St John Ambulance NSW (St John NSW), one of the state’s largest volunteer-powered emergency and event health services, has selected Rosterfy as its staff and volunteer management platform following an extensive tender process spanning more than 12 months.
St John NSW is a volunteer-led social enterprise organisation and the state’s medical reserve, supporting NSW Health, NSW Ambulance, the Rural Fire Service, SES and NSW Police during major incidents, from bushfires and floods to major sporting and community events.
With around 3,000 volunteers and 150 staff across 72 divisions and 18 areas of NSW, St John NSW needed a platform capable of supporting the scale, complexity and compliance requirements of its emergency service workforce.
The decision followed a comprehensive evaluation of workforce and volunteer management platforms, with St John NSW selecting Rosterfy to provide a more connected and scalable foundation for its workforce operations.
A platform that could support the complexity of our organisation
“We needed a platform that could support the complexity of our organisation today, while giving us the flexibility to continue evolving into the future. Rosterfy stood out for its ability to bring our people, processes and data together while supporting the operational and compliance requirements that come with managing a large emergency service workforce.”
One platform for a state-wide workforce
St John NSW’s workforce includes employees, adult volunteers, cadets and youth members, specialist teams across event command, communications, clinical services, logistics and peer support, as well as emergency deployment volunteers.
Historically, these groups have been managed across multiple legacy systems and manual processes, making it difficult to maintain a consistent view of the workforce.
Rosterfy will bring St John NSW’s paid workforce and volunteer cohorts into a single platform, providing consistent data, reporting and visibility across every division and role type. This will give teams a clearer state-wide view of their workforce, particularly when coordinating resources during live incidents.
A single view of our workforce
“Having a single view of our workforce was an important priority for us. Whether someone is a staff member, volunteer, cadet or part of a specialist team, we want our leaders to have access to consistent, reliable information when they need it.”
Automating compliance across every role
As an emergency service, St John NSW has strict requirements for screening, credentials and ongoing compliance. This includes national police checks, Working With Children Checks (WWCC) for youth and cadet programs, and role-specific clinical qualifications and competencies.
Rosterfy’s end-to-end automated onboarding will allow St John NSW to deliver personalised, role-specific onboarding for every volunteer and staff member. Automated alerts can flag credentials approaching expiry, while configurable workflows can restrict shift applications until required documentation has been renewed.
This will help St John NSW move from manually chasing compliance requirements towards a more proactive, automated approach, particularly important for people working in clinical and public safety roles.
Compliance is fundamental
“Compliance is fundamental to how we operate. We need confidence that the right checks, qualifications and credentials are in place before someone is deployed. Automating more of that process will reduce administration for our teams while giving us greater visibility across the organisation.”
From routine rosters to rapid mobilisation
St John NSW’s scheduling requirements span two very different operating environments: predictable, recurring divisional training nights and rostered shifts, alongside the rapid, high-volume mobilisation required during emergency responses and major event deployments.
Rosterfy’s advanced scheduling engine will enable St John NSW to create shifts and match people to roles based on their skills, certifications, availability and location.
This will support everything from routine weekly division meetings to mobilising hundreds of volunteers across multiple locations during a major incident.
Technology that supports complexity of our teams
“Our workforce needs can change very quickly. On any given day we may be coordinating routine activities across the state, supporting a major event or responding to an emergency. We needed technology that could work across each of those environments without adding unnecessary complexity for our teams.”
Local control with state-wide visibility
With 72 divisions across 18 areas of NSW, St John NSW needed a platform that could reflect the way its organisation operates in practice, from local division management through to area and state-wide oversight.
Rosterfy’s configurable permissions and multi-account access will allow local leaders to manage their people day-to-day, while area and state leadership maintain visibility across the broader organisation.
This structure will also support St John NSW’s federated operating model, where members may be connected to primary and secondary divisions and different levels of approval are required.
