A bed needs cleaning before the next person can move in. A partner has sent a referral and intake needs to know whether there is room. The kitchen is planning tonight's dinner. Something needs fixing. And someone's housing follow-up has to make it to the next shift.
All of that happens alongside the real work of supporting the people staying with you. And it all runs on the same information: who is here, what they need, what has happened and what comes next.
When that information lives in five different places, staff become the connection. They check another list, repeat an update or chase a colleague who has already gone home.
We made three short films, set at a shelter we call Lantern Point, to show how those pieces come together in Mareto. Lantern Point Shelter Society is fictional and the films use sample data. The screens are real Mareto.
Start with the shift ahead
The first film, "Your day," starts where a shelter shift starts.
Which beds are full? Which are held? Which are being cleaned? Who is in each room, and who is supporting them?
Each room has its own page that links the bed to the person staying there, with a history of who has used it. Staff can see where things stand right now and what has changed.
From there the film moves through meals, donations, supplies and repairs. It is not the glamorous part of the job, but all of it needs a record and someone to see it through.
The kitchen plans meals around who is actually staying today. Staff can see which supplies are running low and what is on the way. Donations are tracked from the day they arrive to where they end up.
Repairs get a path too. Someone reports it on shift, it gets worked on, then it is reviewed and signed off before it closes. The next person on shift can see at a glance whether something has been reported, is underway or is done.
Follow the person from referral onward
The second film, "The people you support," follows a different path through the same shelter.
A partner sends a referral with only the person's initials. Intake checks for space, records a decision and keeps the partner in the loop.
From there it moves into a guided intake conversation: immediate needs, safety concerns, and consent, meaning what can be shared, with whom and under what agreement.
Consent and signatures stay on the person's record, and so does every change to them.
As support continues, goals, housing plans and progress stay together. Staff can see who is due for a follow-up and what comes next. There is also a dedicated space for counselling and follow-up.
The point is that nothing has to be entered twice. What you learn at referral is there at intake. The housing plan is there when someone follows up. A change in consent is visible to everyone whose work it affects.
That is what one person record means in practice. Staff add to it as the work happens, and every next step starts from what is already there.
Give each role what it needs
A frontline worker, a supervisor and a manager have different jobs, so they should not all start their day on the same screen.
The third film, "Your organization," opens on a home screen with the shift's check-ins, tasks and meals. Then it goes into the settings behind who can see what.
Permissions match each person's role, including who can see sensitive information. Connecting the work across a shelter only works if you are clear about who can see and change each part of the record.
The film also shows reminders, daily routines and the steps of a workflow laid out. Reports pull it all together for your organization and your funders, including progress against funder targets.
Last, there is a place to ask for changes, get answers and track requests.
That part matters more than people expect. Once staff use the system on real shifts, they find the wording, questions and steps that need adjusting, and they need an easy way to tell us.
What this looked like at Sunrise House
Megan Thompson first worked with Sunrise House as a change management and evaluation consultant, helping lead their move to Mareto. Today she is their Director of Programs and Innovation, so she has seen it from both sides.
"We've had a fantastic experience with Mareto! I think the biggest strength of working with HelpSeeker is that they understand both the data and the work."
On how it was set up:
"The HelpSeeker team worked with us to build Mareto around our unique shelter workflows rather than asking us to adapt our work to a one-size-fits-all system."
And on what happened after launch:
"They continue to be responsive to 'can we add/change/move/tweak this' questions well into our implementation period."
Read the Sunrise House case study.
Start from how your team works
Your shelter has its own forms, its own words and its own steps, and your funders want their own reports. Those details are what we build into setup.
Every Mareto plan includes one person record across every program, hosting in Canada, and three rounds of changes before go-live, so your team can review the setup and get it right before launch.
If you want to see what that looks like for your shelter, request a demo or build a quote.
