Foundations | Client Details
The purpose of this stage of Foundations is for all of the fundamental Client information to be entered in Client records, so it is readily accessible by Staff when working with Clients.
Once the Foundations | Configuration and Foundations | Staff Accounts stages of implementation have been completed, your organisation is ready to create Client records and commence entering Client information.
Audience: Authorised Representatives, those tasked with entering Client information.
The information below is a comprehensive guide relating to entering Client Details and is supported by detailed learning material in the form of videos and knowledge articles. We recommend reviewing this information to gain a thorough understanding of all related functionality.
A summary of the required actions are included at the end of this article to assist your organisation complete this stage of implementation.
Summary
The following list summarises the content within this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
- Definitions
- Client Details tab
- Status Tab
- Client Contacts
- Additional Functionality relating to the Client Record
Definitions
When we refer to entering the 'Client Details' in this phase, this incorporates the first three tabs in the Client record: 'Client Details', 'Status' and 'Contacts':
Detailed information has been outlined below about each of these tabs, along with additional functionality regarding Client records.
Client Details tab
This tab is where Client records are made Active, and important information related to the Client is recorded, including personal details, Client Service Participation and Consent.
Client information on this tab is grouped into six sections:
- Client Details
- Client Service Participation
- Consent
- Privacy Settings
- Administration Details
- External Services
Essential Information
While some fields of information within each of these sections is mandatory in order for SupportAbility to deem the Client record 'complete', populating information in many of the fields is at the discretion of your organisation.
More information on which fields of information are mandatory is covered in each of the related sections below. Detailed information is also available in the Incomplete Client Records and Search Report article linked below for reference.
Deciding on which of the remaining fields of information your Staff are required to complete will be best determined by aligning this with current policies and processes. Generally speaking, the more information entered into SupportAbility, the more it will become a trusted resource tool providing essential information for Staff when working with Clients. However, some fields may just not be relevant for your organisation and therefore, Staff will need to be instructed accordingly.
Client Details
The following fields in the 'Client Details' section require completion in order to deem the Client record 'complete' and ensure the 'Incomplete' Client Warnings do not populate at the top of the Client record:
- First Name - must be completed in order for the Client record to be saved
- Last Name - must be completed in order for the Client record to be saved
- Street Address - must be completed in order for the Client record to be deemed complete
- Suburb - must be completed in order for the Client record to be deemed complete
- State - must be completed in order for the Client record to be deemed complete
- Post Code - must be completed in order for the Client record to be deemed complete
- Home Phone OR Mobile - a number must be entered in either one of these fields in order for the Client record to be deemed complete. Once entered in one of these fields the amber underline will disappear from the other.
- Date of Birth - must be completed in order for the Client record to be saved.
N.B. The Client's Name in combination with the Date of Birth serves to uniquely identify the Client record from another and is helpful to have as a minimum data set to avoid duplications.
NDIS Number
Entering the NDIS Number is optional at this stage. This is the NDIS number stated on a Client's NDIS Plan. A valid NDIS Number has no more or no less than 9 digits and no spaces between the numbers.
Entering the NDIS Number is required once an 'NDIS Direct Funding record' has been created for the Client, in order to deem the Client record 'complete'. These steps are usually completed later in the Finance & NDIS phase of implementation. The NDIS Number populates in Invoices and the NDIS Bulk Payment Request file.
Tags
Customised Tags configured by your organisation may also be added to Client records in this section. Once applied, Tags can be used to identify any Clients with this attribute (e.g. interested in receiving the newsletter i.e. 'Newsletter', or interested in a particular program i.e. 'Art Competition - expressed interest') in various Searches or Reports.
More detailed information relating to Tags is available in the Adding and searching by Tags article, linked below for reference.
Email Address
When an Email Address has been entered, selecting the 'Send Email' button will allow you to trigger an email to the Client from SupportAbility:
Selecting this button opens your usual email program e.g. Outlook, and auto-populates the email address in the To: field, from where the email content can be written and the email sent.
