Steps to set up and use SupportAbility for Plan Management
This article outlines the steps to set up and utilise the NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) functionality in SupportAbility
Audience: Operations Management, Finance Team, and anyone tasked with setting up Plan Management.
Prerequisites
Review and determine your organisation's required approach to updating the Financial Plan Manager (FPM) in the Client's NDIS Funding record for any Client's your organisation is providing Plan Management and Direct Services to, as outlined in the NDIS Plan Management Strategy article linked below for reference.
Staff require the 'View Financial Information' privilege in order to access the following:
- the FPM tab of a Client record to view the Invoices received from NDIS Service Providers and Direct Invoices for Plan Management Fees
- the Funding tab of a Shared Contact record with links to NDIS FPM Clients, their Funding records and Invoices sent
Summary of steps
Following are a summary of the steps to set up and utilise the NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) functionality in SupportAbility:
- Enter your organisation's Provider Registration Number in System Preferences
- Ensure the relevant Service is configured correctly as an 'NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM)' Service
- Configure General Ledger Codes for External Invoices
- Review the Invoice Number Formatting for External Invoices
- Ensure any Staff who need access to the Plan Management functionality have the correct Staff Account Privileges
- Ensure that all Client's whom your organisation provides financial intermediary to have the applicable Site/Services listed in their Client Service Participation
- NDIS Plan Managed Funding records for each Client your
organisation provides financial intermediary for will need to be configured - Create the required NDIS Service Provider Shared Contacts your organisation receives invoices from to be added to the Client's NDIS FPM tab. Ensure that the Creditor ID and Service Provider's ABN (where relevant) is entered in their Shared Contact record.
- Enter External Invoices received in the Client's FPM tab for inclusion in an External Invoice batch and the NDIS Bulk Payment Request. Ensure External Invoices have the Sign Off performed for inclusion in the External Invoice batch.
- Generate an External Invoice batch. Import Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable Invoices to your organisation's Finance system
- Create Client-only Activities to generate invoices for NDIS FPM fees. Sign off Activities and generate an Internal invoice batch
- Generate NDIS Bulk Payment Requests for submission to the myplace provider portal
Summary
The following list summarises the content within this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
Configuration
- NDIS Provider Registration Number
- NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) Service
- General Ledger (GL) Codes
- External Invoice Number Formatting
Setup
Workflow
- Enter NDIS Plan Managed Funding records
- Create Shared Contact records for NDIS Service Providers
- Enter and Sign Off External Invoices in the Client's FPM tab
- Generate an External Invoice Batch
- NDIS FPM fees
- Generate a Plan Management Bulk Payment Request
- Viewing External Invoice batch information and NDIS Bulk Payment Requests
Configuration
NDIS Provider Registration Number
Your organisation's NDIS Provider Registration Number/s must be configured in the Settings tab in System Preferences. This populates in the NDIS Bulk Payment Request file generated from SupportAbility.
If your organisation operates in one State or Territory, enter your organisation's NDIS provider registration number in the relevant field:
National Provider Registration Number
If your organisation has a National provider registration number and wishes to generate Bulk Payment Requests across all of the States and/or Territories you operate in, this can be entered in the National field:
If your organisation wishes to continue to have the option to generate Bulk Payment Requests for selected States and/or Territories your organisation operates in, along with nationally, simply enter this number in each of these fields:
If your organisation only wishes to have the option to generate Bulk Payment Requests for selected States and/or Territories, simply enter this number in each of these fields:
NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) Service
In System Preferences, under the Services tab, ensure the applicable Plan Management Service your
Having this configured correctly ensures that the relevant functionality is available for Client's you are providing Financial Plan Management for. It generates the FPM tab on the Client record when this Service is listed in their Client Service Participation (outlined below).
This setting also creates additional privacy barriers for Client Journals recorded for NDIS FPM Services, meaning that Staff must have access to not only the Client that the Journal entry is for but also this Service specifically, in order to see the Journal entries to ensure conflict of interest compliance requirements is maintained.
