Terms and Conditions

Terms & conditions for use of BPCLEtool

MEERQAT Pty Ltd

ABN 42 601 845 792
1/26 Robe Street, St Kilda VIC 3182
Tel: 03 9525 3234
Email: enquiries@meerqat.com.au

Introduction

MEERQAT Pty Ltd is the owner of the Best Practice Clinical Learning Environment Framework online implementation tool (BPCLEtool) and owns copyright in it. BPCLEtool is an online organisational self-assessment tool that allows clinical placement providers to compare their own arrangements for organising, managing and delivering clinical education against the BPCLE Framework. It suggests goals and tasks for a quality improvement action plan and appropriate indicators for internal monitoring, based on the self-assessment results. The tool also allows organisations to input data for indicators they are monitoring and to report against that data.

1	Definitions
1.1	"Administrator of BPCLEtool", consists principally of MEERQAT Pty Ltd, which supports the availability of, maintains and upgrades BPCLEtool (but will not, in any way, copy or store externally any Content in the BPCLEtool system) but also, where relevant, the Victorian Department of Health ("the Victorian Health Department") and its nominees who will facilitate access for Participating Organisations in Victoria.
1.2	"BPCLEtool" is as defined in the Introduction above, being an online software application for the purpose of assisting Clinical Placement Providers with implementation of the BPCLE Framework and consists of an interface, interface design elements, source code, source code design, application and help documentation and trademark, being located at: https://www.bpcletool.net.au.
1.3	"BPCLEtool Account", is the online access to the BPCLEtool system for a nominated User. It provides access to that part of the BPCLEtool system pertaining to the self-assessment, action planning, indicator selection and indicator data collection and reporting activities of the User's Participating Organisation (and no other Participating Organisation).
1.4	"Clinical Placement Provider (CPP)", is an organisation where health sector students are placed for fulfilling their clinical educational requirement.
1.5	"Collection", is any organisation or individual gathering, acquiring or obtaining information from any source and by any means, whether that information has been requested or not and includes questionnaires, surveys, interviews, focus groups and requests for information held on databases, datasets or institutional records.
1.6	"Content", is data entered into BPCLEtool by Users from Participating Organisations. All entered data is acknowledged to be the property of the Participating Organisation.
1.7	"Disclosure", is where an organisation or individual discloses information by releasing it to other organisations or individuals (i.e. outside of those collecting the information in the first instance) although giving individuals information about themselves does not constitute disclosure.
1.8	"Education Provider", is an educational institution that offers health professional courses that include a clinical education component.
1.9	"Externally Reportable Indicator", is any indicator from the collection of indicators defined within the BPCLE Performance Monitoring Framework (PMF) where the Health Department of a specified jurisdiction has determined that the indicator results shall be reported by relevant health services within that jurisdiction to that Health Department. For example, the Victorian Department of Health has identified six indicators as externally reportable for Victorian public health services.
1.10	"Licensed Material", is the BPCLE framework and its associated resources, specifically the BPCLE Framework, BPCLE PMF and BPCLE Resource Kit, being materials licensed by the State of Victoria (as the owner of the copyright in the BPCLE framework and resources) to MEERQAT Pty Ltd for use in the context of BPCLEtool.
1.11	"Licensee", is the Licensee of BPCLEtool, being MEERQAT Pty Ltd, who may provide access to BPCLEtool to Participating Organisations on a subscription basis.
1.12	"Organisation Administrator", is the category of User within BPCLEtool with authority to create and manage users within their organisations and to create, conduct, manage and monitor assessments within their organisation.
1.13	"Participating Organisation", is the Clinical Placement Provider or Education Provider and is responsible for identifying and authorising its employees or contractors as Organisation Administrators or Standard Users of BPCLEtool.
1.14	"Personal Information", is information or an opinion (including that forming part of a database), whether true or not and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion.
1.15	"Sensitive Information", is information or opinion about an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association or trade union, sexual preferences or practices or criminal record, including the individual's health information.
1.16	"Standard Users", is the category of User within BPCLEtool with authority to conduct assessments assigned to them and view reports relating to those assessments.
1.17	"Terms and Conditions of Use", means these Terms and Conditions.
1.18	"The User", is the person using BPCLEtool application for the purpose of implementing the BPCLE Framework. The User has a single access account within BPCLEtool and may be designated as either an Organisation Administrator or a Standard User.
1.19	"Use", an organisation or an individual 'uses' information if it handles in any way. Use of information includes any form of quantitative or qualitative analysis and any inclusion of the information in any form of publication. Contacting a person based on contact details is considered as use of that information.

