Reducing Government Transactions Costs
Through Payment Modernization - Canada
User Behaviours - Data Analysis - Data Visualizations
The Project Overview
The Government of Canada manages billions in annual transactions across multiple departments. Traditional payment methods such as cheques and manual processing drive inefficiencies, high costs, and delays. This project aimed to analyze payment data from 2018–2025 to identify modernization opportunities, reduce operational expenses, and improve efficiency by transitioning to digital-first methods like direct deposits and electronic payments.
My Role
I acted as a Product Designer and Data Analyst, combining user centered design principles with advanced data analysis to uncover inefficiencies. My focus was on:
Identifying pain points in transaction systems.
Analyzing transaction data across multiple fiscal years.
Clustering departments and product codes to highlight where modernization efforts could yield the highest ROI.
Translating data insights into clear recommendations for policy and modernization initiatives.
Tools and Methods
Data Preparation & Cleaning: Python (Pandas, NumPy)
Exploratory Analysis: Python (Matplotlib, Seaborn)
Visualization & Dashboards: Tableau and Python Integration
UX Research Frameworks: To frame findings around user pain points and operational inefficiencies.
The Process
Data Analysis: The analysis was conducted using publicly available Government of Canada Open Data on federal payment transactions between 2018 and 2025. The dataset included transaction volumes and amounts across major payment types (cheque, direct deposit, EDI, LVTS) and departmental spending records. This allowed me to perform clustering and Pareto analysis to identify cost drivers and modernization opportunities.
Examined transactions by type (Cheque, Direct Deposit, EDI, LVTS) across 2018–2025.
Clustering: Grouped departments by transaction volume and amount to identify modernization priorities.
Cluster 1: Many smaller-volume, lower-value departments.
Cluster 2: High-value, high-volume departments (greatest modernization impact).
Cluster 3: Outliers with declining impact.
Pareto Analysis: Applied the 80/20 rule at the product code level, identifying a small number of codes responsible for the majority of costs.
Findings & Insights: Prioritized conversion opportunities, such as reducing cheque and LVTS use in favour of direct deposit.
Recommendations: Focus modernization efforts first on Cluster 2 departments and top product codes.
The Key Insights
Traditional payment methods (cheques, LVTS) remain significant cost drivers.
A handful of departments and product codes represent the majority of modernization opportunities.
Even partial conversion of high-value cheque and LVTS transactions could yield substantial savings.
Recommendations
Prioritize conversion from cheque and LVTS to direct deposit within the Department of Finance and CRA.
Apply modernization efforts to top product codes and Cluster 2 departments for maximum ROI.
Use continuous monitoring to track savings and scale modernization over time.
Call To Action
Launch a targeted modernization program with departmental and product level priorities to achieve immediate and sustained transactions cost reductions
Conclusion
Modernizing government payments is not only a cost saving initiative but also a step toward greater efficiency, transparency, and citizen trust. By focusing on high value clusters and leveraging digital first approaches, the government can significantly reduce costs while improving service delivery.