If this is set to N, please have your organisation's Authorised Representative contact us and we can activate this for you where required. It is important that NDIS Financial Plan Management is a Service in its own right, as not only does this setting activate the FPM functionality, it also ensures privacy barriers are initiated.
General Ledger (GL) Codes
Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable Invoices can be exported to your organisation's finance system, following an External [Plan Managed] Invoice Batch being generated. The Plan Management GL Code configured in System Preferences will populate in these exports so that your organisation's finance system knows where to attribute these expense and revenue items.
To configure Plan Management GL Codes:
- Navigate to System Preferences
- Navigate to the 'Invoicing' section on the System Preferences::Settings tab,
-
Enter the applicable ' Plan Management Accounts Payable GL Code' and the 'Plan Management Accounts Receivable GL Code' e.g:
-
Remember to select the 'Save Preference Set' button.
Return to Summary
External Invoice Number Formatting
Given that the External Invoice Numbers received from multiple providers may end up eventually clashing, therefore, to uniquely identify these records when exported for Accounts Receivable Invoices, SupportAbility generates a unique 'SupportAbility Invoice Number', alongside the Provider Invoice Number for all External Invoices:
The default format is a prefix of EX, 6 padded zeros, with no suffix, however, the format of this Invoice Number may be updated based on your organisation's requirements.
Invoice Number Padding Left Zeros
The number of zeros that you wish entered before the invoice number can be customised here, by default this is set to 6. These can be removed altogether as required. Please note some finance systems require a set sequence of numbers for invoices.
Invoice Number Prefix
An invoice number prefix can be customised here, by default this is set to EX. This can be removed altogether if required.
Invoice Number Suffix
An invoice number suffix can be customised here, by default this is blank.
How is this updated in SupportAbility?
Please send a support request to support@supportability.com.au if you would like the Invoice Formatting configured for your organisation via your Authorised Representatives.
Setup
Updating the Client Service Participation
The Client Service Participation must be updated for all Clients that your organisation provides Financial Plan Management for to reflect that they actively participate in this Service:
This will ensure the FPM tab is available on the Client record:
And to ensure the privacy related to Journal Permissions is maintained.
Depending on the Services your organisation delivers, you may have Clients that participate in more than one Service i.e. your organisation may also be providing direct support along with FPM and/or Support Coordination for example.
Staff Account Privileges
Staff tasked with entering External Invoices and adding/updating NDIS Plan Managed Client Funding records require access to the Client's FPM tab.
This is granted by having:
- access to the same Plan Management Service itemised in the 'Sites and Services this Staff Member works in' section of their Staff Account, or
- either of the following global Security Privileges: 'Edit Team Leader Across All Services' or 'Edit Client Records Across ALL Services'
When a Staff Member has access to a Client's FPM tab, this allows them to enter External Invoices as required.
However, Staff Members also need the 'View Financial Information' Security Privilege in order to view or create Plan Managed Client Funding records for the individual, and ideally, should have access to the myplace provider portal to check funding balances where required and are also tasked with entering Service Bookings.
IMPORTANT: Staff who have been granted any of the following Staff Account Privileges:
- 'Team Leader for ALL Services',
- 'Human Resources for ALL Services',
- 'Edit Client Records Across ALL Services' , OR
- the Default Administration Service for the Site that NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) is linked to;
Will also have access to NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM). Therefore when Providers need to restrict access to this Service to solely the Staff who work in NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM), existing Staff Accounts may need to be audited to identify who has been granted these 'global' Security Privileges and revoke these as required and itemise Staff access to the 'Sites and Services this Staff Member works in'.
The Staff Privileges Report will assist in identifying who has Security Privileges in your organisation. Please also see the Updating and Reviewing Staff Accounts article for more information, linked below for reference.
Workflow
Enter NDIS Plan Managed Funding records
The NDIS Funds your organisation is managing on behalf of the Client must be added as an NDIS Plan Managed Client Funding record.
As outlined in the NDIS Plan Management Strategy article, most organisations who are providing Plan Management Services, enter the Budgets for the Client NDIS Plan Managed Funds at the Support Category level, which should reflect the total value of funding that they will be managing on behalf of the Client. This often aligns with the Plan Managed Service Booking.
