Webinar video: Go-live Readiness (Overview)

Hello, good morning. Thank you for joining us today. We might just give it one more minute to let everyone in and get some people who might be coming from another meeting and then we'll get started. All right, well, thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Anna Polson and I am the Acting Assistant Commissioner for Data Change and Program Management at the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Commission. So today is about making sure that you and your teams are ready for the planned launch of the new NDIS Commission Portal on October 12th. So we're going to focus on some practical things today that you need to do before then, including preparing your staff and users, checking any affected drafts, and understanding which portal to use for different tasks from that October 12 date. We're also going to step through the support that's available around our go- live and the time, and at the end, we'll give you some information on where to find that.  

So our aim for today is that you leave knowing what you need to do, when you need to do it, and where to find the help that you might need. Before we get started, I would like to take some time to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we are all coming from today. For me, that's the lands of the Ngunnawal people in Canberra, and I pay my respects to Elders past and present. and extend that respect to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people who are joining us today. I would also like to acknowledge people with the lived experience of disability and the people who support them. A few housekeeping things as well before we begin. Obviously, we have our wonderful Auslan interpreters with us today. We also have closed captions available in Microsoft Teams. If you go to the three ellipse dots that say More, You can choose Language and speech and you can turn on live captions. This session is being recorded. So to protect privacy, the chat and QA functions as well as cameras have been disabled for the recording. If you do have any questions after the session or any feedback, we would love to hear it. And we would, as you can see, there's an email address on the screen now where you can send through any questions or feedback. And we are using the questions we receive to understand where providers need more information and to continue to improve the guidance that's available on the Provider Toolkit. So we do encourage you to submit any of those that you have. So we've deliberately tried to keep today practical.  

So we're going to start with What is Changing? We're then going to focus on the actions that we need your organisations to take before go-live. We'll then walk through the transition task by task. So each function, which will include looking at reportable incidents, behaviour support, worker screening, registrations and audits. There is quite a bit of detail to go through today and we don't expect you or your staff to memorise it all. So we will also be giving you information on where to go to find this information as well as others that will support you. But that's something that we'll show you at the end. So what is changing? So the new NDIS Commission Portal is planned to go live on the 12th of October, which is not too far away now. One of the important things is that this is a transition, so we're not immediately switching off the existing portal. And for a period of time, we will need to use both the existing and the new portal, and they'll operate side by side. Which portal you use will depend on the task and in many cases, whether or not the work has started before or after that go-live date. Historically, registrations, reportable incidents and behaviour support records will remain available in the existing portal. Your obligations and the NDIS Practice Standards are not changing. What's changing here is where particular work is done. Signing in is also remaining familiar. Both portals are accessed through the Commission's website and you can use either PRODA or My ID with your RAM authorisation. We'll take you through the detail, but we've developed a simple principle to help providers navigate the transition. So we're going to move on to explain the changes and getting your organisation ready. And as I said, there's three main things we need providers to focus on. And the simple way to look at it is, first, finish what you can. Work through open activities in the existing portal where you can before October 12th.  

Secondly, check your user lists, making sure that people have the access that they need for the portals. And we're asking you to do this before the 1st of October to ensure that that transitions over into the next, into the new portal. Thirdly, from go-live on October 12, start new work in the new portal. And we'll shortly explain what that means for each type of work. But there is one particular important action around drafts. Our advice about drafts has changed since August, so I want to take you through our final position very carefully. So this is one of the most important actions we'd like people to be taking before go-live. So if you did attend a session earlier in August, you might remember that we advised that all unsubmitted drafts would be removed. That position has now been refined. and not every type of draft is affected. Draft Behaviour Support Plans and draft new registration applications will be removed at go-live and cannot be recovered. If you need to retain that work, please submit it before the October 12th go-live. Draft re-registrations and renewal applications, and draft reportable incidents are not removed at go-live. So this is not an instruction to submit every draft. It's looking, it's a targeted check on the drafts that may be affected. Drafts can also sit with different people across your organisation, so please check across your teams and with individual draft owners, rather than assuming that everything might be captured centrally. If you have behaviour support practitioners with plans in draft, this is a particularly important area to check.  

There is also a specific action for Unauthorised Restrictive Practice reports. The URP reports already submitted at the 24-hour stage. Please review these and where applicable, complete and submit the 5-day report as well before go-live. So this is another area where our advice has changed a little bit since August. So previously, we expected providers would need to set users up again in the new portal, but that's no longer the case. People with an active registered provider portal account will have access in the new portal and they don't need to be recreated. So that access is going to be brought across from the existing portal into the new portal. There are two checks that we do need you to undertake to make sure that we transfer across correct records. So as I mentioned before the 1st of October, if you could have a look and clean up any access. So check your user lists, deactivate people who have left or no longer need access, and make sure that existing staff have the access that they need. Changes made after the 1st of October may not be reflected in the portal. from go-live. So once we then go-live, we would like you to also go in and check those roles in the new portal. Some of the roles don't map exactly one-to-one, so access delegates should check that staff have the roles they need and that each required role has at least one active staff member against those roles. After go-live, access will continue to be managed separately in each of the portals. So if people need to be going into the existing portal, they'll still need to have access to that one. And if that access needs to change, you'll need to change it in that particular portal and the same with the new portal. you'll need to manage your staff's access in that portal. So I think at the moment, the one thing we want you and your staff to remember from our messages today is pretty simple. Start new work in the new portal from October 12th. Finish existing work in the existing portal. You're about to see quite a bit of task-specific information and we don't expect you to memorise every transition rule. Instead, we want staff to build a simple habit. Before starting a task, check the Which Portal Do I Use? guidance in the Provider Toolkit if they are unsure. The guidance gives you specific answers for the work that you are doing. Now, let's go through the main tasks and see how these principles work in practice.  

