Release Notes

Several enhancements have been released in SupportAbility v8.2 designed to help providers manage their Clients’ NDIS Funding while their NDIS plans gradually transition to the new ‘my NDIS provider portal’ – PACE.

These enhancements include: 

• An additional ‘PACE’ setting for new NDIS Client Funding records – once a participant’s NDIS Plan has been transitioned to the new portal, a new NDIS Funding record must be created in SupportAbility to select this new setting.
  Once selected, the new Support Categories can be added as needed, and Support Items are mapped to the correct Support Category accordingly.
  For example, the Assistance in Supported Independent Living Support Item 01_801_0115_1_1 that used to belong to Category 1 is now part of the new Support Category 16, Home and Living.

• Addition of the new Support Categories – in PACE Client Funding records, NDIS Support Allocations, Budget Utilisation, reports, etc.

• Mapping of the relevant Support Items to the new Support Categories – as above.

• ‘PACE’ option in the Generate Direct Bulk Payment Request (BPR) search criteria – this allows your organisation to create separate BPRs related to PACE Funding as required, given there may be longer processing times for any claims awaiting verification based on your organisation’s ‘my provider’ status.

• Addition of ‘Open’ Claim Status in BPRs – for any claims awaiting verification.

• Enhanced ability to upload a subsequent Bulk Payment Result File (BPRF) – to update the Claim Status of any ‘Open’ claims.

• Various updates to reports and exports

We recommend reviewing the brand-new article below for more details and examples of the above changes:

• SupportAbility updates to align with the new my NDIS provider portal – PACE

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Important – This functionality has been developed based on the public information made available by the NDIA in the lead-up to the start of the rollout (i.e. 30th October 2023). However, we acknowledge that due to the complexities involved in such large-scale change that the NDIS is undergoing, there may be additional considerations that need to be reviewed once participants’ NDIS plans start to transition.

With this in mind, we are keen to hear from providers as they start to navigate their way through this process. This feedback will help to inform any further enhancements that may be required in SupportAbility to help manage this transition more effectively.

Swipe gestures have been introduced in the SupportAbility Mobile App to update Journal Actions.

Please see the Swipe gestures to complete Journal Actions section of the SupportAbility Mobile App overview article for more information.

When searching for NDIS Supports in the NDIS Support Allocations window in the Activity record, the search results have been updated to list the available Support Items for the Client first, ahead of unavailable Support Items.

Confirmation of your current password is now required when Reset Password is selected in ‘My Staff Account’.

N.B. If you have forgotten your password, it is recommended to log out and select the ‘Forgot Your Password?’ link to reset this.

Update to the minimum supported web browser versions required to run SupportAbility optimally:

• Chrome – 100 (April 2022)
• Microsoft Edge – 102 (May 2022)
• Firefox – 102 (June 2022)
• Safari – 15 (September 2021)
• Safari (for iOS on iPad) – 15 (September 2021)

Please see the Supported web browsers and troubleshooting browser-related issues article for more information.

When a staff member has changed their password in ‘My Staff Account’ in the SupportAbility Web App, an email is now sent to their work email address advising of this change as an added security measure.

‘Registered to Vote’– Yes/No has been added to the end of the ‘Client List’ and ‘Client List including Personal Contacts’ exports.

These exports are available to download from the Actions menu in the Client Search list results.

A Client’s Support Needs are now available to view in the Status tab of the Client record on the SupportAbility Mobile App.

A Client information summary is now available to view in the Activity Clients tab on the SupportAbility Mobile App.

This summary can be viewed by selecting the Client’s name, allowing you to open the full Client record as needed.

Please see the Client information summary from the Activity Clients tab section of the SupportAbility Mobile App overview article for more information.

SupportAbility Mobile App v1.0.0 – now available in the Apple App Store

We are pleased to announce that the SupportAbility Mobile App is now also available to download from the Apple App Store!

Whenever any information is entered or recorded in the Mobile App, this integrates with your organisation’s SupportAbility installation (Web App) instantaneously and is available to view immediately.

