Handling CPP in Sonia

 

Background

The Australian Government is launching the Commonwealth Prac Payment (CPP) initiative from 01 July 2025, offering financial support to eligible nursing, midwifery, teaching, and social work students during full-time mandatory placements. This initiative aims to alleviate cost-of-living pressures and encourage student retention in critical workforce areas.

 

Resource

Commonwealth Prac Payment - Department of Education, Australian Government

Setting things up in Sonia

1. Create/modify forms (Sonia can provide examples for universities to modify)
   1. Student CPP Application
      1. Placement Officer action button:
         1. Writes “placement status” to placement custom field
         2. Assigns EITHER “CPP Approved” OR “CPP Rejected” Workflow to student
      2. Assign a Placement Officer “owner” of this form who should subscribe to the “form section to complete” notification and “filter to owner”
   2. Timesheet form with weekly submission (optional, depending on program’s process)
2. Create communication templates to put into Workflows for students:
   1. Invitation to apply for CPP
   2. With the result of their application (accepted/rejected)
3. Create Lists
   1. Document Category called CPP Paperwork
   2. Custom field (Other) Category called CPP
4. Create custom fields
   1. on placement for Placement Status with these suggested options: Anticipated, In-progress, Completed, Cancelled
   2. on placement for “eligible for weekly disbursement” (yes/no)
      1. Create one for each week of placement to track eligibility over the course of the placement?
5. In the Scholarships module, create a Scholarship for (example) CPP 2025
   1. The Mode should be “Allocated students”

Process

1. Send communication to students who are allocated to a site for full-time placement (30+ hrs/week)
   1. Instruction to students: log into Sonia Online > assign CPP Application to self
2. Student completes form > Placement Officers reviews form
   1. Placement Officer adds student to Scholarship module if approved
   2. Placement Officer decision on form sends the appropriate accept/reject Workflow communication to student
   3. ‘Approved’ Workflow also includes a Timesheet form that the student will need to complete instead of logging in to Sonia Online to record time
3. Before placement begins, Placement Officer sends list of students to Finance Office for Week 1 disbursement
   1. Reports tab > Student > Placement Scholarship Summary (click the yellow star to save to Favourites)
      1. Enter date range of Scholarship > click View
      2. Export to PDF > save to your computer
      3. Email to Finance Office outside Sonia
4. Each week, the following process happens:
   1. Student submits hours
   2. Mentor approves hours, if applicable
   3. Placement Officer reviews Timesheet form for eligibility
   4. IF STUDENT COMPLIES
      1. If all comply, export Placement Scholarship Summary to PDF and send to Finance Office
      2. Placement Officer logs a disbursement in the Scholarship module (before/after?) sending to Finance
   5. IF STUDENT DOES NOT COMPLY
      1. Placement Officer does not log disbursement
      2. Placement Officer changes total award amount (subtract $319.50)
         1. Scholarship > Recipients > select student > edit pencil
      3. Export Placement Scholarship Summary to EXCEL > remove disqualified student(s) > send to Finance Office