Participants and employersPart 2 of 4
Appointments and calendar sync
Book an appointment once and it lives in the consultant's own calendar, with a clock running to the Part B 6.6 attendance result deadline.
Workstride is being built for accreditation by DEWR as a Third Party Employment System. It is not yet accredited.
- Calendar
- A real event in Outlook or Google Calendar, with the participant invited
- Video
- A Teams or Google Meet link is added automatically
- Attendance result
- A clock to close of business, with a three Business Day hard limit
Shares its record with Records and quality
What it does
For consultants who live in their calendar, and site managers who need appointments and results to agree.
Saving an appointment in Workstride creates a real event in the consultant's own Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace calendar, with the participant added as an attendee, so they get the workspace's own invitation. A video appointment gets an online meeting link too: Teams on Microsoft 365, Google Meet on Google Workspace. In the build
Appointments come in three modes (in person, phone or video) and close with one of six results: attended; did not attend, valid reason; did not attend, invalid reason; cancelled by provider; cancelled by participant; or rescheduled.
Caution
Workstride shows what still needs entering in ESS Web, and records when that has been done. It does not enter appointments or results into ESS Web itself: that stays a person's job until the Department grants write access under the vendor deed.
Moved in the calendar, updated here
A move in Outlook or Google Calendar comes back on its own
Nobody re-keys a moved appointment. Workstride hears about the change, updates the record, recomputes the deadline, and keeps an audit line.
In Outlook or Google Calendar
Contact appointment: PEARCE, Jack
In Workstride
Sample data. Invented names. The audit line keeps the time before and after the move, so a site manager can see it was the consultant's own calendar that changed, not a person editing the record.
On sample data
Recording the result
Riley Ward's appointment today, before a result exists. Choose what happened and record it, then try confirming entry in ESS Web.
WARD, Riley
Appointment #18901
- Participant
- WARD, Riley
- Participant id
- 2205
- Kind
- contact
- Starts
- 17/09/2026 11:00
- Ends
- 17/09/2026 11:30
- Mode
- In person
- Location
- Wollongong office
- Calendar sync
- Synced
No notes yet for this appointment.
No result recorded yet.
Record the attendance result before confirming its entry in ESS Web.
- Critical Appointment result not recorded
Sample data. Invented names.
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Recording the result stamps a note and starts the clock to close of business on the appointment day.
“The Provider must record an attendance result in the Department's IT Systems by close of business on the day of the Contact Appointment or Activity.”
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In the product
Confirming entry in ESS Web is refused until a result exists. Choosing a result and recording it is what turns that button on.
What happens if it is missed
The attendance result deadline, and what happens when it slips
Zahra Karimi's appointment in Wollongong: the result is in, but entry in ESS Web is not, and its close of business deadline has passed.
KARIMI, Zahra
Appointment #18842
- Participant
- KARIMI, Zahra
- Participant id
- 2241
- Kind
- contact
- Starts
- 14/09/2026 10:00
- Ends
- 14/09/2026 10:30
- Mode
- In person
- Location
- Wollongong office
- Status
- Attended
- Result
- Attended
- Result recorded
- 14/09/2026 10:42
- ESS entry due
- 14/09/2026 17:00
- ESS entry hard limit
- 17/09/2026 17:00
- Entered in ESS
- Not recorded
- Needs result
- No
- Calendar sync
- Synced
14/09/2026 10:42 by Sunita Pillai (sunita.pillai@
Contact appointment on 14/09/2026 10:00: Attended.
Attended, recorded 14/09/2026 10:42 by Sunita Pillai.
ESS entry due 14/09/2026 17:00 (hard limit 17/09/2026 17:00).
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Critical ESS entry overdue
Enter the result in ESS Web and confirm it on the appointment.
- Platform id
18842
Created 07/09/2026 15:20, updated 14/09/2026 10:42.
Sample data. Invented names.
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In the product
The due time and the hard limit are both kept as fields, and as columns on any appointments list.
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Good practice
Two alerts are pinned so they cannot be missed on a list: "Appointment result not recorded" and "ESS entry overdue". A snooze can never run past the hard limit.
The Guidelines do not say whether the appointment day itself counts as one of the three Business Days. Workstride's hard limit uses the reading where it does not; a stricter reading, one Business Day earlier, is shown alongside it on the attendance result deadline calculator.