Flexibility to adapt to our structure
“It was important that the technology could adapt to our structure rather than requiring us to change the way our teams operate around the system. Giving local leaders the right level of autonomy while maintaining state-wide visibility was a key consideration.”
St John NSW’s workforce is a mix of employees, adult volunteers, cadets and youth members, through to specialist teams
Coordinating event workforces at scale
Event medical services are central to St John NSW’s operations. Its volunteers provide first aid and medical coverage at everything from local community fixtures to some of the state’s largest sporting, entertainment and mass-participation events.
Rosterfy’s event workforce management functionality will allow St John NSW to build detailed event structures, manage workforce logistics and allocate people to specific roles and locations.
Teams will also have greater visibility of workforce coverage and gaps as events unfold, using technology designed to support complex volunteer workforces at scale.
Connecting teams when every minute matters
Clear, timely communication is critical when coordinating an emergency volunteer workforce.
Rosterfy’s Volunteer Messaging will provide St John NSW with a two-way communication channel across web and mobile, complementing email, SMS and push notifications.
Admins can communicate with targeted groups for urgent call-outs, last-minute event changes, shift updates and day-to-day coordination. Messaging channels can also be connected to scheduled volunteers, helping ensure information reaches the people who need it.
Connected communication
“When circumstances change, particularly during an emergency or major event, we need to communicate quickly and know we are reaching the right people. Having communication connected directly to our workforce and scheduling data gives us another way to keep our teams informed and connected.”
Knowing who is deployed, where and when
Accurately capturing attendance and volunteer hours is important for both operational safety and impact reporting.
During an emergency response or major event, leaders need to know who is onsite, where they are deployed and how long they have been there.
Rosterfy’s check-in and check-out functionality supports QR codes, geofenced verification and desktop, tablet and mobile check-in options. This will give St John NSW real-time attendance data while reducing the manual administration involved in recording volunteer hours.
The same data can be used to report on workforce participation and demonstrate the contribution St John NSW volunteers make to communities across the state.
A partnership built for what comes next
For Rosterfy, the partnership represents an opportunity to support one of Australia’s most recognised volunteer-powered organisations as it modernises the technology underpinning its workforce.
Connecting the right people, with the right skills to the right place
“St John NSW operates in an environment where having the right people, with the right skills and credentials, in the right place can be critical. We’re incredibly proud to have been selected to support their staff and volunteers and to provide the technology that will help their teams operate more efficiently at scale.”
“This partnership is also a strong example of what modern volunteer management looks like. It goes beyond storing volunteer records. It’s about using automation, real-time data and intelligent workforce tools to reduce administration while giving organisations greater confidence in their people and operations.”
Built for the demands of emergency services
Rosterfy’s Emergency Services solution is designed around the requirements of organisations managing large, distributed and compliance-critical workforces.
From role-specific onboarding and training compliance to advanced scheduling, communications and real-time attendance, Rosterfy provides a single platform for managing the workforce journey, backed by enterprise-grade security and local data hosting.
St John NSW’s selection follows an extensive evaluation of the market and builds on Rosterfy’s experience supporting large-scale volunteer and workforce programs across emergency services, major events, sport, government and the nonprofit sector.
More volunteers. Less admin. Greater impact.
About St John Ambulance NSW
St John Ambulance NSW is the state’s largest volunteer-powered emergency and event health service and the official medical reserve for New South Wales. Its volunteers support NSW Health, NSW Ambulance, the Rural Fire Service, SES and NSW Police during major incidents and provide first aid and medical coverage at community, sporting and mass-participation events across the state.
About Rosterfy
Rosterfy is a leading volunteer and workforce management platform, helping organisations automate administration, strengthen compliance, improve volunteer experiences and scale their programs with confidence.
Trusted by charities, emergency services, sporting organisations, governments and major events, Rosterfy supports the entire workforce journey, from recruitment and onboarding through to scheduling, communications, training, compliance, recognition and reporting.
Through intelligent automation, configurable workflows and AI-powered tools, Rosterfy helps organisations spend less time on administration and more time supporting their people and communities.
