Geelong United Basketball: Rosters, Timesheets & Payroll with Microkeeper

On a big night at Geelong Arena, the focus is on the court: bright lights, loud crowds, fast breaks and big moments. 

Behind that, there’s another type of work: making sure dozens of casual staff, referees, coaches and game day crew are rostered correctly, clock on where they should, and get paid accurately for the hours they work across multiple venues. 

For Geelong United Basketball, that used to be driven by spreadsheets and paper. 

“Our rosters were done on spreadsheets, our timesheets were submitted manually, often handwritten and dropped on my desk. It was really painful, time consuming and inaccurate. We knew it was a problem the business had to fix.” - Vicki King, Business and Finance Manager, Geelong United Basketball

Today, those processes live in Microkeeper.  

When manual processes can’t keep pace

As Geelong United’s competitions grew, more teams, more programs, more game nights, the old approach started to strain. 

Staff filled in timesheets by hand. Rosters were managed in separate spreadsheets. On every pay run, Vicki’s team had to manually compare what had been rostered against what was recorded on timesheets. 

“The comparison of timesheets versus rosters was a big slowdown. Start times, finish times, there were a lot of inaccuracies. It cost us time cross-checking, and in some cases it cost the business money.” - Vicki King

A single pay cycle could take three to four hours to process. For a not-for-profit organisation, that’s a lot of effort tied up in admin. 

Fairness was also front of mind.
“Paid right’ for us is about fairness for the business and fairness for the employees. Accuracy impacts both parties equally.” - Vicki King

Geelong United needed a way to bring rosters, timesheets and payroll together, reduce the risk of human error, and give themselves a system that could handle growing participation. 

Implementing Microkeeper across venues and roles

The solution they landed on was Microkeeper, a unified platform for HR, rostering, time and attendance, and payroll, built locally in Geelong. 

Behind the scenes, this meant reshaping how game day and staffing information flowed. 

For Vicki, the idea of moving around 55 staff from one platform into a new one sounded daunting. In practice, the transition was smoother than expected. 

“The onboarding was really smooth from the word go. It seemed daunting at first, but it was seamless. It all happened as easily as we could have hoped.” - Vicki King

Josh and the Microkeeper implementation team took a structured approach:

• Mapping out venues, departments and roles.
• Configuring rosters that reflected how Geelong United actually runs. 
• Connecting rosters to timesheets, and timesheets to payroll.
• Training staff and testing processes before fully going live. 

Most of the early questions were handled over email, phone and a few team meetings. Once everything was configured and Geelong United were comfortable with the workflow, support naturally shifted into the background. 

“Initially most of our conversations were email or phone, and we had a few team meetings. Now that we’re up and running, it works seamlessly, we really haven’t needed much support at all.” - Vicki King

From three-hour pay runs to under an hour

The most visible impact has been in payroll processing time. 

Where Vicki used to manually reconcile handwritten timesheets against spreadsheets, Microkeeper now generates timesheets directly from the roster. Staff hours flow through to payroll without re-entry, and discrepancies are much easier to spot. 

“Having timesheets automatically generated from the roster has removed all of that manual side. Payroll used to take up to three or four hours; now it’s a half-hour to one-hour process. The accuracy of the data we’re processing has improved as well, and those inaccuracies that used to cost the business money just aren't there anymore.” - Vicki King

When asked to pick a favourite feature, Vicki doesn’t hesitate to point at the link between rosters and timesheets. 

“It’s a real toss-up between the rostering side and the timesheet side. Converting the roster to a timesheet and then automating that through to a pay run saves so much time and ensures everything is accurate. It’s a benefit to the business and to employees as well. There are so many features we love, it’s hard to pick just one.” - Vicki King

Staff experience: clarity and confidence

It’s not just the finance team that feels the difference. 

Most of Geelong United’s staff now use the Microkeeper app on their phones. They can see their roster, check upcoming shifts and access their payslips without chasing emails or paper. 

“The majority of our staff are using the app. The roster is visible to them at all times, payslips are there, it’s all crystal clear, and it’s always accurate.” - Vicki King

For a sporting organisation, that kind of clarity feeds directly into trust. Players, officials and staff know when they’re working and how they’re being paid, and the club can stand behind its processes. 

“Paid right” stops being a hope and becomes an everyday reality. 

A platform that support future growth

Geelong United’s competitions and programs aren’t standing still. Participation is growing, new pathways are being built, and game days are becoming bigger and more complex. 

To support that, the organisation needs systems that won’t fall over under the weight of extra teams, extra staff and extra venues. 

That’s where we fit in.

“Growth is happening across all programs and competitions, but to grow you have to have strong systems and processes. That’s where we feel Microkeeper will really support that growth. Starting with our community competition, we can see the opportunity to use the full suite of Microkeeper offerings as we grow into each department.” - Connie Regan

For other clubs and organisations still relying on spreadsheets and paper to wrangle rosters and timesheets, Geelong United’s experience shows what’s possible:

• Pay runs that take less than an hour instead of half day.
• Fewer errors and rework. 
• Clearer information for staff. 
• A foundation that can scale as the organisation does. 

The work behind the scenes might never get a standing ovation on game night, but with the right system in place, it can quietly keep everything running exactly as it should. 

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