February 2008 - Issue 24

DS NMDS 2007 training

Thanks to all participants who attended the CSTDA statewide training sessions throughout Queensland in late 2007. All up we ran 31 half day sessions, with approximately 300 participants from DSQ and 331 from Funded Non-Government Service Providers (FNGSP).

As with all complex data collections there were many issues to be discussed, and we welcomed the opportunity to enhance people's understanding of the collection process and clarify a range of CSTDA related concerns and queries. In particular there was a lot of discussion in the FNGSP sessions around brokering and subcontracting, and DSQ staff had the added complexity of understanding how CSTDA reporting works in their new DISQIS system.

We also received some extremely valuable feedback from participants about how we can better support your collection process. The CSTDA regional support staff have also been busy organising follow-ups that either stemmed from the presentations, or with agencies who were unable to attend on the given days.

Copies of the presentation and supporting documents are available upon request, so please contact the CSTDA helpline if you would like any further information.

Removal of the snapshot day flag

Every year the CSTDA stakeholders from all States and Territories meet with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) to review the collection, and look for any potential improvements or changes.

In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that the snapshot day flag was not being utilised as a reporting measure, so it was agreed by all parties that the snapshot day flag will be removed from the collection as of the 2008-09 financial year.

So what do I have to do?

If you are an ODC or paper user you won't have to do anything. The snapshot day flag option will be removed from the actual software and relevant CSTDA forms.

Own system users will be asked to realign their export file structure to meet the new system requirements. The CSTDA team will contact own system users to provide the new system specifications and to offer any assistance.

CSTDA quarterly reporting checklist for ODC users

Did you know that ODC has a useful reporting tool to help monitor the progress of your data input? This is known as the Quarterly Reporting Checklist which is located under the Reports link within ODC.

Running the checklist will highlight outstanding data items that need to be addressed prior to submitting your data to DSQ. For ease, links are generated by ODC to quickly navigate to these relevant sections, allowing quicker resolution of these items. Examples based on two commonly occurring task errors are provided below:

Common task error one:

"You have services received records which have not been authorised. Please contact your Authorising Officer and request they authorise your service user data for use by DSQ."

To address this task you will need to be logged in as an authorising officer. Then from the home page do the following:

• Click Reports
• Click Authorise DS NMDS quarterly data
• Select corresponding quarter and year
• Select To be authorised
• Tick all boxes or click on select all
• Click on the Authorise button

This authorised information is now accessible for the CSTDA team.

Common task error two:

"The number of service users you listed in question 7 is not the same as the number of service users who received a service during the quarterly reporting period. Either click here to change the number of service users in question 7 or ensure that you have entered all your service provision information for the quarterly reporting period."

This message asks you to check the number of service users that have been entered. The checklist has identified a discrepancy between the number of service users in ODC who have received a service during the quarterly reporting period and the figure stated in question 7 on the service type outlet form. The two numbers should always be the same.

With so much data to enter, always check the Quarterly Reporting Checklist during the input of your data, to ensure all items have been completed correctly.

Contact the DS NMDS Helpline if you require further information.

Diary dates 2007-08

Diary dates

Month	DS NMDS activity
April 2008	Deadline for third quarter data lodgement: 30 April
July 2008	Deadline for fourth quarter data lodgement: 31 July

Snapshot Day: Wednesday 25 June 2008

Helpline call statistics

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

Requests for Help 2007-2008

Date	Phone	Email	Total
October 2007 - December 2007	114	16	130
Monthly average Year-to-Date	77	17	94

CSTDA staff change

CSTDA Data Services are sad to announce the departure of Catherine Jones who will be travelling overseas for the next 12 months.

Catherine joined DSQ in early 2006 and has been our Regional Support Officer covering the Moreton and Darling Downs/South West Qld regions. During her time with the team, Catherine has been active in many areas of the DS NMDS collection process including on-site visits with FNGSP and DSQ staff, participation in regional forums and troubleshooting data collection issues.

Catherine's contribution over the past two years has been significant and her ability to develop good rapport with both DSQ and FNGSP staff has been a contributing factor to her success in the role.

Safe travels and Bon Voyage Catherine, we'll miss you

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.