Beta now in progress: Work Types for Payroll

We’re pleased to share that the first iteration of Work Types for Payroll is now in Beta testing with selected providers, and is expected to be available for all providers very soon.

Work Types allow you to categorise Shifts to trigger the relevant payment conditions in your payroll system, for example, allowances, penalty rates, or kilometre reimbursements. Once enabled for your organisation, you’ll be able to:

• Configure Work Types in System Preferences, with the appropriate settings, the ability to mark them as active or inactive and assign an ‘Integrated System ID’ for payroll system mapping

• Assign Work Types to Shifts in Activities, with the ‘Not Paid’ checkbox automatically disabled once a Work Type is assigned

• See Work Types in the Timesheet Batch list results and the Detailed Timesheet Batch export, supporting providers using various payroll systems

• Send Work Types to Employment Hero via the Timesheet API integration, where they trigger the corresponding payment conditions configured in Employment Hero

• View and filter Work Types in the Staff Hours Report and the Activity Staff Report, with Work Types appearing in the on-screen results, search filters, and all exports

Once a Shift is part of an Activity that has been Signed Off, Work Types are locked from further editing.

Further communications will be sent when these updates (Work Types and the Employment Hero Timesheet API) are ready to launch for all providers, along with the accompanying learning material, noting that we will be running a User Group on Work Types very soon.

Client Incidents enhancements

This release introduces a number of long-awaited enhancements to Client Incidents, supporting more flexible reporting, better alignment with Journal locking, and greater consistency between the Web App and Mobile App workflows.

—

1. Client Incident locking aligned with Journal locking

A new ‘Lock Client Incidents after’ setting has been added in System Preferences, allowing providers to apply consistent locking rules across both Client Incidents and Journal records.

This setting is defaulted to 0 (never lock), so there is no change in behaviour for existing providers. Providers wanting to lock Client Incidents in line with their Journal locking can update this setting themselves at any time.

When a Client Incident is locked, the Incident record itself is locked from further edits, however Tags and Actions can still be added, updated, and progressed. This allows Actions to continue to be created and worked through after the Incident itself is locked.

The existing ‘Edit Locked Journals’ privilege now also applies to Client Incidents, so staff who already have this privilege (typically Team Leaders) will be able to edit locked Client Incidents in the same way they can edit locked Journals. No additional permissions configuration is required.

—

2. Client Incident Report now exports to CSV

The Client Incident Report can now be exported to CSV in addition to the existing PDF, enabling more flexible reporting and analysis of Client Incident data.

This allows organisations to:

• Pull Client Incident data into spreadsheets for custom reporting, sorting, and filtering

• Aggregate Client Incident information for board reports, NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission reporting, or internal review

• Combine Client Incident data with other data sources for trend analysis

The CSV export reflects the same filters applied to the on-screen report, so staff can target the export to a specific date range, Service, Incident Type, or other search criteria.

Please see the new Client Incident Report Export article for more information.

—

3. Mobile App: Client Incident creation (foundation)

This release also includes the foundational web app work to support creating Client Incidents and Client Incident Actions from the Mobile App.

The corresponding Mobile App update is scheduled for release early next week, at which point support workers will be able to:

• Create a Client Incident directly from a Journal record in the Mobile App

• Create Client Incident Actions from the Client Incident Actions tab in the Mobile App

We will share a separate update once the Mobile App release is live.

Client Documents filtering

The Documents tab of the Client record has new filtering options to help staff identify documents that need attention:

• Filter for documents with no Document Type assigned

• Filter by Compulsory Documents

A fix has also been applied to ensure the ‘Other’ Document Type option appears correctly in the filter.

Please see the Client Documents tab overview article for more information.

NDIS Billing Enhancements

This release introduces a number of enhancements to support NDIS billing accuracy, helping providers reduce claim rejections, prevent unintentional changes, and ensure Activities are correctly funded before sign-off.

—

1. Restricting NDIS Support Allocation editing

A long-requested feature, this release introduces the ability for providers to restrict editing of NDIS Support Allocations to staff with Activity management permissions.

This helps reduce the risk of unintentional changes to NDIS Support Allocations by support workers, supporting better data quality and reducing the risk of incorrect NDIS claims.

How it works

A new System Preference, ‘Restrict adding/editing NDIS Support Allocations to Staff who can manage Activities’, has been added under the Funding tab in System Preferences.

This setting:

• Defaults to off, so there is no change in behaviour for existing providers

• When enabled, it follows the same rules as who can edit Activities, including respecting the existing ‘Only Team Leaders can edit Activities’ Site/Service setting

• Correctly handles staff who are a Team Leader on one Site/Service but a support worker on another, applying the right permission for each context

What support workers will see when this setting is enabled

Support workers who don’t have Activity management permissions will still be able to view existing NDIS Support Allocations, including allocated quantities and entered data, however the allocation fields and the search lookup will be greyed out and non-interactive. They will not be able to add new allocations.

