Optometric and Optical Practice Management

Computer Software Solutions:

Argus Connect Software for secure encrypted email communication between health care practitioners.

HICAPS - Health Industry Claims and Payment Services Electronic health fund payment processing.

I-Optic Makers of I-Lite practice management software. This basic software will keep track of who owes what, who has paid what, what money has come in,  all details about every job, recalls and more.

Monkey Software Makers of Optomate Practice Management software. Australian company specialising in Practice Management Software for the optical industry.
A-Support  NSW, Qld & NT re-seller for Monkey Software's Optomate Practice Management System.
Optom Help  Provides detailed help files for Optomate Premier Practice Management Software. Optomate instructions.

Sunix Vision Makers of Sunnix Vision Practice Management software

Opti Pro Ocelot Practice Management Software.

Mozy Secure online backup - encrypted and compliant with US medical privacy laws.

Continuing Professional Development

OAA Continuing Education
OptomCPD
Ski Conferences for Eyecare Professionals

Legislative Compliance

ABR - Australian Business Register Register of every business with an ABN. Useful for checking if a supplier has and ABN and if they are registered for GST. Also useful for checking if a business name is available when starting a practice.
ACCC - Australian Competition and Consumer Commission  regulatory body with the power to impose fines for false or misleading advertising, financial scams, unconsionable conduct by large businesses against small ones, predatory pricing, price fixing, and other anti-competitive practices.
ASIC - Australian Securities and Investments Commission  Regulator and registrar for all Australian companies. The National Names index shows company names and registered business names that are in existence.  Useful when selecting the name for a new business.
ATO - Australian Taxation Office
Australasian Legal Information Institute  Download full text of all Australian Laws and Regulations
Austroads Australian driving standards including vision standards.
Department of Veterans Affairs
IP Australia  Intellectual Property such as Trade Marks and Patents are registered by IP Australia.  Site is also useful for checking if a proposed name is already trademarked.
Medicare Australia
SAI Global  Purchase Australian Standards Here
Standards Australia Home page for Australia's peak standards body.
Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)  Australian regulator for medicines and medical devices. Eye testing equipment, spectacle frames and lenses are now classified as medical devices. Importing without compliance with TGA requirements is illegal.  All therapeutic and diagnostic medicines need to be approved by the TGA.
Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents Download all victorian Parliamentary documents including Acts.

Legal and Administrative

Law Central is an Australian publicly listed company offering current and valid Employment Contracts, Trust Deeds,  company constitutions, Self managed Superannuation Fund Documents, Salary Packaging a Car Kits and other such documents. Buy directly from where some accountants buy them.

Law Depot US site which offers Australian employment contracts and policy, procedures manuals and other legal documents.

CCH Australia Australian Master Tax Guide, master superannuation guide, master industrial relations guide etc  CCH is a provider of information services, software and workflow tools for tax, accounting, hr, employment, safety, legal and business professionals.

Self Managed Super -  ESUPERFUND   Setting up and managing your own self managed super fund is not daunting with ESUPERFUND. Set up and administrative requirements handled by ESUPERFUND. Free SMSF Setup & Free 1st Year Fee then $599 pa. - "The Revolution is Here"



Martin Print: Printer for business cards, stationery etc. Send artwork over website or they will design it. Discout prices, high quality, just as fast as the local printer.

Industrial Relations

The Workplace Authority recommends that employers seek individual advice regarding which awards are applicable to each workplace. The worplace authority will provide individual written advice to employers when they apply for it.

General guide is contained below: please note that this may not apply to you.

Victoria:
Victoria does not have its own state awards. In Victoria certain federal awards have been declared common rule awards. This means that they apply to everyone in the relevant industry who is not covered by any other federal award, certified agreement, or AWA. Common rule awards do not apply to employers who have their own certified agreements or who are named in other awards or to workers who have signed AWA's.

When reading the awards keep in mind that later amendments negate some earlier clauses, therefore it is important to establish that a certain clause is not cancelled by a later amendment. An especially important page in the award is the "Common Rule Declaration", which deletes some clauses from the original award. It is the common rule award that is relevant to small businesses which are not actually named in any awards.