For more information and a preview of the available functionality, we recommend reviewing the following articles, as these include examples and screenshots:

• SupportAbility Mobile App overview
• How to Check In/Out and Record kms using the Mobile App

SupportAbility Mobile App v1.0.0

We are very excited to announce that the SupportAbility Mobile App is now available to download from the Google Play Store!

IMPORTANT – This is not yet available to download from the Apple App Store, and we are working with Apple to resolve this ASAP. As soon as this is available in the Apple App Store, a new notification message and release notes will be published to confirm this.

Whenever any information is entered or recorded in the Mobile App, this integrates with your organisation’s SupportAbility installation (Web App) instantaneously and is available to view immediately.

Summary of features

The first version of the SupportAbility Mobile App includes the ability to:

• Security
  • Log in securely
  • Set and use PIN code security when accessing the app after the first login
  • Reset your password as required via Settings
• Home screen
  • Navigate to your next shift from the Home screen
  • View assigned Journal Actions from the Home screen
• View Client information 
  • View the list of Clients you have access to
  • Initiate calls and/or SMS’ to Clients/Client Contacts
  • View Client Details and Warnings
  • View Client Status tab information
  • View Client Contacts
  • View and/or add Client Journals and Journal Actions
    • N.B. The ability to link Client Goals/Goal Strategies to Client Journals and add Goal Progress Assessments is not yet available and is expected in a future release
• View your Roster
  • View Activity information via the Roster
  • Mark a Client as Absent and add the relevant Short Notice Cancellation Reason where required
  • Add/edit Non-Replicating Staff Notes in Activities
  • View and/or add Client Journals from the Client tab in the Activity record
  • Check In and Out of shifts (off by default and configurable by Service in the Web App, available in the Mobile App only)
  • Record kms in the Staff tab of the Activity record (off by default and configurable by Service in the Web App)

Functionality overview

For more information and a preview of the available functionality, we recommend reviewing the following articles, as these include examples and screenshots:

• SupportAbility Mobile App overview
• How to Check In/Out and Record kms using the Mobile App

New configuration options for each Service

The ability to configure the following for each Service in System Preferences in the Web App is now available:

• Mobile App – Check In/Out
  • Record Time, or
  • Record Time and Location
• Mobile App – Record kms

Please see the Configuring Mobile App Check In/Out and Record kms by Service article for more information.

View Mobile App Check In/Out and Recorded kms in the Web App

When the SupportAbility Mobile App is used to Check In/Out of shifts and/or Record kms, this data is displayed in the Staff section of the Activity record by way of a coloured status flag – green, amber or red, based on the difference in time/kms from the rostered to the actual.

Staff Members can see the status flags for their own shifts/kms, and Staff Members with access to the Activity and the Team Leader privilege can see the status flags for all Staff shifts/kms.

Status flags can be selected to view the Check In/Out and Recorded Kms data and synchronise this in the Web App where necessary, e.g. Recorded kms for reimbursement. Synchronising this overrides the original Staff shift time (essentially customising the shift time) or the Private/Company kms fields.

Please see the Viewing Mobile App Check In/Out data and Recorded kms in the Web App article for more information. 

• 1 Support Item has been added
  • 01_663_0118_1_3 – Assessment Recommendation Therapy or Training – EC – Podiatrist
• 167 Support Items have been removed
  • These Support Items were all Legacy Items in the last Price Guide, and their usage is minimal, with the main Support Items currently Allocated in Activities after July 1st, 2023, as follows:
    • 01_300_0104_1_1_T
    • 04_300_0104_1_1_T
    • 04_304_0104_1_1_T
    • 04_500_0104_1_1 If your organisation uses either of these Supports, we recommend using the Allocations Report to locate Activities they are used in that fall after the 1st of July, 2023 and replace these with the relevant equivalent.
• 394 Support Items have changed prices (including the TTP equivalent Support Items)
  • 386 Support Items have had a price increase (including the TTP equivalent Support Items)
  • 4 Support Items have had the NT/SA/TAS/WA price decreased to align with the ACT/NSW/QLD/VIC price of $193.99
  • 1 Notional Unit Price Support Item has had a price decrease to $1 to align with the Notional Unit Price
    • 02_051_0108_1_1 – Transport
  • 4 Support Items now have a Price Limit of $0, but are not Quotable – we have made these Quotable in SupportAbility so a custom price can be added so they can be utilised
• 65 Support Items have changed names
• 1 Support Item is now Legacy

All Transitional Community and Centre Based Group NDIS Support Allocations have been updated regarding the new valid until date, i.e. Valid until December 31st, 2023.