2	Intellectual Property
2.1	BPCLEtool software and all aspects of its design and functionality are owned by and remain the property of MEERQAT Pty Ltd including any interfaces, interface design elements, source codes, source code designs, application and help documentation (including videos) and trademark.
2.2	The Licensed Material is owned by and remains the property of the State of Victoria. The State of Victoria has licensed MEERQAT Pty Ltd to use the Licensed Material in the context of developing and delivering BPCLEtool and to make the Licensed Material available to the User through the BPCLEtool website.
2.3	The User will not access for copying, for re-use or otherwise reverse engineer any BPCLEtool software.
2.4	The User will not modify, reproduce or reverse engineer the Licensed Material and will not sub-license or make the Licensed Material available to other organisations.
2.5	The data entered into BPCLEtool is the property of the Participating Organisation and they may download and share their own data with other organisations.
2.6	FOR VICTORIAN USERS ONLY: Aggregated extracts of BPCLEtool data entered by any Victorian Participating Organisation is the property of the Victorian Health Department, for the purpose of strategic planning, policy development and associated funding allocations. This aggregated, non-re-identifiable data includes item ratings, summary lists of selected indicators and indicator results, and protection exists subject to clauses 6.6 and 7.2 of these Terms and Conditions.
2.7	The Licensee grants the User access to BPCLEtool and the Licensed Material for the purpose of using the tool for the implementation of the BPCLE Framework in the Participating Organisation.

3	Limitation of Liability
3.1	Except to the extent that liability cannot be limited or excluded at law, the Administrator accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever (whether in contract tort, negligence, under an indemnity or otherwise) for any loss, direct or indirect, arising out of any loss of profit, revenue or contract or loss of data, howsoever arising.
3.2	All conditions, warranties and liabilities contained in or implied by any statute or rule of law are hereby expressly excluded and negated PROVIDED THAT nothing herein shall exclude, restrict or modify any condition, warranty or liability which may at any time be implied, where to do so is illegal or would render any provision of these Terms and Conditions void.
3.3	The Administrator disclaims all other warranties, express or implied, with respect to fitness for a particular purpose.
3.4	The limitations on liability expressed in this clause shall also apply to and inure for the benefit of the Licensee.

4	Compliance with Privacy Legislation
4.1	The Licensee and Participating Organisations are bound by the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1998 ("the Act") and relevant state privacy legislation. These Acts ("the Acts") prohibit an organisation from engaging in practice that breaches the privacy principles set out in the Acts and, in particular, set minimum standards for how an organisation collects, uses and discloses and maintains the quality, security and storage of personal information, transfers personal information overseas and treats sensitive information such as health information and employee records.
4.2	BPCLEtool compliance with the above privacy principles is set out in clauses 5, 6 and 7 of these Terms and Conditions.

Compliance with Privacy Legislation

4.1

The Licensee and Participating Organisations are bound by the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1998 ("the Act") and relevant state privacy legislation. These Acts ("the Acts") prohibit an organisation from engaging in practice that breaches the privacy principles set out in the Acts and, in particular, set minimum standards for how an organisation collects, uses and discloses and maintains the quality, security and storage of personal information, transfers personal information overseas and treats sensitive information such as health information and employee records.

4.2

BPCLEtool compliance with the above privacy principles is set out in clauses 5, 6 and 7 of these Terms and Conditions.

5	Collection of Information
5.1	Recording of User contact information within BPCLEtool is recognised as personal information for the purposes of the Acts and, accordingly, the handling of personal information within BPCLEtool is consistent with obligations under the Act.
5.2	BPCLEtool usually collects personal information (specifically, name and email address) directly from Users, as part of the process through which individuals apply for a BPCLEtool Account. Sometimes, BPCLEtool collects personal information from a third party, such as an Organisation Administrator within the same Participating Organisation as the User. BPCLEtool collects additional personal information (specifically, telephone number) when Users register for assistance through the Technical Help page of the website.
5.3	BPCLEtool collects personal information about Users solely for the purposes of: Creating a BPCLEtool Account for the User; Contacting the User in relation to their BPCLEtool Account and operational issues about BPCLEtool and the BPCLEtool website; and Contacting the User in response to User requests for assistance.
5.4	BPCLEtool does not deliberately seek to collect any Sensitive Information.

