MCR Pathways — Local Authority Upgrade
Multi-tenancy upgrade — expanding from Glasgow-only to 6 Local Authorities across Scotland.
Client: MCR Pathways01 The Client
MCR Pathways is a Glasgow-based charity whose vision is that every care-experienced and disadvantaged young person in Scotland gets the same education outcomes, career opportunities, and life chances as every other young person. They pair volunteer mentors with young people, with each mentor spending one hour a week listening to and encouraging their mentee.
02 The Challenge
As MCR Pathways grew, so did their needs. Initially based only in Glasgow, the success and results of their charity work attracted interest from other Local Authorities and Councils across Scotland. The app was never intended to be used across multiple local authorities, so a major upgrade was required. Additionally, with GDPR compliance requirements now firmly established, the bespoke app needed to be made fully GDPR compliant.
03 Our Approach
Having performed a similar multi-tenancy process for a previous client, we had a head start on what needed to be done. We added an extra layer to the database to handle Local Authorities and ensured that all records in the system are Local Authority–specific — users in one authority cannot accidentally see another authority's data. We also built tools that allow the user to specify which fields contain GDPR data, enabling the printing and removal of personal information at the click of a button.
04 Key Features
Local Authority Management
Full tools to add, remove, edit, search, and manage Local Authorities. All data — audits, mentors, and users — is related to a specific authority.
Per-Authority Data Separation
Complete data isolation between authorities so that users in one council area never see another authority's records.
GDPR Compliance
User-configurable GDPR field tagging with one-click data export and irreversible masking — while preserving anonymised reporting statistics.
Seamless Migration
Existing Glasgow data migrated cleanly into the new multi-tenancy structure with zero downtime for the charity's operations.
Full Audit Trail
Every data entry and modification is logged per authority — easily trackable through the built-in audit module.
Scalable Architecture
Built to accommodate future growth as additional councils across Scotland come on board.
05 Results
06 Technology
07 Related Project
This upgrade built upon the original MCR Pathways application, which replaced the charity's spreadsheet-based mentor tracking with a purpose-built FileMaker database. Read the original build case study →
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