Head Office: Rimouski, Québec, Canada
Use Case: Migration of over two hundred Excel-based projects to Zoho Projects, workflow automation, and centralized portfolio oversight.
Industry: Municipal Administration — Ville de Rimouski
Website: www.rimouski.ca

The Ville de Rimouski is a municipality in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region managing a diverse portfolio of municipal projects spanning infrastructure, citizen services, and organizational development. With managers and project leads working across multiple departments, the City needed tools capable of supporting collaboration, visibility, and long-term project oversight.

Challenges

Managing more than two hundred projects through Excel spreadsheets had reached its limits. The lack of a centralized environment reduced visibility across departments, limited collaboration between teams, and made project reporting increasingly difficult.

  • Fragmented Project Management: Projects were spread across multiple individual files with no consolidated view, making portfolio oversight time-consuming and prone to errors.

  • Manual Processes and Tracking: Project creation and follow-up relied entirely on manual processes, increasing the risk of delays and inconsistencies.

  • Limited Access Control Structure: There was no role-based framework to clearly distinguish the responsibilities and permissions of managers and project leads.

  • Lack of Real-Time Performance Visibility: KPIs and project indicators were not accessible in real time, limiting reporting capabilities and decision-making efficiency.

  • No Standardized Training Framework: Teams lacked a structured training program to support consistent adoption and use of new tools across departments.

Solutions

BSP designed and deployed a comprehensive solution built on the Zoho ecosystem, enabling the City to centralize its projects, automate its processes, and gain real-time visibility across its entire portfolio.

  • Zoho Projects Configuration: Implementation of a centralized project management structure with custom statuses, role-based views, and a clearly organized portfolio framework.

  • Automation with Zoho Forms and Zoho Flow: Development of a project intake process connected to Zoho Projects through automated workflows, including project submission and approval management.

  • Data Migration: Import and structuring of more than two hundred existing Excel-based projects into Zoho Projects while preserving historical project data.

  • Roles and Permissions Management: Configuration of role-based access controls, including global visibility for managers and project-specific permissions for project leads and designated users.

  • Zoho Analytics Dashboards: Creation of standard and customized dashboards to provide real-time visibility into portfolio KPIs, project progress, and operational reporting.

  • Live Training and User Onboarding: Delivery of live training sessions for administrators and end users, including guided walkthroughs and Q&A periods to support consistent adoption of the Zoho environment.

Benefits

  • Centralized Project Management: The entire project portfolio is now managed within a single environment, eliminating the need for scattered Excel files.

  • Automated Project Workflows: Project intake and approval happen automatically, reducing manual interventions and processing delays.

  • Enhanced Oversight: Managers have a real-time, consolidated view of the entire portfolio, supporting strategic decision-making.

  • Structured and Secure Access: Role-based permissions ensure users only access information relevant to their responsibilities, improving operational clarity and data security.

  • Performance Intelligence: Zoho Analytics dashboards provide continuous KPI monitoring and enable teams to quickly identify projects requiring attention.

  • Successful User Adoption: Live training sessions helped managers and end users quickly adopt the new tools and integrate them into their daily workflows.

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 “ Zoho Projects allowed us to move from managing spreadsheets to having a true control tower for our projects. The visibility we now have over our portfolio is a game-changer for our leadership team. ”

Gilbert Cassista

Ville de Rimouski

Let’s make it happen!

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