This guide explains how to set up Deputy for an NDIS or disability support provider. Deputy brings scheduling, attendance, payroll, communication, and reporting together in one place. It covers how to structure Locations and Areas, manage team access, prepare payroll workflows, review scheduling and attendance settings, and plan your rollout.

Before you read

Target audience: This article is for users with System Administrator access.
Free trial: If you haven't signed up for Deputy yet, see Creating an Organization and Getting Started with a Free Trial. When signing up, select the industry that best matches your business.
Returning to your trial: If you've already signed up, log in at once.deputy.com to continue setting up your account.
Watch Deputy in Action: Before you start, watch Deputy in Action to see how Deputy works and what you'll be setting up throughout this guide.

This article covers:

Choose your organisational structure
Review Location settings before rollout
Set access and approval responsibilities
Prepare payroll and scheduling workflows
- Compliance and workforce readiness
Run day-to-day support workflows
Quick add-on and plan check
Five-step onboarding checklist
Avoid common NDIS provider set-up mistakes
Get more help

Choose your organisational structure

In Deputy, Locations can represent regions, clients, SIL houses, service hubs, or programs. Areas usually represent the support being provided or the reporting detail needed, such as personal care, community access, sleepover, active night, travel, or support coordination.

Choose a starting model that reflects how your provider manages mobile support, SIL houses, client visibility, compliance, payroll export codes, and approval responsibilities.

Provider type	Suggested starting structure	NDIS Area examples	Things to consider
Mobile support provider In-home support, community access, and mobile support teams	Region as the Location, with Areas for clients, support types, or programs	Personal Care, Community Access, Domestic Assistance, Travel, and Support Coordination	This supports flexible mobile rostering without creating every client as a Location.
SIL provider Supported independent living houses and fixed support sites	SIL house as the Location, with Areas for shift or support types	Day Support, Evening Support, Sleepover, Active Night, Domestic, and House Lead	This can support house-level approvals, notes, and reporting.
Client-specific support High-complexity support or clients needing separate approval boundaries	Client as the Location, with Areas for support types	Personal Care, Community Access, Sleepover, Active Night, Transport, and Notes Required	Use selectively. Creating every client as a Location can be hard to maintain.
Program-based provider Respite, day programs, and community programs	Program as the Location, with Areas for support types or roles	Respite, Day Program, Group Support, Transport, Activity Support, and Program Lead	Staff working across programs need access to each relevant Location.

When you plan your structure, consider:

Approval boundaries: Use Locations when approvals, reporting, clock-in rules, permissions, or notes need stronger separation.
Mobile flexibility: Areas can capture client, support type, shift type, or reporting detail without overcomplicating Location setup.
Reporting and export codes: Consistent Area names and export codes can support payroll, finance, care management, and support reporting workflows.

For a complete overview, see Organisations, Locations and Areas.

Review Location settings before rollout

Location settings control many of the defaults used for scheduling, clock-in, timesheets, approvals, and reporting. Review these settings before go-live so each region, client, house, or program works the way your team expects.

Key settings to review include:

Review the physical address and map pin: Accurate addresses and notes matter for client or SIL house Locations, but hard geofencing may not suit all community shifts.
Review Areas and Training Tags: Areas can represent clients, personal care, community access, sleepover, active night, travel, kilometre claims, or support types. Training Tags can help manage worker screening, medication, manual handling, behaviour support, and complex support needs.
Review scheduling settings: Confirm default shifts, breaks, open shifts, shift offers, shift swaps, notifications, and shift locking.
Review timesheet settings: Confirm mobile clock-in, GPS capture, geofencing, employee timesheet edits, break settings, rounding, unscheduled shifts, notes, and custom timesheet questions.

Mobile clock-in with GPS capture is usually practical for mobile support workers. Avoid unrealistic geofencing that blocks valid clock-ins when shifts start at client homes, in the community, or across multiple sites.

For a complete overview of every Location setting, including General, Areas, Scheduling, Timesheets, Notifications, Public Holidays, and Preferences, see Creating your Locations.

