How to create a Shared Contact record
Shared Contacts are any organisations or professionals that multiple Clients are associated with. This may include the Client's NDIS Support Coordinator, their NDIS Financial Plan Manager, their GP or any medical professionals or organisations that support the Client e.g. their Physio, or any other professional that your organisation may need to liaise with.
When an organisation or professional is associated with multiple Clients, we recommend setting them up as a Shared Contact in SupportAbility. Creating a Shared Contact record allows the one Shared Contact to be linked to each related Client record.
Any Staff Member can create or edit a Shared Contact record, however, only those Staff who have been granted the 'Delete Records' privilege in their Staff Account are able to delete a Shared Contact record if required.
This article outlines who can and how to create and delete Shared Contact records, along with information on how to link a Shared Contact in a Client record.
Audience: All
Summary
The following list summarises the content of this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
- Who can create a Shared Contact record?
- How to create a Shared Contact record
- Linking a Shared Contact in the Client record
- How to delete a Shared Contact record
Who can create a Shared Contact record?
All Staff Members can create a Shared Contact record by selecting the + add icon next to the Shared Contact Search:
It is important to know that as soon as the + Add a Shared Contact button is selected in the confirmation window, a new record has been created. Therefore, if the Shared Contact details are not completed and saved following the record being created, you may notice multiple 'New Contact' records in the Shared Contact Search results:
These records can be repurposed as required prior to adding another new Shared Contact record, or cleaned up by someone with the 'Delete Records' privilege at your organisation.
How to create a Shared Contact record
To create a Shared Contact record select the + add icon next to the Shared Contact Search:
A confirmation window will appear to confirm you wish to create a new record by selecting the + Add a Shared Contact button:
Once selected, the new record will open for the relevant details to be entered:
Shared Contact Details
When a new Shared Contact record is first created several fields will be prepopulated by default in the 'Shared Contact Details' section on the Shared Contact Details tab, as follows:
- Company Name - 'New Contact' will be entered
- Status - 'Active' will be selected
- Contact Type - 'Other' will be selected and 'Contact' entered in the secondary field
- State - the 'Default State' configured in the Installation Options section on the Settings tab in System Preferences will display when the 'Timezone & State is set to' 'Organisation wide'
- Staff Member - is set to the person who created the Shared Contact record
- Initial Contact Date - is set to the date the record was created
Minimum Details
All fields in the Shared Contact record are optional, however, at a minimum, we recommend updating the Company Name and adding the relevant contact details, such as Address, Phone Number, Mobile (where relevant), Email Address and Primary Contact Name if there is a specific preferred individual to liaise with.
Contact Type and Service Type
You may wish to update the 'Contact Type' and select the 'Service Type' where this is relevant, as the options available to select from are based on a configurable List in system Preferences. These fields are also search filters in the Shared Contact Search making it possible to search for specific Shared Contact records of a particular Contact Type or Service Type.
The Configuring Lists article, linked below for reference, outlines how to configure the available options in Lists.
Financials
The settings available in the Financials section indicate whether or not the Shared Contact is a specific type of provider that needs to be Invoiced or that External Invoices are received from, as well as fields to record the relevant identifiers to match with an organisation's financial system:
- NDIS Office - Contacts marked as NDIS Offices can be selected as the local NDIS Office in the Administration Details section on the Client Details tab of a Client record
- NDIS Financial Plan Management - indicates the Shared Contact is an NDIS Financial Plan Manager. This must be configured in order for the FPM to be available for selection in NDIS Direct Client Funding records
- NDIS Service Provider - indicates the Shared Contact is an NDIS Service Provider and is relevant when your organisation delivers NDIS Support Coordination or NDIS Financial Plan Management Services. This must be configured in order for the Service Provider to be available to add in the Client's FPM tab where any External Invoices received are entered for financial processing.
- Debtor for Non-NDIS Invoices - indicates the Shared Contact is a financial intermediary that is required for Non-NDIS Funding only. This must be configured in order for the Debtor to be available to select in Non-NDIS Direct Client Funding records
- Debtor ID - is the unique identifier some finance packages require for finance integration of internal invoices. This populates in the Accounts Receivable Invoices generated for Clients for Direct Services delivered when the Shared Contact is configured as the FPM or Debtor
- Creditor ID - is the unique identifier some finance packages require for finance integration of external invoices. It is relevant when your organisation delivers NDIS Financial Plan Management Services and this populates in the Accounts Payable Invoices when Plan Management Clients engage with NDIS Service Providers.
ABN
When a Shared Contact record is configured as an 'NDIS Service Provider' in the Financials section, an amber notification message will display; 'Valid ABN or exemption reason required':
Selecting the Change button allows you to enter the ABN number or select one of the exemption options:
'Venue and Activity Details' and 'Notes'
Venue and Activity Details
Venue and Activity Details can be used for Shared Contacts that are used to host a particular Activity. However, it is important to note that this was designed a long time ago and Shared Contacts in SupportAbility are not commonly used to manage venues any longer:
Notes
The Notes field can be utilised to add any specific notes relevant for others to know about the Shared Contact as required. This is a free text field with scrolling functionality when multiple lines of data has been entered:
Linking a Shared Contact in the Client record
Once a Shared Contact record has been created, it can be linked in the relevant Client records in the Shared Contacts section on the Contacts tab:
Please see the How to add or update Personal Contacts and link Shared Contacts in the Client Contacts tab article for more information, linked below for reference.
How to delete a Shared Contact record
Only Staff with the 'Delete records' privilege can delete a Shared Contact record.
When deleting a Shared Contact record, the following related records will also be deleted:
- Shared Contact Documents
- Shared Contact Journals
- Employees
To delete the Shared Contact select 'Delete Shared Contact' from the Actions menu:
Once selected, a notification window will open asking, 'Are you sure you want to delete this Shared Contact'.
N.B. There is a known issue with the list of related records in this notification window, please refer to the list above to confirm which related records will be deleted.
If you wish to proceed select the red 'Delete this Shared Contact' button. Further prompts will display 'Are you really, really sure?' providing you with an opportunity to reconsider.
When the 'Delete Shared Contact' option is selected from the Actions menu for a Shared Contact record that has been referenced as either of the following, it will not be possible to delete the Shared Contact record:
In such situations, a window will open displaying this message:
If Shared Contact records are no longer relevant or in use we recommend making them Inactive:
