Version 2.80
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What's New in Version 2.80
This page details changes and enhancements which have been made to the Infocare system for the current version of the software.
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| New Features |
Infocare version 2.80 contains many new features and
changes to functionality in order to cater for the new automatic interface to
the Ministry of Education ELI (Early Learning Information) system. This release
notice explains these changes and enhancements.
It is important
that you read and understand how these changes will affect your service.
ELI (Early Learning
Information) System Integration
Section 144A and 313 of the Education Act provide the
legislative authority for ECE services to supply information regarding child
data to the Ministry of Education. Under this Authority, Infocare will provide a
regular feed of information as required by regulation to the Ministry of
Education ELI (Early Learning Information) System. Users will have the facility
to check, confirm and correct this information both before and after it has been
sent.
Information transmitted to ELI includes child information,
booking data, attendance data and service temporary closure data.
Information will need to be confirmed on a monthly basis
and users will be reminded of this on the Notice Board.
ECE Return
At a frequency still to be determined by the Ministry of
Education, users will be required to submit an ECE return via Infocare.
This will replace the old paper based RS61 forms that centres were required to
complete annually in July.
Split Accounts
The Ministry of Education do not allow the practice of dual
enrolments for children within the same service.
This is specifically because each child can only be assigned a single National
Student Number. Whilst Infocare does not allow
users to enrol the same child twice on the same license, this practice has been
happening in a small number of services where children are in shared custody or
where parents require split accounts and centres have entered the child twice
with a slightly different name to get around the rules.
Those services who have children in this situation will
need to cease the enrolment of the duplicate record and set up a split account
for the child as detailed below.
To cater for the small number of children in this category,
users now have the facility to define split, or multiple accounts for a child.
Accounts are assigned to the child’s contacts. For example the mother could have
her own account and the father could have his own account.
When the accounts are set up, the user is able to determine
what split each contact is responsible for paying either by percentage or by
fixed amount. When invoices are created, each contact will have their own
separate invoice. When payments are received, users will need to enter the
receipts to the contacts individual accounts. Each contact will have a unique
reference number i.e. JS33 for the
mother’s account and JS33/2 for the father’s account.
Please note that
there is no change required for those children who do not have shared care or
whose parents do not require separate accounts.
Parent Portal
All parents’ Usernames have changed. Usernames are no
longer the child’s reference. They are now the email address that has been
entered in the contact details screen.
This was made necessary because of the changes made to
facilitate split accounts. Each contact in the system can now have their own
Username and Password to access the Parent portal, and if the parents happen to
have split accounts as well, then they will only be able to see their own
account details when they log in to the Parent Portal. Contacts who are given
access to the Parent Portal who do not have an account i.e. Grandmother, will
not be able to see any account information.
Users will need to upload a new Parent Portal letter that
can be emailed to parents/contacts. A sample letter can be found on our website
at
http://www.info-care.biz/downloads.html .You are welcome to use this sample
letter.
Home Based Networks
In our previous version (Infocare version 2.77) we included
a variety of new features specifically for Home Based Networks. These included;
the ability to define “Homes” in the “Centre Options” section of the system, the
requirement to add all educators as “Employees” in the system, the ability to
assign a child to “home” for each day of the week on the child’s “timetable”,
and the ability to create daily sign in sheet by “Educator” category.
We would like to remind all Home Based services that these
tasks and ongoing procedures MUST be
completed and in place prior to authorising the ELI interface. The Ministry
of Education ELI (Early Learning Integration) System will not accept data from
home based services that do not have the correct setup.
1.
Children
The child selection screen no longer has a “Winz” button or
a “Parent Portal” button. In addition to this, the “Account” no longer shows
only a list of transactions for the child. The “Account” button activates a
different screen which allows users to set up account details for split
accounts, list transactions for this child based on split accounts, define Winz
details etc.
The Parent Portal button can now be found under “Contacts”
against each contact defined for the child. This is because each contact can now
be set up with their own access to the parent portal. Each contact’s email
address will be their Username. Please
note that the child’s reference is no longer used as the username and every
Parent will have a new username with this version of Infocare.
2.
Children – Contacts
The “Autopayment” button has been removed. This button is
now available on the Account View Screen – Children – Account – Autopayment.
3.
Children – Accounts
The “Accounts” button now allows users to view which
contacts have been set up with accounts for the child and then to click
“Modify”, “Delete”,
“View Accounts”, “Autopayment” and Winz” for each
contact, or to “Add” a new account for a contact.
If the child has shared custody and the parents/caregivers
require a split account, you are able to add a second account for the child by
clicking the “Add” button on this screen.
From the drop down list, you select the appropriate contact for the
account and then decide how the bill is to be split. You are able to
appropriately name the accounts so that they are meaningful when you need to
create receipts and invoices for them. For example the Mother’s account you
might name “Mum” rather than the default “AC1”.
You are able to split the bill by percentage or by amount.
For example you can specify that the Father pays 60% and the Mother pays 40%, or
you can specify a fixed amount. When specifying a fixed amount, all but one of
the accounts can have a fixed payment specified. One of the accounts must be
left blank so that the residual amount is paid by this account holder.
4.
Children – Transfer
For centres or groups with multiple licenses or centres
that transfer children from one centre to another, there is now an option to
transfer a child’s Bond details to the receiving centre.
5.
Reports – Financial Reports
All Financial reports which list children’s names will now
list the child’s name – account name. For example Dustin Rail – Mum, Dustin Rail
– Dad
6.
Reports – Financial Reports – Transaction Listing By Type
On the Transaction Listing by Type Report, “Donations” have
now been renamed to “Fundraising”, “Donation Reversals” have been renamed to
“Fundraising Reversals”.