Please see the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limit Updates – 2022/23 article for more information regarding this.

The upgrade to SupportAbility v7.28 introduces some layout changes to the Staff section of the Activity record ahead of the upcoming release of the SupportAbility Mobile App later this year. It is important to note that no changes have been made to the existing functionality, only the design. These changes include:

• Edit Staff button – a new ‘Edit Staff’ button has replaced the previous ‘Change’ button to edit the Staff Member in the shift to better align with other areas of SupportAbility.
• Working-From-To-Time – now displays the day of the week with three letters, e.g. Tue. The time of the Staff shift is now always displayed, regardless of whether or not the shift has been customised.
• Availability Issues – are now displayed as a red inline warning message, when applicable, under the Staff Member’s name instead of as a ‘Clash’. This message can be selected to view the detail of the Availability Warning as required.
• Kilometers – the fields for Private and Company have moved and are now displayed further to the left. The Company Kilometers field is now always displayed, whereas this was previously hidden by default and was only accessible when the ‘Non-NDIS Chargeable Hrs’ section was expanded.
• Non-NDIS Chargeable Hrs – now includes a sub-total for each Client to display the total number of hours entered for each Client. N.B. this relates to Non-NDIS Billing only and specifically to providers that use the Non-NDIS Rate Card functionality.
• Totals – the Totals row in the Staff section has been updated to encompass one row instead of two. The Totals for Kilometers and Non-NDIS Chargeable Hrs now appear in their respective columns.
• To Be Filled – a minor change has been made to the layout of these shifts, i.e. the colour displayed to reflect the ‘To Be Filled’ status has been minimised. 

All Transitional Community and Centre Based Group NDIS Support Allocations now display a blue message regarding their valid until date, i.e. Valid until June 30th, 2023.

For providers that utilise these Supports but are yet to have transitioned to the New Approach, we recommend reviewing the following guide designed to assist with this:

• Transitioning to the New Approach for Community and Centre Based Group NDIS Supports

• 2:9
• 3:4

The 2022/23 NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits – effective 1 October 2022, has been added to SupportAbility and is now in use in Activities & External Invoices for services delivered on or after October 1st, 2022.

N.B. The only exception is where the Activity Sign Off has already been completed, or a Client’s Price Guide Transition settings are configured to not utilise the latest Price Guide in Activities.

Please see the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limit Updates – 2022/23 article for more information.

Additional data has been added to the end of the Activity Staff Report export:

• Includes Break – Yes/No
• Not Paid – Yes/No
• Non-Replicating Staff Notes
• Replicating Staff Notes

Please see the Activity Staff Report article for more information regarding this.

When a photo has not been uploaded for a Client in the Client Details tab, this is now labelled ‘Upload Photo’ (instead of ‘Upload File’) and is accompanied by an empty profile picture icon.

When a Support Item that can be invoiced or claimed as a Short Notice Cancellation is added for an Absent Client in Finance Edit Mode, the Cancellation Reason of ‘Other’ is utilised by default and cannot be changed.

Therefore, it is recommended any Supports that need to be invoiced or claimed as a Short Notice Cancellation are added prior to Activity Sign Off, to ensure the applicable Cancellation Reason can be selected.

Fix to ensure the relevant AIR Incident and OFI records are again displayed on the Dashboard for Staff with Team Leader privileges for specific Sites and Services.

Fix to ensure incomplete AIR Incident and OFI records are sorted from newest to oldest on the Dashboard for those with the required privileges to view these.

