Built a study tour planning and booking platform for NSW DE International Education

DE International is the international education arm of the NSW Department of Education, Australia. Their Study Tours programme brings groups of overseas students and adults to NSW schools for structured educational experiences — including classroom participation, school activities, and community events.

Their goal was to replace a manual, disconnected tour planning process with a centralised digital platform that could handle everything from tour operator applications and school confirmations through to pricing, payment, and programme administration.

• Study tour planning involved manual coordination between tour operators, schools, and DE International administrators with no centralised system
• Tour operators had no self-service portal to plan itineraries, submit applications, or track their status through the approval process
• School availability confirmation for student group activities required back-and-forth communication outside any system
• Administrators lacked a unified view of tour applications, approval stages, pricing decisions, and operator agreements
• Payment processing, refunds, and financial transactions were handled through disconnected systems with no platform integration

1. Map the full workflow before building any interface

The platform needed to serve four distinct user types — Principal Tour Operators, Secondary Tour Operators, Schools, and DE International admins — each with different permissions and responsibilities. We defined every user journey and approval stage before development began.

2. Build around the application lifecycle, not individual screens

A study tour application moves through multiple statuses — from submission through school confirmation, pricing, payment, and finalisation. We designed the system around this lifecycle so every stakeholder always knew where an application stood.

3. Role-based access as a foundation, not a feature

Principal Tour Operators manage sub-accounts for Secondary Operators; admins assign roles to staff members with granular permissions. We built role and permission management into the core architecture to support this hierarchy cleanly.

4. Integrate with existing DEI systems rather than replace them

The platform connected to DE International's existing finance system for invoicing, receipts, and refunds, and to their information management system for school and operator reference data — preserving operational continuity while adding new capability.

Tour Operator Portal

• Principal Tour Operator portal with login, profile management, and agreement management
• Secondary Tour Operator sub-account creation and management by Principal operators
• Study tour planning module — itinerary builder for student and adult groups visiting NSW
• Application submission, status tracking, and full application history view
• Email notifications at each stage of the application lifecycle
• Log history for full audit trail of operator actions

School Interface

• Programme application request confirmation for school-related tour activities
• Documentation upload and change-of-programme request management
• Feedback submission with photo upload capability
• Email notifications for school confirmation requests and updates

Admin & Staff Portal

• Centralised dashboard for all tour applications across all operators
• Tour Operator management — onboarding, agreement creation, and status control
• Visits and notes management tied to individual applications
• School management and programme application request processing
• Status timeline management across all application stages
• Category and activity management for tour programme configuration
• Tour availability and capacity management
• Dynamic form builder for configuring application forms without development effort
• Reporting module for operational visibility across tours, operators, and schools
• Transaction view integrated with DE International's finance system
• Staff member role and permission management

Integrations

• Finance system integration for invoices, receipts, and full/partial refunds
• Payment gateway integration for tour operator payments
• Calendar API integration for school holiday visibility
• API integration with DE International's information management system for reference data

DE International moved from a manually coordinated study tour process to a fully managed digital platform — giving tour operators a self-service portal to plan and submit tours, schools a structured channel to confirm availability, and administrators complete visibility across every application from submission to payment.

Business Impact

• Centralised study tour planning, approval, and payment across all operators and schools
• Self-service operator portals eliminated manual back-and-forth at every stage
• School confirmation workflows brought into the platform, reducing coordination overhead
• Admin visibility across all tours, statuses, and financial transactions in one place
• Dynamic form builder enabled DE International to configure application forms without development dependency