TDSB kickstarts a digital transformation

Automation for better business outcomes

Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is the largest and one of the most diverse school boards in Canada. It serves approximately 247,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade in 583 schools, and close to 130,000 life-long learners via its Adult and Continuing Education programs.

TDSB’s journey with ServiceNow began with its search for a modern IT Service Management ecosystem to replace its legacy ticketing environment and evolved across the organization. Key to that initial search was an ambition to adopt a solution that would do more than solve a single problem; TDSB wanted something that could become a true business platform.

ServiceNow has provided that, helping TDSB’s IT function transition from a position of firefighting to being a true business partner with other areas of the organization. A key goal was that a teacher or student would be able to work on hand-held devices and receive service regardless of their respective locations. With ServiceNow’s Workplace Service Delivery solution, it was able to deliver on this. TDSB also wanted to meet an internally established KPI of 90% on resolving urgent issues within five hours. When that target was first set in 2013, prior to ServiceNow, the team was reaching 68%; since adopting the platform, it has achieved its KPI. 

The ServiceNow package helped TDSB through the pandemic, leveraging an option for health-screening. Via a collaboration with Toronto Health, it created a highly impactful health-screening app for use on smartphones for its 247,000 students and 42,000 staff members. The app enabled parents to quickly and easily submit their children’s health status every morning, so each school was equipped with that information before the children arrived for the day. 

TDSB’s risk management department has also found in ServiceNow the solution to help automate workflows. Previously the work had been executed manually, through spreadsheets, Google sheets and word documents, and as such it was vulnerable to human error. ServiceNow, by bringing hyper automation to the process, has been adept at eliminating that potential for error. With a fully automated solution, TDSB can now collect data in real time and such insight will enable leadership to making timely, evidence-based decisions.

“ServiceNow is truly helping us as an organization to make a difference,” says Peter Singh, Executive Officer – IT Services at Toronto District School Board. “Plus, when we showcase to other stakeholders what we've been able to accomplish for the last three-and-a-half years, everyone leaves the room saying, 'You know what? I love it. I wish we had that.’”