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Project Description:

As per a recent study “Rising tuition driving more students to campus food banks” by CBC News, 40% of Canadian students are facing food insecurity, and campus food banks cannot keep up with demands. The project “Fill the Shelves” aimed to provide assistance to the Algonquin College Food Cupboard Program which provides for the students who require services with food and other basic necessities. The support was extended in the form of donated and purchased items from the most pressing needs of the Food Cupboard in the last twelve months, meeting both quality and quantity goals.

The execution of the project started on the 4th of July, 2022. The team ran a fundraiser seeking donations as well as an online yard sale by procuring used or old items from free or cheap garage sales, Facebook marketplace, Kijiji, etc. and reselling the same obtaining profit to be used to fulfill the project’s goal. Some of the team members channeled their creative side towards the initiative and managed to sell their paintings, making some profit. The corporate chains though did not run the donation campaign on their retail floor as per the team’s original plan, yet agreed to give a percentage discount for the items bought from their stores, helping a lot in the project’s success.

AC Food Cupboard has been helping students for quite some time now and during the campaign, the team met a few ex-students who have benefitted from the program in the past and were willing to extend their helping hands to the cause now. For the online yard sale, the members kept the online market in check throughout, procuring items such as cycle, sofa, lamps, table, etc. for a very cheap price and reselling them for a good margin.

Overall, the project aimed at achieving an ROI of at least 25:1 on the initial starter fund of $40.00 provided by the School of Business, Algonquin College, Ottawa and was able to meet the goal by procuring items worth $1,007.81 from the amount of money collected and planning on smart buying techniques. The procured items were delivered successfully to the AC Food Cupboard on 29th July 2022, i.e., in less than a month’s time of execution.

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Project Description:

The webform tracker is a ticket number solution developed for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) with the goal of decreasing the number of calls the Client Support Centre (CSC) receives. This solution provides clients with the ability to track the webforms with they have submitted with the ticket system in their IRCC application portal.

The project was developed by a team of four students from the Interdisciplinary Studies in Human-Centred Design program. The team selected a line of business to focus their research on, which is the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). After meeting with IRCC, as well as clients and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) of the TFWP, they identified their needs and pain points and developed a solution that would help provide clients with the reassurance they need.

After conducting secondary research analysis, questionnaires, and interviews with SMEs and TFW’s, the team decided on the following problem statement: How might we improve the IRCC call center operations for temporary foreign workers?
While developing personas, and journey maps, and analyzing the collected data, the team concluded that one major factor in why clients call the CSC is for reassurance regarding the webform. Currently, when clients submit a webform to IRCC, they have no way of tracking how many webforms they have submitted or the status of the webform. Clients are not sure what happens to their webform after it is submitted and don’t know whether IRCC received their information or enquiry. This can lead to clients calling the CSC in a panic.

The Webform Tracker System would provide clients with a ticket number when they submit the webform, and users would be able to view previously submitted webforms in their account, as well as their status. This solution requires some user interface alterations to the account portals, as well as some system changes to adjust for the ticket system.

The team faced some challenges in this process, such as struggling to find targeted participants to interview in the time frame they were provided. But with determination and perseverance, they collected the data they needed to validate the concerns they discovered. They learned that tools such as Miro and Slack are valuable to communicate and organize research data, insights, and ideas. They also discovered that by identifying the strengths of each teammate and utilizing their skills accordingly, they could overcome any challenges they faced.

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Project Description:

This Excel application contains the contact information, training, certification, and various other information of UCSR stakeholders. By utilizing Visual Basic for Applications and other Excel features, we are able to dynamically generate and export accurate reports for the users. This application is low maintenance, user-friendly, and able to be shared on cloud storage services such as Microsoft OneDrive.

