INDUSTRY FIELD GUIDE
Temporary shelter capacity and reporting window data for AI
A capacity snapshot can become stale quickly and may include spaces unavailable for a given reporting window.
NAICS 624221 · Temporary Shelters
A capacity snapshot can become stale quickly and may include spaces unavailable for a given reporting window. HUD’s HMIS standards illustrate structured reporting for homelessness services. An original exercise can test arithmetic and time matching with no live shelter information. HUD HMIS data standards
Build a dummy dashboard with eight places, two held and one status update arriving after the snapshot. Ask what the snapshot establishes at its stated time and which figures would need refresh. Score units and effective timestamp separately. Do not infer any person’s placement.
Keep live capacity, real locations, routes, participant information and service-provider exports out. The exercise uses invented sites and leaves actual referral and placement decisions with the provider.
Describe a synthetic capacity reporting example
Original Fiund exercise
A later capacity update cannot be inserted into an earlier snapshot
An invented dashboard uses abstract spaces and a fictional site. It contains no live capacity, location, participant, referral or placement information.
| Record | Source | What it records |
|---|---|---|
| SCW1 | 10:00 snapshot | Site DEMO has 8 total practice spaces. Two explicitly held, leaving 6 not held at that timestamp under this fixture's rule. |
| SCW2 | Later update | Received 10:20, effective 10:15: one additional space placed on hold, total held becomes 3. No retroactive correction to 10:00. |
| SCW3 | Request | Question A asks what the 10:00 snapshot reported. Question B asks for current availability at 11:00; no events after 10:20 supplied. |
Question for the model
Which counts are supported for the historical snapshot and latest supplied update, and does either guarantee an 11:00 space?
Show the reference answer and checks
SCW1 supports six not-held practice spaces at 10:00. SCW2 supports five after its 10:15 effective change, known from 10:20 onward; it does not revise the earlier snapshot. SCW3 supplies no later refresh or direct availability confirmation, so neither count guarantees an 11:00 place. Preserve snapshot time, update-effective time and receipt time separately without inferring any person's placement or actual service access.
- Applying a later nonretroactive hold to an earlier snapshot.
- Treating a last-known aggregate as a guaranteed current space or a placement decision.
Fields to preserve
- Site and capacity unit
- Defines the aggregate.
- Snapshot, effective and received times
- Preserves temporal scope.
- Held count and refresh state
- Limits the availability claim.
Test another case
Make the update explicitly correct an erroneous 10:00 hold count. Require a revised historical snapshot while preserving what was originally reported.
Use wholly invented counts and sites. Exclude real routes and exports; providers retain referral and placement decisions.
Discuss a contribution
Describe the sources you control, the task they could support and what has already been checked. Use the existing-data assessment for an archive or the collection brief for a new recording project. The contributor agreement defines Fiund’s licensing authority and compensation. A guide or fictional exercise does not establish an accepted collection or a sale.