Thank you so much for the feedback you provided in the CLASS survey. It’s great to get feedback on what is working and what you would like to see improved.

You made suggestions for improvements in a number of areas including: 

1. integration of CLASS with other databases,
2. the speed of CLASS,
3. functionality, and
4. reporting.

We are working on each of these areas and will keep you posted on what we are doing to address them.

 

You asked for better integration of CLASS with other databases and now we are onto it! The main issue is that Centres want to eliminate the need to double enter data.
 
We recognise that this is a priority for many Centres. We have begun working with a group of centres who are either using Actionstep or are considering using Actionstep. The first steps are to identify what data needs to be transferred and to develop a mechanism to transfer this data.
 
This is not a simple or cheap process. However, we are committed to making CLASS work for you.
 
Once we have completed this task, we will look at transferring data from other databases you are using including Salesforce, DEX, Filemaker, LEAP, Infoxchange, CSNet, Tenancy databases and Orbit. If you are using another system and it is not in this list, please contact the Helpdesk.
 

Chris Dubrow completed a major CLASS face to face training run across centres in SA, QLD and WA in November and December, with a focus on centres the CLASS team had not visited before. This included centres in and around Adelaide as well as the Port Lincoln Family Violence Service, Brisbane and Toowoomba, Perth quarterlies and northern WA's Pilbara region with visits to the Hedland Aboriginal Family Law services and all 4 offices of the Pilbara CLC from South Hedland to Karratha.
 

 
You asked for more face to face training for CLASS so we will continue to focus on providing face to face training in 2020 and plan to visit all states during the year. We will provide more details in January.  
 
We will start providing the full range of webinar training from late January and will post a calendar early in the new year. Training will be available for new users, administrators, reporting, projects and accountability. Or we can provide customised training for your centre.
 
Please don’t hesitate to contact the Helpdesk if your centre would like training.

And don’t forget that there are a range of useful training resources on the CLCs Australia web site which we will be adding to in the new year.

Phishing, where an attacker attempts to trick the victim into revealing passwords or other confidential information or giving access to their computers, is an increasingly common problem and a big security risk. We see a Centre getting phished at least every second month. 
 
Think of phishing as being like someone planning to rob your house. They could attempt to get through all the locks, but wouldn’t it be easier if they just tricked you into giving them your keys? As software and networks become more secure, the easiest point to attack a system is through people. Phishing has seen a shift towards attacking smaller organisations because they generally have smaller security budgets.
 
A phishing attack might look like an email, phone call, or SMS. It might even look like it’s from someone you know, or other staff in your organisation! It is easy to fake who it looks like an email is from.
 
The simplest way to check if something is a phishing attack is to check with the person it says sent it. Use contact details you already have or that come from a trusted source. If you have any doubt at all about the source, do not reply to the email or follow instructions or links provided for a response.
 
Phishing is a much bigger topic than we can cover here, but there are excellent free resources and training available. Contact Connecting Up, a non-profit organisation that resources, services and training to the not-for-profit sector for more information. Or try this online quiz to test your ability to recognise a fake email: https://www.phishingbox.com/phishing-iq-test.