How do I use Demand plan feed and Labour group allocation for AN-ACC reporting ?

Introduction

Note: This article is applicable only for Australian Aged Care customers and the content covers only the details for AN-ACC reporting. 

The Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) is a new funding model for residential aged care in Australia. It was introduced in October 2022 to replace the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI). The AN-ACC model is based on a resident's assessed needs and level of care. It considers factors such as mobility, cognitive ability, and medical needs. The AN-ACC classifies residents into 13 classes, each with a corresponding funding amount. The new Mandatory Care Minutes Standards (MCMs) are part of the AN-ACC funding model. The MCMs set minimum standards for the time that care staff must spend with residents each day.

Care minutes refers to the amount of direct care that care recipients in Australia living in residential care services receive from:

• registered nurses (RNs)
• enrolled nurses (ENs)
• personal care workers (PCWs) or assistants in nursing (AINs) – also known as nursing assistants.

More details on AN-ACC and care minute requirements can be found on the Australian Government Health website using the links:

1. https://www.health.gov.au/topics/aged-care/aged-care-reforms-and-reviews/residential-aged-care-funding-reform
2. https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/care-minutes-registered-nurses-aged-care/care-minutes

AN-ACC Reporting

Humanforce has developed supporting features and a new built-in report - "Demand Forecast and Actual with Variance"  in Workforce Analytics to enable easier reporting for AN-ACC with minimal configuration, and self-serve file upload options. The data source - "Demand Plan Data with Roster Timesheet" available in Workforce Analytics can also be used to design custom reports and visualise data in various formats as required.

Key capabilities include:

• Ability to report on Care Target minutes, RN Target minutes, and Occupancy
• Forecast and actual reporting based on roster and timesheet data  
• Support for daily, monthly & quarterly reporting for a location or a department   
• Ability to nominate specific roles and allocate a percentage of hours contributing to care minutes using the Labour group allocation module.
• Ability to exclude specific Shift types like Leave & training from the report.
• Ability to import target data using File upload or use the REST API to develop own integration.
• Built-in reports or ability to custom design reports.

The below sections will guide you through the process of setting up demand plan feeds, uploading demand input feed data, and configuring labour group allocation to enable you to use the built-in report and data source for AN-ACC reporting.    

Demand Plan feed setup

Demand plan feed allows you to define feeds for external demand data and import them into your system. This allows you to link the data being imported to a feed defined in the system. Data could be imported for a single day or a date range for more than one location.

To configure Demand Plan Feeds in your system and to upload input data, you will need to enable the following access permissions:

• TimeTarget Online > View Administration Section > View Demand Plan Feed Setup
• TimeTarget Online > View Administration Section > View Demand Plan Feed Upload

Once these permissions are enabled, the setup screens will be available in the Admin section under System Configuration.

Add a new demand plan feed by clicking Add new record. Only the following fields are required for the setup.

• Name - Description of the feed. This field is required.
• ExportCode - Shortcode that can be used in import files in place of the more descriptive name. This field is required and needs to be unique per feed as the system will use this to link the imported data to the demand feed.
• Apply Value Across Date Range - Allows a single value to be imported for all days within the date range specified in the file. It is useful when the value is the same across a date range. This setting can also handle where the input data is for a single day.

To report on Care Minutes, RN minutes, and Occupancy data for a facility, you will need to configure three separate demand plan feeds respectively. This will allow you to import target data for each of the feeds.  Separate demand plan feeds must be set up for every facility if the input target data is different for each of the facilities.

Note: A facility is represented as a location in Humanforce. 

The names for each of the demand plan feeds for a facility should have Care, RN, and Occupancy in it as the description allows the feeds to be filtered in reports. The following format is recommended for the Demand plan feed names to make it easier when viewing the report:

• [FACILITY NAME] Care Target Minutes. Example – “Northside Care Target Minutes”
• [FACILITY NAME] RN Target Minutes. Example – “Northside RN Target Minutes”
• [FACILITY NAME] Occupancy. Example – “Northside Occupancy”

In the event of a facility name being too long, it is recommended to use an abbreviated name for display purposes.

Demand Plan Feed File Upload

Demand plan feed upload allows you to import the feed data (target data) to be used for reporting. Data for multiple demand plan feeds can be imported in a single file as separate rows by having the export code of the demand plan feed in each of the rows within the “Feed” column. The file upload is available in the Admin section under System Configuration. Column names must match those provided exactly and the required file format for the upload is “.csv” (comma separated) in the following layout.

Within the Demand Plan Feed Upload screen an option is available to include any lines with a value of zero which are excluded by default. Click the Select Files button to choose the import file and upload it.

File format with column headers and sample data

Data can also be imported using the Humanforce REST API. Refer to the API documentation under DemandPlanner to import data using REST API. The fields available in the API are the same as the file upload and the import behaves the same as the file upload.

Labour group allocation setup

Labour group allocation is used to nominate the roles and the percentage of hours for each of the roles to be allocated for reporting. This allows you to include a percentage of hours against specific roles within a location to be attributed towards care minutes or RN minutes.  As an example, 100% of hours for direct care roles could be allocated towards care whereas hours for hybrid roles like Unit Manager or In-charge roles would be allocated a portion (like 10%) towards care. Labour group allocation also provides the flexibility to nominate roles and varying percentages at a Location or Department level to support allocation variations from one facility to another. Additionally, it also allows you to define the applicable shift types for the labour group to exclude hours against shift types like leave and training to be excluded.

To configure Labour group allocation in your system, you will need to enable the following access permissions against all the applicable access levels:

• TimeTarget Online > View Administration Section > View Labour Group Allocation > Allow Editing

Once the permissions are enabled, the setup screen will be available in the Admin section under System Configuration. Add a new labour group allocation by clicking New Labour Group. Only the following fields are required for the setup.

