Configuring Services

This article provides detailed information outlining how to edit an existing 'Service', and complete the required configuration for a newly created Service.

The Configuring Services video covers most of the information outlined in this article.  You may wish to view it alongside the information contained here. This video can also be found in the 'System Preferences' section of the Configuration tab in the Learning Centre: 

Audience: Authorised Representatives or those tasked with configuration in System Preferences


Summary

The following list summarises the content within this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:


Prerequisites

  • The Services article (linked below) provides detailed information outlining what a 'Service' is and how it is structured in SupportAbility.
  • The 'Edit System Preferences' privilege is required to access System Preferences and complete the related configuration.
  • The 'Edit User Accounts' privilege is required to access the 'User Details' tab of Staff Accounts and update the Sites and services where this staff member works.
    • For more information about the access and functionality that these privileges grant, please refer to the Staff Account Privileges article, linked below.

Configuring Services in System Preferences

Services are configured in multiple tabs in System Preferences.  Staff require the 'Edit System Preferences' privilege in order to access this area of SupportAbilty and complete Service configuration.

System Preferences is accessed via the main menu on the Dashboard:

The required configuration regarding Services is completed on the following three tabs in System Preferences:

  • Sites
  • Services
  • Funding

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Sites tab

Several actions for Service configuration are completed on the Sites tab in System Preferences, some of which are required and some optional:

  • Make Services available at the relevant Sites (required)
  • Update 'Only Team Leaders can edit Activities' setting (optional)
  • Configure General Ledger (GL) Codes (required)

The following sections outline these steps in more detail.


Make Services available at the relevant Sites (required)

Once a Service has been created, it is essential that the new Service is made available at each of the relevant Sites where it is managed or delivered from, in order for it to be available for selection in the following records: 

  • Client records::Client Service Participation
  • Staff Accounts::Site/Service where this Staff member works
  • Activities 
  • Journals

To complete this, navigate to the Sites tab in System Preferences, and using the target icons open each of the relevant Sites where this Service is delivered/managed from:  

Select the 'Available' checkbox for this Service, then select the 'Save Site' button to save this change:

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Update 'Only Team Leaders can edit Activities' setting 

N.B. This is only relevant when organisations have implemented Activities in SupportAbility. 

The 'Only Team Leaders Can Edit Activities' setting is  on by default for all Services, to facilitate the following:

  • only Staff with the 'Team Leader' privilege can create, edit or delete Activities, including adding or removing Clients, updating the Client's Funding Source, and marking the Client as 'No Charge'. 
  • the opportunity for data checks of all Activity components completed by Support Staff, prior to Team Leaders performing the Activity Sign Off.

Organisations may choose to inactivate this setting for Services such as Support Coordination, or Therapeutic Services, where Staff delivering this Service usually require a greater level of autonomy to create, edit and manage Activities.

The 'Only Team Leaders Can Edit Activities' setting is configured on the 'Sites' tab in System Preferences. Deselecting the checkbox for this setting will allow any Staff member working in that Service to create, edit and manage Activities:

Screen-Shot-2019-07-30-at-12-31-56-pm.png

For more information relating to this, please refer to the  Privileges required to manage Activities article, linked below.

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Configure General Ledger (GL) Codes (required)

N.B. This is only relevant when organisations have implemented Finance & NDIS in SupportAbility, and invoices will be generated.

The corresponding GL Codes for a Site/Service are required to be entered into the 'GL Codes' tab of a Site, for those Services which are managed/delivered from this Site.  

The GL Codes tab is accessed via the Sites tab in System Preferences. Open the relevant Sites via the target icons, then navigate to the GL Codes tab for each Site:
Screen-Shot-2019-07-30-at-12-34-52-pm.png

For comprehensive instructions regarding this, please refer to the  Configuring General Ledger Codes for Internal [Direct] Invoices linked below.

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Services tab

Several actions for Service configuration are completed on the Services tab in System Preferences, some of which are required and some applicable only if relevant to your organisation and the Services delivered:

  • Service Type Setting (required)
  • Activate functionality for ADE & Employment-Based Services (if relevant)
  • Client Conflict Detection (if relevant)
  • Activate the Client Support Log (if relevant)
  • Additional optional Service Settings (if relevant)
    • Job Code Component
    • QDC
    • Default HACC MDS Type
  • Change the name of a Service (if relevant)
  • Inactivate an existing Service (if relevant)

The following sections outline these steps in more detail.


