Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) site access in HPOS 011-20082111

The Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) site is accessed via the Health Professionals Online Services (HPOS) portal, which is owned by Services Australia. It allows vaccination providers (and their delegates/staff) to submit immunisation data electronically.

To access HPOS and the AIR site, individuals need a Provider Digital Access (PRODA) individual account.

This includes when they are:

• accessing the AIR site as themselves, or
• on behalf of another individual or organisation

Once an individual has a PRODA account, the account remains with the individual and follows them regardless of where they work. Access to the various programmes (service providers) linked to PRODA is controlled within the PRODA account set up.

Service Officers should provide information on the AIR site access options available to enquirers (PRODA Individual, PRODA Organisation member, HPOS Delegate). The individual/organisation chooses which access suits them.

The Resources page provides a table of PRODA access options available to AIR users dependent on their provider category and role type.

All individuals need their own PRODA individual account to access the AIR site:

• as themselves (health professional)
• on behalf of another individual (HPOS delegate), or
• on behalf of an organisation (director or member)

Health professional

A health professional with their own Medicare provider number (for example, medical practitioner, nurse practitioner or midwife) is granted automatic access to the AIR site once they link and log into HPOS using their individual PRODA account.

Any health professionals still accessing AIR through the Authentication File method should be assisted to move to PRODA.

The Resources page has a link to the following Health professional education resources:

• Accessing the AIR (AIRM03) - eLearning
• Accessing the AIR site (AIRM03INFO1) - infographic
• Registering an organisation in PRODA to access the AIR (AIRM08) - eLearning
• Log into the AIR using HPOS (AIRM07) - eLearning
• Add and link HPOS in PRODA to access the AIR (AIRM08INFO1) - infographic
• Add members to an Organisation in PRODA and delegate access to the AIR site (AIRM08INFO2) - infographic

HPOS delegate

Health professionals nominate a HPOS delegate by using the HPOS delegations function to grant other individuals (a HPOS delegate) the ability to access and action HPOS functions on their behalf.

An individual can be nominated as a HPOS delegate by multiple health professionals at different locations. Health professionals can also nominate as many individuals as they like to become HPOS delegates. HPOS delegates need to have their own PRODA individual account linked to the health professional's Medicare provider number.

HPOS delegations are recommended where staff members (for example, practice manager, immunisation nurse etc) need full access to AIR and the health professional is happy to nominate them.

The Resource page provides information to help users decide which access option is suitable for them.

PRODA Organisation Director

An individual with a PRODA account can set up a PRODA account for their organisation (ancillary provider number) if they are listed as an Associate or Authorised contact for the organisation on the Australian Business Register (ABR). This person is known as the organisation 'Director' and they can link HPOS to their organisation (using the Add Service Provider function) so they can access AIR as an organisation. An individual can be a Director of multiple organisations and sub-organisations.

An organisation Director can also add other individuals to the PRODA organisation account using that individuals PRODA Registration Authority (RA) number. These people are known as organisation members.

PRODA Organisation member

A person working on behalf of an organisation, such as a medical practice or commercial vaccination provider (for example, practice manager, immunisation nurse, finance officer) needs to have their individual PRODA account RA number linked to their employer's PRODA organisation account. They are then considered an organisation 'member'.

An individual can be a member of multiple organisations.

Note: when the AIR is accessed either by a HPOS delegate or organisation member, they are given the same access to AIR site functions as the health professional or organisation Director. There is no ability for certain functions within the AIR site to be singled out for access only.

Individual PRODA accounts are required by all users of the AIR. Even if they access the AIR via HPOS delegations or a PRODA organisation account. They still need their own RA in order to be issued with their own username and password.

A PRODA individual account does not expire and moves with a person across roles or organisations. For example, it stays the same when an individual changes employer or works for the same employer but in 2 different locations. It is recommended that individuals use their personal email address and phone number when they set up their PRODA account to maintain access.

Evidence of Identity (EOI)

The EOI documents used in verification must be an exact name match as the name being registered on the individual's PRODA account.. Encourage individuals to ensure they have the correct identity documents ready before starting a PRODA registration. See Resources page for a link to the Services Australia website for more information on identity documents.

Registration authority (RA) number

Once a PRODA individual account is registered and verified, a unique RA number is issued. The RA number:

• identifies the individual, and
• allows users to access HPOS

This number must should not be shared with other people.

To assist users, see Helping users to set up a PRODA individual account on the Process page.

The eBusiness team is able to assist individuals experiencing issues when registering for PRODA.

The Resources page contains links to:

• the AIR PRODA Individual User Guide - for internal use only
• the Services Australia website for Identity documents needed before they start

PRODA organisation accounts are used by organisations with an AIR ancillary provider number to access the AIR site.

