The my NDIS app, provider portals and care-team apps: what does each actually do?

Compare the jobs before comparing apps

A page called 'Documents' could hold evidence for a government enquiry, a practice's reports or files chosen for a shared care team. The label alone does not tell you who receives a document or what happens after you upload it.

These are purposes to explore, rather than fixed limits on every product. Commercial apps vary. Ask to see the actual access and features offered by your service.

The my NDIS app and participant portals connect you with the NDIA

The NDIA's my NDIS app guide explains viewing your plan and budget, making claims for self-managed supports, and using service-hub functions for enquiries, document uploads and tracking. Its role extends beyond checking a balance. Which actions apply depends on your arrangements and the current system.

The participant-portal guide explains the my NDIS and myplace participant portals, including which one relates to your plan. It also covers functions such as plan information and managing relevant provider relationships. Follow the current NDIA instructions when setting up or changing access.

A nominee or child representative uses their own identity and account through the official arrangements. Helping someone with their supports does not mean using that person's myGov login. Access to a commercial family app is a separate arrangement.

There is another naming trap: the NDIA's provider portals are government systems for providers. That is different from a support service's own client or family portal, discussed below. An invitation from your therapy practice does not itself give you access to the NDIA's provider systems.

A plan manager's app helps you follow the money they manage

If you use a plan manager, their app or portal can help you understand the funding and payments they handle. Useful features may include spending information, invoice submission, reimbursement requests and payment status. Check what is included for your account and who can receive authorised supporter access.

For example, My Plan Manager describes its client portal as showing budget and claims information and accepting invoices and reimbursement requests. That is an example of one service's features, rather than a promise about every plan manager app.

Use the plan manager's process to resolve a question about an invoice they are handling. Ask them what a displayed status means if it is unclear. A visible budget amount does not settle whether a particular purchase can be funded, and a payment update does not tell you whether the wider team has discussed the report being paid for.

A provider's portal connects you with the service they deliver

A therapy practice or support provider may invite you into a client portal. Depending on its system and settings, you might find appointments, documents, messages, service requests or support notes. It can be a useful place to check information directly with the organisation providing the service.

For example, ShiftCare's family-portal guidance describes schedules, shift notes and service requests, with permissions affecting what a contact can see or do. Your provider decides which available capabilities it uses and which access it offers.

If you need other organisations involved, ask how that works in the actual portal. Can an outside clinician contribute? Who approves access? Will the participant keep access to relevant documents if they leave the service? Some systems support broader collaboration. Others are designed mainly around that provider's work, so it helps to check rather than assume.

A care-team app helps people organise their work together

A shared care-team workspace can connect a participant, chosen supporters and professionals around a priority. Its useful job might be keeping a report request, the relevant document and the next agreed action together, even when different organisations are involved.

The participant's wishes and relevant permissions should guide who is invited and what is shared. A family relationship or professional role does not automatically mean access to every file. Discuss who can contribute, who manages membership and how changes will be handled.

Look for an arrangement that lets people provide their own responses. If a parent still has to collect every update and copy it into the app, the shared work may not have changed very much. Each professional also needs to follow the recordkeeping and communication arrangements relevant to their work.

One report request can involve several different questions

Here is a fictional example. Hannah would like a report from her OT, Sam, to support an upcoming discussion about her needs. With Hannah's agreement, her brother Lewis and support coordinator Aisha are helping organise it. They first confirm the report's purpose, scope, cost and expected timing with the practice.

When Hannah asks, 'Has Sam finished the report?', the practice is the source of that answer. Its usual contact method or client portal may help. A shared task can show who has agreed to follow up and what they heard back, so Lewis and Aisha are not making separate calls.

Once the report is available, Hannah agrees who may receive it. The team can discuss what needs clarification and the next action. If an invoice goes to her plan manager, 'Has that invoice been received or paid?' belongs with the plan manager's process. It is a different question from whether the report answers what Hannah needs.

If Hannah then makes an enquiry to the NDIA and provides relevant documents, she follows the NDIA's official process. Sharing a report with her care team does not submit it to the Agency. Likewise, uploading something for an NDIA enquiry does not establish that each of her chosen professionals has received it.

The aim is to know where each question belongs. If the team records an update from another system, include when it was checked and by whom. Treat that as a reported update, rather than assuming the systems exchange information automatically.

You do not need a separate app for every question

Start with the systems already available to you. If your provider's portal and a simple agreed action list meet your needs, that may be enough. A shared workspace becomes worth exploring when important follow-ups cross services and people struggle to see who is doing what.

This comparison explains the different systems you may encounter. For a closer look at deciding whether to add a tool, use our care coordination app choosing checklist. Try one fictional document and task before entering personal information, and check the complete cost, accessibility and arrangements for leaving.

Where Kinovo fits

Kinovo is a participant-controlled shared care workspace. Participants, families and invited professionals can keep shared goals, tasks, relevant documents and care-team messages together. A Team leader manages workspace access, while members contribute within their roles and permissions.

In Hannah's example, Kinovo could hold the agreed report request, the copy she chooses to share and the follow-up actions. The practice, plan manager and NDIA still handle their respective work. Kinovo is separate software; using it does not replace those accounts, grant access to them or automatically transfer information between them.

If your team needs a place for those shared actions, see how families use Kinovo and consider one priority you could organise together.