Ministry of Social Development

MSD StudyLink aims to connect students with the information they need to make considered educational decisions. It can help pay for your study through allowances and loans.

When a student makes a decision to study and wants to apply to get money from StudyLink they need to:

1. Set up a RealMe login.
2. Complete an application form online.
3. Send in any documents we’ve requested using StudyLink Connect.

Once MSD have everything they need, they confirm enrolment details with the student’s chosen education provider.

MSD is actively driving students to submit documentation electronically and the Connect platform is part of the system that enables this. The Connect platform is built and managed by Digital Transformation Limited.

The Connect Platform

Connect was implemented to address the student electronic submission requirements of the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). It takes application forms of various descriptions, and identification documents and encrypts and sends them securely and electronically to the StudyLink team for processing.

The core functions of this service includes:

• User authentication via Real Me.
• Electronic Submission of Evidence documents to support a number of predefined applications e.g. Student Loan, Student Allowance, Job Seeker Student Hardship, Supplementary and Scholarship.
• Classification, conversion and packaging of evidence documents into application bundles for downstream processing
• Document storage – Fully encrypts student assets both at rest and in transit.
• Reporting – for MSD to support back-office reconciliation and metrics.
• Submission Data Archiving based on a set of predefined data retention rules

The platform is fully cloud native using the AWS platform as a basis to enable the large volumes of documents to be managed.

Connect was the first solution within MSD to be built on top of the Public cloud platform AWS, this strategic decision was made for several reasons:-

1. Firstly, the speed to develop the software and build the necessary infrastructure all in one place.
2. Secondly, the ability to manage the end to end solution with one provider.
3. Thirdly, by going to cloud the solution was following a pattern that would start to emerge as organisations adopted a cloud first approach to new technology projects and
4. Finally Connect can now follow a development roadmap that enables the adoption of digital information processing technology such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence which are cloud-based services.

Outcomes

Connect is an extremely successful application within MSD StudyLink and within the whole of Central Govt NZ. It has enabled the MSD to :-

• Drive 95% of all student interactions to be completed digitally.
• Process an all-time high of 240,000 submissions, that is over 450000 documents in 2021
• Improve the quality of service to students
• Reduce in errors in managing documents
• Reduce the overall handling costs by moving to digital documents
• Improve the Student user experience of applying to StudyLink and speed of processing applications

DTL are now working closely with the MSD on the roadmap for the Connect platform as part of the ongoing enhancements at StudyLink and the mandates for driving digitisation within NZ Central Govt bodies.

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