The email address is also useful when sending bulk communications to Clients. More information on this is available in the Sending Bulk Communications - Clients and Client Contacts article, linked below for reference.
Additional Information
Additional information such as Preferred Contact Method, Gender, Preferred Language, Transport, Living Arrangements, Highest Level of Education, Guardianship, etc may be entered as required, along with uploading a photo :
N.B. Many of these fields are filterable search criteria in the Client Seach. More information on this is available in the Client Seach article, linked below for reference.
Client Service Participation
Client Service Participation is an essential area of a Client record to be completed:
Privacy of Client Information
It is vital to add all of the Sites and Services in which a Client participates, to ensure privacy barriers are in place so that only the Staff who work in these Site/Services, as configured in their Staff Accounts, can access the Client's record.
Scheduling Clients into Activities
Scheduling Clients into Activities (i.e. incidences of Service delivery) is completed later in the Activities & Rostering phase of implementation, however, the Site/Services added to 'Client Service Participation' will assist with scheduling Clients into Activities. Participating Clients will automatically display for selection in Activities related to the Site/Services set here.
Mandatory Information
The following fields in the 'Client Service Participation' section require completion in order for the Client record to be deemed 'complete'.
One or more Services
Firstly, one or more 'Service/s' must be added to reflect all of the Services this Client participates in:
N.B. Services and Sites can only be selected when they have been configured correctly. Please note this was a key requirement of Foundations | Configuration and if no Services and Sites are available to select from, this indicates that this step has not been completed correctly. In such a case, we would recommend reviewing the learning material associated with this stage of implementation as linked in the opening paragraph of this article.
Primary Service
Once the relevant Service/s have been added a 'Primary' Site/Service must be allocated to reflect the primary Service that the Client participates in:
Key Support Worker
All Client Service Participation records need to have a 'Key Support Worker' recorded:
The list of Staff available for selection in the 'Key Support Worker' field is organised alphabetically and grouped by 'Service Staff' first, followed by 'Non-Service Staff':
N.B. 'Service Staff' is determined by those Staff Accounts which have this Site/Service configured specifically in the 'sites and services where this staff member works'.
'Key Support Worker' is an available search criterion in both the 'Client Search' and 'Client Service Participation Report'. More information on these Search Reports is available in the related articles linked below for reference.
Optional Information
Start and End Dates
The Start and End Dates are optional fields for completion at this stage, however, they do serve a useful purpose as outlined below.
The Start Date is used to indicate when a Client commenced participating in the Service at the Site e.g. Day Services at the Melbourne (HQ) Site on the 4th of Feb 2019.
An End Date may also be entered if/when a Client exits the Service. When this is entered, once the End date has passed, this Service will be hidden from view. To view historical Services select the 'Show historical client services' button. Historical Services will then be displayed with a grey background. Selecting the 'Hide historical client services' button will hide them again:
Status
The Status of the Client's participation in the Service at the Site may also be added here. The Status list can be customised in System Preferences to meet your organisation's requirements.
For more information regarding this area of the Client record, please review the Client Service Participation article (linked below).
Client Service Participation Report
The Client Service Participation Report is a useful tool for reporting on the information entered in the 'Client Service Participation' section of Client records.
The Report can be filtered by the following search criteria:
- Client/s
- Site/s
- Service/s
- Primary (Service)
- Status
- Key Support Worker
- Participation Start Date From/To
- Participation End Date From/To
If your organisation would like to report on Client Service Participation, you may choose to create separate entries for each Status per Site/Service, including recording the Start and End Dates for each, to facilitate the ability to search on the duration of each Status, thereby tracking the life-cycle of a Client with your organisation. This is necessary as SupportAbility does not track changes made to the Status of a single Client Service Participation entry.
N.B. Once an end date has been added, and the Client Record saved, that entry will be greyed out and moved to the historical client services section.
For more information about this Report, please review the Client Service Participation Report article (linked below).
