SCT Logistics

The problem

Rostering and planning

The SCT workforce was managed through Excel-based spreadsheet systems on a depot-by-depot basis. Multiple employees with access approval could edit the same spreadsheets, often simultaneously. This led to version conflicts, made changes difficult to trace, and introduced a data entry accuracy risk.

The significant manual rostering workload required two people managing it full time, with the SA roster alone consuming a full working day to update. Planning beyond two or three weeks was not reliably achievable under this system.

Route qualifications

Each driver’s qualifications were listed beside their name on the spreadsheet, however verifying that a driver held the qualification for a particular route required manual scrolling through 150 records. Potential data mismatches could reach the point of shift allocation before issues were identified and addressed.

Driver timesheets

Payroll preparation was equally labour-intensive. Drivers submitted timesheets in varied formats – some written by hand, some photographed, some typed – to a shared email inbox. A payroll team member then decoded each submission, entered the data into a separate spreadsheet, and calculated wages from that source.

If the roster spreadsheet was not current when timesheets arrived, the timesheet data was assumed correct. This arrangement created exposure to potential overpayments and underpayments, with the latter typically reported by drivers and the former often going unnoticed.

Relay running compounded the payroll challenge further. Four drivers sharing the same relay could submit mismatched timesheets, requiring a manual reconciliation process that introduced calculation errors across crew van hours, barracks time, and EBA entitlements.

Driver communications

Drivers relied on nightly spreadsheet uploads and communication through individual calls or texts when changes occurred. Any update after the nightly upload required a separate round of contact, with Depot Managers sometimes reaching drivers independently of the rostering team. This resulted in duplicated effort and inconsistent information.

“Zelra was integral to modernising our WFM, rostering, and payroll. We now have proactive fatigue management, excellent transparency across all user groups, and detailed performance reporting. The EBA rules engine for calculating highly complex payroll correctly is a real benefit not seen in comparable systems.”

– Steve McEwin, Head of Rail Operations SA & Regional NSW, SCT Logistics

 

The outcome

Zelra’s Workforce Management software has delivered measurable operational and compliance improvements across SCT’s seven-depot operation.

For a rail freight operator working within the ONRSR’s fatigue framework, the shift from retrospective to proactive fatigue management changes the compliance position materially. SCT now identifies and resolves fatigue risks before rosters are published, addressing potential breaches in planning rather than escalating them in operations. This has strengthened SCT’s engagement with infrastructure managers such as ARTC and reduced pressure on the rostering team and drivers when schedule adjustments are needed.

Qualification and EBA rule-checking compliance now runs as an automated check within the roster publication process. The risk of an unqualified driver being allocated to a route is addressed at the planning stage, not discovered at the point of shift. The time required to identify eligible drivers for a specific route has fallen from a manual scroll through 150 records to a single filtered result.

The operational cost of rostering has fallen substantially. The SA roster now takes a couple of hours rather than a full working day, and forward planning visibility has extended from two or three weeks to six weeks or more. This additional lead time has improved hotel booking management, fleet positioning, and annual leave planning across the network.

In payroll, processing is completed two days earlier each week and one full-time team member has been redeployed from timesheet reconciliation to other work. For relay running, which was the most complex and error-prone area of payroll preparation, Zelra provides a structured calculation of crew van hours, barracks time, and EBA entitlements. This replaced the manual approach that generated inconsistencies across the four drivers sharing each relay.

Driver experience has also improved. With direct visibility of upcoming shifts and real-time updates through the app, drivers can plan their personal commitments against a known roster rather than waiting for nightly uploads or individual calls. Better forward visibility has supported improved overtime fill rates, with drivers being more willing to commit to additional shifts when they can see their schedule ahead of time.

Taken together, these gains reflect a shift from a workforce management approach that was straining to keep pace with SCT’s growth, to one that supports it.