Honest comparisons
Budget Tool vs Excel / Google Sheets
A surprising number of SCs track participant budgets in spreadsheets - one tab per participant, formulas pulled from a template that's been copy-pasted for years. It works until it doesn't, and the moment it fails is usually at plan review when the maths is suddenly off and no one knows why.
The headline
Same per-participant budget visibility. None of the formula rot.
| Feature | SRTD Tools | Excel / Google Sheets |
|---|---|---|
| Ingests plan-manager statement PDFs directlyHeadline | Drag, drop, parsed in 15-60s | Manual data entry per line item |
| Formula reliability | No formulas to break | Depends on who last edited |
| Persists across monthly statements | Refine, don't rebuild | Re-key or copy-paste each month |
| Forward-looking support planner (NDIS 2025-26 rates) | Yes | Whatever rates you remembered |
| Underspend / overspend auto-flagged | Yes | If your conditional formatting still works |
| Multi-participant caseload view | Triage at a glance | Tab-hopping or a separate master sheet |
| Lives in a shared system the team can see | Yes | 'The file is on Sarah's laptop' |
| Audit trail of changes | Yes | Google Sheets version history at best |
| Monthly cost | $20/mo | Free + 1-3 hrs/month maintenance |
| Billable time unlocked / monthHeadline | ~50 hrs across a 30-participant caseload (admin freed + billable work) | Not framed this way |
The honest verdict
Spreadsheets work for the first 5-10 participants on a small caseload. Past that, the failure modes start to bite: broken formulas after a paste-special, copy of a copy where the source is gone, version conflicts when two SCs edit the same file, no audit trail of changes, and a budget review at plan review time that takes a full afternoon because nothing reconciles. Budget Tool ingests a plan-manager statement PDF, breaks it down per line item, projects spend to plan end, and persists across statements - so each month you refine rather than rebuild. $20/mo for the structural reliability is the trade.
What SRTD includes
Every tool the comparison above is about
The full subscription suite plus Plan Review. Pick the ones you need - or trial the lot for 14 days.
Case Note Writer
STAR, SOAP, Phone Log, NDIA Call Log, progress notes, incident notes, behaviour observations - every format every SC and Support Worker role needs. Voice memo → NDIS-format note in 30 seconds.
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Comms Tool
Provider emails, plan-manager queries, family updates, NDIA correspondence, complaints. Drafted in seconds, in the right tone for the recipient.
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Budget Tool
Per-participant NDIS funding tracking, monthly cadence analysis, forward-looking support planner, caseload triage view.
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Document Analysis
Upload an NDIS plan, FCA, BSP, or service agreement. Get goals, funding, dates, recommendations extracted - structured, NDIS-aligned work in minutes.
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Plan Review
Build a review-ready plan review pack per participant for the NDIS 2026 rules. Document uploads, robustness scoring, downloadable pack.
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Report Writer
Coming soonNDIA Implementation Reports, Progress Reports, Pre-reassessment Reports drafted from your case notes.
Try it free for 14 days. Decide for yourself.
No credit card. Full access to every tool you turn on. Cancel or switch products any time.
Built in Sydney · Australian data residency · By a working Support Coordinator