Tanda vs Deputy: Rostering & Award Interpretation Compared
Tanda and Deputy are two of the best-known workforce platforms in Australia, and both do the same three core jobs: rostering, time & attendance, and award interpretation. Deputy is a global scheduling and T&A platform with an Australian pay-conditions engine; Tanda is an Australian-built workforce platform with a strong focus on award interpretation and wage compliance. The important thing they share is how they interpret awards: a rules engine applied to clean, structured clock-in/clock-out data. For SCHADS and NDIS providers, that assumption is exactly where the risk sits.
Quick Facts
- Deputy
- Global scheduling & T&A, Australian pay-conditions engine
- Tanda
- Australian workforce platform, award-interpretation focus
- Shared model
- Rule engine over structured punch data
- SCHADS/NDIS gap
- Messy real-world timesheets + no independent clause-by-clause audit
Tools & Resources
-
SCHADS AI Assistant
Get instant answers to award questions.
-
Timesheet Validator
Check timesheets for compliance.
-
Free Payslip Check
For workers: compare your payslip to the award minimums.
Deputy: Scheduling and Time & Attendance at Scale
Deputy is a widely used workforce-management platform — shift scheduling, time and attendance, task management and team communication — with an Australian pay-conditions engine that applies award and enterprise-agreement rules to the hours captured. Its strength is breadth and polish across industries, from hospitality and retail to health and care. Pay is calculated from the punch data Deputy captures against the pay rules configured for each award.
Tanda: Award Interpretation and Wage Compliance
Tanda is an Australian-built platform that leans harder into award interpretation and wage compliance specifically — rostering and time & attendance feeding an award engine designed to get complex Australian pay rules right. For businesses whose main pain is confidence in award-driven pay, Tanda's centre of gravity is closer to the compliance problem than a general scheduling tool. It, too, interprets the award from the structured time records it captures.
Deputy vs Tanda at a Glance
Both are established Australian workforce platforms with a built-in award-interpretation engine — the differences are in focus, native payroll and pricing. Figures below are as published in July 2026 and are subject to change; confirm current pricing with each vendor.
| Deputy | Tanda | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Global scheduling & time/attendance with an Australian pay-conditions engine | Australian-built workforce & payroll platform with an award-interpretation focus |
| Award interpretation | Built-in engine; Modern Award library including SCHADS (MA000100) | Built-in engine; 30+ award templates, SCHADS named |
| SCHADS complex mechanics | Deputy's help documentation notes sleepovers, broken shifts and minimum engagement may need to be applied or checked manually | Names SCHADS among its templates; public documentation does not specify sleepover / broken-shift automation |
| Native payroll | Optional add-on module | Yes — native pay runs with STP |
| Payroll integrations | Xero, MYOB, ADP, QuickBooks and others | Xero, MYOB, Reckon, QuickBooks and others |
| Indicative pricing (AUD) | ~$6.75–$13 per user/month (Lite / Core / Pro), $30/month minimum | $12.80 + GST per user/month all-in-one bundle; individual modules quote-only |
The Shared Gap: Clean-Data Interpretation vs Real-World SCHADS Timesheets
Both platforms interpret awards well when the input is clean: an employee clocks in and out inside the system, the rules are configured, and pay follows. SCHADS and NDIS providers rarely have that. Support work produces messy real-world timesheets — exports from a care-management roster, spreadsheets, or clock data that never maps cleanly to a single shift. And even with perfect data, award interpretation configured in a rostering tool is not the same as an independent audit of the resulting pay against the SCHADS Award itself. Broken shift allowances (cl.25.6), sleepover disturbance payments (cl.25.7) and overtime that accrues across multiple shifts in a day (cl.28.1) are precisely the rules that slip through when interpretation depends on how the roster was set up.
Adding an Independent SCHADS Check
Whether you run Tanda, Deputy, or a care-specific roster, the compliance question is the same: does anything read the actual timesheet and check it against the award clause-by-clause before the pay run? CrossVault's Timesheet Validator does exactly that — it accepts a timesheet export in any shape, validates it against the SCHADS Award, and flags under and overpayment with the specific clause cited. It complements a workforce platform rather than replacing it. See how it differs from a rules engine in our award interpretation software explainer, or start free.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Tanda or Deputy better for award interpretation?
- Both interpret Australian awards from structured time-and-attendance data. Tanda's product centre of gravity is closer to award interpretation and wage compliance specifically, while Deputy is a broader global scheduling and T&A platform with an Australian pay-conditions engine. For most businesses the choice comes down to whether you want a compliance-led tool or a broader scheduling suite — both still interpret the award from the punch data they capture.
- Do Tanda and Deputy handle the SCHADS Award?
- Both can be configured to apply SCHADS pay rules to the hours they capture. The gap for disability and NDIS providers is twofold: real-world timesheets are often messy exports that don't map cleanly to structured punches, and rules configured in a rostering tool are not an independent audit of the resulting pay against the award's specific clauses (broken shifts, sleepovers, cross-shift overtime).
- Can CrossVault check timesheets from Tanda or Deputy?
- Yes. CrossVault's Timesheet Validator works with a timesheet export from any platform — no integration needed. It reads the actual timesheet, validates it against the SCHADS Award clause-by-clause, and flags issues before payroll runs, regardless of which system produced the data.
- How much do Deputy and Tanda cost?
- As published in July 2026, Deputy lists per-user pricing of roughly $6.75 (Lite), $8.75 (Core) and $13 (Pro) per user per month in AUD, with a $30 monthly minimum. Tanda publishes an all-in-one bundle at $12.80 plus GST per user per month, with its individual Workforce Management, Payroll and HR modules quoted on request. Both are subject to change — confirm current figures with each vendor.
- Do Tanda or Deputy fully handle SCHADS sleepovers and broken shifts?
- Both apply SCHADS pay rules through their award engines, but the hardest SCHADS mechanics are where completeness varies. Deputy's own help documentation notes that sleepover allowances, broken shifts and minimum engagement may need to be applied or checked manually. Tanda names SCHADS among its award templates but its public materials do not specify how fully it automates sleepovers and broken shifts. In both cases, an independent check of the finished timesheet against the award — the specific clauses for broken shifts (cl.25.6), sleepovers (cl.25.7) and cross-shift overtime (cl.28.1) — catches what configuration alone can miss.
Automate SCHADS Compliance
Don't risk underpayments. CrossVault's AI engine validates every timesheet against the specific rules of the SCHADS Award.