The Challenge

The BC Ministry of Education provides support to over 60 school districts consisting of over 550,000 students across the province. The Ministry of Education engaged Propel to provide project management and process design services for the development of a new not-for-profit, with the goal of providing procurement and learning advisory services to all school districts within British Columbia. This was accomplished by merging the services provided by two existing organizations. Propel assessed the current systems and processes of the two organizations to identify opportunities for improvement. Propel then liaised between stakeholders to establish and incorporate the new society, manage the board of directors, and onboard the society’s CEO. Finally, Propel developed a communications plan to support the merging of the services provided by the two existing organizations services and provided organizational design support and recommendations for the future of the society’s learning advisory and procurement services.

The Objective

  • Review of Current Learning Advisory and Procurement Services: Propel assessed current learning advisory and procurement processes and systems through interviews with key stakeholders and reviews of process maps. From the review, Propel was able to identify opportunities for improvement.
  • Development of New Not-for-Profit Society:  Propel liaised between stakeholders to develop a new not-for-profit shared services organization; this included the development of a constitution and bylaws, and establishment of financial and HR processes. Propel also managed the board of directors to establish the organization’s funding and guide the board activities. Propel onboarded the society’s CEO to manage objectives and direction and developed and executed a communications plan for key stakeholders including all BC school districts.
  • Design of Society’s Organizational Structure and Processes: Propel provided organizational design and process recommendations for the society’s key services through the mapping of learning advisory, procurement, member services, and needs assessment processes. Propel also defined roles and responsibilities for the management of the technology and procurement services within the organization and provided recommendations for the society’s technology platforms moving forward.

The Result

The BC Ministry of Education now supports a shared services organization for learning advisory and procurement services on behalf of all BC school districts with the future capability to expand upon current offerings.