The Challenge
Heritage Immigration is a premier provider of immigration support services, including visa, study and work permit, permanent residency, and citizenship applications for clients in Canada and India.
With extensive knowledge in global immigration, Heritage Immigration supports newcomers to Canada with navigating the immigration process, while delivering high-quality and professional support that caters to each applicant’s individual needs and circumstances.
Through a previous engagement, Propel Solutions identified opportunities to revamp the current technology and process infrastructures for improved service levels, data management, and business scalability to deliver on future case volumes. Propel was engaged to assist with installing the identified method changes, which involved implementing Microsoft 365 cloud solutions and developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and a range of management tools for the Student Visa Process.
The Objectives
- Developing Standard Operating Procedures: In partnership with Heritage Immigration staff, Propel designed a future-state Student Visa Process using Standard Operating Procedures. Detailed instructions were written to standardize tasks and operations in each stage of the Student Visa Process from prospect intake to student visa approval. Service levels were established to ensure a consistent customer experience and timely execution of the process. A RACI Matrix was created to align future-state roles and responsibilities, improving collaboration and workflows.
- Microsoft 365 Cloud Solutions: Propel identified opportunities to improve Heritage Immigration’s data security and real-time collaboration through migration to Microsoft’s Cloud platform. Propel designed SharePoint folder structures, file naming conventions, data transfer process flows, as well as online tools for client document collection.
- Improving Resourcing Strategy: Current organizational capacity was analyzed and a breakeven point was calculated to estimate monthly payroll hours required to meet demand and hiring needs. The analysis allowed Propel to address surpluses and gaps in the current workforce supply by supporting Heritage Immigration’s HR process through developing training packages and standard job descriptions.
- Installing Management Tools: A centralized data tracking tool was developed as a single source of truth to improve organization-wide data management practices and eliminate lost time reconciling data between various sources. Pre-determined client follow-up dates were established to ensure proactive client communications and remove bottlenecks. For successful implementation of the future-state process, a Daily Operating Report was installed with Key Performance Indicators identified for Sales, Case Processing, and Client Success teams to provide visibility on daily performance results and variances.
The Results
The Systems Implementation and SOP Support equipped Heritage Immigration with the tools and ability to meet future growth opportunities and continue supporting newcomers to Canada. The revamped process and technology infrastructures are expected to align service levels and improve customer loyalty, team collaboration and productivity in the Student Visa Process.