Generating a Direct Invoice Batch for NDIA Invoices
The upgrade to SupportAbility v7 (8th of October, 2020) changes 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 perfectly 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 do not wish to utilise this new functionality and continue to wish to generate Invoices regardless of their true Claim Status. This approach may result in corrections being required in your organisation's Finance system, however, the data in SupportAbility will not align with this, therefore this is not the recommended approach.
Once a Direct Invoice Batch is generated, an export file containing Invoice data is available to download from the Actions menu for various financial systems e.g. MYOB, Xero etc. and is designed to be imported into your organisation's finance system. Your finance system is then responsible for managing the accounts receivable process which is now much more efficient for these Invoices based on the above.
This article provides detailed information relating to the process of generating a Direct Invoice Batch for the NDIA.
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:
Prerequisites
- Finance & NDIS | Preparation must be completed, in order to generate BPRs and export NDIA Invoices to your finance system where required.
- An NDIS Direct Bulk Payment Request (BPR) must be generated and it is important to note that only Accepted Allocations are included in Direct Invoice Batches
Generating a Direct Invoice Batch for NDIA Invoices
The option to generate a Direct Invoice Batch for the Accepted NDIS Support Allocations included in the BPR is available by selecting 'Generate Direct Invoice Batch' from the Actions menu:
Validation Notification
If another user is currently in the process of generating a Direct Invoice Batch for NDIA Invoices, a Validation message will display at the top of the screen and it will not be possible to generate the Invoice Batch at that time.
The purpose of this functionality is to avoid creating duplicate Invoice Numbers.
The notification message which displays is as follows; 'Unable to Generate Direct Invoice Batch. This process has been blocked temporarily because Staff Name commenced Generating a Direct Invoice Batch at DD/MM/YYYY H:MM AM/PM. Please try again shortly':
Generate Direct Invoice Batch
Assuming it is possible to proceed, once 'Generate Direct Invoice Batch' is selected, a summary of the number of included Accepted Allocations is displayed, as well as the total dollar value this equates to, ready for confirmation:
N.B. Accepted Allocations do not need to be selected beforehand, as they are automatically included when 'Generate Direct Invoice Batch' is selected.
Once Confirmed, you are redirected to the 'Edit Invoice Batch' page, as the Direct Invoice Batch has been generated and a summary of this is displayed:
It is important to note that any Accepted Allocations that have been Cancelled will not be included in this Invoice Batch. Please see the How to Cancel Accepted Allocations article for more information.
Invoice Batch Format
The 'Invoice Batch Format' that is in use is displayed for reference e.g. ' Separate' (as is the default) i.e. a separate Invoices are created for each Client Funding record e.g. SA000042 and SA000043. A link to the BPR this was created from is displayed on the right-hand side of the list of Invoices e.g. #27. Selecting this will take you back to the BPR.
When this format is in use, a separate Invoice is created per 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.
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
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 the finance system, it can be marked as paid straight away, given this is also in alignment with what the Agency has paid.
These Invoices can be downloaded from the Actions menu for the relevant finance system:
Accepted Allocations that have been included in an Invoice Batch are updated to have the Processing Status of Invoiced in the BPR:
Regardless of which NDIA Invoice Format is used, the reconciliation process is simplified greatly given that these Invoices are related to Successful Payment Requests and can therefore be marked as paid straight away. For more information regarding this, please see the Format for NDIA Invoices article and the Reconciling NDIA Invoices article linked below for reference.
Accepted Allocations can now also be Cancelled as required in the case where a reversal has been required for example. Please see the How to Cancel Accepted Allocations article for more information regarding this.
View/Edit Direct Invoice screen
With the upgrade to SupportAbility v7.10 (June, 2021), the Invoice displayed now includes a link that opens to a new View/Edit Direct Invoice screen:
Please see the View/Edit Direct Invoice screen article linked below for more information regarding this.
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