6	Use and Disclosure of Information
6.1	Once personal information has been collected, it is used only for the purpose for which it was collected ("the primary purpose"), specifically, for the creation of a BPCLEtool Account for the individual and to contact the individual about their BPCLEtool Account, about BPCLEtool more generally, or in response to a User-generated request for technical assistance.
6.2	Users should be aware that their name and email address are visible to one level of Users above their own level. Thus, Standard Users within a Participating Organisation are visible to Organisation Administrators within their own organisation, but not to any Users in other Participating Organisations. Similarly, Organisation Administrators are visible to other Organisation Administrators within their organisation and to Clinical Training Network (CTN) Administrators of their relevant CTN, but not to any Users in other Participating Organisations or to other CTN Administrators.
6.3	FOR VICTORIAN USERS ONLY: Victorian Users should be aware that the Victorian Health Department is able to extract a report from BPCLEtool that includes the name, email address and organisation name of all registered Victorian Organisation Administrators. This report allows the Victorian Health Department, in its capacity as an Administrator of BPCLEtool, to contact Victorian BPCLEtool users about matters relevant to the implementation of the BPCLE Framework.
6.4	Accordingly, it is a condition of use of BPCLEtool that Users only use contact information stored within BPCLEtool for the purposes outlined in clause 5.3 and may not disclose personal information of any User that was obtained through use of BPCLEtool to any other organisation or individual without the prior written consent of the User.
6.5	The Administrator of BPCLEtool is able to view personal information (name, email address and phone number) for all registered Users and uses this information to assist Users with enquiries about their own BPCLEtool Account and to contact Users with updates about the operation of BPCLEtool.
6.6	Personal information of Users is not routinely disclosed to any organisation or individual.
6.7	FOR VICTORIAN USERS ONLY: Non-identifiable data from Victorian Participating Organisations will be extracted from BPCLEtool to prepare and publish reports for the Victorian Health Department for strategic planning and policy development.
6.8	Aggregated de-identified data will be available to all Users for the purposes of generating comparison reports.
6.9	Aggregated reporting in secondary use of data will not seek to identify individuals. In this context, "Individuals" include Participating Organisation staff members who have contributed to the processes that constitute the use of BPCLEtool.
6.10	Users also acknowledge that identified organisational data in relation to any externally reportable indicators (as mandated by a jurisdictional Health Department) will periodically be extracted from BPCLEtool by that Health Department. While Participating Organisations will be identified in these data extractions, personal information of Users will not be included in the extracted data.

7	Security
7.1	The User acknowledges that for privacy of personal information purposes: Participating Organisation collections of personal data are sealed within BPCLEtool by database engine integrity and are not viewable or visible by form or report by any User of another Participating Organisation; BPCLEtool is protected by a 128-bit SSL encryption and firewalls; BPCLEtool is hosted by an Australian provider who meets current standards for government and corporate hosting; Information uploaded onto BPCLEtool is backed up daily and stored within multiple separate data centres; and The Administrator and the Licensee of BPCLEtool are subject to Service Level Agreements for maintenance of access to BPCLEtool and its services.
7.2	Users of BPCLEtool acknowledge and agree that there are personal information related risks in transmitting information across the internet, which are generic to the internet and that they accept those risks in using BPCLEtool.
7.3	Users of BPCLEtool acknowledge and agree that there are personal information disclosure related risks if Users remain active in the BPCLEtool system after the termination of their employment with the Participating Organisation. BPCLEtool has provision to make these Users inactive, to deny access to the system and thereby minimise this risk but cannot guarantee against such disclosure related risks.
7.4	Users of BPCLEtool are required to safeguard the confidentiality of Content they process in BPCLEtool and their passwords and login information.

8	Acknowledgement
8.1	It is acknowledged that the Victorian Health Department has provided funding for the development and maintenance of the BPCLEtool system and also funds access to BPCLEtool for all Victorian Clinical Placement Providers and Victorian Education Providers.

9	Parties
9.1	These Terms and Conditions form part of any Agreement between the User and the Licensee of BPCLEtool. By logging into BPCLEtool, the parties consent to all of these Terms and Conditions.
9.2	Under these Terms and Conditions, the User is granted access to and allocated an account in BPCLEtool, to record, maintain and administer information related to the implementation of the BPCLE Framework.