So, as I mentioned, some a bit more specific detailed information on each of the functions for reportable incidents. The key question is, when was the incident submitted? From go-live, 24-hour and 5e-day reportable incident notifications are submitted in the new portal. Responses to requests for information for those incidents are also managed there. If an incident was submitted before go-live, continue managing it in the existing portal until it closes. This includes 5-day reports, responses to requests for information. and weekly Unauthorised Restrictive Practice reporting for practices notified there. For Unauthorised Restrictive Practice reports that have already been submitted at the 24-hour stage, where applicable, providers should complete and submit the 5-day report before go-live. Please don't try and move an open incident between the portals. Continue to manage it where it started. Closed incidents will be copied into the new portal in a later release, so they won't be there from go-live, but will come shortly. And open incidents remain in the existing portal until they close.  

For behaviour support, the key question here is... Where was the plan lodged? New Behaviour Support Plans from go-live are lodged in the new portal. For those plans, implementing providers accept or reject plans in the new portal. And evidence of restrictive practices, practice authorisation and monthly reporting is also managed there. For plans already active or partially active before go-live, monthly reporting continues in the existing portal. I think the simple rule to remember here is monthly reporting stays in the portal where the plan was lodged. Practitioner activities, such as practitioner profiles and suitability applications, remain in the existing portal. There's also one important difference in the new portal. If a plan is rejected, it cannot simply be edited. It will need to be lodged again. And just reminding you of the action we covered earlier. So draft Behaviour Support Plans will be removed at go-live. So check and submit affected drafts before that October 12 date. Worker screening works a little bit differently. So from go-live, worker screening activity for registered and deregistered providers moves to the new portal. That includes verification requests, linking and unlinking workers, and managing worker records. For unregistered providers, self-managed participants and government agencies, the existing arrangements continue. And there is an important distinction here. The NDIS Worker Screening Database itself is not moving. What is changing is where registered and deregistered providers undertake their worker screening activities. For registrations, the key distinction is where work has already been submitted before go-live. Registration work submitted before go-live is finished in the existing portal. That includes checking its progress or withdrawing it. From go-live, re-registration, renewals and notifications of changes or events are undertaken in the new portal. along with managing outlets, key personnel, workers and participant details. Variations will continue through the current process. And also, if just a reminder of the information provided earlier around drafts. Draft new registration applications are removed at go-live. Draft re-registration and renewal applications are not affected. For audits. So the key question for audits is, is the audit already underway? If an audit is already underway before go-live, it's finished in the existing portal. Audit history and existing audit records also remain there. Periodic reported with a start date after 12 October move into the new portal. If a periodic audit is due after go-live, but has not yet been scheduled, it should also be booked in in the new portal. For Approved Quality Auditors, access to the new portal is arranged by the Commission's audit program team. So, the again, the principle here is work underway already stays where it is. New work begins in the new portal. So there was a lot of information there.  

As I mentioned before, we don't expect you to remember it all. We also want to be realistic about what happens after go-live. October 12 is when providers begin to use the new portal at scale. We will learn from that experience and keep improving the system, guidance and support. We do have support in place from day one. So the contact centre will be there and is being briefed before go-live. A Known Issues page is being planned to be available from day one, and where we identify a problem, with guidance, we will update it as quickly as possible. What we need from providers is to tell us early where you're getting stuck. Your feedback after launch is just as important as it is now, because it helps us understand common issues and target our responses. From go-live, providers can contact the Commission Contact Centre on 1800 035 544 on weekdays. The TIS National and National Relay Service options are also available. So as mentioned, we don't need you to take everything that we've covered today and turn it into your own set of instructions.  

The Provider Toolkit is the place we want you and your staff to go to and continue to come back to. It brings together the Readiness Checklist, the Which Portal Do I Use? guidance, as well as first look videos, process maps, explainers, and more detailed webinars which cover registrations, worker screening, reportable incidents, behaviour support, and audits. So if you wanted more detailed information on any of the things that we've talked about today, you can go to the Toolkit and find that information and watch those webinars as well. So the important thing is not for everyone to read everything, although feel free if you want to, but point staff to the resources for the tasks that they're doing. As mentioned, we will continue to update the Toolkit as more functionality becomes available, as well as we hear back from providers using the system about what supports they might need through that transition. So if you do have any feedback after today or after go-live, please do contact the DART Program mailbox and the email is on the screen, nqsc.dartprogram@NDISCommission.gov.au. I want to thank you all for joining us today and taking the time. Please do visit that Provider Toolkit and give us any feedback that might help you and your organisation get ready for go-live. Thank you so much.