Small Team, Big Impact: iMIS EMS Upgrade and Digital Transformation
- Jun 3
- 3 min read
Sector: Agrichemical education and certification, New Zealand
Challenge: End-of-life iMIS 2017 and Moodle, growing admin burden
Solution: iMIS EMS + TopClass LMS integration
Approach: Two-phase implementation
Team size: 3 part-time staff | 27,000+ members
Partner: Zephyr Consulting
Three-part-time staff. 27,000 members. A nationwide network of trainers and organisations relying on them every day.
For 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.
Challenge
The organisation 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-strong 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.
They sought a modern, scalable membership management solution to:
Improve member self-service
Reduce administrative overhead
Enhance trainer and learner experience.
Solution: A Digital Transformation
They partnered with Zephyr Consulting, a New Zealand iMIS implementation specialist, 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 go-live of a new public website, designed and built independently by the organisation.
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 the organisation 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 operational 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.
Outcome
Member Self-Service: 27,000+ members and their organisations can now log in to view, update, and download information independently.
Admin Efficiency: Staff report a clear reduction in email volume and manual reporting, freeing up their time for other tasks.
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.
The organisation needed a partner who understood their constraints and could design an engagement around them. Zephyr Consulting's hands-on iMIS implementation expertise kept the project on track, giving their three-person team the confidence to navigate a complex transformation without disruption to their day-to-day operations.
The phased approach 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, the organisation realised early value and built momentum throughout the transformation.
The partnership continues into Phase 2, with Zephyr working alongside them to refine processes and deliver iterative improvements informed by real-world feedback. The result is a digital ecosystem that meets their immediate needs and evolves alongside them, positioning the organisation for long-term success as their member base and training network grow.
