A program of Pathfinders for Hope
Operation Iron Gate works with your HMIS.
Operation Iron Gate works with your HMIS, not against it — confirming the one thing HMIS wasn't built to track: whether the person arrived.
Referral made
Arrival confirmed
Without confirmation, this is where people are lost.
No. Operation Iron Gate does not replace your Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), does not compete with it, and is not a second place to type the same client data. Your HMIS reports what happened. Operation Iron Gate records one thing your HMIS does not: whether the person you handed off actually arrived.
The handoff
Reporting it happened is not the same as knowing they arrived.
Your HMIS(records)
Operation Iron Gate(confirms)
Referral recorded
Referral tracked to a named receiver
Exit reason logged
Receipt confirmed by the receiving organization
Service entered
Arrival confirmed — or the case reopens
Report generated after the fact
The gap is visible the day it opens
The record closes
The case stays open until the arrival is confirmed
HMIS does this well. It was never built to do the right column.
Illustrative.
Handoff sent
Receipt pending
Arrival confirmed
Does not replace your HMIS
No second place to type client data
Your HMIS stays your system of record
The first question
Is this more data entry?
It is the first question every director asks and it is the right one.
The system is scoped to the handoff — the moment a person moves from you to someone else. Not to everything your staff already record. If a field lives in your HMIS, it is not being re-collected here.
Double data entry is the loudest complaint in this sector and it is a legitimate reason to refuse a new system. Any platform that answers it with "our interface is easier" has not answered it.
Your HMIS
The handoff
Already in your HMIS
Client demographics
Program enrollment
Internal case notes
Exit reason
3
Fields the handoff adds
Who received the referral
Whether the person arrived
When it was confirmed
Everything on the left already lives in your HMIS. It is not re-collected here.
The comparison
What each system is for
Eight rows compared. Two diverge.
Your HMIS
Operation Iron Gate
Primary purpose
HUD reporting and compliance
Confirming the handoff landed
Who selects it
Your CoC
Your organization
Records client demographics
Yes
Not re-collected
Records program enrollment
Yes
No
Records referral sent
Yes
Yes
Records referral received
Rarely, and rarely reliably
Yes — by the receiving org
Reports on the past
Yes
Yes
Acts while a case is open
No
Yes
Your HMIS reports what happened. Operation Iron Gate makes sure it happens.
What changes, what doesn't
Nothing is decommissioned. Your data stays yours.
Do we have to replace what we already use?
No. Nothing is decommissioned to join the pilot. We walk through how this fits alongside what you already run — including your HMIS, your internal case notes, and whatever spreadsheet is currently holding the part neither of them covers.
That spreadsheet is usually the tell. If your team keeps handoff tracking on paper or in a sheet because the HMIS cannot do it, that is exactly the gap this fills.
What about our data?
Your organization's data belongs to your organization. Export it in a standard format at any time. You can leave and take it with you.
A person's file is visible to the staff working with that person — not to everyone holding a login.
Every time a file is opened, that is recorded.
The public view carries counts and rates only. No names and no case identifiers, ever.
Could data leak? Every system that holds data carries that risk, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. What we can tell you is exactly who can see what, and that the answer is written down rather than assumed.
Who can see what
Your organization
The staff working with that person
The full file
Everyone else holding a login
No access
The public view
Counts and rates only. No names, ever.
You, at any time
A full export, in a standard format
Written down rather than assumed.
Before you ask
Common questions
Does Operation Iron Gate replace our HMIS?
No. It is scoped to the handoff — whether a referred person arrived. Your HMIS remains your system of record for HUD reporting and program enrollment.
Will our staff have to enter client data twice?
No. The system is scoped to the moment of handoff, not to the intake fields your HMIS already collects.
Our CoC selected our HMIS. Does joining conflict with that?
No. Joining does not change your CoC relationship, your HMIS contract, or your reporting obligations.
Will this route our funding through Pathfinders for Hope?
No. Joining does not route your funding through us and does not put your contracts in our name. A confirmed handoff is a number you use in your own reporting.
What if our HMIS already tracks referral outcomes?
Then compare them. If your HMIS reliably produces receiving-side confirmation of arrival, you may not need this. Most do not, which is why the spreadsheet exists.