Foundations | Staff Accounts
Once your organisation has completed configuring your SupportAbility installation you are now ready to commence the next stage of implementation - Foundations | Staff Accounts.
Staff Accounts have already been created for your appointed Authorised Representatives, however, this stage of your implementation involves creating user accounts for other Staff Members who will be using SupportAbility. This includes setting up their user account and granting Staff Members the relevant systems access as appropriate for their role and responsibilities.
This article outlines some important considerations to assist your organisation with planning for this stage of implementation.
Audience: Authorised Representatives and anyone tasked with completing this phase of implementation.
Prerequisites
- The 'Edit User Accounts' Security privilege is required, to create Staff Accounts which grants access to the User Details tab of a Staff Account
- It is important that your 'Company Name' and 'System Administrator' details have been configured correctly in the 'Installation Options' section of System Preferences, as this information is populated in the automated email sent to Staff Members prompting them to create/reset their Password:
Learning Material
It is important to review each of the articles and videos referenced throughout this article prior to creating Staff Accounts to gain a thorough understanding of all related functionality.
N.B. When viewing the videos in the Learning Centre you may notice some minor differences in the layout and functionality compared to that in your installation. Where possible we have attempted to flag this in the video, however, the videos still provide a useful resource.
Additionally, if your organisation wishes to collect data tracking Staff views of the learning videos in the Learning Centre Log, please instruct Staff Members to view these from the Learning Centre, rather than via the links provided in this article.
Summary
The following list summarises the content of this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
Strategic Considerations
When planning for the Foundations | Staff Accounts phase of implementation there are several strategic considerations that will need to be determined prior to commencing this phase, as outlined below.
Providing Staff access to SupportAbility - who, when and how?
We recommend starting out by creating Staff Accounts for only those Staff Members who require access to SupportAbility in the preliminary stages of implementation for example, in order to enter Client information.
Additional Staff Accounts may be created as required when other Staff Members commence using SupportAbility.
Alternatively, all Staff Accounts can be created upfront in readiness for when your organisation rolls out SupportAbility more broadly across the organisation. Staff information could be entered in preparation for this, and then access to SupportAbility provided when each Staff Member is required to commence using SupportAbility.
Access is provided by triggering the 'Set Password' email. This email is only valid for 3 days and hence the timing needs to be considered.
Detailed information regarding this functionality can be found in the Creating a Staff Account article, linked below.
How will Staff be trained in the use of SupportAbility?
SupportAbility provides detailed learning material in the form of articles available via our Knowledge Base and videos accessed via the Learning Centre of your installation. This material is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the system and covers the concepts, strategy, workflows and the 'how to' of SupportAbility. However, it may not be suitable to send directly to every Staff Member, it is often most effective to only train Staff Members in the exact functionality they need to know rather than every detail and each possible way that this can be used and configured.
Ultimately, each organisation is responsible for training Staff Members in the use of SupportAbility to ensure that data entry and the use of the system is managed in a way that aligns with organisational policies and procedures and meets the requirements for each of the different Services that your organisation delivers.
Consideration will therefore need to be given to the timing of training in readiness for when Staff Members are granted access to SupportAbility. Training may also need to be staged to align with when your organisation commences utilising each new area of functionality.
As mentioned, it is recommended that targeted training is provided to each Staff Member based on their role in the organisation i.e. training them in the functionality relative to the tasks they will be completing in SupportAbility and showing them how to perform these functions in the manner that they are expected to complete these actions.
For example, Support Workers working directly with Clients may initially need to be trained in the following areas:
- how to create a Client record (if required)
- how to access the relevant Client records to add, review or update Client information
- how to upload Documents to Client records
- how to enter Client Journals i.e. Case Notes for Clients they are working with based on how your organisation wishes to capture this information (for example, you may prefer that Staff Members link to Client Goals and Goal Strategies when creating Journals, however, this information must first be available in SupportAbility in order to do so)
Down the track when your organisation is using SupportAbility for service delivery and managing Rosters via Activities, and/or managing the billing/claiming of NDIS Support Allocations, these Staff Members may need to be trained in:
- adding Journals directly from the relevant Activity record
- completing the Staff Time Sheet Sign Off for their shifts, if a requirement of your organisation
- Allocating the relevant NDIS Supports in an Activity, as required
- capturing Client Support Logs, as required
What level of access do Staff Members require?
One of the key considerations when creating Staff Accounts is the level of access Staff Members require relative to their roles and responsibilities. This will need to be reviewed in light of their required access to Client information, Staff information, system configuration, and finance-related functionality.
Staff Accounts are created from the Dashboard and the 'Edit User Accounts' privilege is required in order to be able to create Staff Accounts and access the 'User Details' tab of a Staff Account. This is where systems access is granted.
There are four sections in the 'User Details' tab of a Staff Account that require configuration, 'User Details', 'Account Details', 'Security Privileges' and 'Sites and services where this staff member works':
- User Details - Staff Member's name and location details are set here
- Account Details - login details such as the organisation's shared username and password, and the individual's email address, username and password are set here
- Security Privileges - high-level/global access is granted here
- Sites and services where this staff member works - restricted access at the Site/Service level is granted here
Staff Account Privileges
It is important to note that the highest level of access has been granted to your organisation's Authorised Representatives due to the requirements of this role. When creating the remaining Staff Accounts, each Staff Member's role and responsibilities should be carefully considered as this will determine the level of access that should be granted.
