Experience Elevation
Human-centred design process creates best-in-class applications
Client: BC Registries
Challenge
We were invited to create a platform for BC Registry and Online Services (BCROS) to replace outdated systems. BCROS generates vital revenue for BC and manages business registration, documents, records, personal property liens, and the registration and movement of manufactured goods across the province. The platform needed to meet BC citizens' diverse expectations based on their use of other commercial systems and serve as a flagship model for future government product and service creation—faster, easier, and more accessible. It also had to adhere to strict provincial legislation and policies, operate within limited budgets and fixed timelines, and accommodate various stakeholder groups.
Key Requirements
Modernizing Registry Applications: BCROS needed an improved way for citizens to access and complete these applications online: more intuitive, faster, easier, and more accessible.
These applications, housed online, are how citizens register important information about businesses, personal property, and manufactured homes in British Columbia.
Accommodating an Incredibly Diverse Spectrum of Users: The modernized online service experience needed to work for everyone.
BCROS users span an incredibly diverse spectrum of skills, knowledge, experience, roles, tools and equipment, tasks, goals, and environments and contexts.
Culture Balancing public sector requirements & user needs: The right solution needed to balance both.
Provincial legislation and policies outline conditions that BCROS must meet in its online services. Plus, the users of those services have their own expectations, needs and ideas.
Approach
Forge helped BCROS approach their vision through rigorous human-centered design. Our Agile process takes the most relevant information from an organization’s unique users, global best practices, authentic research, and genuine evaluation to find the right solution. External users and internal stakeholders were consulted at every step of the design process. We facilitated the development team’s understanding of key functionality and user interactions with detailed annotated wireframes, which also accelerated visual and interaction design by our internal design team—keeping the project on time and budget. Finally, Forge’s UX Assurance process ensured that functional and accessibility requirements were met before the final release.
Meaningful Stakeholder Involvement
External users and internal stakeholders were meaningfully consulted at every step of the design process. Their ideas were considered alongside data on global best practices, and the 50+ year cumulative experience of Forge’s core team to create the best solutions with the highest chance of success.
UX within Agile Development
“Agile” is a way of breaking down a process into several milestones that are constantly implemented, evaluated and iterated. An Agile development process meant BCROS saw solutions launched and evaluated very early in the process, and gained confidence that we were on the right track.
Demonstrable User Research & Testing
Too many design agencies don’t use research to direct service concepts and features. Forge uses proven methodologies to carefully evaluate how users interact with a proposed solution. When we say something is working, we’re able to show exactly how we know it.
Impact
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We updated BCROS systems to consumer-grade products and services.
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Users can now view their registered information, make changes in a seamless User Interface, and pay for transactions from their “shopping cart.”
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The project was delivered on time and budget.
