Invoicing

Overview

Invoicing is where approved work becomes money. Delivered shifts that a manager has approved turn into billing lines. Each line is billed by the route that matches how the client pays: an NDIS claim file, an invoice, or a Support at Home claim. You also record supplier invoices and manage price plans here. The page heading reads Invoicing with the line “Manage invoices, billing, and NDIS claiming”. Five tabs split the work: Invoices, Shift Billing, Supplier Invoices, Price Plans and Support at Home. The cards at the top show Total Revenue, Outstanding, Overdue and Paid.

Terms: PRODA is the government login for the NDIS myplace portal. A claim batch is one file of NDIS claims you upload to myplace. Plan managed means a plan manager pays you, agency managed means the NDIA pays you directly, and self managed means the participant pays and is reimbursed.

Common tasks

Find an invoice

1. Click Invoicing in the sidebar. The Invoices tab opens.
2. Filter by status with All, Draft, Unpaid, Paid, Overdue or Cancelled, or type a number into Search invoices….
3. Click a row to open the invoice.

Create an invoice by hand

Most invoices come from the review screen (below). Use this for one-off invoices.

1. On the Invoices tab, click New Invoice.
2. Pick the Client, then set the Issue Date and Due Date. The Invoice Number is filled in for you.
3. Tick Includes GST (10%) if taxable. This sets Tax % to 10 on every line, and you can still change each line.
4. Click Add Line Item and fill in Description, Qty, Unit Price ($) and Tax %. Totals work themselves out.
5. Click Save as Draft, or Send Invoice to create it already marked as sent.

Review and send invoices

Plan managed, self managed, DVA and Private billing all go through one review screen. Nothing is created until you approve.

1. Click the Shift Billing tab. Under Ready to bill, approved lines are grouped by how the client pays: NDIS agency managed, NDIS plan managed, NDIS self managed, Support at Home, DVA and Private.
2. On the group you want, click Create invoices (plan or self managed) or Create invoice (DVA or Private). The review screen opens and says nothing has been created yet. A line such as “Invoice 1 of 3” shows you are working through one invoice per participant.
3. Read the invoice document. It shows your business details, bank details, the participant’s details, one line per shift and the total.
4. Read Budget position: the participant’s plan budget for that category, what is spent, what is committed to shifts booked but not yet delivered, and what is left now and after this invoice.
5. Read the Checklist. Each row says Pass, Fail or Not applicable, with a reason. A failed row has a link to the place that fixes it, such as attaching a quote or adding bank details in Settings.
6. When every row passes, click Approve and send. If any row fails, the button stays off and the footer says how many checks are failing.
7. The invoice is created as sent and the review moves to the next participant.

What happens next depends on Xero:

• If Xero is connected, the invoice is also pushed to Xero. You will see Invoice sent to Xero and the Xero column on the Invoices tab reads Synced.
• If Xero is not connected, a banner tells you to send the PDF yourself and gives a Download PDF link. Cura does not email the invoice.
• If the Xero step fails, the invoice is still approved in Cura. Open it and click Retry Xero sync once the cause is fixed. See the Xero help page for the connection setup.

For a Private client the NDIS checks and the budget check show Not applicable. If the remaining budget is less than the invoice total, the budget check fails and shows the shortfall in dollars.

You can also open a draft invoice and click Review and send to use the same screen.

Know why a line is held back

Before billing, Cura checks each line. A line that fails sits under Held back with a plain reason and a link to fix it. It is left out of its group total. Typical reasons:

• The client has no NDIS number, or onboarding is not finished.
• A plan managed client has no plan manager.
• The service date is in the future, or the shift has no support item code.
• The shift would take the client over their remaining budget.
• A support needs a quote and none is attached. Add the quote reference on the client’s Support & Funding tab and the line is released on the next load.
• The line was already billed. The reason names the earlier claim reference and date.
• A Support at Home delivery has no budget line to draw on. Allocate it on the participant’s budget page.

The Held card counts these lines and shows their dollar total. For some reasons you can click Override…, type a reason of at least 10 characters and the line goes ahead. Future dated and already billed lines can never be overridden.

Generate an NDIS claim file

Only the NDIS agency managed group makes a claim file. The file follows the myplace Bulk Payment Request layout.

1. On the Shift Billing tab, fix or override anything under Held back.
2. Click Generate claim file on the NDIS agency managed group.
3. A CSV downloads and a message gives the number of claims and the total. The batch appears under Claim batches as Ready to lodge, and its lines appear under Recent Claims.
4. If your NDIS registration number or ABN is blank, the file is refused. A message names the missing field and links to the Invoice details card in Settings. Fix it there and try again.

Held lines are left out of the file and stay pending.

Lodge a claim batch and import the results

Cura cannot send the file to the NDIS. You upload it yourself, then bring the answer back.

1. On the Shift Billing tab, find the batch under Claim batches and click Open.
2. Upload the downloaded file to myplace through PRODA. If you lose the file, click Re-download. It is the same file and no second batch is made.
3. Back in Cura, type the payment request reference and click Mark as lodged. The badge reads Lodged and shows who did it and when.
4. In myplace, download the Bulk Payment Results File. To see the columns Cura expects, click Download results template in the Import results panel first.
5. Choose Bulk Payment Results File, upload it, and read the result line, such as “3 accepted, 1 rejected, 0 unmatched”. The badge changes to Results imported. Each line becomes Accepted or Rejected, and rejections keep the NDIS reason.
6. If myplace gave you an upload error file instead, choose Upload error file. Every row in it counts as rejected.
7. The batch page lists Accepted, Rejected and Awaiting result lines. The last shows days left before the 90 day NDIS lodgement limit.

Importing the same file twice does not double count. A row that cannot be matched is named with the reason. If the file has no claim reference or NDIS number column, nothing changes and you are told to use the template.