10	Term
10.1	The Agreement of which these Terms and Conditions form part, shall operate from the date the User indicates its acceptance of same, by activating its BPCLEtool account and logging into BPCLEtool, until April 2017, subject to and without limiting clauses 16 and 17.
10.2	The User Account is non-transferable. The User acknowledges that the User may not assign, transfer or part with any benefit under the Agreement including User Account rights without the prior written approval of the Licensee who may refuse to consent to such assignment in its absolute discretion and without assigning any reason or reasons for such refusal.

11	Authority of Users
11.1	Users with Organisation Administrator accounts may create accounts for other Users within their organisation, at either Organisation Administrator or Standard User permission levels.
11.2	Users with Organisation Administrator accounts may not create accounts for individuals who are not employees or contractors within their particular organisation.

12	Content
12.1	The User is responsible for the Content that is uploaded and stored by the User in BPCLEtool. The Licensee is not liable for Content upload nor its quality, accuracy or misuse.
12.2	The User will not enter Content into BPCLEtool that: is fictional or misleading; will intentionally skew or bias aggregated de-identify data used for comparison reporting purposes; infringes any persons rights or otherwise violates the laws of the State of Victoria and Commonwealth of Australia.
12.3	Without limiting the above clause (12.2), the User will not upload, store or distribute material on BPCLEtool that is in any way unlawful, defamatory, obscene, indecent, offensive, harassing or discriminatory.
12.4	The User must take all reasonable steps to ensure that Content uploaded onto BPCLEtool does not contain any malicious software that may damage, adversely interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any data in BPCLEtool.
12.5	The Content remains the property of the Participating Organisation.

13	Reporting of Data
13.1	FOR VICTORIAN USERS ONLY: The User acknowledges that aggregated de-identified data of Victorian health services will be extracted from BPCLEtool to prepare and publish reports for the Victorian Health Department for strategic planning and policy development.
13.2	The User acknowledges that aggregated de-identified data will be available to all Users for the purposes of generating comparison reports.
13.3	Cookies are used to locally store user input data, such as logon information, throughout BPCLEtool application.

14	Release
14.1	The User uses BPCLEtool and the Licensed Material at the User's own risk. The Administrator and Licensee exclude all warranties express or implied including, without limitation, a warranty that BPCLEtool is secure.
14.2	The User releases the Administrator and Licensee, including their officers and employees from any loss (including loss of data generally or caused by viruses), liability or claim arising from its use of BPCLEtool and the Licensed Material.

15	Indemnity
15.1	The User indemnifies the Administrator and Licensee, their directors, officers and employees from any liability or claim arising from the User's use of BPCLEtool including, without limitation, a breach of the terms of use, the posting of unlawful content, the disclosure of personal or health information or a breach of third party intellectual property rights.

16	Variation of Terms of Use
16.1	These Terms and Conditions may be amended at any time upon reasonable notice being given to the User and any amendment made will require confirmation of the User's agreement to the amendments, as a condition for continued access to BPCLEtool.

17	Termination
17.1	If the User breaches these Terms and Conditions or creates a risk or legal exposure for the Administrator or Licensee, as determined by them in their sole discretion, then the Administrator or Licensee may immediately suspend access to BPCLEtool, on immediate notice or longer at the sole discretion of the Administrator and/or the Licensee. If warranted in the opinion of the Administrator and/or the Licensee, a breach of these Terms and Conditions by a User may result in suspension of all BPCLEtool Accounts within that User's Participating Organisation.
17.2	A User whose BPCLEtool Accounts have been suspended may request removal of the User's personal information from BPCLEtool.
17.3	If all BPCLEtool Accounts within a Participating Organisation have been suspended, that Participating Organisation may request deletion of all its removable Content from BPCLEtool.
17.4	The Administrator or Licensee may terminate the Agreement of which these Terms and Conditions form part by giving a Participating Organisation and/or its User 60 days' notice of its intention to terminate the Agreement.

18	General
18.1	The laws of the State of Victoria govern these Terms and Conditions and each party submits to the jurisdiction of the courts of that State.
18.2	If any clause or part of any clause herein is in any way unenforceable, invalid or illegal, it is to be read down so as to be enforceable, valid and legal. If this is not possible, the clause (or where possible, the offending part) is to be severed from these Terms and Conditions without affecting the enforceability, validity or legality of the remaining clauses (or parts of those clauses).