• Name – A name for the Labour group. This field is required.
• ExportCode - Shortcode that can be used in import files in place of the more descriptive name.
• Shift Types – Allows selection of shift types applicable to the labour group.
• Location – Allows selection of roles and allocation percentage for each role.

To report on Care and RN minutes, create two separate labour groups - one for Care and another for RN. Within each labour group nominate the applicable roles and the allocation percentage for each of the locations. Any roles where the hours are not to be included should be left unchecked. Select the applicable shift types to be included for reporting using the drop-down for shift types.  It is recommended the labour groups be named appropriately to make it easier to report. The same group can be used to define the allocation for multiple locations & departments by clicking on Add Location and selecting the applicable roles for each location & department and allocating the percentage for each of the selected roles. For detailed step-by-step instructions on setting up a labour group, navigate to the article by clicking on the link below: https://help.humanforce.com/hc/en-au/articles/8423524665615-How-do-I-set-up-Labour-Group-Allocation-in-Humanforce-web-

Demand plan rules setup

Demand plan rules are used to define the scope of a Demand plan feed and to link the demand plan feed data and the labour group allocation data used for reporting. A demand plan rule is required for every demand plan feed that has been configured for reporting.

To configure Demand plan rules in your system, you will need to enable the following access permissions against all the applicable access levels:

• TimeTarget Online > View Administration Section > View Demand Plan Rule

Once the permissions are enabled, the setup screen will be available in the Admin section under System Configuration. Add a new demand plan rule by clicking Add new record. Only the following fields are required for the setup and all the remaining fields can be ignored.

• Rule Name – Description of the rule - only used in the configuration screen. This field is required.
• Display Name - A shorter name used for display and can be the same as Rule Name.
• Demand Data Input Feed - The Demand Plan Feed to be used. This field is required.  
• Location – The Location to which this rule applies. This field is required.
• Department – The Department to which this rule applies. This field is optional and should be used when reporting at the department level for a location.
• Labour Group Allocation – The labour group allocation to be used. This field is required and is populated based on the location selected.

To report individually on Care Minutes, RN minutes and Occupancy data for a facility, you will need to configure three separate Demand plan rules for each of the demand feeds as shown below.

To add a Demand plan rule for Care Minutes, begin by adding a Demand plan rule with a Rule name and Display name. It is recommended to use the same naming convention – ([FACILITY NAME] Care Target Minutes) used for Demand Plan feeds for easier identification and management. The next step is to select the relevant Demand Plan Input Feed, the location for which the demand plan feed is applicable, and the Labour group allocation that covers the role allocation for the selected location. Optionally select the department if the Demand plan feed data being imported is for a location and department.  Ignore the remaining fields as those are not used for the reporting.

Demand plan rule for Care Target Minutes

Repeat the steps to add demand rules for RN Target minutes and Occupancy by entering the name details and selecting the relevant Demand Plan Feed, location, and Labour group allocation.

Demand Rule for RN Target Minutes

Demand plan rule for Occupancy

Built-In Report and Data Source

A new built-in report - "Demand Forecast and Actual with Variance (built-In)"  is available in Workforce Analytics under the dashboards. The report is based on the "Demand Plan Data with Roster Timesheet" data source. Access permissions to roster and timesheet should be enabled to have access to the built-in report and the data source.

Key points to note:

• The report would not display any data if the demand plan feeds don't exist or if target data doesn't exist for the demand plan feeds. Target data should exist every day for the report to display data and the variance daily.
• When using a labour group, the report would only include roster and timesheet hours for the roles and shift types selected in the labour group allocation.
• The report includes standard filters and also an optional custom filter for the labour group to report separately for individual labour groups. 
• Additional fields are available in the data source and these fields can be added as columns by saving it as a new dashboard report. 

The report only includes the following columns by default:

• Demand Name - Name of the Demand Plan Feed.
• Demand Location - Name of the location applicable for the demand feed data. This is the location selected in the Demand plan rule for the demand feed.
• Demand Department - Name of the department applicable for the demand feed data. This is the department selected in the Demand plan rule for the demand feed. This column will return empty if no department is selected.
• Date - Date applicable to the data being shown based on the imported demand feed data. 
• Labour Group  - Name of the labour group allocation used.
• Demand Value  - The target data imported for the date and the demand plan feed.
• Effective Rostered Hours - This column represents the effective hours rostered for the date and demand plan feed based on the roles and shift types selected in the labour group and the percentage allocation against the roles within the labour group. For any roles where the percentage of allocation is less than 100 percentage, the effective hours will be less than actual rostered hours.
• Effective Timesheet Hours - This column represents the effective timesheet hours for the date and demand plan feed based on the roles and shift types selected in the labour group and the percentage allocation against the roles within the labour group. For any roles where the percentage of allocation is less than 100 percentage, the effective hours will be less than actual timesheet hours.
• Variance Roster to Demand  -  This column represents the variance between Roster hours and Demand (target) data and indicates if it is under or over. 
• Variance Timesheet to Demand - This column represents the variance between Timesheet hours and Demand (target) data and indicates if it is under or over. 
• Area Name - Name of the Area applicable for the demand feed data. This is the area selected in the Demand plan rule for the demand feed.

AN-ACC custom reporting dashboards

Workforce analytics includes three new dashboards specific to AN-ACC reporting. These reports include overview for Care Targets, RN Targets and Occupancy Targets. These reports can be customised as per individual reporting needs.

• AN-ACC Detailed

• AN-ACC Hours Overview and

• AN-ACC MPBD Overview

These reports can be enabled by selecting individual reports in Access levels > Custom reports