When a client is authorized to receive a service in the future, the caseworker can allocate a place to the client for a period in the future. This is called a reservation, and is broadly similar to a reservation in a hotel booking system.
The reservation process would usually start with a caseworker searching for available places for a certain period. When a place is found with a suitable provider, the reservation can be created for the client. Since a reservation represents a potential future placement rather than the placement itself, it cannot start from a past or current date.
In much the same way as hotel guests have to check in when they arrive to take up a reservation, a reservation in CPM needs to be converted into a placement when the client has turned up to the facility and has been placed with the provider. Creating a placement from a reservation is a manual process that can be done by the resource manager, facility manager or the caseworker.
In order to ensure that conflicting placement information is not created, a number of checks take place in CPM when a placement is created, or an existing placement modified:
Flexibility is provided when confirming a reservation. The period can be changed and the place can be selected, if not already selected while creating the reservation. If no suitable place exists, an emergency place is created in the highest level compartment of the facility, thus resulting in an emergency placement.
A reservation can also be canceled if found to be invalid or if the client is placed with another provider. A reservation expires automatically if the client does not turn up to the providers facility. This happens when either the reservation ends or the date of expiry is reached. The date of expiry is derived by adding the number of days specified for the Grace Period to the start date of the reservation. When a reservation is updated, the caseworker who created the reservation is automatically notified.