"When we send a document home in a child’s backpack, we never know what state it will be returned in or if it will come back signed in time. In some cases, it ends up penalizing students.”
In the northern part of Quebec's Lac St-Jean’s region, the Pays- des-Bleuets School Services Centre (CSSPB) serves approximately 8,000 students spread across more than 36 educational institutions and three administrative centres.
Its impact on the economy and culture of the region is enormous, employing about 1,500 of the region’s 55,000 residents.
“Two schools could be located up to 150 kilometres apart. And since we cover such a large territory, efficiency at work is our motto,” says Sonia Rousseau, an analyst in the IT resources department. Rousseau plays a major role in ensuring the efficiency of the CSSPB's student services and administrative services. Whether teachers or school transport companies, countless occupations are influenced by their digital integrations.
Below, Rousseau shares how she and her colleagues at the CSSPB are helping to improve student services and shape the region’s digital future.
“It’s important for me that students have ideal learning conditions. Education is important to me.” Rousseau states that the tools she has deployed with the IT team over the years have had a cumulative impact on the quality of teaching.
When it comes to sharing her strategy for facilitating change management, she insists that “We must communicate the objectives, needs, challenges, benefits and proposed solutions from start to finish.”
The adoption of electronic signatures was an important gain that helped mitigate multiple issues highlighted by employees.
Like many other organizations, the team first identified pain points in the CSSPB's workflows: cumbersome administrative tasks, internal-external communication challenges, and approval delays that impacted services.
One of these issues largely concerned students. “When I worked as an office assistant in schools, I saw young people who were responsible for getting their parents to sign a document and who were unable to get it signed. I could see the distress in their eyes. It is a stress that we do not need to put on children.”
Recognizing that the current system placed students at the center of administrative processes when there was no need for them to be there, Rousseau and her team began to evaluate electronic signature tools.
Security and legal reliability were paramount for the CSSPB. The electronic signature solution could not put the organization at risk from a legal standpoint and had to prevent confidential data from getting leaked. In addition, the solution had to be hosted in Canada.
After reviewing ConsignO Cloud’s robust encryption mechanisms and certifications, it did not take long for Rousseau and the team to make their choice.
A further differentiator was platform's ease to use and the excellent customer service they received for its deployment.
“I don’t know how many times I bothered our account manager to help me give a presentation! Usually, with ConsignO Cloud, if I don’t reach someone within half an hour, I get
a personalized callback.”
Today, the platform has become essential when contacting hard- to-reach parents. In fact, 80% of cases where challenging documents necessitating a signature, such as intervention plans, are now completed in less than 48 hours.
Trusted electronic signatures are now used for a number of processes at the CSSPB, facilitating the work of multiple departments easier, including finance, material resources, human resources, legal resources and general management.
“We are a three to four-hour drive from the Ministry of Education. When we have contracts that senior officials must sign, it only takes a few minutes now.”
One of the numerous workflows they have optimized concerns school transport providers who are external to the organization, requiring multiple signatures and permissions.
Rousseau also gives the examples of invoice approvals and hiring processes. “We have seen significant productivity gains. (…) Before, we had to use internal mail and wait days and then send them in binders. Now, it goes into ConsignO Cloud and comes right back. Within a few hours, everything is archived and complies with our legal requirements.”
Rousseau reiterates that integrations with tools like ConsignO Cloud have a real impact on students because they help existing resources focus on services rather than administrative tasks with no added value.
“Since we’ve adopted electronic signatures, we feel that we have improved the services that students receive. Students are no longer the go-between between parents and the school when a document must be signed. They can focus on learning.”
The OECD estimates that a quarter of the world economy will be digital in 2027. The efficient and secure use of digital technology is no longer optional.
For Rousseau, schools must play a role in educating and raising awareness on the mass adoption of technologies. “The digital world puts youth in a vulnerable position.”
What happens online involves risks, and the CSSPB helps professionals and parents understand the importance of security and responsibility when it comes to using digital tools. The password requirement when sending documents containing confidential information is primary example.
“We make parents aware of the importance of protecting their children’s data, as well as their own. In many of our communications, we talk about security. (…) School services centres have a role to play in the responsible digital transformation of our society.”
Understanding how we can control the use of our data, the terms of use for popular platforms, and what makes one tool more reliable than another can have huge impacts on how society functions.
By enabling the CSSPB’s digital transition, Rousseau and her team have contributed significantly to the quality of teaching and helped position the schools for success navigating today’s digital realities. The CSSPB has become a leader in digital security in its community for its use of responsible technologies, allowing young people to acquire new digital skills while developing their critical thinking abilities.
“Implementing change is a full-time job. It’s rewarding to help people, to support students, to empower them… (…) School services centres must be at the forefront of this process. We are responsible for shaping the generation of tomorrow.”