Overview and Timelines
Set out below are detailed recommendations regarding the submission of data to the national database managed by AMHOCN under contract to the the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.
The Australian Government recommends that States and Territories provide data to the AMHOCN Data Bureau on a quarterly basis. Doing so gives AMHOCN the opportunity to provide States and Territories with more timely feedback and reports of all kinds.
However, regardless of whether a State or Territory submits interim data to AMHOCN on a quarterly basis or not, under the Agreement each State and Territory has with the Australian Government, a complete and final extract covering the full financial year is required to be submitted by 31 December following the end of that financial year.
To ease administrative burden and quicken the process, States and Territories are encouraged to submit data directly to AMHOCN. The Australian Government has advised that final extracts of NOCC data submitted to the AMHOCN Data Bureau will be deemed to be fulfilment of the funding agreement requirements in respect of the submission of NOCC data to the Australian Government.
Accordingly, a State or Territory may adopt one of two approaches when submitting data to AMHOCN:
Just a single final extract covering the Financial Year ending June 30 of the current calendar year is created and submitted to the AMHOCN Data Bureau so that it arrives before the deadline of 31 December of that current Calendar Year.
As the Financial Year progresses the State or Territory submits to the AMHOCN Data Bureau a cumulative extract covering the period from the beginning of the financial year to the end of the just-completed quarter of that financial year. It is recommended that each such extract be created and submitted no earlier than ten weeks following the end of the Quarter, that providing reasonable time for all local edits relevant to the Quarter to be completed. The State or Territory also submits a single final extract for the whole financial year to the AMHOCN Data Bureau so that it arrives before the deadline of 31 December of that current calendar year.
In either case, the single final extract submitted to the AMHOCN Data Bureau is treated as the State or Territory's definitive response in meeting their agreement to provide NOCC data to the Australian Government, whereas the quarterly extracts submitted to the AMHOCN Data Bureau, including that submitted at the end of the fourth quarter, do NOT have that status.
It is assumed that States and Territories will build an automated or semi-automated process that enables NOCC data to be extracted from source systems. That process would bring together the data from all relevant source systems, apply any transformations and restructuring to the data that was needed to bring it into conformance with the NOCC specifications, and then write the data out as a single extract file in the required format.
As noted, the Australian Government advocates Option 2 above. Under this option, the AMHOCN Data Bureau would expect to receive a 1st quarter extract covering the 3 month period July–September in mid to late December, a second quarter extract covering the 6 month period July–December in late March, a third quarter extract covering the 9 month period July–March in late June, and a fourth quarter extract covering the 12 month period July–June in late September. A final definitive extract covering the full financial year would then be submitted to the AMHOCN Data Bureau so that it arrives well before the deadline of 31 December.