Reconciling Invoices for the NDIA
The upgrade to SupportAbility v7 (8th of October, 2020) changed the way that Invoices for the NDIA are generated, in that only Accepted Allocations are included in Direct Invoice Batches generated from the BPR.
This is so that the Accepted Allocations included in the Direct Invoice Batch match exactly what has been paid by the Agency and thus the Invoices created (either separate or combined) and imported into your organisation's finance system can be marked as paid efficiently. This ensures the data is aligned between all systems and eliminates the need for cross-referencing, corrections & adjustment of these Invoices in your finance system.
The easiest way to identify which Allocations are successful, displayed as Accepted in SupportAbility, is to upload the Bulk Payment Results File (BPRF) available for download from the myplace provider portal which is recommended. This will also identify any errors and display these as Rejected, along with the reason for this. A corrective course of action can be taken by either choosing to Retry or Cancel any Rejected Allocations.
However, a manual option is available for providers who continue to wish to generate Invoices following the BPR being generated. It is important to clarify that this approach may result in corrections being required in your organisation's Finance system, however, the data in SupportAbility will not align as a result.
An option is available to Cancel Accepted Allocations if this is required, for example, if an Allocation was Accepted and paid, then it is realised that this was claimed incorrectly. This would require the reversal to occur in the portal and your organisation's Finance system first, then Cancelled in SupportAbility.
This article discusses the reconciliation process for each approach i.e. when the BPRF has been uploaded and if the Claim Status has been updated manually, as well as how Accepted Allocations can be Cancelled.
Audience: Authorised Representatives, Finance Team
Summary
The following list summarises the content within this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
- How is finance reconciliation completed when the BPRF has been uploaded?
- How is finance reconciliation completed when the Claim Status has been updated manually?
- How to Cancel Accepted Allocations
How is finance reconciliation completed when the BPRF has been uploaded?
By uploading the BPRF to SupportAbility, this automatically aligns the Allocations included in the BPR with results from the myplace provider portal:
In the above example, we can see that three of the four Payment Request Items have been Accepted and one has been Rejected due to an issue with the Service Booking. This has been processed with the BPR Rejection Action of Retry, and it has been included in a subsequent Invoice Batch as the Financial Plan Manager for this Client changed from the NDIA to a Plan Manager.
A Direct Invoice Batch for the Accepted Allocations is created by selecting 'Generate Direct Invoice Batch' from the Actions menu:
The three Accepted Allocations are included automatically, without needing selection:
Once Confirm is selected, this takes you to the Invoice Batch record as outlined below, demonstrating how this will appear for Separate and Combined NDIA Invoices.
To clarify, NDIA Invoices are created in a 'Separate' Invoice Batch Format by default, however, there is another configuration option available, for NDIA Invoices to be created in a 'Combined' method. Please see the Format for NDIA Invoices article for more information about these options, linked below for reference.
Separate Invoice Format
Two Invoices have been generated as the 'Separate' NDIS Invoice Format is in use e.g. SA00038 and SA000039:
When this format is in use, a separate Invoice is created for each Client Funding record. Once these Invoices have been uploaded to our finance system, they can be marked as paid straight away, given this is in perfect alignment with what the Agency has paid.
Combined Invoice Format
If we were using the Combined Invoice Format, regardless of the number of Client Funding records associated with the Accepted Allocations, only a single Invoice is created to align with the Recipient Created Tax Invoice (RCTI) created by the Agency e.g. SA00040:
When this format is in use, a combined Invoice is created comprised of Allocations associated with multiple Client Funding records. Once this Invoice has been uploaded to our finance system, it can be marked as paid straight away, given this is also in perfect alignment with what the Agency has paid.
Regardless of which NDIA Invoice Format is used, the reconciliation process is simplified greatly given that these Invoices can be marked as paid straight away.
Accepted Allocations that have been included in an Invoice Batch are updated to have the Processing Status of Invoiced in the BPR:
How is finance reconciliation completed if the Claim Status is updated manually?
