Uploading Documents
SupportAbility provides functionality for uploading Documents to the following records and areas:
- Client records
- Staff records
- Contact records
- Organisational Accident Incident Register (AIR) - Incident Details tab
- Organisational Accident Incident Register (AIR) - Injured Party
- Organisational Accident Incident Register (AIR) - Investigations tab
- OFI (Opportunities for Improvement) register
N.B. In order to upload a Document to a record, access to this record is required and is granted based on Staff Account Privileges.
This article discusses how to upload Documents in SupportAbility, stepping through an example of the various settings available in the process of uploading a Document to a Client record.
Audience: All
Prerequisites
It is recommended that Document Types and Compulsory Documents have been configured in the Documents tab in System Preferences, by those Staff who have the relevant 'Edit System Preferences' Staff Account privilege as required.
Consideration has been given to which Documents will need to be uploaded, and who will be responsible for uploading Documents as recommended in the Foundations - Client Documents article.
Summary
The following list summarises the content within this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
- How to upload a Document
- How are Document records sorted?
- Conditions when uploading Documents
- Linking an uploaded Document
- Deleting a Document
- How are Documents stored in SupportAbility?
How to upload a Document
Navigate to the relevant record e.g. Client or Staff record, and open the Documents tab: 
Click on the '+ Add a new document' button:
Document Type
When uploading a Document you will need to select the relevant 'Document Type'.
The purpose of recording the Document Type is to assist your organisation with managing, searching, auditing and reporting on Documents. Document Type is a filter which can be utilised when conducting a Document Search.
Select the relevant Document Type from the drop-down list:
Other
If the Document Type you require is not available in the list of options, you can select 'Other':
This will populate a second text box in which you can enter the relevant 'Document Type' for the Document you are uploading:
If a commonly utilised Document Type is not available in the list, we recommend advising your Authorised Representative or Manager as this list can be customised by Staff who have the relevant privileges.
It should be noted that 'Other' may not be helpful when searching for specific Documents in a Document Search.
File
Click on the 'Upload File' button and navigate to where you have the Document currently stored, then select the relevant file.
Once uploaded the Document can now be downloaded or previewed by clicking on the corresponding yellow or blue icons.
Document Date
The 'Document Date' will automatically populate as the date the file was uploaded.
It is possible to edit the 'Document Date' by clicking on the calendar icon, should you wish to display another date relevant to the Document e.g. signature date:
Status
The 'Status' of the Document is automatically determined by the data contained in several other fields pertaining to that Document.
The different Status options are Current, Scheduled, Incomplete and Obsolete. Status is a useful filter option when Staff are conducting a Document Search.
The following outlines how each Status is determined:
- Current - indicates a document record has been created, with a file attached. The document is also deemed as 'Current' if the 'Obsolete' box has not been checked:
- Scheduled - indicates a document record has been created, with no file attached but a Due/Review Date has been set. The Document record moves below the 'Current' Documents and will be coloured blue:
N.B. refer to the 'Notification' section below for information on how a 'Due/Review Date' triggers Dashboard notifications.
- Incomplete - indicates a document record has been created, but no file attached and no Due/Review Date has been set:
N.B. refer to the 'Notification' section below for information on how a 'Due/Review Date' triggers Dashboard notifications. 
- Obsolete - indicates a document record has been marked as 'Obsolete' i.e. the Document is deemed Obsolete (no longer Current) and moves to the bottom of the page with the Document record greyed out:
Due/Review Notification
Selecting the 'Due/Review Date' for this Document and a Staff member to 'Notify' will trigger a reminder notification to appear on that Staff member's Dashboard as this date approaches, assuming the Dashboard portal settings have been customised accordingly.
To set a date for review select the calendar icon and enter a date. To set a Staff member to notify select a Staff member from the drop-down list in the 'Notify' field:
Dashboard
The Document notifications (e.g. for Client Documents) will appear on the Dashboard of the person set to notify, along with the Dashboard of those Staff members who have additional Staff Account privileges:
N.B. Notifications will remain on the Dashboard until the required action has been completed. We recommend regular reviews of the Dashboard portal. Clicking on the target icon next to the Client name will take you to the Documents tab of the relevant Client record. Those Documents with Due/Expiry Dates which have passed can then be manually managed appropriately i.e.:
- the old Document made obsolete,
- a new Document record created,
- a current file uploaded, and
- a new Due/Review date set.
Security
There are two settings in SupportAbility to assist with managing the Security of Documents and restricting access to them - Managers Only and Service.
Managers Only - when this checkbox is selected only Staff with the relevant 'User is a Manager' privilege will be able to access and view this Document, as long as they have access to records for this Site/Service. Check this box if you wish to restrict visibility to Managers only:
Service - the 'Service' Security setting is set to 'All' by default, meaning Staff working at All Sites and Services will be able to view this Document when conducting a Client Document Search. Access can however be restricted to a specific Service:
This has been outlined in detail in the Locking Documents by Service article (linked below). This Security setting will help ensure that confidential Documents pertaining to a Client can only be accessed and viewed by Staff working in the same Site and Service in which this Client participates. Staff with the relevant additional Staff Account Privileges will also be able to access and view Documents restricted to a specific Services.
To edit the 'Service' Security click on the blue double-arrow icon, and select the relevant Service:
N.B. Once the Client Document is restricted by Service only the Staff who work in this Service with access to the relevant Client record will be able to see this Document record.