For added security, several changes have been made to Uploading Documents in SupportAbility:

• A whitelist of acceptable file extensions has been added
• If the file name contains specific special characters, these will now be removed from the file name displayed upon upload
• The file name for a Document is limited to 150 characters
• The size of uploaded Documents is limited to 2GB

Please see the Uploading Documents article for more information and details about these updates.

Client Documents can now be linked to Routines in the Status tab.

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

Fix to ensure the Activity record is now saved when a Client Journal is added to preserve any changes.

Fix to ensure the Client Incident Report is accessible to all users in the Print menu of a Client record.

Fix to ensure the correct end date for Legacy Supports is displayed in NDIS Support Allocations as per the NDIS Support Catalogue.

Updates to the ‘Financials’ section of the Shared Contact record.

To better explain its function, the wording of the ‘Financial Plan Manager’ setting has been updated to ‘Debtor for Non-NDIS Invoices’.

Any Shared Contacts with this setting ticked are available to select from as the ‘Debtor for Invoices’ when adding or updating Non-NDIS Client Funding records.

The Shared Contacts Search has also been updated to reflect this.

Additional Portions are now available to select from for the relevant NDIS Support Allocations:

• 2:7
• 3:7
• 3:8

When adding Client Assessments, Client Assessment Scores can now be cleared if the wrong value is selected.

This is achieved by selecting the new cross icon on the right-hand side of the Assessment Scores.

New additions to the Allocations Report.

Two new search criteria have been added to the Client Supports section of this report – ‘Absent’ and ‘No Charge’.

This data has always been included in the Allocations Report export and is now available as additional search criteria.

• Absent – allows you to search for Allocations associated with Clients who have been marked as ‘Absent’ in Activities or those who are ‘Not Absent’
• No Charge – allows you to search for Allocations associated with Clients who have been marked as ‘No Charge’, or those who have not by selecting ‘Charge’

There are many use cases for these new search criteria. These new options can be used together or independently, allowing you to search for or omit Allocations by each status.

For example, if you only want to report on billable Allocations, selecting ‘Charge’ will ensure the results returned do not include any Allocations for Clients marked as ‘No Charge’ in the Activity.

Please see the Allocations Report article for more information.

The Add Direct Client Funding process has been updated and now includes an additional step in order to add the record:

• ‘Default Financial Plan Manager’ is now required for NDIS Funding records
• ‘Debtor for Invoices’ is now required for Non-NDIS Funding records

For more information, please see the new How to add a Direct Client Funding record article.

New additions to the Document Search.

Documents for a specific Client or Staff Member can now be located using the new single select search criteria.

For example, to review all of the NDIS Plans uploaded over time for our Client Tim, select Tim using the new Client search criterion and the relevant Document Type to achieve this.

Please see the Document Search article for more information.

• Most Support Items have an increased price
• Many Support Items have had a name change
• 17 Support Items have been added
• 48 Support Items have been removed (only some of which are now Legacy Supports)
• 36 Support Items are now Legacy Support Items
• 4 Support Items have updated Claim Types
• 2 Support Items are now Notional Support Items

A new filter ‘MFA Status’ has been added to the Staff Account Search, viewable by Staff with access to this search and the ‘Edit User Accounts’ privilege. MFA Status has been added to the end of the Staff Accounts Search export also.

Please see the Staff Accounts Search article for more information.

The ‘Current Date‘ has been removed from the header row in SupportAbility to minimise the data displayed here.

A ‘Return to Finance’ button has been reintroduced on the Direct Invoice Batch List page.

• Activity ID has been added to the Detailed Time Sheet Batch export
• Client ID has been added to the Activity Client Report export
• Funding Record Creation Date has been added to the Client Funding Search and NDIS Budget Utilisation Report exports

More than one Invoice Batch can no longer be generated at the same time to avoid duplicate Invoice Numbers e.g. in the case where multiple Staff are generating batches, or when this process is being run in multiple tabs.

If another user is currently in the process of generating a Direct Invoice Batch, a red validation message is now displayed at the top of the screen and it will not be possible to generate the batch at the same time.

We recommend trying the process again shortly, as this will be possible once the batch in progress has been generated.