Service Type Setting (required)

The 'Service Type' is set as 'Standard' by default, including for the 'Administration' Service.  The 'NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM)' and 'NDIS Support Coordination' services however both require the specific service-related setting to be applied in order to activate compliance required privacy barriers around Client information for these Services.  

The relevant 'Service Type' setting can only be configured by the Customer Success team, and is applied when creating a new Service:

Standard Services

'Standard' Services work on a collaborative model whereby a Staff member who works in one of the Standard Services which a Client participates in can view the Client's information pertaining to all of the Standard Services which that Client participates in. 

NDIS Support Coordination

The 'NDIS Support Coordination' setting creates additional privacy barriers for Client Journals recorded for 'NDIS Support Coordination' Services.  Once activated, Staff must have access to not only the Client record the Journal has been created for, but also this Service, in order to be able to see these Journals, to ensure the compliance requirements around privacy are maintained. 

NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM)

The 'NDIS Financial Plan Management FPM' setting enables the NDIS 'FPM' tab functionality for Clients who participate in the FPM Service, so that external invoices received can be entered here, for inclusion in a Plan Managed Bulk Payment Request (BPR). 

This tab will only be visible to Staff with the 'NDIS Financial Plan Management FPM' Sevice listed in their Staff Account.

Alongside this additional 'NDIS FPM' functionality, this setting creates additional privacy barriers for Client Journals recorded for the 'NDIS FPM' Service. Once activated Staff must have access to not only the Client record, the Journal entry is for, but also this Service, in order to see these Journals, to ensure that compliance around privacy is upheld. 

Please see the Steps to set up and use the NDIS Financial Plan Management (FPM) functionality article outlined below for more information. 

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Activate functionality for ADE & Employment-Based Services (if relevant)

When a Service is an Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE) business e.g. Smith Gardening Services, or an Employment-based Service e.g. School Leaver Employment Support (SLES), Transition to Work/Employment, etc. the following settings should be set on the Services tab in System Preferences:

This will activate additional functionality in Client records which have those Services listed in Client Service Participation.

The ' Employment Based Service' setting activates the following tab:

  • Employment - this tab records information relating to future work interests, future work capacity, inductions, educational placements, training, client qualifications, and client work history. 

For more information please refer to the  Clients: Employment tab video in the Client Management::Specialist Services section of the Learning Centre in your installation.

The ' ADE Service' setting activates both the Employment and the Workforce tabs:

  • Workforce - this tab records general information (e.g. work skills, strengths, support requirements, & strategies to assist productivity), workforce information (e.g. tax file #, wages, assessments), supported employee productivity, and observed behaviours.

For more information please refer to the  Clients: Workforce tab video in the Client Management::Specialist Services section of the Learning Centre in your installation.

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Client Conflict Detection setting

'Client Conflicts' are designed to alert Staff when creating or updating an Activity that a Client is participating in another Activity at the same time. 

The Client Conflict Detection functionality may be turned off for some Services if required.  This is at the discretion of your organisation, however, a provider may choose to turn it off for Services where the related Activities are structured with a week's duration and are therefore most likely to clash with Client's participating in hourly or daily Activities.

This functionality is activated/deactivated on the Services tab in System Preferences.  

The Accommodation or SIL Service, for example, is sometimes managed via week-long Activities.  The Client Conflict Detection setting can be turned off for this Service by deselecting the 'Client Conflict Detection' checkbox:

then selecting 'Save Preference Set' to save this update:

Once the Client Conflict Detection setting has been deselected for a Service, in this instance the Accommodation Service, it means that when scheduling Clients for this Service, or other Services e.g. Day Services which share the same date/time with an Activity for the Accommodation Service, a Client Conflict will not display for either Service.

Client Conflicts display in the following manner:

  •  in the Status column on the Activities tab of a Client record 
  • 'Client Conflict' amber notification in the Client section of an Activity 
  • 'Activity Conflicts' notification in the Warnings bar at the top of the 'Edit Activity' screen 
  • 'Conflicting Activities' icon in the Activity wizard Availability column.

Please review the  Client Conflicts article linked below for more information regarding this functionality. 

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Activate the Client Support Log

N.B. This is only relevant when organisations have implemented Activities in SupportAbility and have elected to use the  Client Support Log functionality to record evidence of Service delivery.

The Client Support Log - 'Support Log Evidence Required' setting may be configured where required at a Service level on the Services tab in System Preferences:

For more information relating to this, please refer to the   Configuring the Client Support Log featurearticle, linked below.

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Activate Programs of Support for the required Services

A feature is available to record the relevant Clients' participation as part of a ‘Program of Support’ in the Activities they are scheduled into, delivered on or after the 1st of July, 2020. 