How it works
Counting Business Days correctly
The deadline is worked out from the Business Day calendar for the appointment's own state or territory, national and state public holidays for 2026 and 2027 included, from the Fair Work Ombudsman's public lists. A Victorian site skips the Friday before the AFL Grand Final; a New South Wales site does not.
Calendar sync status, and where appointments show up
Every appointment carries a calendar sync status: pending, synced, failed, cancelled, or not connected, so a failed sync is visible before it becomes a missed appointment. Today's appointments appear on My work, and a participant's own upcoming appointments show under "Your appointments" in the participant portal.
“The Provider must record an attendance result in the Department's IT Systems by close of business on the day of the Contact Appointment or Activity”, and where that is not possible, “within 3 Business Days”.
Planned: the calendar inside Workstride, and minimum contacts
An in-app calendar view and a minimum contacts tracker for Pre-Employment Support (Part B 6.6) are both on the roadmap, not built.
Planned: sketch, not the product
A week of appointments inside Workstride
Consultants see their week in their own Outlook or Google calendar today. This drawing shows the idea of the same week inside the product.
Monday 14/09
Tuesday 15/09
Wednesday 16/09
Thursday 17/09, today
Friday 18/09
Also planned: booking from free and busy time, participant self-booking from the portal, and site shared mailboxes for rooms. See minimum contacts explained and try the minimum contacts tracker, which works from a period's dates today without needing the tracker to be built.
Status, part by part
| Capability | Status | Rule, gate or note |
|---|---|---|
| Two-way calendar sync, attendee invitations, online meeting links | In the build | Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace |
| Moves and cancellations flow back, deadline recomputed, audited | In the build | |
| Result recording, stamped note, the attendance deadline clock | In the build | Part B 6.6 |
| Calendar sync status on lists; today's appointments on My work; the portal list | In the build | |
| In-app day, week and month views; free and busy booking; self-booking; shared mailboxes for rooms | Planned | |
| Minimum contacts tracker | Planned | Part B 6.6 |
| Scheduling in the Department's Electronic Calendar | Waiting on approval | Part B 5.6.1, vendor deed web services |
| Entering results in ESS Web directly | Waiting on approval | Vendor deed web services |
- In the buildA first version exists and runs on sample data. No provider uses it yet.
- PlannedOn our roadmap, not built yet.
- Waiting on approvalNeeds a decision from the Department or DEWR, a supplier agreement, or legal sign-off.
What it does not do yet
- No calendar view inside Workstride: consultants still work from Outlook or Google Calendar itself. Planned
- No participant self-booking, and no minimum contacts tracker. Planned
- Scheduling into the Department's Electronic Calendar and entering results directly in ESS Web. Waiting on approval
Related pages, guides and tools
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My work
Today's appointments and their results, ranked with everything else that is due.
In the build
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File notes and evidence
Every result stamps a note, kept the same way as any other file note.
In the build
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Attendance result deadline calculator
Work out the deadline for any appointment, in any state or territory.
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Attendance results and ESS Web
The rule, the readings that are not settled, and how Workstride shows both.
Questions about appointments
If I move an appointment in Outlook, do I also have to update Workstride?
No. The change comes back on its own, usually within minutes, and is audited with the time before and after the move.
What happens to the deadline if an appointment is cancelled?
Its attendance result clock is cancelled automatically. Nothing is due, and no result is needed.
Can we use this with participants now?
No. Using Workstride with participant data first needs DEWR to accredit the Workstride system and us to hold a Third Party IT Vendor Deed, then your organisation's written approval from the Department (Part A 7.2.2).
Sources
- Inclusive Employment Australia Guidelines Part B
- Fair Work Ombudsman, public holidays 2026 and 2027 (the Business Day calendar)
Sources checked on 17/09/2026. Checked against the build on 17/09/2026.
See it on sample data, with the people building it.
A walkthrough covers the parts of Workstride your teams would use, the status of each one, and the approval steps your organisation takes.
Using Workstride with participant data first needs DEWR to accredit the Workstride system and us to hold a Third Party IT Vendor Deed, then your organisation's written approval from the Department (IEA Guidelines Part A 7.2.2).
Workstride is new, and we are inviting Inclusive Employment Australia providers to help shape it before launch. Help shape Workstride.
Tell us who is coming
Send the form with the roles you want to bring and the parts you want to see.
We reply to set a time
We suggest times that suit your team and confirm what the session will cover.
The walkthrough
Sample data only, with the status of every part said out loud. Nothing about your participants is asked or needed.