The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
Improving government services through automated data workflows and user analytics
SKILLS
TEAM
ETL Automation
Data Analysis
Tech Research
Digital Strategy
UI/UX
DURATION
May 2024 - August 2024
My Story
At the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), I worked as a Research Analyst under the Strategic Intelligence and Technology Exploration team. The team supports various branches across the CRA by conducting exploratory research, building analytical tools, and identifying new opportunities to modernize workflows, improve service delivery, and enhance taxpayer experiences.
The Problem
As the CRA continues to move toward digital-first services, one major challenge has been understanding and addressing the needs of populations who continue to rely on traditional, paper-based tax filing. Likewise, the organization has been exploring how emerging technologies—like Generative AI and biometrics—can play a role in streamlining operations while ensuring taxpayer privacy and security.
To address this, I worked across several key areas:
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Automating workflows for high-volume data processing: I streamlined data handling for over 30 million tax records by building automated ETL workflows using Aginity and SAS (SQL). These pipelines reduced processing time by 40%, enabling analysts to focus on strategic tasks rather than manual data wrangling
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Analyzing digital adoption barriers through demographic insights: I used Power BI to identify demographic trends among 230K+ paper tax filers. These insights were used to inform UI/UX changes to the CRA’s online filing portal and to support outreach campaigns targeting lower-adoption segments, such as seniors and rural residents
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Exploring Gen AI use cases in government workflows: I led a CRA-wide survey that engaged 640 employees, achieving a 46% response rate. The findings helped the Agency design role-specific Gen AI training materials and identify where automation could augment analyst tasks without compromising data governance
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Evaluating biometric systems for secure digital access: I conducted a comparative study of six biometric identification systems, collaborating with 11 international government agencies. The research explored strategies to mitigate spoofing and deepfake risks while ensuring accessibility and equity in digital identity verification
Key Takeaways
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The role of data in enabling inclusive service delivery
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Analyzing who isn’t using digital services—and why—is just as important as measuring success metrics. Equity-focused research helped the CRA identify key barriers and tailor solutions more effectively
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Navigating cross-departmental initiatives in government
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I learned how to communicate findings in a way that resonated with stakeholders across policy, IT, and program delivery—each with their own priorities and constraints
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Balancing innovation with trust and security
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Exploring Gen AI and biometrics at a government scale showed me the importance of evaluating not just the technical feasibility of new technologies, but also their ethical, legal, and societal implications
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Memories