Consent
The level of Consent a Client has granted your organisation, along with any relevant Consent Exclusions can be recorded in the Consent section of the Client record:
Consent
The options available in the Consent drop-down list are 'None', 'On request', 'Partial', or 'Full'.
When 'Partial' has been selected in the 'Consent' field:
At least one 'Consent Exclusion' is required to be entered in order to deem the Client record 'complete':
Consent Exclusions
The drop-down options for 'Consent Exclusions' is a customisable list by your organisation in System Preferences::Lists. Up to 6 Consent Exclusions may be selected for a Client.
Consent Forms/Documents
Any relevant consent forms i.e. Documents that have been uploaded to the Documents tab of a Client record may be linked here for easy access as required.
The level of 'Client Consent' and 'Consent Exclusions' are both available search criteria in a Client Search.
More comprehensive information about this functionality is available in the Client Consent article, linked below for reference.
Administration Details
Much of the information in the 'Administration Details' section needs consideration by your organisation, to determine which fields are required for Staff to complete.
The main area we recommend utilising is the Client Start Date (and End Date when appropriate).
The Client Start Date reflects the date in which the Client first engaged with your organisation, and is a useful criterion to search on. The End Date is also important if a Client finishes up with your organisation, as it allows you to track how long Client's are actively engaged with your organisation.
This section contains the following information:
- Region - this List of options is customisable by your organisation.
- LGA (or Local Government Area) is set in SupportAbility based on the suburb and postcode specified in the Client Details.
A 'Validation' Warning will appear in the Client Warnings bar at the top of the Client record when the relevant LGA that matches the postcode entered in the Client's address has not been selected from the list of pre-configured options. - Client Start and End Dates - these dates pertain to commencement and conclusion with the organisation and not any particular Service.
- NDIS LAC, NDIS Planner, Local NDIS Office, USI, HACC Episode Start and End Dates, Closed File Location and Closed File Notes - are all optional fields.
- Reason for Exit - lists options that may be customisable by your organisation, and is used to indicate an exit reason when a Client finishes with your organisation permanently. 'Reason for Exit' is a searchable filter when generating a Client Search.
- N.B. We recommend making a Client record inactive by deselecting the Active checkbox once they have finished with your organisation also.
Please review the following articles for more information, which have been linked at the end of this article:
- Configuring Lists
- Local Government Area (LGA)
- Creating a Local NDIS Office
Privacy Settings
This section does not require configuration or completion and is scheduled for removal. Please see the SupportAbility Roadmap article linked below for reference for more information regarding when these Privacy Settings are expected for removal.
When any of the fields in the 'Privacy Settings' section are selected the information populates in the Warnings bar at the top of the Client record.
As the Privacy Settings section is scheduled for removal, if your organisation wishes to alert Staff to such information we recommend entering the information as a general 'Warning' on the 'Status' tab of the Client record, and assigning it a 'Risk Level' of amber. This information will then populate in the 'Warning' bar at the top of the Client record.
External Services
If a Client participates in external Services, your organisation may choose to record basic details of the Client's participation with these providers here:
Additional Resource
For more info relating to the Client Details tab please watch this linked video.
N.B. You may notice a few differences between the older installation displayed in the video and your SupportAbility installation, such as the layout and some additional fields in a section, however, the functionality is primarily still the same. These differences include a revised Dashboard menu and newly added fields in the Administration Details section. Please also note that Lists are now customised in System Preferences::Lists and not via the Dashboard.
