December 2016 marks 10 years since publication of the original Outcomes Star for the homelessness sector. We never imagined that 10 years later there would be 30 Stars and 30 people working with Triangle in the UK, with Stars used in more than a dozen countries worldwide and translations including Finnish, Italian and Chinese. Triangle has needed to learn and develop rapidly to respond.
2016 main highlights:
- Publication of the Independence Star for the armed forces community and Justice Star for the criminal justice sector
- An easier to use update of our Training Manual for 300+ active Licensed Trainers
- Unique Outcomes joined as our new service provider in Australia
- New courses and options and training in a farmyard, dance studio, racecourse, castle plus some less glamorous locations!
- Star data analysis with new advanced reports to better evidence change and reveal more meaningful insights
- After a rigorous process, the Justice Star was approved by NOMS – the UK government National Offender Management Service – for use by one of the collaborators.
A few snippets we’re pleased about:
- The Star was mentioned in the House of Lords
- We have agreed 3 year deals with a number of significant clients to really embed various Stars – contact us about longer term deals
- Several clients successfully embedded the Family Star Plus into Early Help Assessments
- We have an agreement with Corelogic to include the Star in Mosaic and are working with other big software providers
- Up to October 2016, over 525,000 Stars have been submitted on our Star Online web application
- We’ve trained 8 new Licensed Trainers in our most northerly UK venue so far…Stornaway (Isle of Lewis)
Internally in 2016:
- We grew by a few more people, and can now really help people implement the Star well, think creatively about new challenges and welcome new interest in the Stars
- We took a deep breath and made the move to a proper client management system, thereby reducing detective work and responding better to people getting in touch
- We updated the Star licences options – keeping prices the same and starting to simplify our communications
2017 main highlights:
- An unprecedented number of new Stars under development – we still find the process fascinating and meaningful. In spring 2017 we will publish the Tenancy Star for vulnerable tenants in housing associations. Others include a version for supporting people to have often difficult conversations about death and priorities towards the end of life
- A new, easier to use website for the Outcomes Star and Triangle. Good design is key to making the Stars clear and accessible while modelling complex change and we are enjoying learning more about the importance and impact of design
- A review of the Star Online – we may be in touch for your views and have a number of improvements already planned
- Further guidance on using Star data for learning and evidencing outcomes, working closely with organisations interested in more in-depth analysis
- Telling people about the Stars – only around half the 30 Stars are known and widely used so in 2017 we will find ways to let people know about the others.
Supporting organisations to use the Star well will continue to be the bulk of our work – through our client services team, implementation managers, Star trainers, international collaborators and through developing new tools and products to respond to needs and opportunities as they emerge.
And, with the end of 2016 marking the 10-year anniversary of the Outcomes Star, we’re hoping to celebrate and share the story of the Star throughout 2017 – watch this space!
We would like to send festive wishes to the many thousands of services, keyworkers and service users who use the Outcomes Star every day. If you’d like more information about any aspect of our work past, present or future then please contact us.