If a batch sits unlodged longer than your Unlodged claim alert setting (default 3 days, under Settings, Organisation), an alert shows on the Shift Billing tab and the batch page. To undo an unlodged batch, click Return to ready and confirm. Its lines go back to Ready to bill.

Deal with rejected NDIS claims

1. Open Support at Home in the sidebar, then Exceptions.
2. Each rejected line is an item tagged NDIS, with the reject reason shown.
3. Click Correct and resend once the cause is fixed. The line goes back to Ready to bill and gets a new claim reference next time you generate a file.
4. Or click Write off, type a reason of at least 10 characters, and the line leaves the queue as Written off.

Rejected lines never count in Accepted revenue on the Shift Billing tab or in Total Revenue on Reports.

Bill Support at Home from the same screen

1. On the Shift Billing tab, find the Support at Home group and click Add to [Month] claim. The lines join that participant’s open monthly claim.
2. Below, Participant contributions lists what each participant owes toward their care. Click Create contribution invoices to bill them through the review screen.

The government subsidy is not invoiced. It is claimed on the Support at Home claims page.

Chase an overdue invoice

1. On the Invoices tab, the Overdue invoices card shows how old each invoice is and when it was last chased, or “Never chased”.
2. Click Send reminder. Cura only records the reminder. It never emails the client, so send the reminder from Xero or your own email.

Record a payment

1. Open the invoice and click Record Payment.
2. Fill in Amount ($), which can be less than the balance, and the Method (Bank Transfer, Cash, Cheque or Card). Set the Date. Reference and Notes are optional.
3. Click Save Payment. You will see Payment recorded.
4. When payments cover the total, the invoice becomes paid. A part payment leaves it unpaid with a smaller Amount Due. Every payment shows under Payment History.

Mark an invoice as sent, or void it

Open the invoice. While it is a draft, click Mark as Sent after it has gone to the client. To cancel one that should never be paid, click Void. The status becomes cancelled. There is no confirmation step, and a paid invoice cannot be voided.

Record and approve a supplier invoice

Use this when an outside supplier delivers part of a participant’s service.

1. Click the Supplier Invoices tab, then New Supplier Invoice.
2. Pick the Supplier. If it is not listed, click Add supplier, complete Add New Supplier (Supplier Name is required) and click Save Supplier. Optionally pick a Participant.
3. Enter the supplier’s Invoice Number, Invoice Date and optional dates, Service Type, Service Category and Description.
4. Under pricing, set Quantity, Rate ($), GST Type (GST Free, GST Inclusive or GST Exclusive) and Margin %. Total and Total Billed update underneath.
5. Attach the supplier’s PDF or photo, then click Save as Draft.
6. Click the draft to open it. An owner or admin can click Approve, which records who approved it and draws the amount down from the participant’s budget line. Reject asks for a reason and releases any amount drawn. Neither can be edited afterwards.

If a card on the tab reads “Clinical services needing category review”, some supplier invoices look clinical but are filed under another category. Clinical services carry no participant contribution, so check each against the service delivered before changing it.

Manage price plans

1. Click the Price Plans tab, then Manage Price Plans.
2. Click Add Price Plan and fill in Plan Name, Service Type, Service Category, Billing Type (Hourly, Trip, Invoice or Invoice + %, which adds Margin %), Standard Rate ($) and Effective Date. After-Hours Rate ($), Weekend Rate ($), Public Holiday Rate ($), Price Cap ($) and Notes are optional. Then click Create Price Plan.
3. To retire a plan, click Archive on its row. Tick Show archived plans to see it and Unarchive to bring it back.
4. A rate change does not re-price budget lines already written. Only new lines use it.

Import a government price guide

1. On the Price Plans page, click Import price guide.
2. Choose Add to revision, or type a Revision name and an Effective from date. Add an Effective to date if the rates end. Upload file or paste the guide into Or paste the guide. The expected columns are listed on screen.
3. Click Preview changes. Nothing is saved yet. The preview shows what is new, changed or unchanged, and which rows were rejected and why.
4. Click Import rates. The result appears under Import history, and Price plan revisions lists each revision with its effective date.
5. On a history line, click Review affected services to see the services the import touched.

Edit NDIS item mappings

Mappings link a service to its NDIS support item number.

1. Open Settings, then Pricing, then the Item Mappings tab.
2. Click the pencil on a row, correct NDIS Item # and click Save. You will see Mapping updated. Use Add for a new mapping.
3. Mappings are shared by every organisation on the system, so only owners and admins can change them.

Tips

• Billing starts at approval. A shift does not appear on Shift Billing until a manager approves it in timesheets.
• Total Revenue, Outstanding and Overdue use sent invoices only. A draft is never counted. Total Revenue on Reports also adds accepted NDIS claim lines that are not yet invoiced, and says so in a note under the figure.
• The invoice review document shows GST as free of GST on every invoice. Cura does not yet work out GST on these invoices.
• The MYOB and Xero buttons at the top right are switched off and read “Integration coming soon”. Invoices reach Xero through Approve and send only.
• A price cap on a price plan only applies once a cap value is entered.

Troubleshooting

• “Issue date, due date, and invoice number are required.” Fill in both dates. The number should already be filled in.

• “At least one line item is required.” Add a line with Add Line Item before saving.

• Generate claim file is refused. An alert above Ready to bill names the missing NDIS registration number or ABN. Add it in Settings.

• A line will not leave Held back. Use the fix link. Future dated and duplicate lines cannot be overridden.

• The Xero step failed. The invoice is still approved in Cura. Check the sales account code and tax type under Settings, Integrations, then click Retry Xero sync.

• Two invoices got the same number. Note the invoice numbers and tell your administrator. Do not edit around it.