Receipts (Donations) have been added as a transaction type,
and these can be selected to show payments which have been received with the
“Donations” check box set.
7.
Billing – Accounts Processing
The drop down list of children’s names on the Accounts
Processing screen will now display the child’s name and the account name. For
example “Dustin Rail – Mum”, “Dustin Rail – Dad”. Invoices, Receipts, Statements
etc. are produced for each account and not for each child. For example. If
Dustin Rail has 2 accounts; one for his mother and one for his father, and
his mother makes a payment you would need to select the account “Dustin Rail –
Mum” and then click the create button.
8.
Billing – Batch Receipts
References are now account specific for each child, so when
entering a reference in the batch receipts screen for a child that has split
accounts, you need to specify which account the receipt applies to. The
reference for the second account would include “/2”. For example JS33 for the
first account and JS33/2 for the second account. A full list of references can
be viewed on the Child References report (Child reports, or on the Account View
Screen).
9.
Billing – Bonds – Add Bond
The drop down list of children’s names on the Bond Update
screen will now display the child’s name and the account name. For example
“Dustin Rail – Mum”, “Dustin Rail – Dad”. Bonds are created for each account and
not for each child. For example. If Dustin Rail has 2 accounts; one for his
mother and one for his father, and if his mother pays a bond payment you would
need to select the account “Dustin Rail – Mum” and then click the Update button.
10.
Billing Fundraising – Donations – Add Donation
The drop down list of children’s names on the Donation
Update screen will now display the child’s name and the account name. For
example “Dustin Rail – Mum”, “Dustin Rail – Dad”. Donations are created for each
account and not for each child. For example. If Dustin Rail has 2 accounts; one
for his mother and one for his father, and if his mother makes a donation
payment you would need to select the account “Dustin Rail – Mum” and then click
the Update button.
11.
Utilities – Letter Writer
Because of the new “Split Account” functionality required by the Ministry of Education, certain keywords can now only be used when associated with selected categories of people. You will need to select a radio button within the letter writer to determine which category of people that you intend to send the letter to i.e. Children, Account Holders or Staff. For example, the following keywords are only applicable to letters intended for account holders:-
BALANCE
PAYERADDRESS
PAYERADDRESSLINE1
PAYERADDRESSLINE2
PAYERADDRESSLINE3
PAYERADDRESSLINE4
PAYERSALUTATION
PAYERNAMES
PAYERFULLNAMES
Because we now have the facility for multiple users with
individual usernames for the Parent Portal, it is no longer possible to use your
previous Parent Portal letter from the Letter Writer. This will need to be
addressed to individual contacts and use the keywords USERNAME and PASSWORD.
Because they are specific to individual contacts, the Keywords USERNAME and
PASSWORD can only be used when sending Parent Portal Letters. They cannot be
used in general letters in the Letter Writer facility.
Full details of which keywords you are able use for each category of person selected are available in the online help.
12.
Parent Portal
Because of the new “Split Account” functionality
required by the Ministry of Education,
all parent’s Usernames have now changed. The child’s reference is no longer
used as the Username for the Parent Portal. Each contact assigned to a child can
be assigned access to the Parent Portal and provided with their own individual
log in credentials.
Each person’s Username will now be the email address that
has been entered with their contact details in Infocare. The Password for that
person can be determined by clicking on the “Parent Portal” button next to the
contact’s name on the Contact Update Screen.
Because we now have the facility for multiple users with
individual Usernames for the Parent Portal, it is no longer possible to use your
previous Parent Portal letter from the Letter Writer. Remove this letter from
your system by going to “Utilities – Download Files”. Scroll down the page until
you find the file “Parent Portal.htm” and then click the corresponding “Delete
File” button on the right hand side of the screen. You can then create your new
Parent Portal letter. This will need to be emailed to individual contacts and
use the keywords USERNAME and PASSWORD.
A sample letter can be found on our website at
http://www.info-care.biz/downloads.html .You are welcome to use this sample
letter.
You will need to
inform your parents of their new Usernames and Passwords, so once the new
letter has been uploaded, you will need to check your contacts and ensure that
the permissions for emailing letters/Parent Portal check boxes are correct. The
letter can be emailed to all existing contacts by clicking on the “Email All”
button on the Parent Portal Update Screen.
When new children are added in to the system, you will be
able to decide which contacts have access to the Parent Portal and allocate a
Password to those people individually.
13.
Reports – Group Reports – Parent Portal Usage
This report has been amended to now show both the child’s
name and the contact names.
1.
Utilities – ELI Authorisation
This screen is used to inform users of the changes to
Infocare terms and conditions which apply to the transmission of data to the
Ministry of Education ELI System. Section 144A and 313 of the Education Act
provide the legislative authority for ECE services to supply information
regarding child data to the Ministry of Education. Under this Authority,
Infocare will provide a regular feed of information as required by regulation to
the Ministry of Education ELI (Early Learning Information) System. Users will
have the facility to check, confirm and correct this information both before and
after it has been sent. Users will be asked for acceptance to send this data to
the Ministry of Education. A reminder will be displayed on the system notice
board.
2.
Utilities – ELI Confirmation
On a monthly basis, users will be required to certify that
their data which has been transmitted to the Ministry of Education is correct. A
reminder that this certification is due will be displayed on the system
noticeboard.
Data that is transmitted to the Ministry of education over
the course of the month will include child information, booking data, attendance
data and service temporary closure data.
3.
Reports – MOE Reports - ECE Return
At a frequency still to be determined by the Ministry of
Education, users will be required to submit an ECE return via Infocare.
This will replace the old paper based RS61 forms that centres were required to
complete annually in July.
Users who have not accepted the ELI Authorisation (above)
will not be able to complete the ECE Return online using Infocare.
.