Please see the following articles for more information:

• Generating a Direct Invoice Batch
• Generating a Direct Invoice Batch for NDIA Invoices

An additional Direct Invoice Batch export is now available from the Actions menu.

The ‘Direct Invoice Batch in BPR Format‘ export lists each Invoice Item in the same manner as the Bulk Payment Request (BPR).

It is designed to provide to Plan Managers, in addition to Accounts Receivable Invoices, to assist them in claiming these Supports from the myplace provider portal.

In order to utilise this new export effectively, we recommend creating separate Invoice Batches for each Plan Manager as no identifiable debtor information is included in the export.

Please see the Direct Invoice Batch in BPR Format article for more information.

Product Discovery is a process designed to help SupportAbility better understand our customers’ operations, challenges and requirements.

We use the information and feedback gathered in this process to ensure the development completed for the SupportAbility product has the most positive impact on providers.

A new option is now available in System Preferences for providers to opt in to participate in Product Discovery. Agreeing to participate in this process authorises SupportAbility to send Staff short 1-2 question email surveys on occasion, to gather feedback on new features.

It is important to note that if your organisation agrees to participate that individual Staff can opt out from participating at any time via My Staff Account.

We strongly encourage all providers to participate to help ensure that the functionality developed helps meet your business needs and adds value to your SupportAbility subscription.

Please see the following articles for more information:

• Continuous Product Discovery for the Evolution of SupportAbility
• How to participate in Product Discovery
• How to opt-out of participating in Product Discovery

Providers now have the option to improve the security when Staff log into SupportAbility by utilising Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

MFA is blocked by default and can be configured by your organisation in System Preferences when you are ready to utilise this.

Setting up MFA in SupportAbility is comprised of; configuring MFA for your organisation in System Preferences, each Staff Member activating MFA individually using an Authenticator App and then passing the MFA step periodically when logging into SupportAbility.

Once a plan to transition to MFA is determined and has been communicated to Staff, including which Authenticator App will be used and instructions about setting this up, it is recommended to transition to MFA by configuring your MFA Status as ‘Optional’ to begin with.

If your organisation plans to mandate MFA for all Staff logging into SupportAbility, when the majority of Staff have activated MFA, the configuration of your MFA Status can be updated to ‘Enforced’.

Following MFA being configured in System Preferences, MFA is activated individually by each Staff Member using an Authenticator App.

Once activated, Staff will be required to enter an MFA code periodically, in order to access SupportAbility as part of the log-in process.

We recommend reviewing the following articles regarding this:

• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) in SupportAbility
• How to configure and transition to using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
• How to activate Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for your Staff Account
• How to log in to SupportAbility once Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) has been activated in your Staff Account

The 2021/22 NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits – effective 19 April 2022, has been added to SupportAbility.

N.B. These changes have been included as an update to the current January 2022 Price Guide, rather than a completely new Price Guide.

This is the case as the changes included in the updated NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits are minimal.

The two new SIL Supports have been added, along with a blue message advising they are valid from the 19th of April, 2022:

• 01_821_0115_1_1 Assistance in Supported independent Living – Weekly
• 01_822_0115_1_1 Assistance in Supported independent Living – Unplanned Exits

Please see the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limit Updates – 2021/2022 article for more information regarding this.

Shared Activity Costs have been decommissioned in this upgrade, as this outdated functionality was only being used by a handful of providers infrequently.

Staff may notice that the Activity record looks slightly different too, as the ‘Shared Activity Costs’ section was positioned below the ‘Replication’ section in the Activity record and this is now empty.

The ‘Apply GST to Activity Costs’ setting is now positioned in the Activity Details section and a single ‘Activity Costs Funded By’ drop-down is now available in the Clients section of the Activity record.

If Shared Activity Costs were in use prior to this upgrade, they will continue to be displayed in Signed Off Activities only, and Invoices for these Shared Activity Costs can continue to be generated as required.

Individual Activity Costs can continue to be utilised in the Clients section of the Activity record and may be used in lieu of Shared Activity Costs.

Please see the Activity Costs article for more information regarding this.

