Real Support Choices (RSC) is a revolutionary mobile platform that simplifies care processes for self-managing NDIS participants. From booking carers to paying them, RSC includes scheduling, financial tools, timesheet and reporting capabilities. With changes to the NDIS, participants needed a better tool to simplify their care management. The tool also had to be secure to protect participant and carer data, reliable and accessible for access and management from any device, and elastic to avoid paying for resources when not in use. 

Key issues

• Changes in the NDIS scheme offers the opportunity to provide participants with more care under the same package, but participants needed a simple, secure and flexible tool
• RCS also needed the capability to scale up as more participants signed on
• The tool needed to offer great user experience and accessibility

Solution

Telstra Purple and RSC partnered together to address the challenge posed by the NDIS policy changes. The collaborative process benefited from an agile approach, which took the Telstra Purple team from designing and building the tool to ironing out issues as they arose. RSC sought out a disability participant to work hands-on with the project team.

As part of the process, Telstra Purple:

• Worked together with RSC in an agile way to develop the application in Microsoft Azure
• Replaced repetitive, lengthy tasks involved in manual NDIS self-management processes with a few simple clicks in the RSC app to benefit users
• Ensured ongoing support was provided to the RSC team throughout their journey

Outcome

Telstra Purple delivered an application that is easy to use, secure to protect confidential data, and reliable and accessible for people to access from their preferred devices. The app was also built to be elastic to avoid paying for resources when not in use and provided the scalability RSC needed as more people signed on.

“The automated processes have made it faster, more accessible, and more cost-efficient - thus empowering the participants to have more visibility and control over their care,” said Erik Hipwood, Co-Founder and Director at Real Support Choices.

Telstra Purple partnered with RSC to deliver a digital solution that will make a difference in the lives of people. The journey to this self-managed care model illustrates:

• The possibilities of Microsoft Azure, which enables teams to build, test, and deploy applications from secure data centres;
• How working in an agile way can address complexities in project delivery, especially with factors such as policy changes; and
• How a user-centric approach to a tech project can deliver incredible benefits to those who need it most