Client Overview

The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is one of North America’s top-ranked business schools, globally recognized for its MBA and executive education programs. With multiple divisions and a growing portfolio of hybrid and online programs, Rotman sought to streamline its digital infrastructure to deliver a unified, data-driven experience for students, faculty, and administrators.

Challenge

Over the years, Rotman’s operations expanded across multiple systems, each serving different points of the student and customer journey, from marketing and recruitment to alumni engagement.

This fragmentation created several operational and experience challenges:

• Data silos across marketing, admissions, classes, and alumni units.
• Redundant manual processes that slowed responsiveness.
• Inconsistent reporting and visibility across departments.
• Lack of a centralized platform to track the entire learner lifecycle.

Facing a critical academic year rollout deadline, Rotman needed a comprehensive digital transformation plan, not just a technical implementation, but a stakeholder-aligned, change-managed delivery that would unify systems and elevate the student experience.

Innavera’s Approach

Innavera led a full-cycle digital transformation initiative, from requirements analysis to rollout, working closely with Rotman’s senior leadership, IT division, and program directors.

Key steps included:

• Discovery & Assessment: Conducted a full audit of existing systems, workflows, and data integrations across marketing, admissions, CRM, and academic operations.
• Governance & Best Practices: Defined a governance model for CRM enhancements, ensuring equitable prioritization, reduced technical debt, and transparent decision-making.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Facilitated workshops across divisions (Career Services, Student Life, Alumni Relations) to align goals and future-state processes.
• Platform Optimization: Designed an integrated CRM architecture connecting lead management, student records, enrollment, grading, and alumni systems.
• Change Management: Developed training frameworks, FAQs, and internal knowledge guides to ensure staff adoption and continuity.
• Program Enablement: Mapped onboarding and user-acceptance processes for groups that had delayed their CRM transition, ensuring smooth future integration.

The project required managing multiple cross-functional teams, balancing academic and operational needs, and delivering under a tight academic-year deadline.

Outcome & Impact

Innavera successfully delivered a high-stakes, multi-stakeholder transformation, establishing a single source of truth for student and program data while enabling more agile decision-making and collaboration across departments.

Results:

• Unified CRM and student journey system connecting all major departments.
• Enhanced operational visibility and data accuracy across the student lifecycle.
• Reduced manual coordination time across admissions and faculty teams.
• Accelerated onboarding of new divisions to the digital platform.
• Strengthened governance and data-driven decision-making processes.