How to create an Activity
This article outlines the places in SupportAbility where Activities can be created, and the steps involved in creating an Activity using the Add an Activity creation wizard.
The Activity creation process is the first step to set up an Activity, however, some additional steps are often required in the Activity record itself once the Activity has been created to finish the setup, such as customising Staff Shifts and updating the Client's Funding Source and NDIS Support Allocations.
Further learning material is available in the related articles section below that outlines the other areas of functionality related to Activities, for example, how to replicate a set of recurring Activities, and how to set the Client's Funding Source and add NDIS Support Allocations.
Privileges: Staff Members require the privileges to manage Activities in order to create, edit and manage Activities i.e.
- The 'Team Leader' Staff Account privilege for the Site/Service that the Activity is being facilitated by
- The Global 'Team Leader for ALL Services' privilege, or
- If the Team Leader requirement has been deactivated for the Site/Service that the Activity is being facilitated by, then all Staff Members who work in this Site/Service will be able to create, edit and manage Activities
- More information is outlined in the Privileges required to manage Activities article linked below for reference.
Audience: Team Leaders, and anyone tasked with creating Activities
Summary
The following list summarises the content of this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
Where can Activities be created?
Activities can be created from several places in SupportAbility for Staff Members with the required privileges, the Dashboard, Client Activities tab and the Staff Roster.
- Dashboard - by selecting the '+' icon next to the Activity Search:
- Client Activities tab - by selecting the '+ Add a new activity' icon:
Noting that when an Activity is created from the Client record, the Client will be pre-selected by default. This is often used to create individual Activities for each participant when required.
- Roster - selecting the + icon will open the Activity Creation Wizard
Noting that when an Activity is created from the Client record, the Client will be pre-selected by default. This is often used to create individual Activities for each participant when required. 
Add a new Activity
Once the '+' icon has been selected, the 'Add a new Activity' wizard will open, which comprises four steps:
- Step 1: Activity
- Step 2: Staff
- Step 3: Clients
- Step 4: Confirm
Each of these steps has been outlined below.
Step 1: Activity
This step is where the Activity details are entered, such as related Site/Service, Date and Time, Activity description/name, Location, and related Program if your organisation is using Programs:
Service
The Sites/Services that display for selection are determined by the Sites/Services the Staff Member creating the Activity has access to in their Staff Account:
When a Staff Member has been granted the global 'Team Leader for ALL Services' privilege for example, then all Sites and Services will be available, and the scrollbar to the side can be used to locate the required option:
Date and Time
By default, the current Date and time of 12:00 PM is populated in the From and To Time fields:
N.B. The times displayed are based on a 12-hour clock format.
Selecting the calendar icon opens the date picker where the required date (Day, Month, Year) may be selected:
Activities may be created for various dates and time periods. For example, for Activities that occur on a single day for a couple of hours:
Or, for Activities that may span multiple days e.g. for a week-long period:
N.B. Multiple Staff Shifts may be entered for Activities that span multiple days period, and the same Staff Member can be added more than once if they are working multiple shifts in that period.
Selecting the From and To Time fields will open the Time functionality where the required Times may be set.
Using the up/down arrows increases and decreases the Time in 1-hour and 1-minute increments. Selecting the PM/AM button will adjust the Time period from one option to the other:
For quicker adjustment of the time, the bolded hour or minutes may be selected to display a table of related preset options in 1-hour or 5-minute increments:
The Managing Staff Shifts article, linked below, provides detailed information about Customising Staff Shifts, Private Kilometres, Breaks, Not Paid, and Staff Time Sheet Sign Off.
Activity Description (name)
The Activity Description is a mandatory dynamic field where each entry is remembered with the associated Site and Service. When entering a description, it is important to consider the naming convention to be used, as this will also appear on Invoices and Client Funding Statements.
Enter a brief description/name of the Activity, such as the type of Activity, and if required any key attributes which distinguish this Activity from other similar Activities e.g. Afternoon Social Meetups:
If Activities have been created previously with similar description names, these will display for selection as you begin typing:
Location
The Location should describe where the Activity is being facilitated, for example, the Client’s home address, the address of an external venue, or a building or room on your organisation's premises e.g. Building A, Kitchen, Room 2 etc. For example, North St Community Hall:
Similarly to the Activity description, if Activities have been created previously with similar Locations these will display for selection as you begin typing:
Program
The ability to select a Program will only appear if the Activity:Program List has been configured in System Preferences by your organisation and is often related to finance integration and is therefore required if this has been configured:
Programs may be helpful when reviewing Activity data. The 'Program' filter can be utilised to refine the results generated in Activity-related Searches and Reports e.g. Activity Report:
More information on Programs is outlined in the Activity Programs List article linked below for reference.
