OneStop
From Beachhead to Blueprint: Modernizing BC's Sole Proprietorship Registry
Forge was engaged by the OneStop business registry team to revise their website for sole proprietorship registration - a process that was confusing, inefficient, and generating significant internal support burden. What started as a focused usability engagement became the beachhead for a much larger BC Registry modernization effort.
Impact & Outcomes
Streamlined and modernized the registration process for BC sole proprietorships. Reduced internal support calls and staff workload by improving the UI to minimize user confusion. Delivered a comprehensive research report that guided the OneStop project and laid the groundwork for the full-scale BC Registries modernization that followed. Findings from OneStop directly shaped the scope and direction of the broader registry transformation.
Challenge
Intricate business rules and regulations had to be mastered before any design work could begin. The interface needed to translate complex legal requirements into an experience that worked for BC entrepreneurs - from sole proprietors to small partnerships - most of whom had no prior experience with business registration. Budget constraints forced difficult tradeoffs between research and design scope. The initial brief underestimated the full complexity of what would be uncovered.
Forge was the ideal partner for this challenging contract, primarily due to their extensive experience leveraging user research to assess needs and define solution requirements and specifications.
Approach
Forge conducted a heuristic review of the existing OneStop solution first - establishing a systematic baseline of where the service failed against core usability principles. A focused end-user research phase followed, interviewing all user types to validate known issues, surface unknown ones, and establish a framework for prioritizing user stories. Forge worked closely with internal Business Analysts throughout, developing deep fluency in BC business rules and registry terminology - knowledge that proved essential when findings pointed well beyond OneStop's original scope.
Delivery
A modernized registration flow for BC sole proprietorships and partnerships - clearer, faster, and significantly less reliant on staff intervention. A comprehensive research report consolidating findings that guided both the immediate OneStop improvements and the broader BC Registry modernization that followed. OneStop became the proof of concept that justified and shaped the multi-year BCROS transformation Forge would go on to lead.