Granting the correct levels of access when creating Staff Accounts is important to ensure:
- Staff have access to the relevant Client records, and
- Privacy Barriers are enforced to maintain Client confidentiality.
Please view the Related Learning Content section below for references to the relevant content to review for more information regarding the above and how to set up Staff Accounts.
What HR information, if any, will be recorded and managed in SupportAbility?
The Staff Account record contains multiple tabs for recording different types of information about the Staff Member:
While login details and access is granted in the 'User Details' tab, the remaining tabs in the Staff Account are what is referred to as the 'Human Resources' functionality in SupportAbility. Additional privileges are required to access these tabs.
While it is not mandatory or required to complete the HR tabs at this stage of implementation, your organisation is best placed to determine what information is required to be entered and when.
The Human Resouces tabs include the following:
- Human Resources - contains fields related to personnel information relating to the Staff Member such as working hours, qualification/award levels, volunteer status, employment dates, contact details.
- Contacts - contains fields related to the names and contact details for Emergency and important contacts of the Staff Member.
- When creating a Staff Account, you will notice an 'Incomplete' Warning bar displayed at the top of the Staff Account when a Staff Member's Emergency Contact has not been entered on the 'Contacts' tab of their Staff Account, or some of the details for the Emergency Contact are missing.
Clicking on the Warnings bar will open it to display a summary Description of the incomplete details:
Your organisation may therefore decide that it is mandatory to enter this information for all Staff Accounts.
- When creating a Staff Account, you will notice an 'Incomplete' Warning bar displayed at the top of the Staff Account when a Staff Member's Emergency Contact has not been entered on the 'Contacts' tab of their Staff Account, or some of the details for the Emergency Contact are missing.
- Availability - contains fields related to the Standard Availability times for the Staff Member for each day of the week, along with Availability Exception information, where Leave Exceptions may be approved or declined. This information is helpful when rostering Staff as 'Staff Conflicts' automatically populate in the relevant areas.
- Training - contains fields related to training undertaken by the Staff Member including details of cost, renewal dates, Staff Member set to notify, a link to related Staff Documents, and Notes can be added.
- Documents - relevant and/or compulsory Staff Documents may be uploaded here, and a 'Due/Review Date' and person to 'Notify' may be set for each Document. Notifications will then appear on the Dashboard for this individual. The Document Search report may be used to locate and review Staff Documents.
- Medical - Immunisation information may be recorded here including the retrospective date the Staff Member received the immunisation, Immunisation Type, related Documents uploaded to the Staff Member's Documents tab may be linked, and free text Notes entered.
- Review - contains fields where information relating to Performance Reviews may be recorded including review date, review score, renewal date, renewal person to notify.
- Goals - contains fields where information relating to Staff goals may be entered including Start/End dates, notes about the Goal, Company Strategy and Staff Responsibilities.
- Journal - is where notes relating to the individual may be recorded.
- Learning Centre Log - contains information relating to the videos the Staff Member has viewed in the Learning Centre, displaying the number of views, dates viewed, and a Viewing Heat Map.
Your organisation may therefore decide that it is mandatory to enter this information for all Staff Accounts.Related Learning Material
To help prepare for this phase of implementation and create Staff Accounts, we recommend reviewing the following articles and videos:
- Creating a Staff Account article, linked below - detailed information regarding the configuration and functionality of the 'User Details' tab.
- Staff Account Privileges article, linked below - discusses the access and related functionality each of the various Staff Account privileges grant; either high-level global access or restricted access at the Site/Service level.
- Creating Staff Accounts video accessible from the Staff Management section of the Learning Centre in your installation:
- Staff Account Privileges video accessible from the Staff Management section of the Learning Centre in your installation:
- Detailed information regarding the HR tabs and related functionality, including Emergency Contacts, is outlined in the Staff Accounts - Human Resources tabs article, linked below.
- Information regarding Immunisations is outlined in the How to add Immunisation records for Staff article, linked below, for reference.
Steps required to complete this phase
The list below briefly summarises the steps required to successfully create Staff Accounts and complete the Foundations | Staff Accounts stage of implementation. It also includes optional configuration to further customise Staff Accounts.
For detailed information about the required configuration and associated functionality please review the Creating a Staff Account article linked below.
User Details
- Enter the Staff Member's First and Last name
- Set the Timezone and Default State if your organisation operates in multiple States/Timezones.
Security Privileges
- Assign any high-level or global privileges relevant to a Staff Member's roles and responsibilities
Sites and services where the staff member works
- Itemise each of the 'Sites and Services where this Staff member works'
- N.B. Multiple entries are required when Staff work across more than one Service
- Select the 'Primary' Site/Service
- Allocate additional role-based privileges i.e. Team Leader, Human Resources and/or Document Manager privileges for the Site/Service where applicable
Optional
- If the Staff Member is working for a limited period of time in a specific Site/Service, the From and To Date range may be entered
Account Details
- Enter the Staff Member's 'Staff Account Email Address' and 'Username'
- Set the Staff Members Password when you are ready for them to log in and commence using SupportAbility