Celebrating Seneca’s Efforts to Address the UN’s Sustainability Goals | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by Shelly Morris, School of Human Resources and Global Business

in the March 2021 issue

Seneca 360 partners with the School of HR and Global Business to support Toronto’s Furniture Bank

Seneca 360 gives not-for-profit organizations “access to a range of quality services provided by students and overseen by professors. The vision for Seneca 360 is to help build a strong not-for-profit sector where organizations have access to the talent they need to make a positive impact” (from www.seneca360.ca).

Furniture Bank Toronto recently implemented Salesforce. This new CRM tool has delivered significant productivity and client satisfaction improvements. Furniture Bank wanted to increase the capacity of the non-profit sector by sharing their platform with other Furniture Banks at the provincial and national level. However, training employees and volunteers at other Furniture Bank locations has proven to be difficult. The Seneca 360 team was brought on to document existing business processes and create detailed procedures. These materials will be shared with other Furniture Bank locations who wish to deploy the CRM platform.

This project supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in two ways:

Goal 1. No Poverty: Target 1.3 – implementing nationally appropriate social protection.

Goal 12. Responsible Consumption and Production: Target 12.5 – substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.

The team included two Seneca employees, three students from Seneca’s Honours Bachelor of Commerce – Business Management (BBM) program, and a recent Seneca graduate:

• Catherine Brassard, Coordinator of Seneca 360.
• Shelly Morris, Professor in the School of Human Resources and Global Business and a course lead for Project Management, Seneca Business.
• Rommel Waterman, a fourth-year student in the BBM program. He was the project’s Business Process Analyst. Rommel has a B.Sc. in Accounting from the University of the West Indies and 10 years’ experience in Sales, Strategy, and Business Development. Rommel has decided to pursue his CAPM certification (Certified Associate in Project Management).
• Rianne Quiazon, a third-year student in the BBM program. Rianne’s experience in sales and management from her family business has led to a desire to pursue an MBA after graduating from the BBM program. In addition, she’s also exploring project management as a potential career path.
• Mason Eggers, a third-year student in the BBM program. Mason is pursuing a career in finance and entrepreneurship. Mason is an enthusiastic fan/advocate for Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Alan Ham, a recent graduate from Seneca’s Government Relations Post-Graduate Certificate Program. He served as the project’s Communications Analyst.

Rianne and Mason were excited about applying what they are learning in their project management courses and volunteered to act as co-leaders of the project. This project began in October 2020 and concluded on February 16, 2021. Seneca’s team exceeded Furniture Bank Toronto’s expectations and they are very proud of their work.

The team has submitted this project to the Ontario Project Management Competition (OPMC) that takes place in March. The OPMC is an annual event inspired by the Wideman Education Foundation and presented by the Project Management Institute’s Toronto Chapter. The competition promotes project management skills and connects individuals and organizations to the world of project management. The competition is open to college and university students that have planned and delivered a project. The winning team receives cash prizes and passes to the largest Project Management conferences in North America.

The students wish to express their gratitude for the experience and got together to share the following:

“Thank you to Professor Shelly Morris for her guidance in and outside of the classroom. In so many ways, this real-world learning opportunity contributed tenfold to our personal and professional development. We are #SenecaProud.”

View the March 2021 issue of the Academic Newsletter.