Participant Records

Introduction

The Participant Record feature is a critical tool designed to streamline the management and tracking of Participant documents, including their expiry dates. This guide outlines the step-by-step process for setting up and managing Participant Records within the system.

Setting Up a Participant Record

Access Settings

Navigate to the left-hand side menu and click on Settings to begin the setup process.

Navigate to Participant Settings

Within the Settings menu, select Participants to access the Participant record settings.

Create a Participant Record Type

Click on the Create Participant Record Type button to initiate a new record type.

Enter the name of the Participant Record.

Specify the following attributes for the record:

• Expiry Date: Indicate whether the record has an expiry date.
• Required Record: State if the record is a required element.
• Document Upload: Decide if documents need to be uploaded for the record. These are checkboxes that must be selected as needed.

After providing the necessary information, click on Create to establish the new Participant Record type.

Setting Required Records by Participant Tags

When creating a Participant Record Type, you can now specify whether the record is required for all Participants or only for Participants with selected tags.

This allows you to tailor record requirements based on specific Participant groups, rather than applying the same requirement across your entire organisation.

Configuring Required Records by Tag

When setting up a Participant Record Type:

1. Navigate to Settings and select Participants.
2. Click Create Participant Record Type or edit an existing record.
3. Locate the Required Record option.
4. Choose whether the record should be:

• Required for all Participants, or
• Required only for Participants with selected tags.

5. If selecting tags, choose the relevant Participant Tags the requirement should apply to.
6. Click Create or Save.

Review and Edit Record Types

Newly created Participant Record types will appear in your list, complete with indicators (a cross or a tick) showing if they are required, have an expiry, or require document uploads.

To edit any record type, click on the three dots on the right-hand side of the record and select Edit.

Setting Required Records on a Plan Service

As well as requiring a Record Type across your whole account (or for selected Participant Tags), you can mark a Record Type as required for one specific Service on a Participant's NDIS Plan.

This is useful when a document is only needed because of the Service you're delivering — for example a Behaviour Support Plan that's required for a Support Coordination Service, but not for every Participant on your books.

Unlike the two options above, this isn't configured in Settings. It's set per Participant, per Service.

Marking a Record Type as Required for a Service

1. Go to Participants and open the Participant's profile.
2. Open the NDIS Plan page, select the Plan, then select the Service.
3. On the Records card, click Manage.
4. In the Update Required Record Types drawer, tick the Record Types this Service requires.
5. Click Update.

The Records card lists the Participant Records that have been attached directly to this Service or marked as required for it.

What "Required" Does on a Service

Marking a Record Type as required for a Service is for tracking and reporting only. It does not stop anyone from working — it won't prevent a Support Worker clocking out or ending a shift, block a note from being completed, or hold up invoicing.

Until a Record of that type is attached to the Service, it shows as Missing in:

• the Service's Records card
• the Participant's Missing Records card on their Records page, with a Service column naming the Service
• the Participant Records Report and its export, as a Missing row

Adding a Record for a Service

A Participant Record can only be attached to a Service at the moment you create it — there's no Service picker on the Add Participant Record drawer, so the Service is taken from wherever you started.

To create a Record that's attached to a Service, use one of these two starting points:

• the Add Record button on the missing Record row in the Service's Records card, or
• the Add Record button on that Service's row in the Participant's Missing Records card.

The general Create Participant Record button on the Participant's Records page doesn't pass a Service, so it always creates a Record that isn't attached to one.

How Service Requirements Work With Profile and Tag Requirements

If the same Record Type is required both at the Participant level (across your account or via a Tag) and on a Service, the relationship only works in one direction:

• A Record added from the Service satisfies both requirements. One Record clears both Missing entries.
• A Record added at the Participant level with no Service attached only clears the Participant-level entry. The Service will still show that Record Type as Missing.

If the same Record Type is required on more than one Service, you do need a separate Record for each one. A Record can only be attached to a single Service, so two Services each requiring a Service Agreement means two Records.

Adding Records to Participant Profiles

From the main menu, select Participant and choose the desired individual's profile. Within a Participants profile Scroll down to the Records section within the Participant's profile.

Once in the record click on Create Participant Record and select the appropriate Record Type from the dropdown menu.

Fill in additional details such as:

• Issue Date
• Expiry Date (if applicable)
• Reference Number (if applicable)
• Record Description (e.g., Allergy Information)

Documents can be added by dragging and dropping files into the designated area. There is also an option to add existing documents. Videos can be attached here too — see File Types and Size Limits for the formats Astalty accepts.

If the Record settings allow for Support Worker Acknowledgement, you can select the option to make this a requirement on the Record. For more information on this setting, click here.