Set access and approval responsibilities

Access decisions should be made during set-up. The right access model helps managers control scheduling, timesheet approvals, payroll visibility, client visibility, compliance visibility, and labour cost access.

NDIS role	Recommended Deputy access	Common responsibility
Support workers	Employee	View rosters, clock in and out, request leave, and review updates
Team leaders and coordinators	Supervisor	Review notes, attendance, missed clock-ins, travel, and exceptions
Service managers	Location Manager	Manage rosters, approvals, labour visibility, and reporting
Payroll and administration	Advisor	Review approved timesheets, payroll exports, and employee records
Owners and administrators	System Administrator	Manage account settings, structure, integrations, and access

Most NDIS providers use Supervisor access for coordinators who approve time but should not see wage costs. Use Location Manager access for managers responsible for labour budgets, workforce reporting, and approvals.

For a complete overview, see Deputy access levels and permissions.

Once you've set access levels, add your team members and assign them to the Locations where they work. For a complete overview, see Adding team members.

Prepare payroll and scheduling workflows

NDIS and disability support payroll can include SCHADS-related complexity, sleepovers, active nights, travel, kilometre claims, broken shifts, allowances, overtime, public holidays, and leave. Pay Templates and Pay Rate Builder can support your pay conditions, while Leave Policies control the types of leave available to team members and how leave is managed in Deputy.

You can process payroll using Deputy Payroll where available, or connect Deputy to a supported third-party payroll provider.

Click to expand for each payroll option.

Deputy Payroll (AU)

Deputy Payroll (AU) is Deputy's integrated payroll option for Australian businesses. It keeps scheduling, attendance, approved timesheets, and payroll within Deputy, so you can move from worked hours to a pay run without exporting timesheets to a separate payroll provider.

Set-up includes your business and payroll details, pay calendars, superannuation, deductions, extra earnings, and team member payroll information.

For a complete overview of setting up and using Deputy Payroll (AU), see Getting started with Payroll (AU).

Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor (US)

Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor (US) connects Deputy workforce management with Paycor payroll. Deputy manages scheduling, time tracking, leave, pay rates, and approved timesheets, while Paycor can be used to handle payroll functions such as tax filings, banking, and year-end processing.

Approved timesheets can be exported directly from Deputy to Paycor, reducing the need to manually re-enter worked hours.

For a complete overview of how Deputy and Paycor work together, see Getting started with Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor (US).

Third-party payroll integration

If you already use another payroll provider, you can keep Deputy focused on scheduling, attendance, timesheets, and pay calculations, then send approved timesheet data to your existing payroll system. Deputy supports payroll integrations including Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, ADP, and other providers, with the exact workflow and data available depending on the integration you use.

For a complete overview of the available payroll connections, see Payroll integrations.

For more information on Leave management, see:

Keep payroll testing simple

Run a test export before your first live pay run. Focus on:

Support shifts: Confirm regular support shifts, sleepovers, active nights, and public holidays appear as expected.
Travel and kilometres: Test travel, kilometre claims, broken shifts, allowances, and missed clock-in corrections where applicable.
Client and support type reporting: Confirm that client-specific Areas, support types, export codes, and notes export correctly.

Compliance and workforce readiness

Training Tags help managers identify worker compliance, training, and suitability before shifts are rostered. They can support decision-making, but they do not replace formal compliance review.

Common NDIS Training Tags include NDIS Worker Screening, Working with Children Check, Medication, Manual Handling, Behaviour Support, Hoist, Complex Care, First Aid, Driver, and Sleepover.

Common reports include:

Schedule, timesheet and sales comparison: Compare scheduled and actual hours and wage costs, and review cost variance where relevant.
Attendance & absence: Review no-shows, late arrivals, missed clock-ins, and early departures by Location, Area, or team member.
Schedule adherence by team member: Compare scheduled hours with actual hours worked and identify the cost variance when team members work outside the original schedule. (Requires Analytics+)

If your provider needs to collect onboarding documents, store employee records, manage policy acknowledgements, worker screening, right-to-work checks, licences, or certification expiry dates, Deputy HR can help support those workflows. Deputy HR requires an add-on.