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Project Description:

Over the years, the number of people aspiring to migrate to Canada has steadily increased. The pandemic has caused longer than usual application timelines. This increase has led to a drastic overload of IRCC’s Client Support Centre, resulting in long wait times on calls and a sharp increase in client dissatisfaction.
This project investigates the systems to address the issue. Our team focuses on curating satisfactory call-center experiences for applicants applying through the Family Class immigration pathway. We take the Human-centred Design methods to redesign the client service experiences to boost caller satisfaction and relieve the overload on the current client service departments of IRCC.
The research team began by developing a multi-method approach to collect data on the current situation within the IRCC. To do so, a survey was designed in order to produce a high-level understanding of the most prevalent points of frustration amongst a diverse participant sample. This survey also functioned as a method of recruiting participants for a qualitative analysis of the problem space.
The recruited participants underwent comprehensive interviews in a semi-structured format, based on a line of questions informed by our data from the survey. In this portion of the research, the team delved deeper into the causes and mental models that resulted in the patterns of repeated calls to IRCC.

Information from these sources, along with an exhaustive literature review helped us derive a few key-insights. This phase of the research was interesting because it validated a few of our initial assumptions while discarding others. For instance, the team started off with the assumption that the immigration application process was complex thereby causing people to call the IRCC client support. However, we learned that a majority of the applicants found the application procedure to be fairly straightforward.
Through the key insights, we confirmed that most of the calls to IRCC happen after the application is submitted. These calls are mostly to gain updates on the status of their application. It was also discovered that due to the lack of communication between the application process steps, clients felt like their application was lost or forgotten about. The team realized that the long silences between updates and the opaque nature of the current application process give rise to a lot of anxiety that quickly translated into an increased number of avoidable calls to the IRCC.

This anxiety, the study found, manifests in applicants forming groups on social media to compare timelines and share information with each other. Unfortunately, it turns out that, even though the applicants form these groups to relieve anxiety and stress, they are instead subjected to misinformation. Moreover, the act of comparing timelines also elevated stress and panic, directly resulting in calls to the customer support line.

The team recognized this to be our area of intervention.
The researchers decided to revisit the application portal and see how the issue of transparency could be tackled. We learned that by merely breaking down the application process into smaller milestones, the clients feel a sense of movement in their application. This reduces anxiety and will combat the feeling of applications being lost or stagnant. Moreover, showing more of the application process will also increase transparency in the IRCC process and dissuade panicking applicants from comparing timelines by showing that every timeline is unique.
Additionally, having more information online about the application process will also help fight unhelpful and untrue rumours about the IRCC that causes additional distress… Thereby, freeing up space for IRCC to tackle more urgent issues.

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Project Description:

The OMS Food Ordering System is a cross platform online food ordering application designed to integrate with existing Tech Track Canada POS (point of sale) systems in restaurants. Users can look for restaurants in their area and order food for pickup, which is seamlessly integrated into that restaurant’s order system, with real time order tracking.
Our clients Afaq Bukhari & Kareem Yussuf wanted an application that could replicate the features of existing food delivery applications (I.e., UberEats, Door Dash, etc.) but for restaurants who cannot afford the large fees of other platforms. Competitors also lack integration and flexibility for restaurants to efficiently use their services. The OMS Food Ordering System will allow restaurants to limit the number of orders coming in, the distance customers can order from, and update menu item availability in real-time synced with a restaurant inventory tracking system (POS system needed). Competitors often place restaurants into situations where the number of in-person and online orders becomes overwhelming and do not account for on-hand inventory leading to unsatisfactory customer service and backlogged order queues.
During development, the largest issue faced was deciding which framework would allow full inclusion of key features, while being lightweight and deployable on multiple platforms with minimal retooling testing. React was chosen and used to develop the OMS Food Ordering System with OAuth being used for login, and the database managed by Tech Track Canada.

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Project Description:

We are students in the Project Management Graduate Certificate program who collected $2,170.50 worth of non-perishables for the AC food cupboard as part of our Applied Project Management course. AC food cupboard provides students who require food and other basic necessities. For the 2022 AC Food Cupboard project, there were two sponsors, i.e., Prof. David Solomon and Julia McCann. Two of the main requirements of the Project Sponsors were, too;

1. Raise goods to be donated for the Algonquin College’s food cupboard with a sponsored amount of $40 and achieve the funds ROI of 25:1 with an approximate amount of over $1000.00.

2. Goods must be delivered to AC Food cupboard on 27th July and, at least 70% of the items must be the items which are in high demand.