Status tab
The 'Status' tab is where all Client medical and disability information is entered. Here you have the option to include Client Warnings, Medical Conditions, Behaviours, and Immunisations, specify Support Needs, record Routines and other important Disability and Medical information about the Client:
General Warnings, Medical Conditions, and Behaviours can all be assigned a risk level (amber or red) which will populate a Warning bar at the top of the Client record, visible from all tabs. When the Warning bar is opened it provides details relating to the Warning:
Some organisations choose to turn on the 'Force Staff to Acknowledge Client Warnings' setting in System Preferences::Systems Settings. When this setting is activated Staff must acknowledge these important Warnings the first time they access the Client record each day. This is a useful way of ensuring that Staff are aware of and reminded of important/vital information relating to Clients:
Relevant documents which have already been uploaded to the Documents tab of a Client record can be linked in each of the sections on the 'Status' tab for easy access, and Notes can be added for more clarification:
Please review the 'Client Warnings, Medical Conditions and Behaviours' article (linked below) for more information regarding this feature.
Additional Resources
For more information on Client Immunisations please review the How to add Immunisation records for Clients article linked below for reference.
For more info relating to the Clients: Status tab please watch this linked video.
N.B. You may notice a few differences between the older installation displayed in the video and your SupportAbility installation, such as the layout and some additional sections, however, the functionality is primarily still the same. These differences include a re-ordered layout and newly added sections such as general Warnings and About me. Also please note that the Emergency Contacts and Personal Information Form has now been split. There are still three versions of the Personal Information form as shown, however only one Emergency Information form.
Client Contacts
The Client Contacts tab is where details of any important individuals associated with the Client can be entered.
This may include the Client's Primary Contact, their Billing Contact, Next of Kin or perhaps an important person in the Client's life your organisation may need to liaise with.
A Client Contact is added by selecting the '+ Add a new contact' button:
At least one Client Contact must be added on the Contacts tab and the following fields completed in order for the Client record to be deemed 'complete':
- First Name
- Last Name
- Relationship - to the Client
- Work, Home OR Mobile Phone - a number must be entered in one of these fields in order for the Contact record to be deemed complete. Once entered in one of these fields the amber underline will disappear from the other Phone fields.
- Street Address
- Suburb
- State
- Post Code
N.B. The above fields of information must be completed for all Contacts added.
Email Client Contact
As long as the Email address has been entered in the relevant field, selecting the mail icon, allows you to email the Contact from SupportAbility by opening your organisation's usual email program and automatically populating the email address.
Primary Contact or Billing Contact
The Client is automatically selected by default as acting as their own Primary Contact and Billing Contact:
It is therefore important that if one of the Client's Contacts is acting in one of these roles on their behalf, that the relevant role is selected for that Contact, to ensure all relevant communication and/or billing information is directed appropriately:
For more information please review the 'Client Billing Contact' article (linked below).
Emergency Contacts
The 'Emergency Contact' checkbox should be selected for the relevant people:
The contact details for the person selected as 'Emergency Contact' will then appear in the 'Emergency Information Form' which is accessed via the print icon, and from any tab in the Client record:
Additional Resource
For more info relating to the Clients: Contacts tab, please watch this linked video.
N.B. You may notice a few differences between the older installation displayed in the video and your SupportAbility installation, e.g. a new additional field - Primary Contact, however, the functionality is fundamentally still the same.
Additional Functionality relating to the Client Record
There is some additional functionality and general information relating to Client records which your organisation may find helpful as follows:
- Personal Information Form
- Information on Record creation and last modified details
- How to manage Blank Client records
- Information about the 'Incomplete Client record' Warning
- How to use Bookmarks to set reminders and assign tasks relating to Client records
Personal Information Form
Once data entry has been completed, this is an opportunity for your organisation to review the Client information entered.
The 'Personal Information Form' contains all information entered on the Client Details, Status and Contacts tabs of the Client's record:
N.B. Only part of the form is displayed in the above image.
There are three versions of this form: 'Personal Information Form', 'Personal Information Form (Signed)' and 'Personal Information Form (Blank)'.
The 'Personal Information Form (Signed)' includes the same information as the 'Personal Information Form', however, it also includes a signature block at the bottom of each section of the form:
Many providers use this form to send to Client's to check the accuracy of the information recorded and request the Client or their Guardian/Carer/Advocate signs and dates the form then returns it, for upload as a Client Document. This process can be repeated periodically to ensure the information recorded in SupportAbility regarding the Client is accurate and up-to-date.