• the Day of the Week is now included next to the date
• fix to ensure the Activity Description populates under ‘Activity’
• fix to ensure ‘Program’ populates when Activity Programs are in use

Fix to ensure the Actions menu functions as expected in various areas in the Finance menu e.g. Invoice Batch List and Invoice List.

Fix to ensure all compulsory documents are appearing in the Document Search results when ‘All compulsory documents’ is selected as the Document Type.

Budget Utilisation information is now displayed in Hours by default when an NDIS Direct Client Funding record includes Support Item Budgets for Supports with an Hourly Unit of Measure.

An option is available to configure how you wish to view this information in the Utilisation tab of the relevant NDIS Direct Client Funding records. Once set, SupportAbility will remember your preference when viewing Budget Utilisation for all Clients.

Please see the new View NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation in Hours or Dollars article for more information regarding this new feature.

• The minimum information required to create a new Journal (i.e. Site/Service, Date, Title, Journal Type and Notes) is now entered in the ‘Add Journal’ window
• Layout changes to Client Journal Details – Journal Type, Title and Notes moved to the left and Tags, Client Documents and Client Assessments moved to the right
• Other sections of the Client Journal record have been reordered, Goals is now listed first, followed by Actions, then Standards
• Client Incidents can now be added from the Client Journal record
• Linking Client Goals and Goal Strategies to Client Journals has been updated to a one-step process
• Updated design of Client Journal Actions, including ‘Status’ and ‘Completed By’ information
• Updated design of Journal Action Prompt notifications and locked Journals
• Unsaved page alerts appear if changes have been made when attempting to navigate away from the page
• Updated Journal configuration options in System Preferences – New Default Journal Type setting options for Journals created from the Activity record, Staff record or Shared Contact record, and Journal Action Prompts can be configured per Journal Type as required

• How to create or edit a Client Journal (case note)
• Configuring Journals

The NDIS Practice Standards have been updated in SupportAbility to align with changes introduced on 15 November 2021, as published on the NDIS Commission website.

Three new NDIS Practice Standards have been introduced, as well as new and amended Quality Indicators related to those Standards.

Please see the Standards in SupportAbility article for more information.

The maximum number of Allocations that can be included in a Direct Bulk Payment Request (BPR) has been increased from 2000 to 3000.

It is important to note that when Generating BPR’s of this size, longer loading times are to be expected.

Please see the Generating an NDIS Direct Bulk Payment Request (BPR) article for more information.

An update has been applied to the Quick Search recently to address performance issues.

At least two characters must now be entered for a list of results to appear and the results are limited to 250 records per entity type e.g. Clients, Shared Contacts or Staff records.

Typing one character alone is no longer responsive given this was causing performance issues due to too many results.

Please see the How to use the Quick Search to find specific records article for more information.

Upcoming update – Shared Activity Costs decommissioned

Shared Activity Costs are Non-NDIS amortised chargeable items and were designed as part of the first release of SupportAbility over a decade ago.

In recent times, this functionality is only used by a handful of providers and is used in less than 0.1% of Activities.

In our efforts to simplify SupportAbility, and in this case the Activity Edit screen and billing functions, this legacy functionality is set to be decommissioned in the next SupportAbility upgrade (date TBC at this stage).

Further communications regarding this will be sent to providers who have Invoiced for Shared Activity Costs in the past year.

Please see the SupportAbility Roadmap article for more information regarding this.

The 2021/22 NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits – effective 1 March 2022, has been added to SupportAbility.

N.B. These changes have been included as an update to the current January 2022 Price Guide, rather than a completely new Price Guide.

This is the case as the changes included in the updated NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits are minimal and do not affect Support Items that are commonly utilised in SupportAbility.

Please see the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limit Updates – 2021/2022 article for more information regarding this.

A new Dashboard Broadcast Message feature is now available, allowing providers to broadcast messages to all Staff Members on the Dashboard.

Broadcast Messages can be configured by Staff Members with access to System Preferences to appear in either Blue, Amber or Red and to include a hyperlink to any relevant documentation as required.

Please see the How to configure a Dashboard Broadcast Message for all Staff article for more information.

