What is a Client Journal?
Client Journals in SupportAbility refer to any case notes or evidence that is recorded about a Client relative to the service/s they are receiving for the purposes of tracking Goal progress and demonstrating adherence to the Quality and Safeguards Framework.
Client Documents, Client Assessments, Client Incidents, Client Goals, and Standards may all be linked to a Journal record to strengthen the Journal evidence or provide greater context.
Journals can be added from several places in SupportAbility. While all Journals are stored on and can be added via the 'Journal' tab of a Client record, adding Journal evidence in a Goal record or Goal Strategy record directly links the evidence to the Goal and helps track Goal progress over time. Similarly, adding Journals from the Client section of an Activity record directly links the service delivery with the Journal evidence. Managing Journals in this manner establishes strong evidence for reference in future audits.
Staff Members are only able to view those Journals for Clients they have access to, either via the Site/Services they have listed in their Staff Account or via additional high-level privileges they have been granted. Additional Privacy Barriers may be added to Journals where required for sensitive information, and in-built additional barriers are applied when Journals relate to specialised Services.
This article outlines the different places Client Journals can be created and accessed from, and provides an overview of a Client Journal record.
Audience: All
Summary
The following list summarises the content of this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
- Where can Client Journals be created?
- Overview of the Journal record
- Where can Client Journals be accessed?
Where can Client Journals be created?
Journals can be created from a number of places in SupportAbility by selecting the + icon to 'Add a new journal record' as follows:
- the 'Journal' tab of a Client record:
N.B. The Journals displayed here are filtered based on the Staff Account privileges and Service access a Staff Member has, as per the Warning Notification at the top. - the 'Goal Details' section of the Client Goal record:
- the 'Journals' section of the Goal Strategy record (within the Client Goal record):
- the 'Clients' section of an Activity record:
N.B. The Journals displayed here are filtered based on the Staff Account privileges and Service access a Staff Member has, as per the Warning Notification at the top. 
Adding Client Journals from an Activity record for the Activities they participate in is recommended as this links the Journal evidence directly with service delivery. Multiple Journals may be added for each Client within an Activity and Journals may be linked to Goal records where applicable to track Goal progress.
The steps involved in creating a Client Journal are outlined in detail in the How to create or edit a Client Journal (case note) article linked below for reference.
Overview of the Client Journal record
Client Journal entries are in essence, any notes or evidence recorded by Staff when working and interacting directly with Clients. They are, therefore, an important way to document ongoing support and track a Client's progress towards their Goals.
Existing Client Documents, Client Goal records and Standards may be linked to a Journal record, along with follow-up Actions added where required. Client Assessments or Client Incidents may be created from a Journal record thereby linking the evidence as required.
Journal records comprise four key areas of functionality; Journal Details, Goals, Actions, and Standards:
Detailed information on each of these is outlined below.
Journal Details
The Journal Details section of a Journal record is divided into two sub-sections.
The information displayed on the left of the 'Journal Details' section is the foundational information which is required in order to create a Journal record and has either been entered or automatically populated if pre-configured.
These fields of information include the following:
- Client - Client name, which includes a link to the Journal tab of the relevant Client record
- Activity - Activity name, which includes a link to the related Activity record. This is only relevant and displayed if the Journal was created from an Activity record
- Service - this is the Site/Service the Journal relates to, being one of the Services a Client participates in as listed in the Client Service Participation area of their Client record
- Journal Date - the Journal Date mostly reflects the Date the Journal was created, however, it may be updated as required prior to the Journal locking. When the Journal has been created from an Activity record, the Journal Date reflects the related Activity Date
- Author - this is the Staff Member who created the Journal record. This field is automatically populated and cannot be edited. Only the Author and a Staff Member with the Team Leader privilege for the related Site/Service are able to edit the Journal prior to locking.
- Client Journal Type - Journal Type is a required field when creating Journals. When a 'Default Journal Type' has been configured in System Preferences for the record type where the Journal was added from, the Journal Type will automatically prepopulate here. Adding a Journal Type helps to group Journals of a similar Type and identify them in a Search.
- Title - this is a required field, and its purpose is to accurately reflect the content of the Journal, distinguishing it from other Journals, by entering a descriptive Title
- Notes - this is where the Journal evidence (case note) is recorded. If a Template has been configured for the related Journal Type this will automatically populate in the Notes field to serve as a guide for Staff as to the information which is required to be recorded
The information displayed on the right of the Journal Details section are further attributes which may be added or linked to a Journal record:
- Additional Privacy barriers - additional Privacy Barriers i.e. Managers Only or Team Leaders Only may be applied to a Journal record to enforce greater privacy around sensitive information. Once selected and the record saved, only those with the relevant privilege can access the Journal record. If the Author does not possess the required level of access they will no longer be able to access the Journal.
- Tags - any applicable Tags which have been pre-configured on the Tags tab in System Preferences may be added to a Journal record to assist with identifying similar Journals in a Search.
- Journal Activity - this is a free-text field where information relating to the Journal or Activity the Journal was created from may be entered.
- Client Documents - up to three Documents that have already been uploaded to the Documents tab of a Client record may be linked to a Client Journal for reference. Once linked they can either be viewed or downloaded via the relevant icons.
- Client Assessment - one Client Assessment may be created from and linked to a Journal record. These are stored on the Assessments tab of the Client record and can be accessed via the link in the Journal.
- Client Incident - one Client Incident may be created from and linked to the Journal record. These are stored at the bottom of the Journal tab of the Client record and can be accessed via the link in the Journal
Goals
Goals and/or Goal Strategies may be linked to a Journal record to track Goal progress over time.
Once linked, a link to the Goal/Goal Strategy will display in the Journal record. Similarly, a link to the Journal record will display in the Goal record or relevant Goal Strategy section.
If Standards have already been linked to a Goal record, these will display in the Goals section of the Journal record.
A snapshot Goal Progress Assessment Score and related Note may also be added to the linked Goal/Goal Strategy:
Actions
One or more follow-up Actions may be added to a Journal record when additional tasks are required to be completed relating to the Journal evidence:
Actions appear on the Author's Dashboard when nearing their due date to assist with tracking its completion status, and on the Dashboard of the individual Staff Member the Action has been assigned to, serving as a reminder to complete the task.
Once completed Actions can be marked as 'Complete' in the Journal record, where the Status will udpate to a green 'Completed' badge and the name of the Staff Member and the date it was marked as Complete will display in the 'Completed By' column.
Standards
Journal entries can be linked to any of the relevant Standards; NDIS Practice Standards, National Disability Standards, and/or DMI Codes. It is recommended to complete this area of a Journal record to demonstrate how your organisation is adhering to the Quality Safeguard Framework requirements over time:
Notes may also be added to explain the choice of Standard and how it relates to the Journal evidence.
Where can Client Journals be accessed?
All Journals relating to a Client, regardless of where they were created, are stored and can be accessed via the 'Journal' tab of a Client record:
The Journals visible to a Staff Member when viewing the Journal list are dependent on the access and privileges they have been granted.
If additional privacy barriers have been applied to a Journal record (i.e. 'Managers Only' or 'Team Leaders Only'), or the Journal is for a specialised Service (i.e. NDIS Support Coordination or NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM)) and the Staff Member does not have the relevant level of access a Warning Notification will display at the top of the list and only those Journals they have access to will be visible to them:
The Journal List has several filters located above the list which can be applied to refine the list of Journals displayed i.e. 'From and To Date', 'Service Type', and/or 'Journal Type':