Please review the NDIS Plan Managed Client Funding video, available from the Funding tab of the Learning Centre for a comprehensive overview regarding setting up the funding record:
Once the Client's NDIS Plan Managed Funds have been entered, the NDIS Supports being claimed are added as Invoice Items when entering the External Invoice into the Clients FPM tab. Once approved by way of Sign Off, an External Invoice Batch can be generated, and then these NDIS Supports included in the NDIS Bulk Payment Request file for claiming.
Create Shared Contact records for NDIS Service Providers
NDIS Services Providers your organisation receives invoices from must be entered into the Shared Contacts register of SupportAbility.
To create a new Shared Contact, select the '+' icon next to the Shared Contacts search in the main menu:
Enter the relevant contact details and information about this service provider as required.
Under the 'Shared Contact Details' section on the 'Shared Contact Details' tab, enter the ABN of the Service Provider (if relevant):
Navigate to the 'Financials' section on the right-hand side of this tab and complete the following:
- flag this Contact as an 'NDIS Service Provider' by selecting the relevant checkbox
- add their NDIS Provider Registration Number (optional)
- enter their Creditor ID (Creditors in SupportAbility are designed to indicate the party external invoices have been received from. This is the unique identifier finance packages required for finance integration e.g. Card ID in MYOB.)
Please review the NDIS Service Provider Contact record article for more information.
Enter and Sign Off External Invoices in the Client's FPM tab
Once an Invoice has been received from an NDIS Service Provider for a Client your organisation provides NDIS Financial Plan Management for, these can be entered into the 'NDIS Service Providers and Invoice Received' section on the 'FPM' tab.
A Service Provider is first added by selecting the '+ Add a new service provider' button:
Then selecting the relevant Service Provider:
Once the Service Provider has been added, Invoices from this provider may be added by selecting the '+ Add a new Invoice' button:
Once '+ Add Invoice' has been selected confirming you want to add a new invoice, the Edit NDIS Service Provider Invoice window will open and the 'Invoice Details' and 'Invoice Items' may be entered which reflect the NDIS Supports the Client received and that will be included in the NDIS Bulk Payment Request file for claiming:
The 'Sign Off' located in the Invoice Details section must be completed before the Invoice will be included in an External Invoice Batch.
Please review the Entering External Invoices in the Client's FPM tab article linked below for a comprehensive guide to using this functionality.
Generate an External Invoice Batch
An External Invoice Batch must be generated to export Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable Invoice Batches for your organisation's finance system.
Navigate to the 'Plan Management' section of the Finance Menu and select + Generate External Invoice Batch:
The first step is to search for the invoices you wish to include in the Invoice Batch, using the available filters:
Select the relevant invoices, then select + Generate External Invoice Batch:
Once this has been generated, the Invoice Items Allocated will then be available to include in a Plan Management Bulk Payment Request (see below for further details).
Please review the Generating an External [Plan Managed] Invoice Batch article linked below for more information.
NDIS FPM fees
Client-only Activities may be created:
For the purpose of generating invoices for NDIS FPM fees:
These Activities must have the Sign Off performed:
Before they are available for inclusion in an Internal Invoice Batch. Please review the following articles for more information about the next steps in the workflow for these Activities, linked below for reference:
- Generating an Internal [Direct] Invoice Batch
- Generating Direct NDIS Bulk Payment Requests
Return to Summary
Generate a Plan Management Bulk Payment Request
Once External Invoice Batches have been generated, they will then appear for inclusion in a Plan Management NDIS Bulk Payment Request.
Navigate to the 'Plan Management' section of the Finance Menu and select + Generate Plan Management BPR:
The first step is to search for the External invoices you wish to generate a Plan Management BPR for:
Select the invoices you wish to include in the NDIS Bulk Payment Request file export and select 'Generate NDIS Bulk Payment Request':
Please review the Plan Management Bulk Payment Requests article linked below for more comprehensive information regarding this process.
Viewing External Invoice batch information and NDIS Bulk Payment Requests
This information will now appear under the 'NDIS Service Providers and Invoice Received' section of the Client's FPM tab:
This information also
