Choosing the Right IDD Software Shouldn’t Feel Like Guesswork
IDD software connects scheduling, documentation, and billing for disability service agencies. Learn what it is, how it works, and what to look for.
September 10, 2026
How Exceptional Foresters Turned Case Notes Into Clear, Actionable Reporting with SETWorks AI
Instead of relying on memory, Exceptional Foresters uses SETWorks AI to capture the full picture of client progress.
From tracking progress to setting goals, case notes contain important details that shape how people are supported. But that information doesn’t always make it into reporting in a coherent or usable way.
“I’ve been working here 16 years, and for much of that time I’ve just been really disappointed in the depth of our reporting,” says Linda Wilkinson, Vocational Director at Exceptional Foresters Inc (EFI), provider of residential and vocational services to adults with disabilities in the South Puget Sound area of Washington State. “We were meeting the requirements, but it really wasn’t a real blueprint for services the way it’s supposed to be.”
To address that, Linda turned to SETWorks AI Documentation Insights to transform raw documentation into meaningful reporting.
“[With Documentation Insights] We’re saving about a half hour per client per month on DVR reports. But more than time saved, it's improved the quality of our reports.” — Linda Wilkinson, Vocational Director, Exceptional Foresters
The challenge: making sense of scattered case notes
As part of their job services, EFI is responsible for providing monthly updates on each client’s progress to Washington state’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR).
To create these reports, staff would either copy long lists of case notes or write brief summaries based on memory — neither of which gave a complete picture of what was truly happening over time.
“If the overall impression of the period for the staff was negative — for example, the client wasn’t participating as much — that’s what the summary tended to focus on,” explains Linda.
Frequent staffing changes made this even harder. When new staff took over a client, they often had to piece together history from case notes without a clear narrative to guide them.
With her background in data analysis and database creation, Linda saw an opportunity to approach the problem differently. “I’d just be sitting there thinking, you know, AI could probably do that,” she says.
Step 1: Turn an existing monthly report into a template for Documentation Insights
Linda started with SETWorks Documentation Insights, an AI-powered tool that analyzes, summarizes, and answers questions about case notes and any other information within SETWorks.
Using an existing monthly report as a template, Linda configured a Documentation Insights to pull out relevant information from the previous month’s documentation, and organize it into a complete overview of client progress.
“It didn’t take me very long to put it together,” says Linda. “I copied some stuff from other reports and told it to give some suggestions at the end for staff to ask DVR, but for the most part it’s just the things that DVR wanted to see.”
Step 2: Refine for clarity and usability
Within seconds, Documentation Insights generated a balanced summary that accurately showed what’s happening in services reflecting beyond what staff would have shared was most recent or top of mind.
From there, Linda made one key adjustment to her prompt: “Write the report at a fourth grade level.”
That simple instruction made it easier for DVR counselors and case managers to quickly digest the information in the reports. “Now, the DVR counselors are finding our reports a lot more useful,” says Linda.
Step 3: Expand to other reports
Once Linda saw how Documentation Insights improved the quality of monthly reports, she decided to expand the approach to six-month reports for developmental disability (DD) clients.
As with monthly reports, staff often relied on recent memory rather than the full picture of client progress.
“They were just coming up with goals for the client out of their impressions of the last month or so of service and not really looking at the last six months of case notes,” explains Linda.
Linda created a custom Documentation Insights task that summarizes what has been discussed and done over the last six months and then suggests goals for the client based on that history.
Instead of manually scanning months of case notes for clues, staff now start with draft goals generated directly from documented services.
“If a case note from four months ago mentions that the employer suggested, ‘maybe you can sweep the whole floor next time,’ it pulls that out and turns it into a SMART goal with steps the client and staff can take to meet that,” says Linda.
Better insights, better services
With SETWorks Documentation Insights, EFI is saving about 30 minutes per client per month on DVR reports, and up to an hour per client twice a year on DD reports.
But the real value goes beyond efficiency. With less subjectivity and a more complete view of client progress over time, counselors and case managers are able to build stronger service plans and set more informed goals for the next service period.
“Now that we’ve got that, the next step is getting staff to use the insights from the reports — not just to write them, but to guide services,” says Linda.
Curious how SETWorks and SETWorks AI can give your team a better picture of services and speed up reporting? Schedule a discovery call to see it in action.
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