Revamping rostering experience
Scaling rostering for enterprise providers
Rostering sits at the core of daily operations for NDIS providers. As the platform expanded to support mid-sized and large providers, its limitations became increasingly apparent. Originally designed for simple 1:1 bookings, the platform struggled to handle higher booking volumes, new service types and more complex staffing requirements.
Within providers, different rostering roles had distinct priorities, yet the platform treated all roles the same. This led to duplicated work, operational friction, and slower workflows.
What initially appeared to be a feature gap revealed deeper systemic issues. The platform’s underlying booking model and workflow assumptions no longer aligned with how providers operate at scale. Addressing this challenge required more than a visual refresh, it demanded a fundamental rethink of how rostering was structured and presented.
WHAT IS NDIS
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is an Australian government-funded program that supports people with disabilities, aiming to improve their quality of life.
MY ROLE
Led the end-to-end design of the rostering platform.
Identified systemic workflow issues and pain points limiting scalability, and translated them into design solutions.
Developed scalable design patterns aligned with the new brand identity.
Collaborated closely with the product manager and stakeholders to shape the roadmap and strategy.
Partnered with providers to co-design solutions and iteratively tested prototypes.
THE TEAM
Partnered with a product manager and five engineers
METHODS
User interviews
Spoke with providers to understand their workflows, operational challenges, and areas of friction.
Workflow shadowing and on-site observation
Observed how providers scheduled and managed support workers in daily operations.
Support data and audit analysis
Reviewed support tickets, error logs, and usage patterns to identify recurring pain points.
A central workspace for all rostering activities
Key highlights
Successfully onboarded a 1,000 staff enterprise provider,
valued at $500k, demonstrating the platform’s ability to support large-scale operations.
Replaced manual spreadsheets with an integrated digital workflow,
empowering service providers to streamline their daily operations.
Optimised operational efficiency
by increasing accuracy and reducing administrative overhead.
Improved navigation and usability
by consolidating multiple siloed pages into one unified experience.
Built for scalability,
enabling the platform to adapt to new service types and support long-term growth.
Who will benefit from this
The rostering platform was designed to support key operational roles within large providers (more than 500 staff). These user groups were prioritised based on their responsibilities, frequency of platform use, and the impact of their decisions on customers.
Rostering coordinator
Responsible for planning rosters, scheduling customer bookings, and assigning suitable support workers to shifts.
Operations manager
Oversee day-to-day operations and resolve scheduling conflicts that arise in real-time.
Service delivery manager
Supervise support workers during shifts and resolve shift-related issues.
Rigid workflows limited rostering at scale.
The platform was originally built around a 1:1 booking model that no longer aligned with evolving user needs. As new service types emerged, the limitations of the platform and its rigid rostering structure became increasingly evident.
Providers manually organise shifts in spreadsheets before
entering them into the platform.
Manual workarounds through spreadsheets
The existing booking model was too inflexible to support new service types, such as group bookings. Providers had to adapt their workflows to the platform instead of the system supporting how they worked.
This led them to rely heavily on spreadsheets and external tools, particularly when coordinating multiple shifts within group booking settings. These workarounds duplicated effort, increased scheduling errors, slowed planning, and caused confusion around the single source of truth, ultimately reducing trust in the platform.
As a rostering coordinator,
I want to be notified when the assigned support worker is on annual leave
so I can fill in the unallocated shift.
As a rostering manager,
I want shift allocations to comply with contracted hours
to prevent cost overhead.
Jobs-to-Be-Done Mapping was used to understand
each role’s specific tasks and goals.
One-size-fits-all experience did not work
Distinct rostering roles had different priorities. For example,
a rostering coordinator focused on allocating shifts, while a rostering manager was more concerned with cost oversight.
The platform treated all roles as though they shared the same priorities and information needs, which increased cognitive load and created operational friction.
No unified view of same-day bookings, with different service types split across separate pages.
Fragmented workflows and lost context
Scheduling information was fragmented across multiple pages, forcing users to navigate back and forth to resolve conflicts. Search and filter queries were not retained between views, making workflows repetitive, increasing errors, and slowing decision-making.
User feedback snapshot from Zendesk ticket.
Zendesk ticket reviews supported these findings, showing recurring complaints about too many steps to complete rostering tasks, confusing filters, and difficulty resolving conflicts.
Key information like customer details, support worker profiles, and service details
was scattered across multiple screens, increasing context switching and cognitive load.
The challenges were not caused by isolated interface issues, but by a mismatch between the platform’s underlying model and how providers planned and managed services in practice. Redesigning rostering required rethinking how services, roles, and workflows were structured at scale.
Scalable rostering foundation
Create a rostering structure that can support growing operational complexity, varied booking types, and future service models without forcing providers into workarounds.
Faster scheduling decisions
Help users identify issues, assess availability, and make adjustments quickly by reducing friction in high-frequency rostering tasks.
Support flexible services and roles
Design a system that adapts to different service structures and surfaces the right level of information based on each role’s priorities and responsibilities.
Preserve context and workflow continuity
Reduce context switching by keeping key rostering information, details, and actions connected within the same workflow, so users can stay oriented while managing schedules.
Services were restructured and grouped by engagement length to create a more intuitive structure for scheduling and staffing.
Multiple layout modes were explored to find the most effective combinations for different rostering roles and tasks.
A unified workspace with in-context details
A centralised timeline brings bookings and shifts into a single view. A side panel provides quick access to deeper details, such as customer and support worker information, real-time status updates, and conflict alerts, without requiring users to leave the page. This preserves workflow context and reduces cognitive load.
Users can view booking and shift information in one place without navigating away, reducing context switching and saving time.
Dynamic modular cards maintain consistent core information while adapting secondary details based on service type and user role, enabling more flexible service support and tailored views for different users.
Direct scheduling actions
Users can drag cards to extend hours or reposition them on the timeline to adjust times. These inline edits help resolve conflicts more quickly.
Role-based workspace views
Users can customise and save workspace layouts, filters, grouping options, and visible data fields based on their role. This ensures each role sees only the most relevant information, reducing noise, improving focus, and streamlining complex scheduling tasks.
Advanced filtering and search
Robust filtering and search features help users quickly locate specific information while retaining their queries across the workflow. This reduces time spent navigating large datasets and prevents the loss of search context.
From spreadsheets to scale
The redesigned platform helped onboard an enterprise provider with more than 1,000 staff.
Key outcomes included:
Scheduling errors reduced through direct interactions and improved visibility.
Planning time was significantly reduced for coordinators due to the unified timeline and persistent search.
Reduced reliance on spreadsheet, helping restore trust in the platform as the single source of truth.
Positive user feedback highlighted faster decision-making, reduced errors, and increased confidence in managing complex schedules.
By aligning the system model with real-world workflows, consolidating scheduling into a unified workspace, and providing role-specific views with dynamic cards, the platform now efficiently supports complex rostering at scale while remaining intuitive and adaptable for future growth.
