Customer Identity Matching for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs data exchange 110-06070000

There are 2 main data exchanges between the Services Australia and DVA, which allow the transmission of data:

• Secure Network Interface (SNI)
• DVA Webservice data exchange

Transmissions are sent between the entities once daily on business days via the SNI. Data loads directly onto:

• customer records on each system
• on a replica of the DVA database on the agency’s system (known as the CQEX database)

Data transmitted between the entities include:

• providing Defence Force income Support Allowance (DFISA) rates to DVA (which Services Australia calculates and DVA pays) for periods of entitlement before 1 January 2022
• grants of DVA income support payments and Adjusted Disability Pensions for DVA clearance processing
• online concession eligibility
• DVA Debt Recovery processing
• death details
• DVA Integrity checks

The DVA Webservice data exchange operates continuously in real time and is triggered during daily processing on each system. To prevent customers from receiving dual payment of income support or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, the exchange controls the payment of supplements such as:

• Pension Supplement
• Energy Supplement
• Pharmaceutical Allowance
• Veteran Supplement
• One off-government stimulus payments

Both entities send messages through the data exchange to:

• see if the other entity is making payments to customers
• tell each other of grants and cancellations

Processing will occur when necessary to prevent customers receiving a payment or card from both entities.

Other transmissions of data include shared data from Births, Deaths and Marriages, and Managed Investment and Listed Securities data, which are sent through the SNI data transfer services.

A suite of transactions allow data to be transmitted via the SNI and DVA Webservice data exchange. To allow this data to be applied to agency and DVA records, identity matching processes are in place. These processes:

• identify mutual customers
• create a link between Services Australia and DVA records by storing the customer’s:
• Customer Reference Number (CRN) is stored on their DVA record
• DVA Unique Identification Number (UIN) on the Services Australia record

Either entity can initiate Identity matching. DVA sends customer details to Services Australia, where a match will be attempted via the Indexing Manager Facility. This provides for automatic and manual matching of external entity and agency customers, according to established indexing standards.

The DVA Clearance Team will complete manual matching if:

• a match is unclear and cannot be established automatically, or
• there are multiple potential matches

DVA may unlink a customer's record from their corresponding agency record. DVA transmits the unlink request to the agency, which produces a DVAUNL manual follow up for the DVA Clearance Team to complete.

Services Australia initiates identity matching with DVA records when customers become eligible for DFISA payments and during all claims, restorations and reassessments of:

• pension (PEN)
• parenting (PGA)
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (SHC)
• Allowances (NSS)
• Income Support System (ISS)

Matching is conducted against the agency CQEX database, which contains a complete record of all DVA customers. It is primarily used for businesses to confirm concession entitlements in the Centrelink Confirmation eServices (CCeS) system.

Automatic matching happens when the customer's details from both entities correspond closely. The DVA Clearance Team will complete a manual match, through a DVALINK manual follow up, when the match is unclear.