You can select whether the Record needs to be signed, and can send the request within the Record itself. For more information on this, see the next section.

Tip: Adding existing documents is particularly useful for users wishing to track expiry dates of previously uploaded documents.

Once all information is entered and documents are uploaded, click Create Record.

File Types and Size Limits

As well as documents, you can attach video to a Participant Record. Astalty accepts MP4, WebM and MOV video files, alongside the usual PDF, Word, spreadsheet and image formats.

Every file on a Record — video or document — can be up to 500 MB. A larger file is rejected with File exceeds the 500MB size limit and a format Astalty doesn't accept is rejected with Invalid file type, both before the Record is saved.

Attaching a video is worth it where a document can't carry the same information — a demonstration of how a Participant communicates, or a recorded consent conversation — because it sits on the Record with the rest of that Participant's paperwork rather than somewhere separate.

Once the Record is saved, select the video to play it in Astalty, the same way you'd open an attached PDF. Support Workers can play it on their device too, if the Record Type is visible to Support Workers — see Participant Details App View.

Records Containing Video and eSignatures

Only PDF and Word (DOCX) files can be signed, so a video never goes out in an eSignature request. This changes what you see when you create the Record:

• If the only files you attach are videos, the Does this Participant Record need to be signed? question doesn't appear at all — there is nothing on the Record that could be signed.
• Add a PDF or Word document to the same Record and the question appears, because that file can be signed.
• When you send the Record for signing, only its PDF and Word documents are offered. Videos aren't listed.

Sending Participant Records for eSignature

To send the Record for signing, you have two options:

1. Send the request immediately after being created
2. Send the request later

Choosing the first option will navigate you to the eSignature platform immediately. For more information on this, click here.

If you choose to send for signature later, you can find more info in the section below (Sending Multiple Participant Records for eSigning) or by clicking here.

Signature Status

Every Participant Record carries a Signature Status. It shows as a chip next to the Record's status on the Participant's Records page, and it's a field in the Signature section of the Edit Participant Record drawer.

Records set to Not Required don't show a signature chip on the Records page, so the list stays focused on the Records still waiting on someone.

When a Record Type Can't Be Sent for Signing

A Participant Record can only be sent for signature when Documents required is ticked on its Record Type. A Record Type that doesn't require documents has no document to sign in the first place, so Astalty leaves the signing option out and tells you why, rather than offering something that could never be completed.

On these Records, the Signature Status dropdown offers only the status the Record already has plus Not Required, and a short note underneath names the Record Type and explains that it doesn't require documents. Send for Signing isn't available on them either, and they aren't offered when you send multiple Records in one eSignature request.

Viewing Participant Records

In the record screen, you can view each Participant Record with details such as its status (current, expired or archived), whether it has been sent for signing, the record name, and the expiry date on the far right-hand side.

Handy Hint: You can check the status of all documents across the organisation and or based on a staff member's caseload via the reports section.

Archiving a Record

When a Record is no longer relevant — for example a Service Agreement that has been replaced by a newer one — you can archive it rather than delete it. Archiving keeps the Record and its documents in Astalty for your audit trail, but takes the Record out of your day-to-day compliance tracking.

To archive a Record, open it from the Participant's Records page and click Edit.

At the bottom of the Edit Participant Record screen, click Archive. You'll be asked to confirm, and if the Record is still active and hasn't expired yet, Astalty will point that out before you go ahead.

What Happens When You Archive a Record

The Record's status changes to Archived. It stays on the Participant's Records page rather than disappearing, so you keep the history — and you can use the Status filter to show only Active or only Archived Records.

Astalty treats an archived Record as no longer in force, which means:

• It no longer satisfies a required Record. If the Record Type is required for that Participant, it will reappear under Missing Records until a new Record is created.
• It won't trigger Participant Record Notifications for upcoming or overdue expiry.
• It won't appear in outstanding Record Acknowledgements for Support Workers.
• Its attached documents are archived too, but they are not deleted. You can still find and restore them from the Participant's Documents page.
• It still appears in the Participant Records Report with an Archived status, so use the report's Status filter if you want to leave archived Records out.

Sending Participant Records

You can send records from within the Record by selecting the 'Actions' button and then select the 'Email' option. You will then have to enter the email address for the recipient.

Sending Multiple Participant Records for eSigning

You may wish to send multiple Participant Records at once, such as a Service Agreement and Consent Form. We've created a helpful video guide that walks through this process.

Record Sending Log

You can now view the history of sent records from within the relevant records. This will help with identifying which documents have been sent.

Deleting Documents from Records

You can now delete documents from within Records! One caveat is that a record must have at least one document assigned before you can delete a document. You can do this from within the edit record screen.

Video Walkthrough For Creating Records