Applicable Common Rule Awards in Victoria:
For optical dispensers: Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association - Victorian Shops Interim Award 2000 [Transitional] (Award ID: AT796250CRV)
For employees performing clerical work and no optical dispensing work: Clerical and Administrative Employees (Victoria) Award 1999 [Transitional]
 (Award ID: AT773032CRV)
For Trainees: National Training Wage Award 2000 (Award ID: AP790899CAN)  To be read in conjunction with the relevant award.

These federal awards awards specify pay classifications, penalty rates, and minimum working conditions. Download them in full from the AIRC website. Current minimum pay rates are available from the Workplace Authority .

These awards are not specific to the optical industry and do not cover the job descriptions expected in the optical industry.  For example, clerical work is not mentioned in the shops award, yet optical dispensing involves some clerical work. Cleaning is not mentioned in the awards either. For this reason a written employment contract and policy and procedures manual are valuable for the employer.   Written employment contracts (such as contracts available from Law Central) allow employers to "set off" award conditions, penalty rates, and leave loading in return for higher pay. 

Some award conditions can be modified with a written contract - for example, the shops award allows 45minutes for lunch and as well as two 10 minute breaks per day. These may not be viable for a small optical business. The award allows the employer and employee to reach agreement on altering these entitlements. A written contract is one way to do this - these alterations are not included in the Law Central contract and have to be entered manually.

Below are listings of state awards for other states. It is recommended to get individual advice from the Workplace Authority before making any decisions on staff pay rates. Some employers may be covered under state awards, and others may be covered under federal awards. Territories use common rule awards, check with the workplace authority.

NSW:

For Optical Mechanics:  AN120332 – Mechanical Opticians (State) Award

QLD:

For Optical Mechanics:  AN140198  Optical Manufacturing Industry Employees ‘ Award - State 2003

SA:

For Optical Mechanics: AN150100 Optical Employees Award

Tas:

For optical receptionists, clerical workers and mechanics: AN170074 Optical Industries Award


WA:

For Optical Mechanics: AN160237 Optical Mechanics' Award, 1971




AIRC - Australian Industrial Relations Commission Full text of all awards can be downloaded here.

Eyecare Recruitment optical industry employment agency

Law Central Purchase current and valid employment contracts.

Open Recruitment employment agency.

Workplace Authority  Current award pay rates.

Worksafe Victoria Victorian workers compensation Government authority.

Website Building

Please see the Guide to Making a Website by Yourself.

AlleyCode   HTML editor which can also edit formats other than HTML. (does not yet work with Vista)

auDA accredited Registrars  List of accredited domain name registrars

FileZilla. ftp client  for uploading your files from your computer to the server.

Free Layouts  Free HTML layouts for website design.

KompoZer  HTML editor - edit the site without seeing all the HTML coding. Also allows the HTML to be edited directly.

Melbourne IT  Domain Name Registrar

NetRegistry  Domain Name Registrar

Paint.NET  Image editor to create and modify images, graphics, and photos.

Servers Australia   Web hosting service.

Computer Equipment

PC Case Gear Purchase computer cases, power supplies, and other computer related equipment.

Road Mogul  Discount Printers. Latest models sourced from Australian wholesalers so comes with full warranty.

Scorpion Technology Computers  Build your whole computer system online and have it delivered to your door.

Broadband Gear  Broadband modems, routers, VoIP phones & more

Finance

Experien

Medfin

Shopfitting and Optical Shop Merchandizing

All About Shopfitting Shopfitter

Chadwick Plastics Spectacle Frame Displays

Creative Concepts  Optical Window Displays

Froog Shopfit & Design Shopfitter

Gush  Retail Merchandizing

Maxim Optical Frame Displays

Preston Displays Spectacle Frame display clips

Shop for Shops Retail Shopfittings and accessories

Shopfitting Solution National Shopfitter specializing in Optical and Optometry fitouts.

Optometric Practice Management:

A J & V J Hanks Practice Management

Eyecare Plus Optometrists Buying group

Eyetalk Eyetalk Reference Guide.

Opti Pro  Buying Group.

ProVision Optometrists Buying Group

QIP - Quality in Practice Optometric Practice accreditation









Optical Directory  

Optometrists:  ACT  NSW  NT  SA  QLD  TAS  VIC  WA