Completing Step 1
Once all Activity details have been completed select the 'Next: Add Staff' button to progress to the next step, where Staff may be added to the Activity:
Step 2: Staff
Step 2 is where Staff may be added to the Activity. This section discusses how to add a Staff Member, Staff Availability issues and Clashes, as well as creating Staff shifts set as TO BE FILLED later in the Activity record.
The Activity details as previously entered will display at the top of the window, followed by the list of Staff who work in the Site/Service selected for this Activity, relative to the Sites/Services added to their Staff Account:
It is important to note that Staff Members with high-level global privileges who have access to the Site and Service are not listed here, however, can be added from within the Activity record as required.
Adding Staff
Staff may be added to the Activity wizard in one of the following two ways.
Select the checkbox next to the relevant Staff Names e.g. Jeremy, Petra and Stevie:
N.B. Staff with Availability issues can continue to be added to the Activity if required and appropriate to do so. More on this has been outlined further below.
Alternatively, begin typing the name of the required Staff Member e.g. Jeremy:
This filters the list to the relevant matches, select the checkbox for the required Staff Member:
N.B. Selecting the cross will clear the entry in this field and display the full list of Staff names working in this Site/Service again.
Staff Availability
Staff Availability i.e. the days of the week and hours that a Staff member is available to work across a seven day period can be entered in the 'Availability' tab of their Staff Account.
If an organisation is entering 'Availability' information in Staff Accounts, when creating Activities, cells under the 'Availability' column will highlight in red for any Staff Members who are unavailable to work on the day and/or times of that Activity.
Selecting the arrow in the 'Availability' column will display any Availability issues or details related to this Staff Member e.g. Zoe:
Staff Clashes
If Staff have been rostered into one or more Activities that occur at the same time or that overlap the times of this Activity, the cell under the 'Clashes' column will highlight in red for the corresponding Staff Member e.g. Angela.
Details of these 'Clashing Activities' will be displayed in the row below the Staff Name e.g. Shopping on 19/07/2021 from 11:00 am - 12:30 pm.
When there is a Clashing Activity, the arrow in the 'Availability' column will also be available for selection to display the Staff Member's 'Standard Availability', if an organisation is entering this information, relative to the Activity Date & Time:
More information on Staff Availability and Staff Clashes can be found in the Standard [Staff] Availability article, as well as the Availability (Leave) Exceptions, Clashes and the Availability Exception (Leave) Report articles linked below for reference.
Staff positions to be filled later
SupportAbility has the functionality to add Staff shifts as 'TO BE FILLED' when creating Activities in cases where the Roster has not yet been defined or an organisation does not yet want to 'publish' the Roster.
To use this functionality, simply add the number of required Shifts for this Activity in the 'Staff positions to be filled later' box:
This creates the three shifts 'TO BE FILLED' in the Activity:
Many Providers choose to use this functionality to set up the initial Activity, then replicate the Activity for the required period, e.g. a term. Then only 'fill' these shifts when they would like Staff to have these available in their Roster.
Activities that contain Shifts that are yet to be filled can be searched for by filtering the Activity Report by 'Staff Members: TO BE FILLED':
Further information regarding this is outlined in the Managing Staff Shifts article linked below for reference.
Customising Staff Shifts
By default Staff Shifts automatically reflect the Date and Time of the Activity.
Once the Activity has been created, the Working From-To Time of each individual Staff Shift may be customised as required by selecting the 'Customise Time' button:
More information on customising Staff Shifts is outlined in the Managing Staff Shifts article linked below for reference.
Completing Step 2
Once the relevant Staff have been added, and/or Staff positions entered, select the 'Next: Add Clients' button to progress to the next step, where Clients may be added to the Activity:
Step 3: Clients
Step 3 is where Clients may be added to the Activity. This section discusses how to add Clients, as well as reviewing Client Availability issues.
The Activity details as entered in Step 1 are displayed at the top of the window, followed by the list of Clients who participate in the Site/Service selected for this Activity, relative to the Site/Services listed in the 'Client Service Participation' section of the Client Details tab of their record:
Adding Clients
Clients may be added to the Activity in one of the following two ways.
Select the checkbox next to the relevant Client Names:
Alternatively, begin typing the name of the required Client e.g. Bradley to display the relevant Client's Name, then select the checkbox:
N.B. Selecting the cross will clear the entry in this field and display the full list of Client names participating in this Site/Service again.
Client Availability
When creating Activities, cells under the 'Availability' column will highlight in red for any Clients who are unavailable due to already being scheduled into another Activity that occurs on or overlaps the day and times of this Activity.
Selecting the arrow in the 'Availability' column will display the 'Clashing Activity' details related to this Client:
Clashing Activities for Clients is also known as 'Client Conflicts'. More information on this is outlined in the Client Conflicts article linked below for reference.