With the recent introduction of ‘subscription services’ in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2021 – 2022 effective January 2022, an update related to this has been made in the Generate Direct BPR process in SupportAbility.

This update ensures that the Activity ‘To’ Date is no longer limited to today’s date, thus allowing a future date to be selected, if required.

We are very interested to hear from providers who deliver subscription services to their participants so we may better understand this new option. We welcome feedback regarding this to support@supportability.com.au and give many thanks in advance for any insight that can be provided regarding this.

NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings are now visible after Activity Sign Off for up to one month from the Activity Date, before being hidden.

Please see the NDIS Direct Budget Utilisation Warnings article for more information.

A fix to ensure that Finance Edit Mode is now available for NDIS Support Allocations or Activity Costs associated with Pending Invoices has been applied.

Finance Edit Mode was previously being blocked when associated Invoices were being in the process of being generated.

Please see the How to correct NDIS Support Allocations after Activity Sign Off in Finance Edit Mode (edit, delete and/or add) article for more information.

The Client Assessments tab has been modernised.

Pagination has been added to this tab to assist in addressing performance issues when a large number of Client Assessments exist.

This means that Client Assessments are now spread across multiple pages within this section of the tab, allowing for easier navigation of this data.

A new ‘Active’ Search Criteria option has been added to the Personal Contact Search Report.

This has been added now that Personal Contacts can be made Inactive in the Client Contacts tab when necessary.

Please see the following articles for more information:

• Personal Contact Search Report
• How to add or update Personal Contacts and link Shared Client Contacts in the Client Contacts tab

When saving changes made to the Client Status tab, SupportAbility now detects if five or more fields are empty.

An alert is provided upon attempting to save the record, in case this change may not have been intentional.

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

A fix has been applied to the ‘Show Dashboard for’ filter to ensure this is now only showing Dashboard notifications related to the selected Staff Member.

• Chrome – 90
• Safari – 14
• Internet Explorer: Not Supported
• Edge- 89
• Firefox – 87

The order of the ‘Overall Utilisation‘ columns has been updated in the Utilisation tab of NDIS Client Funding records and the NDIS Budget Utilisation Report.

These columns are now ordered as follows:

• Budget
• Claiming
• Used
• Planned
• Total Allocated

This change has been made so that Planned expenditure is listed after Used, as Planned expenditure reflects Allocations in Activities that are not yet Signed Off and is generally related to future-dated Activities.

The 2021/22 NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits – effective 1 January 2022, has been added to SupportAbility and is now in use in Activities & External Invoices for services delivered on or after January 1st, 2022. N.B. The only exception to this is where a Client’s Price Guide Transition settings are configured not to utilise the latest Price Guide in Activities. For Supports already allocated to Activities (dated from 1 January 2022 onwards), performing a Save or Sign Off to the Activity will automatically update the associated rates. For Supports already allocated to Signed Off Activities, and where no billing assets have been generated (i.e. Invoices or Bulk Payment Requests), simply open the NDIS Support Allocations window in Finance Edit Mode and select ‘Save NDIS Support Allocations’. The prices will update once saved. Please see the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limit Updates – 2021/22 article for more information regarding this. Can our organisation expect Client Funding records to be updated? It is important to note that whilst the new Price Guide will be used in Activities for services delivered on or after January 1st, 2022, the pricing of Support Items in NDIS Client Funding records is not updated when a new Price Guide is introduced. The Price Limit listed for Support Items in a Client’s NDIS Direct Funding record is based on when the record was initially created. The ‘Price Guide Transition’ settings are used to determine which Price Guide is used in the Activities the Client participates in and by default, are set to use the latest Price Guide ‘As soon as available’. Please see the NDIS Price Guide Transition article for more information regarding this.

Greater billing flexibility after Activity Sign Off

NDIS Support Allocations can now be duplicated

Allocations processed for Retry that are yet to be included in a subsequent BPR or Invoice Batch (in the specific case where the Client’s FPM is updated) can now be Cancelled if required.

Please see the BPR Rejection Action – Retry article for more information.

When Generating Direct Invoice Batches, the selected Search Criteria is now retained as long as the Staff Member is logged in.