Run day-to-day support workflows

Clocking in: Mobile

Most NDIS providers use mobile clock-in with GPS capture. This provides attendance visibility for mobile support workers without requiring a fixed workplace.

For a complete overview, see Using Deputy across different devices.

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Manage schedule adjustments

Use Areas, shift notes, and Training Tags to support client suitability, support worker preferences, worker screening, sleepovers, active nights, community access, and complex support needs.

Open shifts, shift offers, and shift swaps can help fill gaps, but they should be reviewed carefully where client suitability, compliance, or support needs matter.

For a complete overview, see open shifts, shift offers, and shift swaps.

Travel, kilometres, and tasks

Decide how travel and kilometre claims should be recorded before rollout. This may be handled through notes, Areas, custom questions, payroll workflows, or another care management system.

Task management can help standardise shift handovers, house checks, client-related tasks, operational checks, medication prompts, and supervisor review tasks before payroll approval.

Communicate with your team

News Feed and Messaging can help coordinators share roster changes, urgent coverage needs, client schedule updates, operational announcements, shift instructions, and house updates.

For a complete overview, see News Feed and Deputy Messaging.

Quick add-on and plan check

The following add-ons and plan options may be useful as your use of Deputy grows. To check what is included in each plan or add-on, see our pricing plans.

Do you need to...	You may need...	Common fit
Store onboarding documents, worker screening, training, policy acknowledgements, or employee records	Deputy HR	Providers that need compliance documents connected to workforce setup
Create custom reports, schedule emailed reports, and review overtime, regional activity, or house-level labour	Analytics+	Managers or operators who need deeper workforce and labour reporting
Use larger messaging groups, more message history, or team-based communication	Messaging Plus	Mobile teams that need communication for roster changes, urgent coverage, client schedule updates, or house updates
Process payroll from approved Deputy timesheets where available	Deputy Payroll	Providers that want payroll connected more closely to Deputy scheduling, attendance, and timesheet approvals
Set up custom roles, additional Location hierarchy, and more detailed permission controls	Deputy Pro	Providers with complex regions, houses, programs, supervisor layers, or reporting requirements

Five-step onboarding checklist

These stages apply whether you are evaluating Deputy, testing it with one region, house, or client workflow, or rolling it out across your full provider.

Set up your structure: Create your Locations and Areas, choose naming conventions, and review any required export codes.
Add your team and schedules: Add support workers and managers, assign access levels, set up pay details, and create your first schedule.
Test your workflows: Test mobile GPS, missed clock-ins, notes, custom questions if used, sleepovers, active nights, open shifts, and shift swaps with a pilot group.
Review timesheets and payroll: Approve pilot timesheets and test sleepovers, active nights, travel, kilometre claims, broken shifts, public holidays, support types, and payroll export.
Go live: Train coordinators and service managers, publish the live schedule, and roll Deputy out to the rest of your team.

For a guided onboarding checklist, open the Help menu by selecting the ? icon in your Deputy account, then select Start here.

Avoid common NDIS provider set-up mistakes

Common mistake	Why it causes problems
Using hard geofencing for mobile support without testing it	Can block legitimate clock-ins when shifts start at client homes, in the community, or across multiple sites.
Creating every client as a Location unnecessarily	Can make scheduling, permissions, and reporting harder to maintain.
Not testing sleepovers and active nights	Can create payroll review issues if these shifts are not represented clearly.
Not deciding how travel and kilometres are recorded	Creates payroll and approval issues if the process is not clear before rollout.
Not using Training Tags	Can lead to unsuitable rostering or extra manual checks before support is assigned.
Ignoring payroll setup until go-live	Can delay payroll testing and create reporting or payroll issues.

Get more help

During your trial, use the Action Bar to access setup help without leaving Deputy.

From the Action Bar, you can:

Select Start here to open Deputy Essentials, where you'll find bite-sized videos and guided walkthroughs to help you set up your business at your own pace.
Select Ask an expert to connect with an SMB Consultant.
Select the ? icon to open the Help menu and access support options.

You can collapse the Action Bar or drag it to another position on the screen.

Help Centre

For help and support, see Get help and request support from Deputy.