To raise the required funds, we speculated an amount. Then, each of us contacted cooperate companies and also the communities and informed them about the project. To advertise the project, we created posters and shared them through our social media accounts. Additionally, we created a “Go fund me” charity event, emphasizing the project and advertised that via social media. To collect these funds, we set up an account with our communications manager, Vishnu Bhan.

From 20th June 2022 to 23rd July 2022, we collected the funds through cooperative companies and communities and managed to raise $1,836.76. To procure the items, we conducted a market analysis and reached retailers such as Costco, Sysco, and Walmart. Out of these three companies, we shortlisted Costco and Walmart and our Communication Manager got in touch with the store management to procure the items. Then based on the percent allocation we created at the planning stage of the project, we purchased items from Costco and Walmart. Through special discounts, we managed to save $283.44. The total MRP of the items purchased through the retailers was $2,120.20. Additionally, we received $50.36 worth of items as a donation through one of our community channels. This sums the total MRP of $2,170.50 items toward the AC food cupboard.

In the early stages of the project, the funds accumulated slowly. We kept on reaching the cooperating companies and conducted a marketing campaign. We learnt that this target can be ascertained only through effective communication. Unknown risk struck on 23rd June as our contact in Sysco reported that she contracted Covid, and we knew we wouldn’t be able to purchase items through Sysco. Another Unknown risk occurred as one of our transport’s (Project Manager’s SUV) had an engine failure on the day of procuring. However, our contingency plans helped us to raise $2,170.50 worth of items for the students in need.

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Project Description:

More than the name of the project, “Fill the Shelves” was not only established for Algonquin College Food Cupboard, but also a remarkable learning experience for Project Management students.

The project’s goal is to aid the Algonquin Food Cupboard Program in the form of donated and purchased items, with quality and quantity approved. Each team that participated has to raise donations, with a starter fund of $40 from the School of Business, and the target is $1000 worth of goods. This amount ensures the Algonquin Food Cupboard Program with sufficient resources to help students with food insecurity. The donations can be money, canned food, proteins, dry goods, and toiletries. All items will be delivered to the food cupboard on the 27th.

The overall project was divided into two stages: raising money and buying goods. Our team has planned various activities in the first phase, namely crowdfunding in Parliament hills, fundraising from gofundme.com, donation events in Tim Hortons, door-to-door fundraising, and asking for support from personal connections. For each event, we prepared designed pamphlets to raise interest among donors.

Throughout the fundraising process, we have faced so many challenges. For instance, it was inevitable that a lot of people we asked in person at events showed no interest, no sympathy, and just wanted to avoid us as much as possible. However, we took that as a motivation to change our approach, learn to communicate, find compassion and raise awareness about the meaning of the project. Gaining this experience has helped us to fulfill our project’s requirements as well as make unforgettable memories within our team.

Reaching the end of the project, our team has successfully collected $737.1 of monetary. We then organized team members to use discounts at Walmart and Costco to buy the best quality products for more than $2000 valued items for the organization. Also, we stored them safely and in good condition and delivered to Algonquin Food Cupboard on the final day of the project.

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Project Description:

The project started when the client Never Knew I Needed (NKIN) commissioned the team to build a new product customization website. They currently have a website selling products like clothing and accessories with unique designs. The client’s needs were not met by this website, as they have customers who own retail outlets which order custom products in bulk. The team was commissioned to solve this problem by implementing a product customization website that was intended for use by retail customers only. The goal was to allow retail customers to log in to the new website with the same credentials they used for NKIN’s current website. This application would allow the retail customer to customize the clothing and accessories with their choice of color, images, and logos.

Our team chose to develop the website using a front-end JavaScript framework called React. Since the team had no experience with React, it required us to engage in self-learning through reading documentation and taking online courses. Once the team was familiar with React, the team started building the website. There were many hurdles to overcome, but once things came together, the team was happy with the level of customization the user is capable of with the new site.

Overall the project was a success and a great learning experience for the team. It’s always beneficial for the growth of a developer to learn a new language or framework from scratch. Additionally, working in an Agile team environment, with version control using Git, gives experience with the collaboration and organizational tools common in the software development workplace.

