Closing a CarePortal Request

Overview

This article provides instructions regarding closing a CarePortal request as well as useful information regarding when to use each reason for closing.

Intended Audience

Requesting Agency Leaders and Workers

Included in This Article

• Importance of Closing Requests
• Closing vs. Canceling or Pausing a Request
• How to Close a CarePortal Request

Importance of Closing Requests

The CarePortal Essential Reading for Requesting Agencies, which new agencies must agree to, includes their commitment to close requests in a timely manner. Here are a couple of reasons why closing requests is important:

• When closing a request, agencies are asked to give a 1-5 star review. This provides helpful feedback and data for CarePortal on how an agency is experiencing the platform, and how effective the tool is for serving families.
• Closing a request also asks additional follow-up questions about the long-term impact of the family that only the agency knows.
  
  

Closing vs. Canceling or Pausing a Request

Closing a Request

Requests that do not get responses will automatically close after 40 days. If a response is made, however, whether by a community responder or a church responder, the request will remain open until the Agency Worker or Rep closes it. To close a request, the Agency Worker or Rep will select the reason for closing from the following list of options:

• Request fully met through CarePortal Network *
• Request partially met through CarePortal Network *
• Request Not met through CarePortal Network

* If the request is closed in a way that indicates the Church/CarePortal Network responded and met all or part of the request, the system will ask some specific questions of the Agency Worker regarding the impact of the connection that was/wasn't made in the process of meeting the need.

If other resources met the need or if the need is no longer needed those options will appear under Request Not Met through CarePortal.

Canceling a Request

Occasionally, it might be necessary to cancel a request. The Agency Worker who submitted the need has permissions in their dashboard to do this, as well as any Agency Reps assigned to the county the request was submitted in, any Agency Admins for the agency account overall, and also Regional Managers and Area Directors.

Canceling a request typically happens if a request lacks clarity, contains inappropriate or confidential information, or doesn't align with CarePortal's standards. It's worth noting that canceling a request doesn't affect impact stats, like the Percentage of Requests Met or Children Served. See the reasons for canceling requests below:

Pausing a Request

While it’s used less frequently, Agency Workers, Reps, Admins, Regional Managers, and Area Directors all have the ability to pause a request in the CarePortal dashboard. This can be helpful when a request needs to remain open but new responses need to be temporarily disabled—for example, to clarify details or address other considerations. Once clarity is achieved, any of these leaders can unpause the request.

While a request is paused, no new responses can be made. However, if resources have already been offered by the community, a local church can still step up to Take the Lead / Commit & Claim on those resources. This ensures the church can connect with the agency worker or rep who submitted the request and continue serving the family, even while the request is paused.

How to Close a CarePortal Request

1. To close a request you can click the "Close Request" button in an email you've received regarding a response to the request, or you can login to CarePortal directly.
   
   
2. Under the "Requests" tab of the left-hand menu, click on "My Requests" at the top of the page and click "View" on the request you would like to close. You'll notice a "Close" button in the top right of the page (shown below) that opens with the full details of this request.
   
   
   
3. When you click the "Close" button, a pop up will appear for you to select the appropriate "Reason for Closing". See below for a description of each option:
   

   • Request Fully Met through CarePortal Network: This reason should be used anytime a request is met by someone responding through the CarePortal platform to your request. If you select this option, the list of churches that submitted a response to your request will automatically appear so you can identify the church(es) who helped meet the need. Selecting the correct church(es) that helped meet this request is important because your selection determines which of these partners will have the economic impact associated with your request attributed to their account.

   • Request Partially Met through CarePortal Network: Selecting this reason will allow you to update the items or amount given so the impact data will be accurate. This option is especially helpful for multi-family requests where a collection drive or other similar event was held and the quantity of items originally requested was an estimate.

   • Request Not Met through CarePortal Network: This reason should be used if the request is met via means outside of CarePortal or if time has passed and the request is no longer needed.
     
     

4. Next, you will need to provide a rating and a reason for the rating you have provided. Optionally, you can share a story about how the request impacted you or the family that needed assistance. Please do not input any private information into this field.
   
   
5. Click "Save" to close out the request.