• Register parent organisation (pass proof of record ownership (PORO) registration questions, verify registration - emailed activation code)
• Create sub-organisations (optional)
• Add HPOS as a service provider by linking AIR to the organisation and any sub-orgs (pass PORO verify relationship questions)
• Add members to the organisation and any sub-orgs using attributes

Note: The most common access added for organisations in AIR is the HPOS access. Only a Director/Member with Owner-Access may grant this access using the Delegable Attributes function.

Pre-registration checklist

Before organisations start the PRODA organisation registration process they need:

• An Associate or Authorised contact on the ABR with an individual PRODA account
• The organisation's:
• AIR provider number/s
• AIR linking code/s (a one-time access code issued when the AIR organisation's provider number was approved. This is sent to the AIR authorised contact person within the organisation. If the provider number was issued before 17 January 2020, organisations use their AIR site authentication filename as the AIR linking code)
• details that are currently registered with AIR
• full name and ABN and access to the non-publicly available information about the organisation held by the ABR (to answer proof of record ownership questions). The ABN registration must be active (not closed) and details up to date
• email address for the verification email to be sent to (not an individual email address)

To assist users, see Helping users to set up a PRODA organisation account on the Process page and Health professional education resources on the Resources page.

The eBusiness and/or PRODA helpdesk team is able to assist individuals experiencing issues when registering for PRODA.

Proof of record ownership (PORO) questions (AIR)

During PRODA organisation registration, proof of record ownership (PORO) questions are drawn from non-publicly available information about the organisation held on the ABR. The responses entered by the user must exactly match the information recorded on the ABR record in order to proceed. Users are allowed 3 attempts at answering the PORO questions presented.

If the user:

• changes the question presented to another question, or just views the questions, this counts as an attempt
• is unsuccessful, the PRODA organisation registration is cancelled, and the process needs to be re-started from the beginning

The user will get an error message and option to lodge an Assistance Required request if the individual registering the PRODA account:

• is not listed as an Associate or Authorised contact on the ABR
• their PRODA name does not match their name listed on the ABR, or they fail PORO registration questions

Organisations can Request Assistance from Services Australia at this part of the process - these requests are not managed by AIR but are managed by the eBusiness team.

Verify organisations email address (AIR)

Once the PORO answers are successfully answered, an activation code is sent to the organisation's email address.

To finalise registration:

• users enter this code in the Email code field, and
• receive an email confirming they have successfully registered the organisation in PRODA

The email contains the organisation's unique RA number which is needed for other processes.

Once a PRODA organisation is created, a person with an Owner Access or Sub-Org Management attribute can create a 'subsidiary organisation/s' (known as sub-org/s). This is optional and is used to break up the organisation into sections/departments etc. to independently manage individual's or group's access to the AIR. Each sub-org must have the same ABN as the parent organisation but needs to have its own AIR provider number.

Example

A public hospital with an AIR provider number can be the parent organisation, and each department of the hospital (that has its own AIR provider number) can be set up as a subsidiary. Hospital staff are added as members to the specific sub-org based on where they work, what their role is and what information they see for each department.

There is no limit to the number of sub-orgs a parent organisation can create. However, there is only 1 level of sub-org available. Users can't register a sub-org to another sub-org.

To assist users, see Step 5 on Helping users to set up a PRODA organisation account table on the Process page.

See Provider Digital Access (PRODA) organisations for additional details.

The Resources page contains a link to the AIR PRODA Organisations User Guide - for internal use only.

Add HPOS

Organisations need to add HPOS as a service provider to access the AIR. Once added, the user is taken to the Provider Linking System (PLS) to link their organisation to AIR. Users who experience issues with linking their PRODA organisation to HPOS can request assistance from AIR.

Users request assistance by answering the proof of record ownership questions and selecting the Assistance Required check box. They will be prompted to enter a comment. To submit the request the user selects Next and Finish.

This is undertaken by a person with either the Owner Access or Service-Link Management attribute assigned to them. Service Officers cannot undertake this process.

The Resources page contains a link to information about this.

Link AIR using linking code

Ancillary vaccination providers are issued with a one-off PRODA Linking Code when they register for their AIR vaccination provider number.

This code is:

• generated automatically
• sent via letter at the same time as their provider number letter
• sent in a separate envelope to that of the provider number confirmation

The Linking Code is used to link an organisation to the AIR and verify the organisation/AIR relationship. The user must answer questions that verifies the relationship. As these questions are drawn from program registration info it is vital that organisations keep their details up to date with AIR.

Vaccination providers registered before 9 September 2018 use their AIR Authentication Filename as the PRODA Linking Code.

Linking Codes/Authentication Filenames can be:

• viewed by Service Officers on the Client Details page of the AIR site
• released to a provider over the telephone upon successful completion of a security check

The Process page contains the steps to follow to find and release a PRODA Linking Code for an AIR vaccination provider and how to assist an organisation link to the AIR.