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Project Description:

Our project was to create a mobile application to support all communities to feel safe wherever and whenever they are. The application Aegis, which means a god shield, is so named because of our goal of protecting people. The goal was to create an interactive and intelligent app to assist users when they are in danger. It is important to first focus on the look and feel of the app with a simplistic design that allows the users to make use of the features efficiently including account management, navigation, contact adding and sending an SOS signal. Beyond basic functionality, there are different locations for navigating, calculating time and distance taken, and user tracking.

Runtime Terror is a team of six with different skills, who came across each other with the sole purpose of accomplishing the client’s idea with a working app. At first, individually, it was challenging for each person to recognize their strengths, weaknesses, and roles. However, going through the complete process, realizing that solving problems needs not only technical skills but other skills as well. We conducted research, analysis, and testing to ensure the product met the functional, performance, design, and implementation requirements.

Aegis is a big idea and starts from scratch. To start, the team had done large-scale research and completed detailed documentation to better understand the required software and tool. We found Firebase as a serverless service to use for data storage and authentication, followed by using the Dart and Flutter frameworks to program the application.

As this was our first time working for a client, we had to develop skills to best approach this project, as well as figure out how best to figure out what the client wanted out of the development of this application. One of our biggest challenges was keeping the scope of the project within a size we could complete within our timeframe. At the start of this project, we thought we would be easily able to finish all the features with no problems. However, halfway through we realized that we would have to work more efficiently to meet our client goals. To finish the project on time, we had to learn how to make our processes more efficient. To do this, Jira was used as a project management tool to handle the scope of such a project and to organize and prioritize the workload. This tool also helped to reduce stress and facilitate team productivity. Our team also used a development version control tool, which allowed seamless collaboration with a lower risk of severe loss in any development stage.

We gained much experience from completing this project. This project was amazing to work on and build, and we have gained many valuable skills for the future. We are glad to work on something that will help the community. We want to thank our client for giving us this project and for our professors for helping guide us through it.

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Project Description:

In collaboration with Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), students in the Interdisciplinary Studies in Human-Centred Design (IHCD) program were asked to examine service delivery at the IRCC Client Support Center (CSC). Our project team explored the journey and challenges faced by Permanent Resident (PR) clients throughout the application process while contacting the CSC.

To orient ourselves within the problem space, we conducted a literature review examining secondary sources such as published journal articles, newspaper articles, blogs, websites and social media. We developed a questionnaire in which we asked clients about their experiences with the application process and their interactions with IRCC through various channels. We used the results of the survey to inform interview questions for PR clients with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of client experiences and pain points. We also interviewed Subject Matter Experts including Immigration Consultants, Call Center Agents, UX Researchers and collaborated closely with IRCC to gain insight into their processes and eventually gain feedback on our proposed solutions.

Our research uncovered that many of the clients reaching out to IRCC through different channels were unable to reach an agent and many faced difficulties getting in the queue to connect with the agent. The clients who were able to reach the agents were often unsatisfied with the responses they received. Seeing little to no response within the expected timeline advertised on the website makes them feel anxious and frustrated about their application. Our primary research led us to develop the experience principles for the project, where we identified key principles that could help us develop our proposed solution for clients. The key findings from our research were that clients want tailor responses to their questions, they want to know “where in the process their file is,” and most importantly, they want to feel reassured about their application.

Our proposed solution is focused on reassuring clients before they reach out to call the CSC. The clients will be able to access the chatbot + live chat inside the PR application portal, where they’ll first interact with the chatbot. In case of a specific query, the clients would also be able to connect with the live agents directly, where the agents can provide updates on the client’s file. Our platform will help PR clients connect to the agents and get their queries acknowledged and heard. The chat history will also be recorded inside the portal to avoid miscommunication between agents and clients.

Throughout the course of our project, our team had the opportunity to learn by applying our theoretical knowledge to a real world issue and to adapt to several challenges as they came up. We also learned to enhance our collaboration skills by better understanding how to use the digital resources at our disposal.

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