The 'Personal Information Form (Blank)' is the same form again, however, each field is blank. It is designed to be printed and completed manually (hand-written). Please note there is no option for this to be completed online and the data entered automatically into SupportAbility, although that would be amazing.
These forms can be printed via the print icon, accessible from any tab in the Client record:
If your organisation chooses to use the blank version of the form, either for existing Clients or prospective Clients i.e. for Intake purposes, we thoroughly recommend providing supplementary documentation with the form, advising which fields of information are required to be completed. This is a generic form and cannot be customised, therefore some of the information in the form may be of a sensitive nature, and/or unrelated to the Services you deliver.
Please review the 'Can SupportAbility be customised for our organisation?' article (linked below) for information about this generic form.
Record creation and last modified details
To review details regarding record creation and who has last modified a record in SupportAbility, select the 'i' icon in the top left-hand corner:
'Blank' Client Records
It is important for your organisation to be aware that when a Staff member clicks on the + sign next to the Client Search:
and selects the 'Add a new Client' button, but then exits the record without entering and saving any data, a 'blank' Client Record is still created:
We, therefore, recommend periodically checking and cleansing your Client database to ensure the accuracy and integrity of your system information. A Client Search can be helpful with identifying the presence of blank Client records:
Further information can be found in the 'Deleting Blank Client Records' article (linked below).
'Incomplete' Client Records
In order to create a 'complete' Client record, there are certain fields that are required. A warning will appear at the top of any Client record which is missing this information, notifying Staff of the missing details:
Selecting the Client Warnings bar at the top of the page provides more information about what is missing:
Please review the 'Incomplete Client Records and Search Report' article (linked below) for more information.
Bookmarks
Another great feature that may be useful at this stage of your implementation is Bookmarks.
Using bookmarks is a great way to flag specific information and set reminder actions. Bookmarks may be used to set a reminder for yourself, assign a task for a single Staff member, or alert 'All Staff' to be aware of some important information about the Client, or assign an action e.g. to enter missing information.
More information can be found in the 'Bookmarks' article (linked below).
Checklist Summary
When instructing Staff on what information needs to be entered for Client Details, we recommend the following as a guide:
Client Details tab
- Client details - Enter full Name. Upload a Photo. Add Tags, Address, Phone numbers, Email Address, Date of Birth, and Gender.
- Client Service Participation - Add each Site/Service the Client participates in. Select the Primary Site/Service. Select the Status. Add the Start Date & Key Support Worker.
- Consent - Select the level of Consent. Select any Consent Exclusions. Link any relevant Documents.
- Administration Details - Select the Region. Enter the LGA. Add the Client Start Date.
Optional
- Administration Details - Enter details for LAC, NDIS Planner, Local NDIS Office, HACC, Closed Files.
- Privacy Settings
- External Services
Status tab
- Add all applicable Warnings
- Add applicable Medical Conditions
- Add applicable Behaviours
- Enter information in the 'Disability Summary & Medical Information'
Optional
- Routines
- Disability Notes
- About Me
- Support Needs
Client Contacts tab
- Client Contacts - Enter the Name, Relationship, Address, Phone numbers, Email,
- Primary Contact - Select the Primary Contact.
- Billing Contact - Select the Billing Contact.
- Emergency Contact - Select the Emergency Contact.
Client's Personal Information review
- Review the Client information entered in SupportAbility with the Client/family/carer, using the 'Personal Information Form'.
Blank Client Records
- Monitor and delete blank Client records
Incomplete Client records
- Monitor 'Incomplete Client Record' Warnings and ensure all required/mandatory information is entered.
Bookmarks
- Use Bookmarks to flag important Client information and assign tasks for completing Client records.
We hope this guide has assisted your organisation to determine a plan for entering Client information. Please refer to the 'Foundations | Client Information | Planning' article for assistance with this.