Manage blocked accounts (AIR)

When linking an organisation to the AIR and the user fails the verify relationship questions 3 times:

• the account will be blocked for security purpose and they will need to contact AIR using the Assistance Required function
• Service Officers with appropriate access can unblock the account once they have established the relationship manually. If they don't have access, the Service officer will need to escalate to AIR LPS

The Process page provides details on how Service Officers manage account blocking during the linking process.

Resolve orphan links (AIR)

PRODA users who remove their organisations or sub-organisations that are currently linked to HPOS may cause the system to create an orphan link. To prevent this, Services Officers need to first unlink the organisation or sub-organisation from HPOS to enable the user to remove the organisation or sub-organisation from PRODA.

When the orphan link is created and the user attempts to relink the service provider, they will receive a message that they are unable to link as the identifier is already linked. This will prompt the user to contact Services Australia for assistance, or select the request assistance option in PRODA. A file fix will be required to resolve this issue. An AIR Officer will escalate this issue to National Office for attention (requiring an ICT file fix).

Service Officers with AIR Helpdesk access can unlink or close the AIR provider number link to HPOS. The Process page provides details on how to close/unlink a provider number link to HPOS.

PRODA attributes are used within PRODA organisations to control what management functions a user can perform on behalf of the organisation. The person who sets up the PRODA organisation account initially is given Owner-Access attribute and can then delegate attributes to other members of the organisation.

An attribute is valid for 12 months and users are alerted by email when it requires renewal.

The Resources page has links to the Services Australia website for more information about understanding management attributes and managing members and delegations within an organisation on the PRODA webpage and a table explaining PRODA attributes and associated permissions. Note: the 'Indent' attribute is not available to AIR.

Add members to a PRODA organisation/sub-org and delegate AIR access

Once a (parent) organisation's PRODA registration is complete, a member with the Employee Management attribute can add other users (for example, staff) to the PRODA organisation or sub-org account. These are known as Members. To be added to the account, each individual needs their own RA number.

Members level of access is controlled by the attribute (role) assigned to them. Members added to a sub-org with the Sub-Org Management attribute can only perform functions related to that sub-org, not other sub-orgs or the parent organisation.

To assist users, see Step 7 on Helping users to set up a PRODA organisation account table on the Process page.

Remove members from a PRODA organisation/sub-org (AIR)

It is important that organisations remove members who no longer require access to HPOS/AIR.

This is done using the PRODA Manage My Organisation function by selecting them from the list of Members (this opens the members profile) and choosing the Remove this member option. It can be undertaken by members with Owner Access and Employee Management attributes.

Promote the use of this function to users to ensure AIR data is available only to those people who need it.

To assist users, see Step 8 on Helping users to set up a PRODA organisation account table on the Process page.

Using the latest internet browser helps improve security. Providers will need 1 of the following versions at a minimum to use PRODA/HPOS:

• Microsoft Edge
• Internet Explorer 9
• Mozilla Firefox 30
• Google Chrome 39

PRODA has the option for users to request assistance with account set up using an Assistance Required function. The stage of the process the assistance is requested determines who the request is actioned by:

• PRODA Individual account set up: eBusiness Helpdesk
• PRODA Organisation registration: PRODA Helpdesk
• PRODA Organisation linking to AIR: AIR Helpdesk

The Process page provides the steps Service Officers should take to access and action PRODA Organisation linking assistance requests from AIR ancillary providers.

The PRODA staff portal is used to search for and access a PRODA individual or organisation account details and enables AIR Service Officers to:

• View the RA number and username of the PRODA individual account
• View the RA number and ABN details of the PRODA organisation account
• View the individual's personal details (for example, full name, date of birth and contact information)
• View the service providers linked to an individual or organisation account and account status
• View the organisations members
• Make changes (update) to or assist users manage their account (for example, unblocking locked accounts, assist to overcome other difficulties)

Access to PRODA staff portal

Service Officer's access to the PRODA portal and PRODA Organisation Linking portal are controlled by Tivoli Access Manager (TAM) Group roles and access requested in the ISP and approved by the PRODA business owner.

• AIR Service Officers require 'View' access
• AIR Local Peer Support (LPS) require 'View' access
• AIR Business Programme Officers (National Office staff) and Business Development Officers require 'Amend' access

The Online Technical Support (OTS) Liaison team is the first point of contact for software developers for assistance with PRODA. Direct callers to the Services Australia Health Professionals contact information webpage, see Resources for a link.

Service Officers should seek assistance from AIR Program Support Officers in the first instances. There are several additional sources of assistance with AIR site access issues. The Resources page provides more information.