Quality On Line (QOL) 111-23000000

QOL is a quality assurance program. It uses sampling to select activities for checking based on the system, service reason, activity type and proficiency levels of staff.

The QOL program has a number of components including QOL tools, QOL checkers, a quality-sampling regime, feedback mechanisms and QOL Standards.

The 2 national QOL principles are:

• Payment Correctness, and
• Getting it Right Standards

These principles apply when checking activities created on a customer's record for accuracy.

An error in QOL can be a:

• critical error which fails to meet the Four Pillars of Payment Correctness. The activity is returned and feedback is provided to staff to address, or
• non-critical error which does not impact payment correctness and feedback is provided to staff to address

Payment correctness underpins the integrity of payments made by Centrelink and is defined by The Four Pillars of Payment Correctness:

• Right Person
• Right Program
• Right Rate
• Right Date

Each of The Four Pillars has a set of rules. These define the error type and indicate any critical risk to payment correctness. This is inbuilt into the QOLCheck tool. When an activity does not meet one or more of The Four Pillars, a critical error has occurred. The activity is returned to the staff member and feedback is provided.

When updating a customer record, the management of customer records/interaction Getting it Right minimum standard must be followed.

In QOL, this principle predominately applies to the recording of all significant decision activities to comply with the GIR DOC Minimum Standards. For more details, see Recording reasons for decisions.

Failure to create a GIR DOC for a significant decision is not a critical error. If there is no GIR DOC and the QOL checker cannot determine if the result of the significant decision meets The Four Pillars, the activity is returned with feedback.

There are 2 tools used to select, check and report on the outcome of the QOL checks - QOLCheck and QOLStat. Request access to the QOL tools through the ICT Security Portal.

QOLCheck

Users can replay their own work or, with the right delegation, replay and check the work of others. The QOLCheck tool has questions to identify critical and non-critical errors. Two types of questions are used:

• Step or screen questions must be answered directly and do not require any judgement to determine if there has been a Payment Correctness error. The QOLCheck tool applies the right rule based on the question answered
• If there is a step question error, the activity will be returned
• An incorrect date of event, date of effect or date of receipt is treated as a step question. They should be answered directly as Yes or No
• The date of receipt option does not appear in the QOL tool for all payment types
• When there is a date of receipt error, the activity is returned by selecting the Incorrect DOE/DOV option in the transaction question set
• Exception: DOR errors are not critical when:
  - staff have used a guided procedure or script that does not allow them to change the date of receipt, or
  - an instruction is published in an Operational Message about a piece of work, for example, Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment
• Transaction questions are more general. The QOL checker must decide if a critical error has occurred:
• If an error is part of the transaction questions and meets the definition of a critical error, the activity is returned
• If it is a non-critical error, the activity is released with feedback
• Transaction questions are identified by the Transaction Summary heading at the top of the QOL Tool

QOLStat

QOLStat is a reporting tool that stores all relevant information generated by the QOLCheck. It is used to report outcomes of quality checking at the individual level through to the national level.

All staff using QOL have duties and responsibilities under QOL to:

• correctly action customer information using the appropriate Operational Blueprint reference/s
• check feedback reports generated by the QOLCheck or the QOLStat tools and action any feedback regularly during the day
• maintain a personal QOL correctness of at least 95%

A QOL checker is responsible for undertaking QOL checks in accordance with payment correctness and the Getting it Right minimum standards. QOL checkers must meet accreditation criteria.

Responsibilities of a QOL checker are to:

• meet the appropriate requirements as outlined on QOL accreditation and reaccreditation form
• apply the appropriate Operational Blueprint reference when completing QOL checks
• maintain a personal QOL correctness of at least 95% in the relevant system or benefit they will be checking
• engage collaboratively with other QOL checkers to ensure the application of consistent QOL checking
• give appropriate, consistent and constructive feedback
• report on an individual staff member's performance to Line Managers and identify learning needs and knowledge gaps where appropriate
• not look for errors outside the activity they are checking, unless:
• an error coded in an earlier activity is found and this influences the outcome of the current activity being checked, and/or
• relevant information exists that was omitted from the current activity
• not override discretionary decisions unless the relevant legislation, policy or procedure does not allow discretion

All decisions must be made using the relevant legislation, policy and Operational Blueprint procedure.

If the legislation or policy allows for discretion, the staff member can use discretion when completing the activity.

If they have used their discretion:

• the QOL checker must not, under any circumstances, change the decision
• the QOL checker's personal opinion is irrelevant
• the decision can only be overridden if the legislation, policy or procedure did not allow for any discretion

For this reason, staff members must document all discretionary decisions to ensure visibility and rigour around the assessment. Recording the discretionary reasons also helps the QOL checker check the correctness of the activity.

Line managers are responsible for:

• maintaining the integrity of QOL
• monitoring quality and supporting staff to achieve QOL results
• assessing proficiency advancement for individual staff where applicable
• making sure staff/QOL checkers have the required skills and knowledge and meet the QOL checker accreditation/reaccreditation requirements
• assessing QOL checker accreditation and reaccreditation applications from their staff
• ensuring QOL checkers adhere to their roles and responsibilities
• supporting QOL checkers to deliver quality outcomes

Accreditation

A QOL checker must complete the accreditation process to gain the required delegation to check activities.

Reaccreditation

Once a staff member is accredited as a QOL checker, they must be reaccredited every 12 months. This review process is to ensure they maintain the required knowledge and technical skills to perform the QOL checker role.

Accreditation/reaccreditation criteria

For accreditation and reaccreditation as a QOL checker within a system, (for example, NSS,FAO), a staff member must:

• be APS4 or above
• meet or maintain a proficiency of 'P' for a payment in the relevant system. For example, JobSeeker payment in NSS, Family Tax Benefit in FAO
• meet the Annual review of proficiency, see Updating proficiency for QOL
• achieve and maintain 95% correctness rate in the relevant system and benefit
• complete QOL Skills Verification LMS CLK01123, and achieve a 100% pass mark
• have essential skills and knowledge as follows:
• knowledge of specific payments and programs and the ability to acquire general knowledge for other programs
• understanding of customer recording tools and systems
• ability to interpret policy and legislation
• knowledge of Operational Blueprint and use of on-line resources and other reference tools
• knowledge of QOL systems and processes

Additional criteria

Accreditation - completed National QOL Checker Accreditation Training LMS CLK01190

Reaccreditation - completed QOL checks in the relevant system within the last 12 months

The ICT Security Portal (ISP) automatically issues a notice of expiry to staff before their QOL checker accreditation expires.

If QOL Checker access has lapsed for more than 2 months, the QOL checker will need to complete the full accreditation process.