How to book a group session without creating separate shifts

A group outing is one session. Your roster should make it easy to see who is going and who is working, without rebuilding the same details for each person. In Sparks Provider, you can add several participants and staff to one group booking from Add a shift.

A simple example

Imagine a fictional Tuesday outing: three participants and two workers, all attending from 10 am to 1 pm at the same location. Everyone stays for the full session, and both workers support the whole group. That is a useful place to start with the quick group-booking option.

1. Start with the shared details

Open Schedule, then Add a shift. Choose the service location, the first participant, the date and times, and the first staff member. Check those details before adding everyone else. The date, location and length of the session are much easier to confirm now than to untangle afterwards.

2. Add everyone who is attending

Choose Add another participant and tick the other participants. Then choose Add another staff member and tick the second worker. Staff already booked or marked away at that time are listed under Unavailable at this time rather than offered as available choices.

3. Check the booking, then create it

Check each participant's price book and choose Create group booking. This quick option books everyone for the whole session and assigns every selected worker to support every selected participant. Use it when that accurately describes the session you are planning.

Different arrival times? Use the detailed planner

Not every group runs that neatly. One participant might arrive later, or a worker might only cover part of the outing. Choose Use the detailed planner when individual attendance, staff times or shared journeys need their own detail. The point is to record the actual plan, rather than squeeze a more complicated session into one shared time.

Take a moment to review

In the detailed planner, Review booking shows the support timeline before you choose Save to schedule. Check who is attending, each person's times and which workers are supporting them. For our fictional outing, that means confirming three participants and two workers across the same three-hour session.

After the session

In Timesheets, open Group bookings and Time to approve. Review each worker's recorded or planned time before approving it. Booking the session and approving time are separate steps. If the plan changes, review the booking too rather than assuming a timesheet change updates every part of it.

Keep the booking clear, and check billing separately

This walkthrough explains the booking steps, not NDIS pricing rules or what a provider is entitled to charge. Check the invoice against your service arrangements and current requirements before sending it. A system can organise the information; your team still needs to check that it matches the service delivered.

If you would like a proper look at the rest of the weekly work, see Sparks Provider. Rosters, records, notes, timesheets and invoices are together in one system built for smaller providers.