This ensures support workers retain visibility of what has been allocated for the participants they support, without being able to make changes.

—

2. NDIS Support Item Day/Time Validation Warnings

A new validation has been introduced to help prevent NDIS claim rejections caused by Support Items being recorded against Activities that don’t match the Support Item’s eligible day or time of day.

When an allocated Support Item’s day/time type (for example, Weekday Daytime, Weekday Evening, Saturday, Sunday, or Public Holiday) does not match the Activity date and time, a warning is now displayed in:

• The NDIS Support Allocation modal, in real time as Support Items are selected

• The Activity page itself, so staff are alerted before sign-off

A backend validator also stores a flag against affected Support Allocations, supporting future reporting and follow-up.

This is the first phase of NDIS Support Item Day/Time Validation, with further refinements planned in future releases.

—

3. Activity Sign Off safeguards

Two new safeguards have been added at Activity Sign Off to support NDIS billing accuracy.

a) Sign Off blocked when NDIS Support Items haven’t been allocated

Activity Sign Off is now blocked when NDIS Funding is selected as the Funding Source, but no Support Items have been allocated. This ensures that Activities are not signed off without the required Support Item information for NDIS billing.

b) Warning when Billable (No Funding) is selected for a participant with active NDIS Funding

A new amber warning is now displayed inline under Funding Source when Billable (No Funding) is selected for a participant who has an active NDIS Funding record. A matching warning appears at Activity Sign Off, helping staff identify Activities where the Funding Source may need review before sign-off.

—

4. Other NDIS billing improvements

A few additional refinements have been made to the NDIS billing workflow:

• Activity start and end time now display next to the Activity date in the NDIS Support Allocation modal, providing a clearer context when allocating Support Items.

• Activity replication now selects the correct Funding Period when a Client has multiple Funding Periods with different components, ensuring replicated Activities reference the appropriate Funding Period.

• The linked Funding Plan name is now included at the end of the Client Funding Search and NDIS Budget Utilisation Report exports.

Funding Period record enhancements

Building on the Replicate Funding Periods feature introduced in v9.7, further enhancements have been made to provide greater flexibility and transparency when creating subsequent Funding Period records linked to a Funding Plan.

—

1. Manually adjust dates before confirming replication

It is now possible to manually adjust the Start and End dates of proposed Funding Period replications before confirming, removing the need to edit individual records after the fact.

This is particularly useful when a Funding Period commences at the end of a ‘long’ month, for example, the 31st of December, where the default calculation may otherwise produce dates that don’t align with the participant’s plan.

If your manual edits result in any gaps or overlaps between Funding Period records, an amber warning will be displayed. You can still proceed if required.

—

2. Replication details are now visible on each Funding Period record

Each replicated Funding Period record now displays its Replication Details, including:

• Which record in the replicated set it is, e.g. 4 of 12

• The Staff Member who created it

• The date and time it was created

• A link to the original Funding Period record from which it was replicated

• Whether the dates were manually adjusted as part of the replication

This provides a clear audit trail of how each Funding Period record was created.

—

3. Deleting Funding Periods linked to Activities

In addition to the above, there are times when a Funding Period record needs to be deleted, for example, following a plan reassessment, but the record is linked to NDIS Support Allocations in existing Activities. Previously, this prevented the Funding Period record from being deleted.

Now, when you confirm you wish to proceed with the deletion, SupportAbility will:

• Remove any NDIS Support Allocations in Activities that have not been Signed Off or have an associated Client Support Log linked to the Funding Period record

• Revert the Funding Source on the affected Activities to Billable (No Funding)

This allows the Funding Period record to be deleted as required, while preserving the integrity of any Activities that have already been Signed Off or claimed against.

—

Please see the Managing Funding Plans and Client Funding Periods article for more information.

Agreed Hours in the Timeline view

Team Leaders and rostering teams can now see each Staff Member’s Agreed Hours directly in the Timeline view of the Roster.

This provides a real-time snapshot of a Staff Member’s total rostered hours within their agreed period (Week or Fortnight, based on your organisation’s configured Pay Period), making it easier to identify available capacity and assess potential overtime risk while building or adjusting the roster, without needing to navigate away from the Timeline view.

A new icon appears next to Agreed Hours, with hover text that provides additional context.

Please see the New Roster View and Planning Tool article for more information.

Redesigned Staff Hours Report

The Staff Hours Report has been redesigned, providing a refreshed on-screen layout, updated search filters, and an improved print layout.

The redesigned screen also lays the foundation for Work Types to be included in the on-screen results, search filters, and export, which will be available once beta testing is complete and this is released to all providers.

Please see the Staff Hours Report article for more information.

Client Documents

The Documents tab of the Client record now displays an ‘unable to preview’ icon for uploaded files that cannot be previewed inline.

This makes it clear at a glance which files need to be downloaded to view.