Quick Summary

Bronson provided business analysis services to a police service undertaking a full redesign of its background clearance fee structure ahead of a major online platform implementation.

The engagement covered 16 distinct background clearance process types, including criminal records checks, police records checks, vulnerable sector checks, adoption and pardon applications, fingerprinting services, and HR screening for new hires and contractors.

The existing fee structure did not reflect true operational costs and required replacement with a defensible, cost-recovery-based model aligned to updated provincial guidelines from the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police.

Bronson reviewed all current fees, processes, and documentation, consulted with senior leadership, and produced a new fee structure for organizational approval.

The revised fee structure also incorporated a newly introduced process type identified under updated OACP guidelines that had no existing fee assigned.

Project Overview

A police service responsible for processing background clearances across a broad range of individual and organizational needs identified a significant gap between its existing fee structure and the actual cost of delivering those services. The background clearance function covered a wide spectrum of check types, from standard criminal records and police records checks through to specialized applications for adoptions, pardons, vulnerable sector work, and multi-housing programs. Despite the operational complexity and volume of this function, fees had not been structured around a true cost recovery model, creating financial exposure and inconsistency in how services were priced.

Simultaneously, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police had issued updated LEARN guidelines that introduced a new form type not yet in use at the service and carrying no associated fee. The combination of an outdated fee structure, an unpriced new process type, and an incoming online platform made a comprehensive fee and process review both necessary and time-sensitive.

Bronson was engaged to provide business analysis expertise to review the existing fee structure and processes, develop a new cost-recovery-based fee model, and produce the supporting documentation required for organizational approval and platform implementation.

The Challenge

Redesigning a fee structure for a function as operationally varied as background clearance required navigating several distinct challenges across process, policy, and stakeholder dimensions.

  • Cost recovery gap: The existing fees were not calibrated to the actual cost of processing each check type. Building a defensible cost recovery model required detailed analysis of processing effort, resource requirements, and operational overhead across 16 distinct process types before any fee recommendations could be made.
  • Process heterogeneity: Each check type carried different processing requirements, timelines, and resource demands. Criminal records checks, vulnerable sector checks, adoption applications, and HR screening for new hires all followed materially different workflows, making a single pricing methodology insufficient.
  • New process type without a fee baseline: The OACP’s updated LEARN guidelines introduced a form type not previously administered by the service. Pricing this new check required analysis without any historical cost or volume data to anchor the recommendation.
  • Alignment to provincial guidelines: The new fee structure needed to conform to updated OACP standards, adding a compliance dimension to what was otherwise an internal operational exercise.
  • Implementation timing: The revised fee structure was not intended to take effect until the online background clearance platform launched in 2016, requiring the work to be completed, approved, and held ready for deployment within a defined window.
  • Stakeholder coordination: Approval for the new fee structure required sign-off from multiple senior leaders, necessitating structured consultation with the Director General and CIO before final recommendations were tabled.

Our Solution

Bronson approached the engagement in three sequential phases: review existing documentation and fee data, consult with senior leadership, and produce a revised fee structure ready for approval.

1. Documentation and Fee Review

Bronson reviewed all existing statistics, documentation, and fee schedules related to the background clearance function. This covered all 16 check types currently administered by the service, including criminal records checks across employment, volunteer, and non-resident categories, police records checks across the same categories, adoption applications, pardon applications, copies of police reports, fingerprinting for vulnerable sector and crime-free multi-housing programs, ride-along requests, and HR screening for new hires, officers, civilians, and contractors. For each check type, Bronson examined what was currently being charged, what it actually cost to process, and where the two diverged. The review also identified the newly introduced OACP form type as a gap with no fee assigned.

2. Stakeholder Consultation

Bronson met with the Director General and CIO to review findings and confirm the direction for the revised fee structure. These sessions gave senior leadership visibility into the cost recovery gaps identified in the documentation review and produced the organizational alignment needed before a new schedule could be prepared for formal approval. Subject matter experts from the Background Investigation Section provided supporting context on processing volumes and operational detail as needed throughout the review.

3. New Fee Structure Preparation

Drawing on the documentation review and consultation outputs, Bronson compiled a revised fee schedule built on a cost recovery basis, ensuring each check type was priced to reflect what it actually costs to administer. The schedule included a first-time fee for the OACP LEARN guidelines’ newly introduced form type, which the service had not previously charged for. The completed fee structure was organized for formal organizational sign-off and held ready for deployment at the time of the online platform launch in 2016.

Key Deliverables

  • Current Fee Structure Review – A documented analysis of existing fees, supporting statistics, and relevant process documentation across all 16 background clearance types, identifying where charges did not reflect actual delivery costs and where fee assignments were absent entirely.
  • Stakeholder Consultation Notes – Documented outputs from meetings with the Director General and CIO, capturing the organizational direction and approval inputs that informed the final fee schedule.
  • New Fee Structure for Approval – A revised, cost-recovery-based fee schedule covering all existing background clearance process types plus the newly introduced OACP form type, organized for formal leadership sign-off and timed for deployment alongside the online background clearance platform.

The Impact

Bronson’s work gave the service a clean, documented, and approved fee schedule ready to go live with its new online platform.

  • All 16 background clearance process types were reviewed and repriced to reflect actual delivery costs, replacing a fee schedule that had drifted from operational reality over time.
  • The new fee structure brought the service into alignment with the updated OACP LEARN guidelines, including a first-time fee for the newly introduced form type that had previously gone unpriced.
  • Sign-off from the Director General and CIO was secured ahead of the platform launch window, removing the risk of late approvals or last-minute revisions delaying the go-live.
  • The cost recovery model gave the service a clear, documented basis for revisiting fees in the future as processing volumes, staffing costs, or service types change.

The engagement was focused and practical in scope. The value Bronson delivered was in providing the dedicated business analysis capacity to work through a backlog of documentation, organize the findings clearly, and produce a finished fee schedule the organization could approve and act on. For a service managing a compliance-sensitive, high-volume function on a fixed implementation timeline, having that work done thoroughly and on schedule was what mattered.

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