What changes were included in the 2021.1 release?

It's 2021 and the Nightingale team has been hard at work since our last large release. The first update of Nightingale for 2021 includes a wealth of new features that touch the entire program.

New Functionality

• Nightingale Family Member Login (Lite) - We now allow you to give Client Family Members the ability view specific information in Nightingale - Calendar, Funding Status Graphs & any Case Notes you have specifically set as being family friendly. Please contact Nightingale Support for more information and to have your Family Member Login ability set up.

• Nightingale Connect - our new communications platform. Nightingale Connect allows you to Email and SMS both Clients and Staff Members directly from their Dashboard. Emails can include attachments and you can also Email and SMS Alternate Contacts. All Email and SMS messages sent are saved and included in the Audit Log
  
  Read more about Nightingale Connect

• Calendar SMS Functionality - you are now able to notify Clients and Staff about changes to their rosters. Just right click on an Appointment and select 'Send Staff SMS Update' or 'Send Client SMS Update'. You can define your SMS template to make sure any communication sent is tailored to your organisation.
  
  Read more about calendar SMS functionality
  Read more about calendar SMS templates
  
  

• Client Appointment SMS Reminders - Nightingale now allows you to automatically notify Clients of upcoming appointments via SMS. By default the reminder will send the Client an SMS 24 hours before their appointment, but you can change it simply via Organisation Settings.
  
  Read more about Alerts and Background Processes

• NDIS Reconciliation Import - We know how difficult it is to reconcile NDIS Bulk Uploads and the Payments from the NDIS. To help we have developed the ability to take the Remittance Advice from the NDIS Portal and import it directly into Nightingale. The resulting report will then provide you with information on what has been paid and what has been rejected. You can then unclaim anything that was rejected allowing you to fix it and then have it reincluded in your next NDIS Bulk Upload.
  
  Read more about NDIS Reconciliation in Nightingale

• Recurring Alerts & Processes - A new Organisation Setting area has been created allowing organisations to start and stop recurring background alerts & processes and set their recurring timeframes. These include:
  
  

  • • Client Appointment Reminders- SMS Reminders send to Clients

    • Calculate Funding Graphs -Calculations for Client Funding Graphs

    • Client Funding Alert - Email Alerts when a Clients Funding is going to expire.

    • NDIS Budget Calculation - Calculations for Client NDIS Budgets

    • Client Plan Review Alert - Email Alerts when a Clients Plan is coming up for renewal.

    • Staff Competency Alert - Email Alerts when a Staff Members Competency is coming up for renewal.

    • Unattended Shift Alerts - Email Alerts when shift have not been attended by Staff Members on the day.

Read more about Alerts & Background Processes

• Multiple Pay Periods - Nightingale now support the ability to have multiple pay periods for Staff Members.
  
  

• Multi Staff Rostering - You now have the ability to easily roster multiple Staff Members to a Client. A great function to use when you need to organise Staff Training sessions or Staff Meetings.

Feature Improvements

• NDIS Travel & Transport Overhaul - We have overhauled out current NDIS Travel and Transport Functionality to conform my strictly to the NDIS Pricing Guide and its examples. The new functionality also gives you the ability to set thresholds for maximum KM's & travel time assuring you do not overcharge Clients. The overhaul should make managing Travel & Transport on a per Support Item bases much easier. We now have dedicated functionality for:
  
  

  • • NDIS Transport

    • NDIS Activity Based Transport

    • NDIS Provider Travel

    • NDIS Provider Travel Non Labor Costs

Read more about the Travel & Transport process

• NDIS Rollover Overhaul - Running the NDIS Rollover no longer generates new Funding and new Rosters, we now just apply the pricing update from the date you want the new Pricing Guide to be active. This means the process is now much faster and can easily be rolled back if mistakes occur.
  
  Read more about the NDIS Rollover Process
  
  

• Calendar - Attend & Create Case Note - All calendars have been improved with new function & workflow that allows Staff Members to Attend & Create a Case Note directly from a calendar appointment.
  
  

• Calendar - Funding Check - Moving an appointment on the calendar to a different date/time will warn you if the new date/time seems to contradict the funding item text, e.g. moving an appointment from Monday to Sunday will display a warning if the funding item says "Weekdays".
  
  

  

• Timesheet Improvements - You now see a daily hours summary on the Timesheet, a new workflow has been added requiring Staff Members to declare that they have had all of their Lunch Breaks during the Pay Period.
  
  

  

• Client Funding Graphs - The graphs have been reworked to provide more useful information. All graph data now involve units instead of funding.
  
  

  

Finance System Integrations & Updates

• QuickBooks Integration - Nightingale now integrates System to System with QuickBooks Online. Sync your Clients, send your Invoices and have Nightingale get Invoice Payments with a click of a button.
  
  Read more about QuickBooks integration in Nightingale
  

• Xero Integration Updates - The Xero Settings page now include a Sync Clients with Xero function. This function will look for a Client, their Primary Contact or their Invoice Payer in Xero, if they do not exist Nightingale will create the contact in Xero.
  
  

  

• MYOB Integration Updated - Nightingale can now Sync Clients & Invoices with MYOB Account Right via CSV.