Save the Document Record
Once all fields have been completed, remember to click the 'Save' button to save this Document record e.g. 'Save Client':
How are Document records sorted?
When changes are made to the Document tab of the respective parent record (e.g. Client record) and saved, SupportAbility will review the Document records and sort them as follows:
- Status
- Document Date
Status
The Document records will first be grouped by Status, with each group appearing in the following order:
- Incomplete
- Current
- Scheduled
- Obsolete
Document Date
The Document records in each group will then be sorted by Document Date in descending order.
In the absence of a Document Date, the Document record will be placed at the bottom of the group, as shown per the 'Client Photo Consent Form' Document record in the example below:
Conditions when uploading Documents
SupportAbility places several conditions around the files which can be uploaded to Document records for the purpose of preserving security.
These include the following:
- Maximum size of file which can be uploaded
- Maximum number of characters allowable in the file name
- Allowable characters in the file name
- Allowable file extensions
These are outlined in more detail below.
Maximum size of file which can be uploaded
The maximum size of files which can be uploaded to a Document record is 2GB.
When attempting to upload a file bigger than this an error message will display:
Maximum number of characters allowable in the file name
The maximum number of allowable characters in a file name is 150 characters, including spaces.
This is actually quite large and should allow for detailed file names where required; e.g. Tim Swanston Behavioural Assessment Report June 2022 (52 characters)
When attempting to upload a file that has a name containing more than 150 characters, an error message will display:
Allowable characters in the file name
The following characters are allowed in a file name:
- Alphanumeric
- Spaces
- Special characters: ( ) _ - &
For example, Tim Swanston - Behavioural & Cognitive Assessment Report (June 2022)
The following characters are not allowed and will automatically be removed from the file name when uploading a file containing these to a Document record:
; , \ / *
For example, when uploading a file named ' Tim Swanston - COVID; 1/2/Booster immunisation certificates', the non-allowable characters (; /) were automatically removed from the file name:
N.B. As you can see '1/2' now reads as '12'. It is recommended that care is taken to only use allowable special characters for file names when uploading files to a Document record to avoid confusion or misnaming.
Allowable file extensions
The following is a list of allowable file extensions when uploading a file to a Document record:
| 7z | jfif | txt | |
| amr | jp2 | png | vcf |
| avi | jpeg | ppsx | vsd |
| bmp | jpg | ppt | wav |
| csv | m4a | pptm | wbk |
| doc | m4v | pptx | webarchive |
| docm | mht | pst | webm |
| docx | mhtml | pub | webp |
| dot | mov | rar | wmv |
| dotm | mp3 | rdp | xls |
| dotx | mp4 | rpt | xlsb |
| eml | msg | rtf | xlsm |
| gdoc | numbers | sdocx | xlsx |
| gif | ods | sig | xltx |
| gsheet | odt | skp | xps |
| heic | oft | spd | zip |
| htm | one | svg | |
| html | oxps | tif | |
| ics | pages | tiff |
When attempting to upload a file with a non-allowable extension e.g. .xml, an error message will display:
Linking an uploaded Document
Once uploaded to these records, the Document can then be linked in other areas of SupportAbility for reference e.g. Medical Conditions on the Client: Status tab, for quick and easy access and viewing or downloading.
IMPORTANT: Currently, SupportAbility does not allow Document mapping from Cloud-based document storage systems such as Sharepoint, DropBox or Google Docs
Deleting a Document
IMPORTANT: We do not recommend deleting Document Files or Document Records as the history will be lost once deleted. The 'Obsolete' function is a better option to manage outdated Documents, thus preserving the audit trail for these Documents.
Deleting a Document File
While all Staff have visibility of the 'Delete File' icon, only Staff with the 'Delete Records' privilege can delete a Document File.
To delete the Document file select the rubbish bin icon below the File name. This will delete the file but not the Document record. To delete the entire Document record see below.
When a Staff Member who does not have the 'Delete Records' privilege, selects the delete icon, a notification message will display advising they 'have insufficient privileges to delete this document':
If a Document record has been linked to another record it will not be possible to delete the Document file, even if the Staff Member has the 'Delete Records' privilege. A notification message will display advising 'Unable to delete file as this is associated with another record':
Deleting a Document Record
Only Staff with the relevant 'Delete Records' privilege can delete a Document record. Staff with this privilege will see an additional column on the Documents tab for deleting Document records.
To delete a Document Record, simply check the box next to the Document record you wish to delete and click the 'Save' button:
Remember to click the 'Save Client' button to complete this action:
If a Document record has been linked to another record it will not be possible to delete the Document record, even if the Staff Member has the 'Delete Records' privilege. A red banner message will display at the top of the page advising 'Unable to delete some documents as they are linked to either clients, journals or staff members records':
How are Documents stored in SupportAbility?
SupportAbility does not support 'drag and drop' functionality for document upload. A Document must be a digital file to be uploaded and there is no facility to link with documents stored on external document storage platforms such as Sharepoint.
SupportAbility uses its own internal document storage for security reasons. Documents are securely stored on the AWS S3 service ( https://aws.amazon.com/s3/) to:
- Guarantee that documents are stored in Australia - as required by Australian Privacy Legislation
- Manage document security and privacy in the same manner as other NDIS information such as journals (case notes)
- Facilitate the management and reporting of mandatory document requirements for each service delivered