March 2010 - Issue 29

Diary Dates

Quarter	Date	Activity
Q3. 1 January to 31 March	15 April	Third quarter lodgement
Q4. 1 April to 30 June	15 July	Fourth quarter lodgement

Who is your Regional Support Officer (RSO)?

Assistance with all aspects of the Disability Services National Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS) collection:

Brisbane Region –
Vacant  
Please contact Karen Eborall (details below)

Central Queensland/South West Regions –
Juanita White  0403 209 434 M
juanita.white3@communities.qld.gov.au

North Coast/South East Regions -
Karen Eborall  0403 209 437 M
karen.eborall@communities.qld.gov.au

North Queensland/Far North Queensland –
Lindy O'Neill  0434 604 844 M
melinda.o'neill@communities.qld.gov.au
      

The Internet has been updated!

A major update of all web pages relating to DS NMDS has been undertaken. As part of this update all 2009-10 documentation has been included. Also there is a new pathway to the main page: www.disability.qld.gov.au/ds-nmds. However, if you use the old pathway you will be redirected.

Over the coming months, new disability statistics for Queensland covering 2003-04 to 2008-09 will be available on COMSIS, the Communities Statistical Information System, which can be accessed at https://statistics.oesr.qld.gov.au/comsis. The development of COMSIS is part of the Queensland Government's agreement with the non-profit community services sector, known as the Queensland Compact. You are encouraged to register on the COMSIS webpage, and browse the statistical selections now available. These include a broad range of Australian Bureau of Statistics aggregated to Department of Communities regions.

Further information can be obtained from the relevant RSO.

E&C reporting

There is a high level of non-compliance for new Emergency and Crisis (E&C) outlets. These are outlets which are coded for service types 1.082 and 4.051 (refer to your data guide for definitions). If your organisation provides E&C services please contact your Regional Support Officer immediately to confirm the status of your reporting.

If you have not had E&C clients for a particular quarter and are an ODC user, set the outlet as "Not operating" for that quarter. To do this, go to the Service Outlet section on ODC for the specific quarter in question and select "Not operating" from the drop down menu at question 1a. Don't forget to SAVE!

Compliance levels DOWN!

As it is nearly time for Quarter 3 reporting to begin, the Data Services team would like to remind FNGSPs that Quarters 1 and 2 are now well overdue. Please have your data finalised by the 15 ^th day of each month following the end of the quarter. If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact your Regional Support Officer - we are here to help!

Are you an "other system" user?

If you submit your data using external software or other in-house systems this applies to you.

Naming convention for subject headings:

When submitting your data via email to cstdanmdsdata@disability.qld.gov.au , could you please include your service provider name and location in the subject header.

This will make it easier for us to track and monitor your quarterly returns. The subject naming convention for the email is:
Submission  

For example: Q2 Disability Care Brisbane Submission 2 Validation Errors corrected 

Service User Demographics

Please ensure that service user details are kept up to date. A suggested practice by some Service Providers is to have a hard copy of the Service User form completed by staff once per year as an annual record check of all client details.

Are your service provider contact details up to date?

A reminder to all service providers to update your contact details with the Data Services team when moving premises or changing phone details and/or email address.  This will ensure Regional Support Officers are able to respond to your concerns quickly and efficiently and also enable you to continue to receive updated information from the Data Services team. Please contact your Regional Support Officer with any updates.

ODC Users – keep your staff log-ins up to date

A reminder to all users of the Online Data Collection system (ODC): please ensure when staff leave your organisation their access to ODC is removed. It is the responsibility of the ODC System Administrator within your organisation to remove the staff member's log-in details from the system. Please talk to your ODC System Administrator and ask that they check your registered staff members on ODC - it is important this list is kept up to date. ODC System Administrators are welcome to consult their Regional Support Officer for assistance with this process.

Outputs

Regional Support Officers are always willing to discuss queries concerning your DS NMDS reporting. However, if you have questions concerning the Outputs Funding process please forward them to the following email address: POQ@communities.qld.gov.au or check the Departmental internet site.

Disability Services NMDS help available

For any enquiries, please call the RSOs or email us using the details below.
DS NMDS help: cstdanmdshelp@disability.qld.gov.au
Outputs help: poq@communities.qld.gov.au
Disability online: http://www.qld.gov.au/disability/