Goodbye email requests, hello app

In the early days of New Zealand's COVID-19 response, the Ministry of Health faced a formidable challenge: managing a flood of requests for proof of vaccination.
Two colleagues have a conversation in an office

The challenge

Proof of vaccination was essential to employment and accessing services, and what began as a trickle of email requests from Kiwis seeking proof soon turned into thousands. 

The Ministry of Health needed an agile digital solution that could: 

  • eliminate errors from manual data entry 

  • speed up vaccination letter processing 

  • respond swiftly to privacy requests. 

The Ministry knew that swift responses were crucial, and they needed a scalable, secure solution.

The solution

Working as a team, the Ministry and Voco created a self-service portal using the Microsoft Power Platform, featuring: 

  • API integrations for data verification and automated letter generation

  • a user-friendly single-page interface for efficient request processing

  • automatic notifications for issue identification. 

A young woman wearing earphones checks her phone

The results

The Ministry drastically improved its ability to handle proof of vaccination requests. During the portal's operation, 364,000 vaccination letters were automatically generated, a massive time saving compared to the previous 10-minute manual processing per letter.

For the Ministry, this solution:

  • reduced people requirements

  • mitigated 'key person risk'

  • offered an audit trail

  • provided valuable insights through reporting.


And for New Zealanders, the solution:

  • streamlined the request process

  • offered guidance on data issues

  • delivered letters quickly

  • prioritised time-sensitive requests.

To explore the potential of automation with Power Apps for your business, get in touch with the Voco Business Apps team today.