External Invoices (NDIS FPM) | Planning, Preparation and Rollout

The end goal of this phase of implementation is for the Staff who work in the Plan Management Service your organisation delivers to commence using SupportAbility for the purpose of managing the processing of invoices received effectively via External Invoices.

The information in this article is supported by detailed learning material in the form of videos and knowledge articles, relating to each area. It is important to review each of these to gain a thorough understanding of all related functionality.

Audience:

Operations Management team of the Plan Management Service,
Team Leaders of the Plan Management Service, and
Staff working in the Plan Management Service, tasked with entering External Invoices.

Prerequisites

Before getting underway with the planning, preparation and rollout of External Invoices, it is recommended that:

the Foundations phase of your organisation's implementation has been completed.
NDIS Configuration is completed, including adding the relevant Debtor ID in the default NDIA record in SupportAbility.
Staff working through this information will need:
- access to the 'View Financial Information' Staff Account Privilege to enter Client Funding Plans, and
- access to the Plan Management Service your organisation delivers in their Staff Account in order to enter External Invoices.

Planning

What are External Invoices?

External Invoices are the invoices that require payment and claiming, entered into the Client's NDIS FPM tab. Invoice items are also added to the External Invoice record to list the relevant NDIS Supports for inclusion in the NDIS Bulk Payment Request file.

What steps are involved in the External Invoices workflow?

Once all of the required Configuration and Set Up has been completed, Client NDIS Funding Plans must be entered. Most Plan Managers set up the Client Funding at the Support Category level which aligns with the Plan Managed Service Booking, with Cat 14 or the specific Plan Management fee supports added also.

NDIS Service Provider contact records must be created for the Providers your organisation is receiving invoices from. Following this, External Invoices are entered into the Client's NDIS FPM tab, Invoice Items can be added to reflect the Supports being claimed. External Invoices must have the Sign Off performed before they are available for inclusion in an External Invoice Batch.

An External Invoice Batch must be generated in order to download Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable invoice exports for processing in your organisation's Finance system. There are currently Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable Invoice exports available for MYOB AccountRight v19 and MYOB AccountRight 2018.

Once an External Invoice Batch has been generated, the Supports allocated in the Invoice Items entered will be available for inclusion in the NDIS Bulk Payment Request file export for processing in the myplace provider portal.

What if your organisation uses a different Finance system?

If your organisation requires an invoice export for a different Finance system, custom invoice exports will need to be created. We will require the Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable invoice format specifications for your organisation's finance package in order for our Engineering team to scope the paid development work required. Please review the Custom Finance Integration article for more information and have your organisation's Authorised Representative email the Customer Success team at support@supportability.com.au if you wish to proceed.

Deciding how to set the Financial Plan Manager (FPM) in the Client's NDIS Funding Plan

It is vital that your organisation reviews and determines which approach to take when updating the Financial Plan Manager (FPM) in the Client's NDIS Funding Plan. The current options available are outlined in detail in the NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) article.

Preparation

In preparation for utilising the NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) functionality there are several steps to set this up which require completion, along with understanding each of the steps involved in this workflow and determining who in your organisation will be responsible for each of these steps.

Configuration and Set Up

Ensure the relevant Service has been updated as an NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) Service.
Enter the General Ledger codes for External Invoices.
Review the Invoice Number Formatting for External Invoices.
Ensure any Staff who need access to the NDIS FPM functionality have their Staff Account Privileges updated with the FPM Service/s they need access to in the Site/Services section of the user details tab of their Staff account.
Update the Client Service Participation with this Service for each Client your organisation provides financial intermediary for.

More detail regarding each of these steps has been included in the Steps to set up and use the NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) functionality article. Please review this article for more comprehensive instructions.

Enter the Client's NDIS Funding Plan

The Client's NDIS funding plan must be entered into the Funding tab on a Client's record. Most Plan Managers set up the Client Funding at the Support Category level which aligns with the Plan Managed Service Booking, with Cat 14 or the specific Plan Management fee supports added also.

Please review this section of the Steps to set up and use the NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) functionality article and the Adding an NDIS Client Funding article for more comprehensive instructions.

Create Contact records for NDIS Service Providers

NDIS Services Providers your organisation receives invoices from must be entered into the Contacts register of SupportAbility.

N.B. NDIS Provider Registration Number is not mandatory.

Please review the NDIS Service Provider Contact record article for more information regarding this step.

Enter and Sign Off External Invoices in the Client's NDIS FPM tab

Once an invoice has been received from an NDIS Service Provider for a Client your organisation provides NDIS Financial Plan Management for, this can be entered into the Client's NDIS FPM tab. Invoice Items are added for each of the NDIS Supports your organisation will be claiming. Once the Invoice and the associated Invoice Items have been added, the Sign Off must be performed to indicate the Invoice is ready to be included in a batch for your organisation's Finance system and Invoice Items subsequently included in the NDIS Bulk Payment Request file.

Please review the Entering External Invoices in the Client's NDIS FPM tab article for a step-by-step guide.

Generate an External Invoice Batch

An External Invoice Batch must be generated first, prior to external invoices being available to export for your organisation's Finance system and for Invoice Items to be included in the NDIS Bulk Payment Request file export.

NDIS FPM fees

Create Client-only Activities to generate invoices for NDIS FPM fees.

Sign Off Activities and generate an Internal invoice batch.

Generate an NDIS Bulk Payment Request

Once Invoices have been batched, they will then appear for inclusion in the NDIS Bulk Payment Request.

Please review this section of the Steps to set up and use the NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) functionality article and the Generating an NDIS Bulk Payment Request article for further instructions.

Rollout of the External Invoices workflow

It is important to train the Staff who work in the Plan Management Service regarding the External Invoices workflow covering not only SupportAbility functionality, but the required processes for your organisation.

The above listed resources can be used for the purpose of training, however, systems training must always be accompanied by organisational policy and procedures, for direction on how best to utilise SupportAbility within your organisation.

Not only is training a necessity, also is a plan for transitioning these processes from outside of SupportAbility to using SupportAbility and communicating this with everyone involved.