News

FOFMS Enhancement Release 2

FOFMS Enhancement Release 2 was released on 29 January 2007. This latest Release contains a suite of functions, featuring a new home page, which will help you manage and monitor your caseload more effectively within the parameters of the DEA Programme Procedures.

New FOFMS Home Page
The new home page has been redesigned to provide case managers with more information to assist them with case management. A snapshot of the new home page is set out below.

As well as New Activities, you will notice there are three new headings:

DMI Assessment Requiring Authorisation

This section will display a list of up to seven cases which remain in a status of 'Started' or 'Returned from Suspension' with a DMI Assessment / Re-assessment in a status of 'Completed' but not authorised. The cases displayed will be in date order with those awaiting authorisation for the greatest period of time appearing at the top.

Overdue DMI Re-assessment

Under this section you will be provided a list of up to seven cases, which have a status of 'Started' or 'Returned from Suspension' with a DMI re-assessment that is over the due date. The cases displayed will be in date order with those overdue the longest appearing at the top.

Upcoming DMI Reassessment

This section will provide you with a list of up to seven cases in a status of 'Started' or 'Returned from Suspension' with a DMI re-assessment due within the next sixty days. Cases displayed will be in date order with those with the shortest time until it is due for re-assessment appearing at the top. This information will appear on the case manager's home page so it is important that case manager records on FOFMS are kept up to date.

Introduction of 13 Week DMI Assessment Rule

During the audit and compliance pilot conducted earlier this year there were a number of instances noted of service providers authorising DMI assessments without allowing sufficient time of 13 weeks between the intake assessment and the initial DMI assessment.

As a result, FOFMS has been updated to prevent authorisation of a DMI assessment before a case has been active for 13 weeks. This new functionality will assist services to better manage their caseload in a way that is consistent with the Programme Procedures, which form part of their funding agreement with FaCSIA. If in future if you receive the following error message, this means there has not been enough time between the intake assessment and initial DMI assessment and you will have to wait 13 weeks until an outcome is achieved before you process it.

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Payment Reconciliation on FOFMS Made Easier for Finance Managers

FOFMS has reports available to help you identify and reconcile your FaCSIA payments. These reports allow service providers to view:

1. Payments made against an Agreement: this report will be useful for larger organisations that have multiple agreement schedules, as it will be broken down by agreement schedule.
2. Payment made against an Agreement Schedule: this report will show you all the payments that have been made in respect of a specific agreement schedule
3. Payments made against a Case: this report will show you all the payments that have been made in respect of a specific case or multiple cases.

For all reports, you can select a specific period that you're interested in, for example a month or a quarter. The Agreement Schedule and Case report will also include the first name and surname of individual clients for whom payments have been made. All reports have subtotals and totals, are printable, and can be exported to Excel for further manipulation.

You can also use the 'Consolidated Payment Request Line Items' screen view (available under the existing Payment Request view) to help reconcile your payments. From this screen view, you can query FOFMS for payment details using the IMPACT Clearing Number (the reference number which is provided on your bank statement with each deposit from FaCSIA) as well as the IMPACT Invoice Number (the document number contained on your Recipient Created Tax Invoice [RCTI]).

How do I use these reports?

Information to help you use this payment reconciliation functionality is available on the FOFMS Literature site. Copies were also emailed directly to FOFMS users on 15 March 2006, and hard copies posted to the mailing address recorded in FOFMS for your Organisation. If you have not received your information pack please contact the FOFMS helpdesk on 1800 020 283.

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Important facts about the Intake Assessment process

The Client must sign a Client Consent form before you complete and authorise their Intake Assessment. The consent information package, including the Client Consent Form, is on the Literature site in FOFMS.

The $500 Intake Fee and monthly Employment Assistance payments for new cases are not payable until an Intake Assessment has been completed and authorised on FOFMS. Case Based Funding payments do not begin until the Intake Assessment has been authorised. FaCSIA will not backdate Intake Assessments, or make back-payments. If you do not authorise the Intake Assessment your Service risks a reduced funding flow for that client.

If you create a client and case record in FOFMS and do not complete and authorise the Intake Assessment not only are your payments affected, but the total cases and vacancies of your service are also affected. When you create a case record in FOFMS it is considered an active case and included in the count of your total cases, which reduces your number of vacancies. If you do not complete and authorise an Intake Assessment you will not receive funding for the client but they are also occupying a place in your Business Service that could otherwise be filled and funded by another client.

Cases that have been created but do not have an Intake Assessment completed or authorised have a status of 'Draft' in FOFMS. You should review you case list for any cases with a 'Draft' status and either complete and authorise an Intake Assessment or exit the record.

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Enhancing the National Disability Advocacy Program- Reference Group

The reference group held its first meeting on 9 February in Sydney with members attending from around the country. The purpose of the reference group is to assist the department in developing the proposed enhancements to the National Disability Advocacy Program.

The meeting focused on refining Key Performance Indicators, which touched on draft policies and procedures. The informative and productive meeting also addressed the option of a free call service, which could enhance the program. The day was facilitated by Marie Delaney of ARTD Consultants (an external consultant).

Key Performance Indicators will also be discussed by the second reference group who will meet by teleconference later in February. These Indicators will then be introduced as a legislative instrument into parliament and, subject to passage of the legislation, the new indicators will replace the 101 reporting standards for the Disability Advocacy sector.
The next reference group meeting will be on 9 March 2007.

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