Getting Started with NDIS Management
A comprehensive guide to setting up your NDIS care management system and onboarding your team.
15 min read · 9 sections · Updated
Introduction
Welcome to Diversity Sync'd! This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to get started with managing your NDIS services effectively. Whether you're a new NDIS provider or transitioning from another system, we'll help you set up your organisation for success.
By the end of this guide, you'll have your team onboarded, your participants set up, and your first shifts scheduled. Let's get started!
Initial Setup
Setting Up Your Organisation
The first step is to configure your organisation's basic information: your business details, your invoicing details and where you deliver services.
- Go to Admin > Configuration > Organisation
- Enter your organisation name and ABN
- On Grow, add your NDIS registration number (your provider Organisation ID) under Admin > Configuration > Invoicing; it's used in NDIS bulk payment exports
- Add your branches under Admin > Configuration > General
- Add each house or service location under Sites (Free includes one site; Grow has no site limit)
Check these details carefully: your organisation and invoicing details flow into the invoices and claim files you send to participants, plan managers and the NDIA (National Disability Insurance Agency).
Tip
Pro Tip: Take your time with initial setup. Accurate information now saves hours of corrections later. Consider having a colleague review your settings before proceeding.
Adding Team Members
Inviting Staff to the Platform
Once your organisation is set up, it's time to add your team members. Diversity Sync'd uses role-based access, and you can limit which participants each person can see, so every team member sees only what they need to.
- Go to Staff and select Invite user
- Enter their name and email address (a phone number is optional)
- Choose their role: Admin, Manager or Support Worker
- On Grow, create custom roles under Admin > Roles if the three built-in roles don't fit
- Send the invitation
Team members get an email invitation and create their account from the link, then they can sign in straight away. The Free plan covers up to 5 staff and 10 participants; Grow has no limit on either.
Tip
Pro Tip: Start with a small pilot group of tech-savvy staff members. Their feedback will help you refine processes before rolling out to your entire team.
Staff Profiles and Qualifications
For each support worker, record the following in their profile. It keeps your roster and your compliance records accurate:
- Add their certificates, such as first aid, with expiry dates
- Record their Blue Card and NDIS Worker Screening numbers and expiry dates
- Set their position, branch, house, employment type and minimum contracted hours
- Tag the care and training requirements they cover, using the same requirement labels you give participants
- Keep copies of police checks and other documents in Storage, in a folder only the right people can open
Adding Participants
Creating Participant Profiles
Participant profiles are the heart of your care management system. Each profile contains all the information your team needs to deliver quality support.
- Open Participants and add a new participant
- Enter the participant's basic information (name, date of birth, contact details and NDIS number)
- On Grow, add their NDIS plan, budget and goals under Invoicing > Plans
- Upload the participant's NDIS plan document to their folder in Storage
- Record their contacts and medical information, including medications and allergies
- Store signed consent forms in their folder
- On Grow, record an NDIS participant's communication preferences, accessibility requirements and risk level in their Support Details
Care Plans and Goals
Every participant should have a care plan outlining their goals, support needs and preferences. This supports consistent, person-centred care across all shifts:
Diversity Sync'd doesn't have a separate care plan form. Store the care plan in the participant's folder in Storage, record medical details on their profile, and on Grow add their goals to their NDIS plan under Invoicing > Plans.
- Document the participant's goals from their NDIS plan
- List specific support needs and personal preferences
- Record any behaviour support plans or protocols
- Note allergies, medications, and medical conditions
- Include daily routines and activity preferences
Creating Your First Roster
Understanding the Rostering System
When a shift needs cover, Diversity Sync'd's fill panel ranks your staff by who has worked with the participant, who's marked available, and their site, role and shift type, and it flags leave, clashes and anyone close to their SCHADS hours cap. You always choose who gets the shift.
Creating Shifts
To create your first set of shifts (roster):
- Open Roster and add a shift
- Select the participant who needs support
- Set the date, start time, and duration of the shift
- Choose the type of support required for the shift
- Select a support worker for the shift, or open the fill panel to see who ranks best and why
- Add any special notes or requirements for that shift
- Publish the shift
Once the shift is published, it appears in the worker's shifts when they sign in, including from their phone's browser.