The ‘Return to Invoice Batch List’ button has been re-introduced on the Edit Direct Invoice Batch List page.

To assist with payroll, Staff Clashes are displayed again after Activity Sign Off in the Staff section of the Activity record and in various reports

Fix to ensure that the details of Staff Clashes are hidden again by default when creating Activities.

When a Client Support Log is completed via Digital Signature, the ‘Support Log Allocations’ are listed in the Support Log Information window based on the NDIS Support Allocations in place at the time this was completed.

If changes have been made to the Client’s NDIS Support Allocations in Finance Edit Mode, ‘Current Allocations’ will be displayed in addition to ‘Support Log Allocations’ to highlight any differences.

An informational message has been added to the Rate Card tab in System Preferences, explaining this is for Non-NDIS billing only and that this functionality is due to be decommissioned

Updates have been made to the Client Warning Report to address time-out errors when a large number of Client records exist

A new ‘Immunisation: Type’ List is now available in System Preferences. The Immunisation: Type List is utilised when adding Immunisation records to Staff and Client records.

A set of options is available by default, however, this List can be configured based on your organisation’s requirements and preferences.

Please see the Configuring Lists article for more information.

Immunisation records can now be added to:

• the ‘Status’ tab of Client records,
• and a new ‘Medical’ tab in Staff Accounts, accessible by Staff Members with “Human Resources” and/or “Team Leader” privileges

A new “Activity Immunisation Summary” print report is available from the Print menu in the Activity record.

Due to the new Immunisation section addition, three options in the ‘Disabilities Summary & Medical Information’ section in the Client Status tab have been removed.

Fix to ensure Invoice Items are listed chronologically in each Direct Invoice Batch export.

A new feature is now available to place a Client”s Funding record ‘On Billing Hold‘.

Updates and additions to the Detailed BPR Report export

Fix to ensure that only Active Staff Members are included in the Staff Privileges Report exports.

A Notes field is now available in the Edit Direct Invoices record.

Two new Document Types have been added to the Documents tab of System Preferences for all providers:

Client print report updates

Internal framework and infrastructure upgrades.

Fix to ensure Staff Availability Exception Search results include all Leave Exceptions encompassing dates that occur within the selected Date Range period.

Fix to ensure Invoice Items are sorted by chronological order again

Fix to ensure Private and Shared Notes fields in My Staff Account and/or the Staff Availability tab auto-expand when notes are entered.

The Generate Direct Invoice Batch process has been modernised and is now similar to the Generate Direct BPR process.

Updates to the Activity Client Report export

Upcoming update – Detailed BPR Report export

Solutions to assist providers in managing Notional Unit Price Support Items are now available

A setting is available in the Funding tab of System Preferences, for providers to set a default Price for Travel and Transport NDIS Supports.

The Staff Availability Exceptions Search, available from the Reports menu, has been modernised

Updates to the Allocations Report

A quick search filter has been added to steps two and three in the Add a new Activity process to assist when adding Staff and Clients. Please see the How to create an Activity article for more information.

The Journal Search has been modernised and now includes subsections to better organise the search criteria, as well as multi-select options.

The Contacts Search has been modernised and now includes subsections to better organise the search criteria, as well as multi-select options.

The look and feel of the Reports menu has changed to align with the Finance menu. The Reports menu has been updated to better organise the available reports, searches and exports by section and subsection.

New additions to the data included in the Allocations Report export

The duplicate replication settings have been removed from the Related Activities tab in the Activity record

Additional features to assist providers with greater billing flexibility, to align financial data in SupportAbility, with the finance system when changes have been made

A ‘Company ABN’ field has been added to the Settings tab in System Preferences for all providers.

An issue with the Filter Allocation search bar in the Generate and Edit Direct BPR screens has been fixed, to ensure the list is filtered by Funding Name correctly when entered.

Bug fix to ensure Invoices for Billable Activity Costs are included in the search results when using the Billable Funding Type filter in the Generate Direct Invoice Batch process

Minor changes to the Client Support Log – Digital Signature feature

New additions to the Allocations Report