Integrated Disability Support Services (IDSS)

In search of a reliable, scalable scheduling solution

IDSS prides itself on offering a truly personalised service to people living with a disability. Services are delivered by skilled nurses, community care workers and support workers.  

Scheduling and rostering these workers is a key part of the business, and IDSS had already implemented multiple scheduling platforms which had failed to meet their needs. 

“Our first platform was aged-care focussed and impossible to scale,” says Michelle McPhee, CEO of IDSS. “The second was really frustrating. It failed at every turn and we were used as a guinea pig which didn’t suit us because we were at a pivotal growth point. We needed something reliable and proven; something that could grow with us.”

Another concern was the lack of audit and compliance management capabilities which are so crucial to an NDIS-registered service. 

Ready to evaluate new solutions, Michelle and Kahli (co-founder and Executive Director) contacted a specialist healthcare platform which suggested Skedulo.  

“They admitted they don’t do scheduling well and that we should consider Skedulo. We took the vendor selection process very seriously and initially evaluated 20 scheduling solutions. This was narrowed to 6 and we tested 2 which is where Skedulo won out. Ultimately it was Skedulo’s capabilities and in-region support that instilled the most confidence.”

A noticeable difference from day one

After the implementation, the team at IDSS achieved lots of easy wins amidst short term challenges due to adoption fatigue. 

“Initially we had some resistance from the internal team as this was the third system in 3 years,” says Michelle. “It helped that our people were involved in the deployment and saw how easy and intuitive it was to use Skedulo.”

Matthew Pallister, who uses Skedulo’s front and back-end systems, says the difference was noticeable from day one. 

“Coming from slow, outdated-looking systems with crowded interfaces and tiny fonts, it was energising using a system that looked like it belonged in the 21st century. 

“It has changed the way we work in many ways. For example, we can access participants’ details and files in a central location. The ‘Swimlanes’ (Skedulo’s unique way of viewing jobs and resources) allow us to quickly see – and on a single screen – shifts that are pending allocation, available resources, and the progress of each shift. This reduces administrative time and the burden of our office staff’s most time-consuming task: rostering.”

In the field, IDSS support workers now have greater access to clients’ details – be it health or other alerts, NDIS Plan goals, or incident reports which can now be completed closer to the actual time of an incident using the Skedulo mobile app. Group-based support workers also use Skedulo to mark off attendance. 

“Resources attend their shifts on time and provide our participants – the most important part of our business – with quality, individualised service. The Tasks section provides an excellent way to ensure staff complete important tasks before their shift ends.”

Moving forward, IDSS will focus on further integrating Skedulo with key business systems to streamline operations and maximise efficiency across scheduling, data management, accounting and payroll.