At a small NDIS provider, every support worker wrote their own invoice each week, and the owner checked each one against the roster by hand. The roster stayed in Excel. Now each invoice is drafted from it, the workers check their own, and the provider reports getting back about 6 to 9 hours a week of admin.
The core of it
The roster is still filled in the usual way. Everything after it runs on its own, and a person only steps in to check and approve.
The problem
Support workers invoice the provider for the shifts they work. Each one wrote their own in their own template, with their own numbering and their own maths, so every invoice had to be checked against the roster line by line, fixed where it was wrong, then filed.
Two invoices checked, the rest still to go.
What we built
Everything runs in the provider's own Microsoft 365, n8n and Xero. Nobody had to learn a new rostering app, and all of it sits in their own accounts.
01. The roster
The owner still fills in the week staff by day in the Excel file they've always used, now kept in SharePoint. Every Tuesday the automation reads the finished week: each shift, its hours and any sleepovers.
02. The drafts
One invoice per worker, built from that worker's rows in the roster, with sleepovers charged the way the provider charges them. The drafts are ready before anyone opens the laptop on Tuesday.
03. The check
Each worker gets an email with a private link to their own invoice. They choose the support they provided, add any kilometres to be reimbursed, and either confirm it or tell the owner what needs changing. Confirming never makes a payment. The owner then approves, and the invoice is filed in SharePoint with a copy in Xero.
04. The gaps
When a shift needs filling, the owner adds it to the offer list. It goes out to every active worker who isn't already rostered then, instead of the owner ringing around. Workers put their hand up, the owner picks who gets it, and the roster updates itself.
Still checking invoices against the roster by hand? Book a free 30-minute call. We'll look at how your week runs today and tell you honestly what's worth automating.
Book a free callBefore it was switched on, one full week ran end to end with test workers: the roster, the drafts, the worker checks, kilometres, the owner's approval and the filing. Every email in that week came to us, not to staff. Real workers only got their links after every step had passed.
How it was delivered
Start with a free 30-minute call. We look at how your week really runs, send a fixed quote, and hand over everything at the end.
Free Consultationwith Ben, WorkvolveKeen on the audit? Book here and we'll set it up on the call.