If the Claim Status is updated to Accepted manually, for the purpose of generating Direct Invoice Batches, this will mean that the issue of addressing errors will continue to need to be performed manually in your organisation's Finance system based on the Bulk Payment Results File (BPRF), Recipient Created Tax Invoice (RCTI) or Remittance Advice received from the NDIA.
Whilst this data can be corrected in your organisation's Finance system, the data included in SupportAbility will continue to be inaccurate due to the limitations of being able to update this, resulting in Client Funding Utilisation and Client Funding Statements being misaligned.
Claim Reference
Each BPR includes a column for the 'Claim Reference'. The Claim Reference is designed to provide each Payment Request Item with a unique identifier. This unique identifier can then be used to cross-reference an individual Payment Request Item across multiple systems.
The NDIA's guidance regarding entering the Claim Reference in the BPR is as follows:
Enter your organisation’s invoice or reference number. It must be no more than 50 characters and contain letters, numbers and spaces only. (Provider portal system messages and error codes self-help guide)
It is important to note that the purpose of the Claim Reference is to act as a unique identifier. Whilst the NDIA use an Invoice number in this field as an example, the use of a unique identifier is the only requirement.
The following format is used by SupportAbility to generate the Claim Reference:
D-<BPR ID>-<AllocationID>e.g. D-12-2225, where 'D' stands for Direct, BPR ID represents the 12th BPR your organisation has generated, '2225' is the unique Allocation ID
Tools available to assist with reconciliation
The tools available to assist with reconciliation in your finance system if your organisation does not wish to upload the BPRF have been outlined here. Considering providers use a variety of different finance systems and employ processes for reconciliation that differ greatly, the following are suggestions only. The most efficient way to reconcile payments is up to your organisation.
Claim Reference is displayed in the 'Edit BPR'
Since the upgrade to SupportAbility v6.16.4 the Claim Reference is now included in the 'Support Item' column of the Edit BPR screen, once the BPR has been generated:
Allocations may be filtered by Claim Reference
The Filter Allocations bar may be used to narrow down the Allocations to this specifically, which may assist in cases where there are a high number of Allocations included in the BPR:
Once Direct Invoices have been generated, the 'Invoice Link' column includes a link to the Invoice Preview and the Invoice Batch this Invoice is included in.
Claim Reference has been included in Invoice data
The Claim Reference number attributed to each NDIS Support Allocation included in the Direct Bulk Payment Request (BPR) is now included in the 'Description' column of the MYOB, Xero and Zed Axis Direct Invoice Batch exports for the NDIA e.g:
The Zed Axis Direct Invoice Batch export also includes a new 'Claim Reference' column:
Detailed BPR Report
A 'Detailed BPR Report' is available from the Actions menu in the Edit BPR screen:
This export provides a mapping of each Allocation with all of the associated data including Claim Reference and once an Invoice Batch has been generated, the Invoice Item Reference, Invoice Number and Invoice Batch it is associated with. This is designed to assist providers to locate the required Invoices in their finance system for reconciliation.
So for example, if our organisation downloads the remittance advice (in the form of a Recipient Created Tax Invoice) received from the NDIA, this export can be used to match the Claim Reference Number e.g. D-8-2983 in the 'ProvClaimRef' column:
To the relevant Invoice in the Finance system, as we can see that D-8-2983 has been included in INV000107SA. This can be used to locate the Invoice in our Finance system for reconciliation.
How to Cancel Accepted Allocations
Accepted Allocations can now also be Cancelled as required in the case where a reversal has been required for example.
Similar to processing a Rejected Allocation as Cancelled, Cancelling an Accepted Allocation is also a two-step process:
Accepted Allocation > Mark for Cancellation > Process Action (Cancel)
Once 'Mark For Cancellation' is selected, the Processing Status of the Accepted Allocation is updated to 'Marked for Cancellation':
To process a Rejected Allocation as Cancelled once it has been marked as such, navigate to the Bulk Actions menu and select 'Process Action' under the Rejected Claim Actions section:
A confirmation modal will appear asking you to confirm this:
Once 'Confirm' is selected, the Accepted Allocation is then 'Cancelled':
Please see the How to Cancel Accepted Allocations article for more information regarding this, as well as how to revert this if required.