It is also important to note that Client Conflict detection can be configured as not required for specific Services, therefore you may not see any Client Availability warnings displayed, or you may wish to turn this off if required. Please see the 'Client Conflict Detection Setting' section of the Configuring Services article linked below for more information.
Completing Step 3
Once the relevant Clients have been added select the 'Next: Confirm' button to progress to the next step, where all elements of the Activity may be reviewed and the Activity created:
Step 4: Confirm
Step 4 is where all elements of the Activity may be reviewed prior to adding/creating the Activity.
Should anything require updating or changing the 'Prev:...' buttons for each step may be selected to return to the relevant section for update:
N.B. All data entered prior to the Confirm step is automatically retained when navigating between the steps.
Once you are happy that the Activity details, Staff, and Clients information are all correct, select the 'Add Activity' button to create the Activity:
Once added, the New Activity Created window allows you to View or Edit the New Activity by selecting this blue button:
View/Edit New Activity
Selecting the 'View / Edit New Activity' button will open the Activity, which is divided into five key sections Activity Details, Replication, Shared Costs, Clients and Staff.
Activity Details
This is where all the information in Step 1 of the creation process is displayed. This is also where:
- Notes fields can be used to record instructions for Staff Members regarding the Activity, or by Staff Members to outline any program requirements for example.
- Activity Tags can be added which may be useful to identify Activities at a later stage by this attribute in various Searches and Reports.
- The Activity Sign Off is performed once quality checks have been completed
Please see the following articles linked below for more information:
- Adding and searching by Tags
- Activity Programs Lists
- Performing the Activity Sign Off
Replication
Selecting 'Replicate Activity' is how an Activity Set can be created for the required period e.g. every Monday for 12 weeks.
When an Activity is part of a replicated set, the Replication Management Settings is where the settings can be updated to control how updates are applied across the set of Activities:
Please see the following articles linked below for more information:
- Replicating Activities
- Replicating Changes to an Activity Set
Shared Costs
This is for Non-NDIS Billing purposes only.
Please see the following articles linked below for more information:
- Activity costs
- Non-NDIS Client Funding
Clients
The Clients as selected in Step 3 are listed here. This forms the Clients schedule and is where:
- Additional Clients can be added by selecting Show Service Clients Not Participating or using the 'Add a client' quick search feature
- Attendance is also managed within this section of the Activity record using the Absent and/or No Charge settings
- The Client's Funding Source determines how they will pay for the Activities they attend
- When NDIS Funding is selected, NDIS Support Allocations can then be created based on the Supports the Client has utilised
- The Funding Source and NDIS Support Allocations are used to generate Direct Invoice Batches and NDIS Bulk Payment Requests (BPRs)
- Multiple Client Journals can be added for each individual from the Activity record directly, where Client Goals can be added and Goal Progress Assessments recorded. This functionality is utilised for linking evidence and goals directly to service delivery
- Client Support Logs can also be completed (when configured), designed for Client's or their Nominee to confirm receipt of the NDIS Supports delivered
- Activity Costs for Non-NDIS Billable charges can be added here also as required
Please see the following articles linked below for more information:
- Allocating NDIS Support Items in Activities
- Programs of Support
- How to create a Client Journal (case note)
- Using the Client Support Log
- Activity costs
Staff
The Staff selected in Step 2 of creating an Activity are listed in the Staff section of the Activity.
The information in this section informs both Staff Members' Rosters and the Staff Time Sheet Batches, which can be utilised for Payroll.
This section can be updated as follows:
- Additional Staff shifts can be added as required by selecting + Add Staff
- Any Staff Shifts that are set as TO BE FILLED can be filled by selecting the Staff button
- Rostered Staff Members can be changed by selecting the Staff button corresponding to the relevant Staff Member's name
- Any availability issues, if present, can be reviewed by selecting 'Availability Issues' beneath the Staff name. This opens a modal with more information.
- The 'Working From-To Time' can be updated for each Staff Shift as required within or around the Activity time, by selecting the Customise Time button
- Staff can enter any Private or Company Kilometres travelled for this Activity, for billing and/or reimbursement purposes.
- If a Shift includes a break, this can be noted by selecting Includes Break
- If Staff are not being paid for a Shift, this can be noted by selecting Not Paid
- Hovering over an Activity icon will display information about the Activity Status e.g. the Anchor indicates: Staff Positions to be filled
- Non-NDIS Chargeable Hrs automatically reflect the Activity duration, however, these can be updated ONLY if your organisation is using Rate Cards for Non-NDIS Billing
- Staff Time Sheets can be completed by performing the Sign Off if this is a requirement of your organisation. This is optional, and performing the 'Activity Sign-Off' auto-completes the 'Staff Time Sheet Sign-Off' if not already completed separately
Please see the following articles linked below for more information:
- Managing Staff Shifts
- Capturing Staff Kilometres - Private or Company
- Performing the Activity Sign Off