Consolidating Two Support Systems into One Microsoft 365 Helpdesk for a Cross-Border Payments Company

A tuition payments platform in the Greater Toronto Area moved its entire support operation onto CV Helpdesk inside its own Microsoft 365 tenant. The new setup took on more than 5,000 live tickets and 40+ business rules without a single line of custom code.

Country Canada
Industry Financial Services
Technologies
Microsoft 365 SharePoint SPFx
Consolidating Two Support Systems into One Microsoft 365 Helpdesk for a Cross-Border Payments Company
5,000+

Tickets Processed

Handled in live production, not a pilot.

40+

Business Rules

Configured with zero custom code

100%

Support Data In-Tenant

Inside the client's own Microsoft 365 compliance boundary

95%

SLA Compliance

Even during tuition deadlines and refund cycles

Challenges

The company already ran its email, identity, and documents on Microsoft 365, but its support desk lived somewhere else entirely. Tickets were split between Help Scout and a self-hosted open-source help desk, and each tool brought its own problems for a regulated payments business that answers to students, parents, and partner institutions every day.

  • Two disconnected ticketing tools Agents worked across both systems, so one customer’s history could sit in two places and the same work often got done twice.

  • Per-agent pricing that punished growth Help Scout’s bill went up with every agent added, which made staffing up for tuition season expensive.

  • Business rules locked in custom code Payment-specific routing and escalation on the open-source tool only worked because of custom code bolted on top of it.

  • A Tech stack nobody in-house knew The IT team’s skills were in Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, not in the stack the open-source tool was built on.

  • Dependence on outside developers Even a small change to a routing or escalation rule meant bringing in external developers to make it.

  • Customer data outside the compliance boundary Support records sat outside the Microsoft 365 tenant that governed email, identity, and documents, which is a real concern in financial services.

  • Seasonal ticket surges Tuition deadlines and refund cycles sent volume spiking, and both systems felt the strain.

  • Hard-to-forecast support budgets With licensing tied to headcount, planning the cost of peak-season support was mostly guesswork.

Solution

Rather than add yet another external platform, CodeVision replaced both tools with CV Helpdesk, a ticketing system that runs on SharePoint Online inside the client’s own Microsoft 365 tenant. The support team kept the sign-in, permissions, and infrastructure they already used every day. SharePoint lists store the ticket data, Power Automate sends notifications and drives escalations, and SharePoint’s permission model decides who can see what. More than 40 business rules covering payment status questions, refund escalations, and partner institution requests were set up through configuration instead of code. The helpdesk then went straight into production against real ticket volume, with no separate database, Dataverse environment, or outside data store involved.

Results Achieved

Running CV Helpdesk against live production volume gave the company a clear answer on whether a SharePoint-based helpdesk could carry its support operation. It could, and the results were convincing enough that the company rolled the same setup out to more of the business.

  • 5,000+ tickets handled in live production, not a trial run

  • 40+ business rules running through configuration, with no custom development

  • One support system instead of two, with a single, consistent ticket history

  • Support data kept in-tenant under the same Microsoft 365 governance as email and identity

  • Flat, predictable licensing with no cost jump when agents are added for peak season

  • Three more business units now running on the same helpdesk approach

We were juggling two help desks and paying outside developers just to change a routing rule. Now everything runs inside Microsoft 365, and our own team manages it.

Key features

Department-Based Ticket Routing

New tickets go straight to the right queue based on payment type or department, so agents spend their time solving problems instead of sorting them.

No-Code Business Rules Engine

Escalation, routing, and approval rules live in the platform’s settings. The client built more than 40 of them without writing any code.

SLA and Escalation Tracking

Priority-based triage calls out tickets that are close to their SLA deadline, which matters when a student’s tuition payment or refund is waiting.

Ticket Creation from a Shared Inbox

Customers keep emailing the same support address they always have, and each message becomes a ticket. Nobody has to learn a new portal.

Role-Based Access Control

Agents, team leads, and administrators each see only what their role calls for, using the permission model the company already runs in Microsoft 365.

Automated Notifications with Power Automate

Alerts and escalation workflows run on their own, so the right people hear about a ticket the moment it needs them.

Live Reporting with Excel Export

Dashboards track ticket volume, agent workload, and open cases as they change, and any view can go out to Excel for a closer look.

Custom Forms, Categories, and Branding

Ticket forms, categories, and email templates were shaped around the way the support team already worked.

Flat, Tenant-Wide Licensing

One price covers the whole tenant, whether five agents use it or fifty.

Frequently Asked Questions

Choosing the right digital transformation partner depends on more than technical skills. Businesses should evaluate industry experience, long-term support capability, and the partner’s ability to align technology with business outcomes.

CodeVision works closely with leadership teams to understand operational challenges, growth goals, and compliance requirements before recommending any solution—ensuring technology decisions support measurable business impact.

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Yes. CodeVision signs NDAs and follows strict confidentiality protocols to protect intellectual property, business data, and strategic information.

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Clients have visibility into progress, risks, and decisions throughout the engagement—helping leadership stay informed and confiden

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