NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings
NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings are displayed in Activity records for all Staff when NDIS Support Allocations are associated with Budgets that are near to being utilised (5% remaining unallocated by default, however, this can be configured based on your organisation's preference), or have been fully utilised.
More detailed NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings are displayed in Client Funding records for those with the required privileges. Budgets can be configured to 'Hide Utilisation Warnings' in Activities, if required, from the NDIS Direct Client Funding record. In the case of a $0 Budget, Utilisation Warnings are not displayed.
This article discusses NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings in detail.
Privileges: In order to access the Client's NDIS Direct Funding record, including the Utilisation tab, access to the relevant Client records is required, as well as the 'View Financial Information' privilege.
When organisations configure the ‘Hide Utilisation Warnings for Staff Who Do Not Have Privileges to Manage Activities’ setting to manage which Staff can see the NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings in Activities, the ‘Team Leader’ privilege may be relevant.
Audience: Authorised Representatives, Finance Team, and anyone tasked with creating or updating NDIS Direct Client Funding records
Summary
The following list summarises the content of this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
- What is Funding Utilisation?
- NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings in Activities
- NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings in Client Funding records
- Configuring the NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warning threshold
What is Funding Utilisation?
Funding Utilisation is the process of analysing the Client's NDIS Support Allocations in Activities (Planned, Claiming and Used), against their NDIS Support Budgets over the duration of the Funding Period.
Several tools are available for Staff with the 'View Financial Information' privilege to help providers track this, for each Client in the 'Utilisation' tab of the Client's NDIS Funding record, as well as holistically by using the NDIS Budget Utilisation Report.
It is important to note that Utilisation Warnings appear when the associated Budgets are near to being utilised, however, to clarify 'utilised' encompasses the Total Allocated, which is comprised of NDIS Support Allocations in a status of Planned, Claiming or Used:
- Total Allocated - the total value of all NDIS Support Allocations i.e. the sum of all Planned, Claiming and Used
- Planned - the total value of all NDIS Support Allocations that have not yet had the Activity Sign Off performed. This usually represents services yet to be delivered or those that are yet to be finalised.
- Claiming - the total value of all NDIA Managed NDIS Support Allocations that have had the Activity Sign Off performed and are awaiting inclusion in a Direct BPR, or have been included in this process but are not yet Accepted.
- Used - the total value of all Self and Plan Managed NDIS Support Allocations that have had the Activity Sign Off performed, and NDIA Managed NDIS Support Allocations that are Accepted.
The remaining % and Budget over utilised warnings indicate that the associated Budgets are near to being completely utilised and there is little to no funding remaining unallocated altogether.
NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings in Activities
From the upgrade to SupportAbility v7.9 (May, 2021) NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings are displayed in Activity records:
These warnings are designed to alert all Staff Members when NDIS Support Allocations are associated with NDIS Support Budgets that have less than 5% remaining unallocated, as well as if the associated Budget has been over utilised:
Budget Utilisation Warnings are displayed in the NDIS Support Allocation window also:
These warnings are designed as an alert for the relevant Staff Members to review the related Funding Budget Utilisation either directly in the Client's Funding record, or using the NDIS Budget Utilisation Report. Please see the NDIS Budget Utilisation Report article linked below for more information regarding this report.
Budget Utilisation Warnings are visible after Activity Sign Off for up to one month from the Activity Date, before being hidden.
NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings in Client Funding records
Similarly, Budget Utilisation Warnings also appear in NDIS Direct Client Funding records which displays the % remaining unallocated:
Or when the Budget has been fully or over-utilised:
Make unavailable
If this is the case, there is an option available to make the Support 'Unavailable' by selecting 'Make Unavailable' from the contextual menu:
Once selected, if this Support is in use, a warning will be displayed to advise the number of Activities this is currently Allocated in that have not been Signed Off. Upon confirmation, these NDIS Support Allocations will be removed:
Once confirmed, the Support appears in grey in the Funding record with a message indicating it has been configured as unavailable:
Following the Client Funding record being saved, the Support will no longer be available for Allocation in Activities:
Hide Utilisation Warnings
There are a couple of ways in which an organisation can hide the NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings, thereby preventing them from displaying in Activities as follows:
- Hide Utilisation Warnings for specific Support Items or Flexible Budgets
- Hide Utilisation Warnings for Staff who do not have the required privileges to manage Activities
More information is outlined below.
Hide Utilisation Warnings for specific Support Items or Flexible Budgets
Budgets for specific Support Items, or Flexible Budgets, can be configured so the Utilisation Warnings are hidden and do not display in Activities, if required.
Select 'Hide Utilisation Warnings' from the contextual menu of the relevant Support or Flexible Budget in the NDIS Direct Client Funding record:
Once selected, Utilisation Warnings will no longer appear in Activities, except in the case where a Budget has been fully or over utilised. A message indicating these warnings have been hidden is displayed in the Funding record for reference:
If you wish for these warnings to be displayed in Activities again, simply navigate to the contextual menu and select 'Show Utilisation Warnings':
Hide Utilisation Warnings for Staff who do not have Privileges to manage Activities
The 'Hide Utilisation Warnings for Staff Who Do Not Have Privileges to Manage Activities' setting is turned off by default, thereby all Staff with access to an Activity will see NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings displayed there, when applicable.
Should your organisation wish to limit who can see NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings in Activities, this can be restricted to only Staff with the required privileges to manage Activities, by selecting the 'Hide Utilisation Warnings for Staff Who Do Not Have Privileges to Manage Activities' checkbox.
This is completed in the 'Funding Utilisation Warnings' section on the Funding tab in System Preferences:
N.B. The privileges required to manage Activities for each Service is determined by how this has been configured on the 'Site Details' tab in System Preferences:
For example, Day Services has the 'Only Team Leaders Can Edit Activities' setting turned on, which means that when the 'Hide Utilisation Warnings for Staff Who Do Not Have Privileges to Manage Activities' checkbox setting is configured, only Staff with the 'Team Leader' privilege at either the Site/Service or global level will be able to see NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings displayed in Activities for this Service, when applicable.
Alternatively, Support Coordination, for example, does not have the 'Only Team Leaders Can Edit Activities' setting turned on, which means the privileges required to manage Activities for this Service is not restricted to those with the Team Leader privilege. Thereby all Staff working in this Service can manage Activities. Similarly, when the 'Hide Utilisation Warnings for Staff Who Do Not Have Privileges to Manage Activities' checkbox setting is configured, all Staff working in this Service, regardless of their privileges, will be able to see the NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings displayed in Activities for this Service, when applicable.
Configuring the NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warning threshold
Utilisation Warnings appear when less than 5% of the Budget is remaining unallocated by default, however, this is a configurable option if more advanced warning or another percentage is preferred e.g. Utilisation Warnings to appear when less than 15% of the associated Budget is remaining unallocated for more advanced warning.
This is completed in the 'Funding Utilisation Warnings' section on the Funding tab in System Preferences:
Configuring this to 0% will ensure that only Budget over-utilised warnings will appear which may be preferred if your organisation does not want 'Budget remaining' warnings to appear.
Please see the Finance & NDIS | Preparation article linked below for reference for more information regarding this.