Queensland Government
Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services

Table of contents:

DS NMDS data due 31 July 2006

All DS NMDS data for the 2005-06 collection year is due by 31 July 2006. Please ensure that you have entered data and authorised data for all your outlets that operated during the year. You should also complete the 'Availability of service' item in ODC if you are an ODC user.

DS NMDS project officers now on board

As you may be aware, four project officers have been recently appointed to provide hands-on support and training to assist Disability Services Queensland (DSQ) and non-government organisation (NGO) service type outlets with their DS NMDS reporting requirements in order to maximise data quality and compliance.

The project officers are:

  • Jason Brown (Greater Brisbane Region) - 0403 209 436
  • Catherine Jones (South Coast, Moreton and South West Regions) - 0403 209 434
  • Arto Rissanen (Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay/Burnett, Fitzroy/Central West Queensland) - 0403 209 437
  • Karen Borsody-Nagy (Mackay/Whitsunday, North Queensland, Far North Queensland) - 0434 206 844

The project officers will be in contact with those agencies and outlets that still have outstanding DS NMDS data.

Contact your relevant project officer if you wish to discuss your DS NMDS reporting requirements.

End of 2005-06 collection year

The end of the 2005-06 collection year is here. All agencies who are using ODC should ensure that they have:

  • at least one authorising officer for all service type outlets (STOs)
  • entered data for their STOs for all quarters that the STO was opened
  • also entered the 'availability of service' data for all STOs.

If you have not already set up an authorising officer, please do so urgently. Only system administrators can set up authorising officers.

If you have not already selected the service type outlets you work with, please do so urgently. To do so:

  • log into ODC
  • select "Administration"
  • select "Select Service Type Outlets"
  • select all the service type outlets that you worked with during the year. This includes selecting new STOs that may have opened and ones that have closed but still require data entry and/or authorisation
  • click on the "Update" button at the bottom of the list.

Contact the DS NMDS Helpline if you have any problems.

Helpline call statistics

The DS NMDS Helpline provides ongoing support to Queensland service providers.

Requests for Help 2005-2006

July 2005 to June 2006

  • Phone: 1702
  • Email: 436
  • Total: 2138

Monthly average

  • Phone: 142
  • Email: 36
  • Total: 178

Diary dates

June 2006

  • Reference week: 24-30 June
  • Snapshot day: 28 June

July 2006

  • Deadline for fourth quarter data lodgement: 31 July

ODC contact details

To ensure that contact information in ODC is up to date could you please review and edit, as required, your contact information contained in ODC.

You can do this by following the path: 'Online Data Collection > Administration > My Details'. You should update your contact information for every ODC login that you have (i.e. data entry operator, authorising officer or system administrator.)

We use your contact details to advise you of updates to ODC and to assist in contacting you if we need to discuss collection issues with you.

Quarterly reporting checklist

As detailed in the previous newsletter, the quarterly reporting checklist is now available in ODC. Please use this checklist to ensure that you have entered all necessary service type outlet, service user and services received information, even if you believe you have entered and authorised all your data.

You can access the quarterly reporting checklist in ODC by selecting 'Online Data Collection > Reports > Quarterly reporting checklist'.

Any changes made to service user information or services received may require you to authorise your data again.

Contact the DS NMDS Helpline if you require help with authorisation or using the quarterly reporting checklist.

Duplicate service users

The Helpline has received a number of calls from service outlets regarding duplicate service users.

Here are some helpful hints to reduce the number of duplicate service users and minimise the risk of service outlets adding a duplicate service user to ODC:

  • Before adding a new service user, use the 'Search service user' function.
  • If service users have been entered into ODC using their surname and first name, then you can search for a service user by entering their surname, firstname or SLK.
  • If service users have been entered into ODC using their SLK, then search for a service user by using their SLK only.
  • Be as accurate as possible when entering new service users (particularly their birth date) into ODC. This will assist in minimising the risk of duplicate service user entries.

Service users missing data

Please ensure that all of your service users have complete data. If the 'Missing Data' column on your service user list is "Yes", then you will need to edit that service user's details and complete the missing data.

Once all question have been answered, go to the summary page and click on 'Save'. If you do not click on 'Save' then your service user information may still be recorded as 'missing data'.

Contact the DS NMDS Helpline if you have any queries.

DS NMDS help available

If you have a query and cannot find the answer after checking the DS NMDS Resource Kit, either call the Helpline or send an email to us. if the Helpline is busy, please leave a message and the Helpline operator will return your call as soon as possible.