Tip
Pro Tip: Start by creating a week's worth of shifts to get comfortable with the roster. Once you're confident, plan further ahead (up to 28 days on Free, or a year on Grow) and use roster templates or recurring shifts for regular supports.
Documentation and Shift Notes
Completing Shift Notes
Shift notes are a critical compliance requirement and a key communication tool. Support workers add a note during or at the end of each shift to document what happened during that support:
- In their phone's browser, open Shift Notes and choose the participant
- Document the activities completed during the shift
- Record any observations and participant feedback
- Note any concerns, and fill in an incident report form if something happened
- Upload photos if appropriate (with participant consent)
- Save the entry to the participant's timeline, where managers and anyone else with access to that participant can read it
Managers can read every note and follow up where needed, and admins can lock a day's notes once they're final. The note coverage view shows which participants are still missing a note.
Tip
Pro Tip: Encourage workers to write shift notes while details are fresh. They can write them in their phone's browser during the shift, so there's no need to wait until they're back at a computer, and a reminder before the shift ends flags a missing note.
Compliance and Reporting
Staying Compliant
Diversity Sync'd keeps much of the evidence an NDIS audit asks for in one place. Set these up early:
- Add certificates with expiry dates, plus Blue Card and NDIS Worker Screening numbers and expiry dates, to every staff profile. Diversity Sync'd emails a reminder 3 months and 14 days before a certificate expires; Blue Card and Worker Screening dates aren't in that email, so keep an eye on them yourself
- Use the built-in NDIS and Child Safety incident report forms for consistent reporting
- If you use the Queensland Reportable Conduct module, record on each case when you notified the NDIS Commission and sent the 5-day and final reports; the module's NDIS register lists them
- Check the audit log to see who did what and when (30 days of history on Free, 365 days on Grow)
Key Reports
Regular reporting helps you track delivery, manage budgets and show your compliance work. Good places to start:
- Saved Reports (Grow): Build reports on shifts, hours and staff, add charts, and export them to CSV
- Plan Budgets (Grow): Track spending against each participant's NDIS plan budget, with alerts for utilisation thresholds, low balances and plan expiry
- Incident Registers: Every NDIS and Child Safety incident report you submit is listed in a register you can export to CSV
Diversity Sync'd on Workers' Phones
Getting Workers Set Up
Support workers use Diversity Sync'd in their phone's browser to see their shifts, clock on and off, write shift notes with photos and fill in forms. There's nothing to install. An iPhone app is on the way. To get your workers started:
- Send workers the sign-in link and have them add it to their phone's home screen
- They sign in with the account they created from their email invitation
- Show them where their upcoming shifts appear, and on Grow, the open shifts they can bid on
- Ask them to allow location access when they clock on, so their clock-on location is recorded
- Remind them they can see the profiles and notes of the participants they're assigned to
Diversity Sync'd needs a data connection; there's no offline mode. If a worker loses signal, they can add their note once they're back in range, and a reminder before the shift ends flags any note that's still missing.
Tip
Pro Tip: Host a short training session for your support workers to show them how Diversity Sync'd works on their phone. A 15-minute walkthrough now can prevent confusion and support tickets later.
Next Steps
You're Ready to Go!
Congratulations on setting up your organisation in Diversity Sync'd. Your team is now onboarded, your participants are added, and your first shifts are scheduled – you're ready to deliver quality NDIS services using the platform.
To continue building on this foundation, here are some recommended next steps:
- Explore Custom Forms (Grow): Build your own forms for intake assessments, audits or anything else your processes need, alongside the built-in incident report forms
- Set Up Leave Management (Grow): Configure leave types and approvals; approving leave creates a replacement open shift for your team to bid on
- Set Up Claims & Invoicing (Grow): Build claims from delivered shifts, run the weekly billing wizard and push invoices to Xero
- Keep Learning: Watch the video tutorials and read the help centre guides to learn advanced features and best practices
- Stay Connected: If you have questions or need help, search the help centre or contact our team through the contact page
Our team is here to help as you settle in. Good luck, and thank you for choosing Diversity Sync'd to support your NDIS services!
