope on a daily basis and our counseling clinic enjoys it.

Cons

When we initially utilized Penelope I accidentally delete en entire file. That bug has been fixed now which is outstanding news.

Penelope is a game changer for us

Real time access to our data therefore our reports are accurate and up to date

Pros

24/7 access.
Security and support from Athena
Reporting feature allows us to see our organisation
Real time results

Cons

Moving from laptop to tablet the forms don't resize well.
Would like ability to sort and filter my home page more..perhaps a search function

It's a great software that's easy to use once you've learned how to use it.

Being able to keep track of documentation.

Pros

It holds Records. It allows all staff to complete documentation. It's very easy to navigate once you get use to the features.

Cons

It takes some time to learn how to use the features of the software. It's only allows a certain amount of people to sign in at once.

We love our "Penny"

In our company we refer to the Penelope Software familiarly as Penny. She is our friend in so many ways! She makes documentation, scheduling, reporting, payroll, invoicing easy! So much time is saved. She is User friendly as well making auditing for accountability and accuracy a breeze. I would recommend the software to anyone.

Pros

User friendly

Cons

Would like easier use of documents