Foundations | Client Goals & Goal Strategies

Client Goals and Goal Strategies form the critical foundation on which evidence can be gathered, tracked and reported on. The purpose of this stage of Foundations is for Staff to commence entering Client Goals and Goal Strategies in Client records, so that Goal progress can be tracked via Journal evidence. 

Audience: Authorised Representatives and anyone tasked with completing this phase of implementation.

Many providers choose to commence entering Client Goals and Goal Strategies, once the foundational Client information has been entered into Client records i.e. the 'Client Details' and 'Client Documents'. 

Client Goals usually align with the immediate and long term goals determined in a Client's NDIS Plan. How your organisation will be assisting the Client toward their Goals usually forms the Goal Strategies entered and managed. 

The information below is a comprehensive guide relating to Client Goals and Goal Strategies 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 action steps is 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:

Where can Client Goals and Goal Strategies be created?

'Client Goals' are created from the 'Goals' tab of a Client record:

'Goal Strategies' are created from within the Client Goal:

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The Client Goal record

A 'Client Goal' record is comprised of three sections: 

  • Goal Details 
  • Standards applicable to this Goal
  • Goal Strategies

The fields within each section that require completion will need to be considered and Staff instructed accordingly.

Goal Details

A link to the Client record is included in this section; along with a field to enter the Goal, Start Date and Target End Date: 

A flag to record if the Goal is 'Not On Track' is also available, along with the ability to record the Actual End Date and End Result as required. 

Notes regarding the Strategic Plan Summary, Responsibilities Summary and What Success Will Look Like Summary may also be entered here if your organisation deems necessary. 

There is the capacity to link an uploaded Client Document to the Client Goal record and to commence tracking progress via Journals by selecting the '+' icon to Add a Journal. 

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Standards

There are three in-built Standards available in SupportAbility which may be added to the Client's Goal to indicate where it is related, including: 

  • the NDIS Practice Standards
  • the National Disability Standards
  • DMI Codes (Disability Maintenance Instrument), specific to providers of Supported employment. 

To add a Standard to a Goal, navigate to the 'Standards' section on the 'Goal Details' tab and select the '+ Add Standard' button:

This will open the 'Search Standards' field. To search for a Standard enter the following to bring up a full list of that type of Standard:

  • 'QSF' - NDIS Practice Standards for example, (which are prefaced with 'QSF' in SupportAbility), 
  • 'National' - National Disability Standards
  • 'DMI' - DMI Codes 
  • or more specifically, type a keyword e.g. 'Core' to narrow your search:

Once you have located the relevant Standard, select it. The Standard will then be displayed in the Standards section. Notes can be added where required.: 

Selecting the three dots to the right opens a menu from which you can select to either 'View Standard' (where applicable) or 'Delete' it:

Selecting 'View Standard' will open a window displaying information about this Standard:

This Standard linked to the Goal is also viewable from the Goals section of a Client Journal entry when the Goal and/or Goal Strategy it relates has been added: 

For more information about adding Goals and/or Goal Strategies to Client Journals, please review the Client Journals article linked below. 

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Goal Strategies

'Goal Strategies' are comprised of multiple sub-sections: 

  • Period (Dates and End Result)
  • Goal Strategy Details
  • Applicable Services
  • Tasks to help meet this goal strategy
  • Progress Evidence and Assessments
    • N.B. Progress Evidence is documented via Client Journal entries. Goal Progress Assessment scores can also be recorded in the Client Journal for the relevant Goal/Goal Strategy.

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Where can Client Goals be Accessed?

All Client Goals can be accessed via the 'Goals' tab of a Client record.

These are displayed in a list and include a summary of the related Service/s, the Goal, a summary of the Strategies & Responsibilities, the number of Goal Strategies, linked Journal Evidence and Assessments completed for each Goal.

Goals may be filtered by 'From and To Date', and/or Service Type:

Selecting the 'Show Completed Goals' button displays the completed Client Goals i.e. Client Goals with an End Date that has lapsed. 

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Configuring Goals

There are several areas related to Goals your organisation may wish to configure. This includes Customising the Dashboard portal and setting the 'Goal Evidence Assessment Evaluation Level Criteria' so that there are options for Staff to select from when they commence entering Client Journals and linking Goals and/or Goal Strategies:

The  Configuring Goals article linked below provides more information regarding this.

