14 Third party verification of our disability services One of the requirements as a registered provider under the National Disability Insurance Scheme is for us to undertake a third party verification process against the NSW Disability Standards. This is an external audit that reviews each practice requirement under the standards and assesses whether we meet the requirement based on evidence we provide, such as policies and procedures, and interviews with staff and clients. We undertook a third party verification in November, and we were delighted that the process found that SDN’s disability services met the standards and there were no improvement actions identified. We have since begun to develop an organisation-wide Accessibility Action Plan which we hope will improve the accessibility of all of our services. Ongoing technology and digital improvements We continued to upgrade our IT equipment and network across all of our locations during the year. Upgrades to our systems mean we can offer improved functionality for families and staff, and transfer the increasing volume of data that we need. We are also introducing new systems that improve our communications with families. We have rolled out Storypark, a secure online platform that allows educators to document activities and post stories, images and videos of children which families can then share with other family members. Feedback from families has been very positive, and we plan to extend how we use Storypark so that families can stay in touch with how their child is playing and learning throughout the day. We introduced electronic sign in and sign out for families in our centres, which is fully integrated into our enrolment and billing system, Qikkids. Electronic sign in was part of the systems upgrade needed in preparation for the introduction of the new Child Care Subsidy. It allows us to transfer attendance data to the Australian Government’s payment portal. Combined with electronic staff sign in will also allow us to keep track of compliance with the educator to child ratios, and gather information which will help us roster staff in line with actual patterns of attendance.