When set, Short Term Cancellations are not triggered for the applicable Support Items. Programs of Support are only relevant for specific Supports and as such, this can be configured as required for each Service in System Preferences.

To do so, navigate to System Preferences and select the Services tab: 

The default setting of this feature is 'Never' (as above), given Programs of Support are only applicable for specific Supports and an agreement must be in place beforehand. 

However, the following options are available to choose from once 'Change' has been selected: 

  • Never
  • Off by default
  • On by default

Each of these options has been outlined further in the  Configuring Programs of Support article linked below for reference and we also recommend reviewing the Programs of Support article for a general overview about this feature. 

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Additional optional Service Settings

Job Code Component 

If your organisation is using Job Codes, the relevant Job Code Components will need to be configured in System Preferences on the Services tab, once our Customer Success team has enabled your required Job Coding Structure within your SupportAbility installation.

This will only appear when enabled by SupportAbility in your installation.

For more information relating to this, please refer to the  Job Codes article, linked below.


QDC 

Choose the Quarterly Data Collection (QDC) code that relates to this Service if you wish to run QDC reports by Service Type rather than Funding Type.

Please note this requires further configuration in System Preferences Settings.

For more information relating to this, please refer to the  QDC Reporting section in the Activities Configuration article, linked below.


Default HACC MDS Type

Choose the Victorian HACC Minimum Data Set (MDS) categorisation that relates to this Service if you need to report Victorian HACC MDS data to DHHS.

Once selected this activates the default to be used in Activities delivered for this Service.

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Change the name of a Service

If your organisation wishes to change the name of a Service, this can be completed on the Services tab in System Preferences:

N.B.  The change of name will be applied throughout the entire system, and thus reflected in all records linked to that Service, including historical records.

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Inactivate an existing Service

We do not recommend deleting any records in SupportAbility, in order to preserve important information for historical purposes.

Therefore if a Service is no longer required, Staff with the ‘Edit System Preference’ privilege have the ability to make the Service inactive by deselecting the 'Active' checkbox on the Services tab in System Preferences:

N.B. if a Service is made inactive (by deselecting this checkbox), it can no longer be:

  • added to Staff Accounts, 
  • added to Client Service Participation in Client records, 
  • selected when creating an Activity
  • linked to a Journal, etc. 

An additional feature is available that SupportAbility can action for your organisation, whereby Services can be merged. For example, if two Services are being consolidated into one, this may be beneficial. Please see the Merge Feature for Sites and Services article linked below for more information.

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Funding tab

Update the Funding Types usable by this Service (required)

N.B. This is only relevant when organisations have implemented using the Finance & NDIS workflow in SupportAbility.  

When a new Service has been created, the Funding Types which can be used to pay for this Service, most importantly NDIS, should be updated in the Funding tab in System Preferences: 

For more information relating to this, please refer to the    Activate the Services that can be paid for using NDIS Funding section of the Finance & NDIS | Preparation article, linked below.

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Linking Staff Accounts and Client Records to Sites and Services

Once a new Service has been added and configured appropriately, it is important that this Service is added to the relevant records to both provide Staff access to Client information and enforce the necessary Privacy barriers: 

  • Staff Accounts - 'Sites and services where this staff member works'
  • Client records - 'Client Service Participation'

The following sections outline these steps in more detail.


Update 'Sites and services where this staff member works' (required)

Prerequisite: Staff completing this configuration will need to have the 'Edit User Account' privilege in order to access the relevant Staff Accounts.

When a new Service has been added to your installation (e.g. Day Services), it is important that this Service is added to the 'Sites and services where this staff member works' section of all relevant Staff Accounts:

Once this section has been updated to include the new Service these Staff will be:

  • able to view Client records which have this Service listed in Client Service Participation
  • available for selection when creating Activities for this Service

For more information relating to this, please refer to the  Sites and services where this staff member works section of the Foundations | Staff Accounts article, linked below.

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Client records - Update 'Client Service Participation' (required)

Prerequisite: Staff completing this configuration will need to have access to the relevant Client records.

When a new Service has been added to your installation (e.g. Day Services), it is important that this Service is added to the 'Client Service Participation' section of all relevant Client records:

Once the Client Service Participation section has been updated to include this Service:

  • this Service will be available for selection when creating a Journal for those Clients
  • those Client records will be accessible to Staff who have this Service listed in their Staff Account
  • those Clients will be available for selection when creating Activities for this Service

For more information relating to this, please refer to the Client Service Participation article, linked below.

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