Managing Funding Plans and Client Funding Periods
SupportAbility now includes enhanced functionality for managing Funding Periods in PACE NDIS Direct Funding records.
SupportAbility v9.7 (Jan 2026) introduces a new Funding Plan record, improved Funding Period configuration, and the ability to replicate Funding Periods, to simplify setting up subsequent Funding Period records.
For a detailed video overview of the changes available in SupportAbility v9.7, click here.
This article explains how Funding Plans and Funding Periods work, how they can be configured, and how to use the associated replication functionality.
Summary
The following list summarises the content of this article. Click on the links below to take you to the relevant sections:
Funding Plans
A Funding Plan represents the date range of a participant’s NDIS Plan or the Service Agreement you have in place.
Funding Plans are created from the Funding tab within a Client record:
Adding a Funding Plan record
Select 'Add', and enter the following:
- A name, for example, “NDIS Plan”, noting that the dates chosen are displayed in the linked record by default
- A start date and end date that align with the NDIS Plan or agreement period
Once created, you will be able to link all relevant Funding Period records to this with a tally of this displayed here:
In v9.7, Funding Plan records are displayed as date-based records only. Additional functionality and visibility will be introduced in future releases.
Please see below for more details.
Funding Periods
Funding Periods are used to manage defined funding allocations within a Funding Plan, such as monthly, quarterly, or annual periods, for specific Funding Components.
All new PACE NDIS Direct Funding records can now be configured as Funding Period records:
Existing PACE NDIS Direct Funding records can also be configured to be Funding Period records, provided they are linked to a Funding Plan.
Select 'Change' next to 'Funding Period':
This must be linked to a 'Funding Plan' record:
If you have not added a Funding Plan, you will not be able to save this as a Funding Period record:
Funding Period Configuration
A new 'Client Funding: Funding Component' List is available in System Preferences.
By default, one Funding Component is available:
- Core Flexible
It is recommended that this list be configured before staff begin creating Funding Periods, by adding the relevant options for your organisation:
Once you have selected 'Add a new list item' and entered this, select the 'Copy' arrow to copy it across to the 'Display Value':
Noting you can use the 'Sort' arrows to move the list items up and down as needed.
Remember to select 'Save' to ensure the 'Funding Component' list reflects the support category options your organisation requires:
Funding Period Record Set Up
Once a Funding Plan is selected, additional Funding Period fields become available when adding PACE NDIS Direct Funding Period records:
Or editing PACE NDIS Direct Funding Period records:
Funding Component
Funding Components are used to categorise Funding Periods based on the type of NDIS funding available to the participant for the given period.
By default, one Funding Component is available:
- Core Flexible
However, Funding Components are configurable by your organisation (see above), and should reflect the support categories your organisation delivers, e.g.:
Funding Period Length
The Funding Period Length defines the duration of the Funding Period and is used for naming and replication purposes only.
The available options to select from are:
- 1-month
- 3-months
- 3-months
- 12-months
- Custom
'Custom' is an option that may be used when a Client's Funding is being made available during the plan period in a non-standard fashion.
If this option is selected, the 'Replicate Client Funding Period' feature is not available, and subsequent Funding Period records will need to be created and updated manually.
Funding Period Naming and Sequencing
When a new Funding Period record is created, the name of the record is automatically updated to reflect the Funding Component, Sequence Number and dates:
So this is easily identifiable when adding NDIS Funding as the Funding Source in Activities, and other places e.g:
Each Funding Period is automatically assigned a sequence number related to the selected Funding Component linked to the Funding Plan.
For example:
- The first Funding Period for a Funding Component is assigned FP1
- Subsequent replicated Funding Periods are sequentially numbered, e.g. FP2, FP3, FP4, etc., based on the Funding Period Length.
Change Sequence Number
If Funding Period records need to be deleted and recreated, sequence numbers can be manually edited if required by selecting 'Change' next to the 'Sequence Number' field in the record:
If additional Funding Periods are created or replicated for the same Funding Component within the same Funding Plan date range, SupportAbility will continue the sequence numbering from the last existing Funding Period of that type.
However, these can be manually edited as required, e.g. Improved Daily Living, separate budgets being added for Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy. In such a case, we would recommend adjusting the name manually to make it clear which budget it is, and using Tags to further identify this.
Replicate Funding Periods
When a PACE NDIS Direct Funding record is configured as a Funding Period record, the Plan Review option is replaced with a new Replicate Funding Period option.
This functionality allows you to replicate subsequent Funding Period records based on the selected Funding Period Length:
The Replication End Date is prepopulated based on the Funding Plan End Date; however, this can be edited as required:
Replication Rules
Replication follows these rules:
- The replication start date is the day after the initial Funding Period end date
- Subsequent Funding Periods use the same day of the month, where possible
- If that day does not exist in a given month, for example, the 31st, the closest valid date is used
- The replication end date is calculated as the replication start date plus the Funding Period Length, minus one day
Replication Limits
Up to 35 Funding Period records can currently be replicated in a single action.
This limit will be increased in a future release to better support 5-year NDIS Plans.
Important Notes
- Funding Plans define the overall date range for Funding Periods
- Funding Periods must fall within the associated Funding Plan dates
- Funding Components and Funding Period Lengths are used for categorisation and replication only
- These fields do not validate NDIS supports, categories, or allowable dates
What’s coming next?
Future releases will include:
- Funding Plans as fully standalone records
- The ability to create, edit, and delete Funding Periods directly from a Funding Plan
- Links between replicated Funding Periods and the original record
- Increased replication limits to support longer NDIS Plans
- Manual editing of replication dates where required
- Ability to search for Funding Period records and see which Funding Plan they're linked to