Our client Okanagan Regional Library is a large regional public library system in British Columbia serving communities across a wide geographic footprint through a network of local branches and centralized administrative teams. They support a diverse workforce made up of frontline branch staff, supervisors, managers, and corporate roles such as HR and finance. With a high volume of staff development and training activity spread across locations, they needed a consistent way to handle requests without relying on paper routing and manual follow-up.
Staff development requests were handled through a multi-step paper process that required staff to manually complete a detailed form, attach supporting documents, and route it through several approvals before HR could proceed. Each request captured a large amount of information from course details, dates and times, branch and employee data, cost estimates across multiple categories (registration, travel, accommodation, mileage, meals, parking), reimbursement requirements, and on call backfill needs. This created predictable friction: inconsistent data quality, missing details, back and forth clarification, and limited visibility into where a request sat in the approval chain.
West X digitized the staff development request process with a purpose built, role-based Canvas App backed by SharePoint Lists, with Power Automate handling workflow automation. The design mirrored the real operational needs of the form while making submission and approvals easier to complete and easier to manage.
Okanagan Regional Library moved from a paper driven request process to a structured digital workflow that is faster, easier to manage, and significantly more consistent. Staff gained a straightforward way to submit requests and track progress. Managers gained a clean approval experience with fewer incomplete submissions and clearer accountability. HR gained a centralized intake and approval pipeline that reduced manual administration and improved consistency and policy compliance.
Ready to Join Forces? Let’s Start the Conversation! Fill out the form below and we’ll get in touch.