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Ongoing management of Goals and Goal Strategies

During the ongoing process of supporting Clients to achieve their goals, and at the time of a Client's annual NDIS Plan review, you may wish to review and update their Goals and Goal Strategies in SupportAbility.

We do not recommend deleting records e.g. Goals and/or Goal Strategies which have Journal evidence attached to them, to preserve an important audit trail of evidence.

There are several ways however in which you can manage outdated Goals and Goal Strategies as outlined in the Managing Goals and Goal Strategies article linked below.

Reporting on Client Goals and Goal Strategies

SupportAbility provides three reports on Client Goals which can assist with auditing and reviewing your organisation's progress with recording Client Goals and Goal Strategies in Client records. These are the individual Client Goal Report accessible via the Print menu in a Client record, and the Client Goals Report for Site/Service and Client Goals Statistics Report, both accessible via the Reports menu.

There is also the Client Goal Strategy Search accessible via the Reports menu which has an accompanying export. These are useful for tracking Goal Progress and monitoring whether Journal evidence and Progress Assessments are being recorded.

Please review the related articles which have been linked below for more information:

  • Client Goals Report for Site/Service
  • Client Goals Statistics Report
  • Client Goal Strategy Search

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Additional resources

Useful resources to help you with this stage of implementation include the Managing Goals and Goal Strategies article linked below for reference, and the Clients: Goals tab video in the Client records section of the Client Management tab in the Learning Centre:

This video contains important information regarding entering Client Goals and Goal Strategies. We recommend reviewing this information thoroughly, prior to commencing with Client Goals to gain a full understanding of all related functionality. 

The relevant information covered in this video is:

  • Adding a Goal
  • Active and Completed Goals
  • Goal List filtering
  • Attaching National Disability Standards, and DMI codes
  • Goal Details - including linking Client Documents
  • Creating/Deleting Goal Strategies - Summary of Strategies, Responsibilities, What Success Looks Like
  • Linking Applicable Services
  • Adding 'Tasks to help meet this goal strategy'
  • Journals linked to the Goal Strategies, Assessment snapshots, and 'Goal Assessment Evaluation Criteria'
  • Warning mechanisms in the Goals list colours/dates to indicate overdue Journal evidence

When viewing this video, you will notice a few differences in your installation: 

  • The DHS Standards field is no longer available
  • The Disability Standards have been updated from twelve standards to the current six.
  • The End Date' has now been split into two fields - 'Target End Date' and 'Actual End Date'
  • Two additional fields have been added - a 'Not on Track' checkbox and 'End Result' status field
  • Maintenance Reports are no longer available. This has been replaced by the 'Client Goals Report for Site/Service' (see below).

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Steps required to complete this phase

Before embarking on this phase and instructing Staff on how to create Client Goals and Goal Strategies, we recommend the following as a guide:

Configuring Goals

Ensure that your organisation has reviewed the information included in the linked article of this name below and has completed any required configuration before getting started. 

Goal Details

  • Enter the Client's Goal in the 'Goal' field, as outlined in their NDIS Support plan.  N.B. Create a separate Goal record for each Goal.
  • Enter the 'Start Date' and 'Target End Date'
  • Link a relevant Document which has already been uploaded to the Client's record
  • Complete the following fields where required: Strategic Plan Summary, Responsibilities Summary, What Success Will Look Like Summary (optional)


Standards applicable to this goal

  • Add the NDIS Practice Standards, National Disability Standard, or DMI Code as applicable to a Goal (optional)

Goal Strategy 

  • Enter a Goal Strategy/s i.e. how your organisation is going to work with the individual to assist them toward achieving their goals. N.B. Multiple Goal Strategies may be added for each Goal where required
  • Add a 'Start Date' and 'Target End Date' which corresponds with the Goal.
  • Add the applicable Service/s which are working with the Client to help them implement this particular Goal/Goal Strategy
  • Complete the following fields where required: Strategic Plan, Responsibilities, What Success Will Look Like (optional)
  • Add Strategy Tasks where required (optional). N.B. These only appear within the Goal record itself. 

We hope this guide has assisted your organisation to determine a plan for entering Client Goals and Goal Strategies. 

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