How to use Bluetail CRM

Bluetail CRM has two kinds of login, and they see very different things.

Managers see the whole workspace: the dashboard, every participant and worker, rosters, timesheets, all the registers, governance, policies and audit readiness.

Support workers see just four things: My shifts, My documents, Report an incident and Raise a complaint. They only see participants they have been rostered with. They cannot open registers, other people's records, timesheets or the participant list - that is deliberate, and it is enforced on the server, not just hidden in the menu.

Most of a worker's day-to-day (lodging a shift note) happens through a link on their phone without logging in at all - more on that in the shift notes section.

1. 1Create a Bluetail account and open the CRM. The first time in, you'll see Set up your CRM workspace - enter your organisation name and your full name, then press Create my workspace.
2. 2Go to Settings and fill in Organisation details: ABN, provider number if you have one, your registration type and dates, and your logo. These details flow onto generated documents and your audit-readiness view.
3. 3Add your first participant and your workers (next sections). The dashboard's Needs attention panel will start telling you what to do next - expiring worker checks, plans ending soon, notes overdue and so on.

The Dashboard is your home base: counts of participants, workers, shift notes and anything open (incidents, complaints, risks), a Needs attention list, and your most recent shift notes.

Participants → Add participant. Only a first name is required to get started - you can fill the rest in as you go. The form covers personal details, their NDIS plan (dates and how it is managed), and support needs and safety.

Each participant then has tabs that hold their whole file:

• Overview - profile details plus a checklist of core documents.
• Key contacts - family, guardian, plan manager, GP.
• Goals - goals with review dates and progress. Auditors sample these.
• Funded supports - the support categories and rates that feed the roster.
• Shift notes - the day-to-day record of support delivered.
• Clinical notes - therapy sessions, for allied health only.
• Incidents / Complaints / Risks - that participant's slice of each register.
• Documents - a slot for each expected document (NDIS plan, service agreement, consent, risk assessment and more), marked On file, Draft - to complete or Missing.

This is the step people miss most, because it is two separate things:

1. 1Create the worker record - Workers → Add worker. This holds their screening and checks (NDIS Worker Screening, WWCC, police check, first aid and CPR expiries), training and supervision dates, and qualifications. The CRM watches the expiry dates for you. This does not give them a login.
2. 2Invite them to log in - Settings → User access → Add a person. Enter their email, name, the role Support worker (limited), and the Name on the roster - then press Send invitation.
3. 3The worker gets an email with a Set my password button. They press Send me a code, type the 6-digit code from their email, choose a password, and they are in.

Worker documents: workers upload their own certificates (screening, first aid, qualifications and so on) under My documents. You review them on the worker's Documents tab with Approve or Request again - approving a dated certificate automatically updates the matching expiry on their record.

Rosters is a weekly calendar, colour-coded by worker, filterable by worker or participant. Each shift carries the worker, the participant, times and a funded support category. Rostered shifts are what drive shift-note requests, so keeping the roster accurate is what makes the rest automatic.

Workers can also log a shift you didn't roster (from their My shifts page). Those appear in a Shifts your workers logged panel on the roster, where you link each one to the right participant.

This is the core daily loop, and it is designed so workers never need to remember to log in.

1. 1The shift happens. It is on the roster with a worker and participant.
2. 2The worker gets a link. Within an hour of the shift ending, Bluetail emails the worker a secure link to Add your shift note for that exact shift. No login needed - the link opens straight to the form on their phone. (They can also press Add note on any shift in My shifts without waiting for the email.)
3. 3They fill in the note. Actual start and finish times (pre-filled from the roster - adjust if the shift ran over or short), What support did you provide?, how the participant was, anything to follow up, and kilometres travelled. If something went wrong there is a checkbox - Was there an incident on this shift? - which asks what happened.
4. 4They press Submit.The shift is marked completed, hours and pay are calculated from their base rate (plus a per-km rate), and the note lands on the participant's file marked Awaiting review. If the incident box was ticked, an incident is opened automatically and you get an email straight away.
5. 5You review it. In the Action Centre, approve the note or flag it with a short "what needs doing" note back to the record.

Every Sunday night, each worker is also emailed their week of rostered shifts ahead, so the roster reaches them without another app to check.

Timesheets reads directly from submitted shift notes - no double entry. Pick a period (This week, Last week, This fortnight, This month or a custom range) and you get hours, pay and kilometres by worker, plus the shift-by-shift detail, with an Export CSV button for payroll.

If a worker has no base pay rate set, their hours still count - you'll just see an amber note that the pay figure is blank until you set a rate on their worker record.

Anyone - manager or worker - can lodge an incident via Report an incident, or a complaint via Raise a complaint. Workers only see participants they've worked with, and can pick Someone not listed if needed - you link it to the right participant afterwards.

The incident form covers what happened, severity, injuries and first aid, and immediate actions. If it is a reportable incident, tick the box and the form opens the notification panel: the reportable category (marked as 24 hour + 5 day or 5 day only), when you notified the NDIS Commission, when the 5-day report went in, and the Commission reference. The CRM shows a live countdown ("24h notification due by...") and chases you from the dashboard if a deadline is at risk. You still lodge the actual notification through the Commission portal - these fields are your evidence trail.

Incidents and complaints land in their registers, on the participant's file, and in the Action Centre until they are closed or resolved.

Records & registersholds the registers an auditor asks for, each one a tab: shift notes, incidents, complaints, risks, conflicts of interest, restrictive practices, continuous improvement, survey results and data breaches. Log things once - they appear on the participant's file and in the register at the same time.

Policy reviews is your policy register: when each policy was last reviewed, when it is next due, and the current copy attached to its row. Add my standard policies seeds the list for you. Company documents holds your organisation-level documents with versions, and Insurance tracks your certificates of currency and their expiry dates.

The Action Centre gathers everything that needs review or approval into one queue: shift notes awaiting review, open incidents and complaints, policies due for review, and worker checks that are expiring or expired. Ticking an item here updates its register automatically. The number badge in the sidebar tells you how much is waiting - clearing it once a day is the whole habit.

Audit readiness scores your workspace across the areas an auditor samples - participant files, worker screening and training, incident management, complaints, risk, restrictive practices, shift notes, policy reviews, insurance and more - and shows each as ready, needs attention, or a gap, with the Practice Standard it maps to.

Alongside it: a Self-assessment you can draft area by area, an Audit interviews consent register for certification audits, and an Activity log - an immutable record of every change to notes, incidents, complaints and participant records, written automatically.

In Settings → Organisation details, the Participant feedback section gives you a branded public survey link to send participants - no login, works on a phone. Responses land in Survey results, and paper surveys can be uploaded alongside them. Feedback is one of the things auditors ask to see evidence of collecting.

NDIS assistantanswers questions about NDIS rules, Practice Standards, pricing and registration requirements, with sources cited - handy mid-task when you hit a "wait, is this reportable?" moment. Capped at 20 questions a day per person.