Three-part-time staff. 27,000 members. A nationwide network of trainers and organisations relying on them every day.

For Growsafe, New Zealand's leading agrichemical education and certification body, iMIS sat at the heart of everything, powering their public website, trainer course management, and certificate issuance across their entire network.

 

The Challenge

 

Growsafe was operating on iMIS 2017 and Moodle, two platforms approaching end-of-life and no longer able to support the demands of a 27,000 and growing membership base. For a three-person team, the gap between what their systems could do and what their members needed was growing harder to ignore.

 

Growsafe sought a modern, scalable solution to:

• Improve member self-service

• Reduce administrative overhead

• Enhance trainer and learner experience.

 

The Solution

 

Growsafe partnered with Zephyr Consulting to lead a strategic, two-phase digital transformation project.

 

This included:

• Migrating from iMIS 2017 to iMIS EMS

• Replacing Moodle with TopClass LMS

• Integrating the new learning management system with iMIS for seamless data flow

• Supporting the launch of a newly designed public website built by Growsafe.

 

The move to iMIS EMS addressed a core pain point for the three-person team, replacing a legacy, maintenance-heavy system with a cloud-based platform that could grow with them, improve member experience and operational efficiency and deliver better data insights.

 

Phased Implementation Approach

 

To manage risk, cost, and change fatigue, Zephyr and Growsafe adopted a two-phase approach:

 

Phase 1: Foundation and User Experience

• Upgraded to iMIS EMS

• Implemented TopClass LMS

• Focused on end-user experience and trainer onboarding to both platforms

• This enabled real-time access to participant data via dynamic dashboards.

 

Phase 2: Staff-Centric Enhancements (Ongoing)

• Focus on operation process improvements

• Developed workflow processes that allowed trainers to input and edit records in iMIS without an iMIS license.

• Developed processes to produce certificates

• Agile enhancements based on real-world usage and feedback

• Prioritised changes that deliver measurable value to staff and stakeholders.

 

Results & Impact

• Member Self-Service: 27,000+ members and their organisations can now log in to view, update, and download information independently.

• Admin Efficiency: Significant reduction in email volume and manual reporting, freeing up staff time. [AH1] 

• Trainer Insights: Trainers now access real-time participant data via dashboards—no more static reports.

• Seamless LMS Integration: Learners enjoy a unified experience because key data fields sync automatically between TopClass and iMIS.

• Website Engagement: 85% increase in website engagement since go-live.

• Change Management: The phased approach reduced staff stress, improved budget management, and allowed for iterative, value-driven improvements.

 

Growsafe needed a partner who understood their constraints and could design an engagement around them. Zephyr Consulting's hands-on iMIS expertise kept the implementation on track, giving Growsafe's three-person team the confidence to navigate a complex transformation without disruption to their day-to-day operations.

The phased approach wasn't just a project management decision; it was a deliberate choice to protect a small team from change fatigue while still delivering meaningful improvements at every stage. By prioritising end-user experience in Phase 1 and operational efficiency in Phase 2, Growsafe saw value early and built momentum through the transformation.​​

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The partnership continues into Phase 2, with Zephyr working alongside Growsafe to refine processes and deliver iterative improvements informed by real-world feedback. The result is a digital ecosystem that meets Growsafe's immediate needs and evolves alongside them, positioning the organisation for long-term success as their member base and training network grow.​