BC Registries & Online Services
From Legacy to Consumer-Grade: Modernizing BC's Business Registry
BC Registries and Online Services (BCROS) manages business registration, personal property liens, and manufactured home records for British Columbia - touching nearly every BC business owner and generating vital provincial revenue. Forge was engaged in 2018 to replace aging legacy systems across seven registry applications with a consumer-grade digital experience, serving an exceptionally diverse user base within strict legislative and budget constraints.
Impact & Outcomes
Seven registry applications redesigned. 60+ stakeholders engaged across 10+ research studies. Data entry time reduced by 70%. Staff adoption rates exceeded 95%. Full WCAG 2.0 AA compliance achieved. Delivered on time and on budget over a multi-year engagement valued at $1.2M. The modernization was nominated for a BC Premier's Award for Innovation.
Challenge
BCROS legacy systems created accessibility barriers, processing delays, and security risks that impeded economic activity and public service delivery. Citizens expected the same ease of use they experienced on commercial platforms. The solution had to serve a wide spectrum of users - business owners, legal professionals, registry staff - while meeting strict provincial legislation, WCAG accessibility standards, and fixed timelines.
Approach
Forge applied a human-centred design process within an Agile framework across a multi-year engagement. A Lean Discovery phase grounded every design decision in real user needs and regulatory requirements. Annotated wireframes aligned development teams and accelerated delivery. Forge's co-creation methodology engaged citizens and internal stakeholders at every stage. A UX Assurance process confirmed accessibility and functional compliance before each release. Forge also built internal design capacity through structured mentorship, enabling BCROS teams to sustain and evolve the platform independently.
Delivery
Seven modernized registry applications replaced legacy systems across the Business Registry, Personal Property Registry, and Manufactured Home Registry. Citizens can now register, update, and transact through an intuitive interface from any device. The platform established a flagship model for future BC government digital service development and set new internal standards for accessible, user-centred design.
