This application innovation project with the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW, or Vinnies NSW, will introduce a new Customer Identity and Access Management System with a single-login solution to improve the user experience of members and volunteers assisting people in need throughout the state.
The new Customer Identity and Access Management System has been designed to retain and grow members and volunteers and support a surge in demand for Vinnies NSW services.
Customer Scenario
The St Vincent de Paul Society NSW is a service organisation made up of 3500 members and 7000 volunteers, as well as staff and contractors, who help vulnerable and marginalised people in their local communities.
With different systems for external members – clients, volunteers, and members – the Vinnies IT team was looking for a single-login solution to provide these users with secure access to business applications, separate from the main identity store.
Further, with these external identities requiring different onboarding to staff and different profiles for different applications, Vinnies NSW were faced with the following challenges:
- Multiple accounts for different applications – There was no way of unifying under a single identity with the benefits of single sign on and multifactor authentication
- Risks to security management – There was no way of knowing who was signing into the accounts, which could create cybersecurity issues, login sharing, and data leaks
- Risks to security governance – There was no easy way of revoking permissions when a person left Vinnies, which causes issues with security of sensitive data and information as well as governing these multiple identities at scale
Having a new and integrated Customer Identity and Access Management System would seek to solve these issues and assist the important work of the Vinnies NSW team.
It would also help to make the Society’s systems (learning management, rostering and member and volunteer management) easier to access to allow grassroot teams to better connect with communities.
Arinco's Approach and Solution
Arinco stood out to the Vinnies IT team because Arinco provided significant domain experience, a great solution, and a fair price. As stewards of funds entrusted to them, cost was an important consideration. Specifically, Arinco opened the team’s eyes to what was possible while fostering a constructive working relationship.
In an iterative process, Arinco helped Vinnies understand how Customer Identity and Access Management Systems have been implemented in other businesses to assist with designing a system that would meet their requirements for user experience and application capabilities — from process flow to style guide and responsiveness across devices and technologies.
An essential part of the solution was accommodating a substantial user base, allowing them to use the email addresses they were already familiar with. Critically, users only need one set of credentials, including the option of social sign-in, reducing the burden of password fatigue and enhanced security reinforced with multi-factor authentication.
“Looking after the data of the people we work with is critically important for us. We wanted to make sure that only the people who need to see certain information can see that information. By giving our people digital identities, we can work more efficiently and effectively.” — Michael Rodrigues, Solutions Architect, Vinnies NSW
This solution would allow people and systems to work better together and meet the emerging IT needs of Vinnies NSW.
– Eryk Korfel, Service Designer, Vinnies NSW, added, “From an accessibility standpoint, with the age of members and volunteers ranging from teenagers to 90-plus years, digital literacy and the comfort for change was a vital factor in the implementation and design process.”
Customer Outcomes and Benefits
While Vinnies is continuing to integrate its applications with the solution, external and internal user testing has been successful.
Members, volunteers, staff, and contractors are fundamental to the impact the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW makes in communities across the state. The user-friendly Customer Identity and Access Management System will help grow and retain this base of people doing this amazing work. In NSW, more than 74,000 people were assisted by Vinnies members this past year, which is expected to rise due to the cost-of-living crisis.
The new system has been developed to support a surge in demand for Vinnies NSW services.
“The quality of the project delivery was fantastic. Our weekly meeting with Arinco kept us informed of the progress. Everything was upfront and easy to understand. The project was completed on time and on budget. It was a great pleasure!” — Michael Rodrigues, Solutions Architect, Vinnies NSW
