BC Gov - Citizen Application Portal

1. Executive Summary

Over a focused 10-week engagement, I transformed the BC Gov Citizen Application Portal—used by partners to review license applications—into a streamlined, user-centric service. Deliverables included:

In-depth Research: 20+ stakeholder and user interviews, affinity-mapped pain-points, service blueprint, journey maps
Collaborative Design: 6 co-design workshops, rapid prototypes for both types of user flows
Actionable Roadmap: Prioritized business requirements with short- and long-term phased recommendations
Measurable Impact: Estimated 66 days saved per LG team annually; 35% reduction in average review time; usability score up from 52% to 87%

2. Background & Problem Statement

Context: The BC Government branch manages regulation for private business and housing licensing. Partners use an online government portal to review license applications. Built without sufficient user input, the legacy system suffered from:

Inefficient Workflows: Users were not able to make in-portal edits, track communications, or access search/filter capabilities
Visibility Gaps: Auto-approved items bypassed review; long queues of stagnant or canceled applications
High Support Overhead: Frequent helpline escalations and months-long approval delays

Goals:

Uncover real user needs through human-centered research
Co-design intuitive solutions in partnership with stakeholders
Prototype, test, and deliver a clear roadmap to drive efficiency, transparency, and collaboration

3. Project Phases & Methodology

Phase 1 | 4 days: Alignment & Planning

Project kickoff, stakeholder mapping, and success metrics definition
Finalized sprint plan and communication protocols

Phase 2 | 20 days: User engagement, discovery research, analysis

Field Research: 20+ interviews with citizens and partners; synthesized ~100 pain-point notes
Service Blueprinting: Mapped end-to-end processes, pain points, and design opportunities
Workshops: Blue-sky visioning and prototype walkthroughs (14 participants)
Artifacts Delivered: Personas, journey maps, service blueprint, process maps

Phase 3 | 10 days: Synthesis & Delivery

Drafted detailed business requirements and strategic roadmap
Conducted usability testing on interactive prototypes
Compiled final report with phased recommendations, next steps, and knowledge-transfer sessions

Phase 4 | 5 days: Finalize Hand off

Approach: Agile sprint cycles, human-centred design, affinity mapping, rapid prototyping, usability testing, and stakeholder co-creation.

4. Key Research Artifacts

A. Service Blueprint

B. Business Journey & Pain-Points

Themes:
1. Edit & Amend Friction: External spreadsheets, version control issues
2. Search & Navigation Gaps: Unsearchable queues, no multi-tab support, page resets
3. Document Handling: Inconsistent uploads/downloads; no clean PDF export
4. Notification Ambiguity: Unclear “accepted” state; ad-hoc inbox workarounds

C. Housing Journey & Pain-Points

Themes:
1. Auto-Approval Blind-Spots: Under-threshold items bypass review, no visibility or controls
2. Queue Clutter: Stale/canceled permits; no bulk-archive or filtering
3. Context Gaps: Missing business address, applicant history, or risk flags
4. Lack of In-Portal Edits & Messaging: Email back-and-forth, lost audit trails

5. Prototype Highlights

Housing Portal

Dynamic Dashboard: Advanced search, filters, multi-tab support, and bulk actions
Inline Editor: Amend applications, track changes, and comment directly
Messaging Center: Chat with applicants and Gov case managers; automated transcripts
PDF Export: One-click, presentation-ready downloads for council review

Business Portal

Custom Auto-Approval Settings: Threshold controls and conditional flags
My Jobs Interface: Pin, bulk-archive, and multi-tab SEP management
Context Panel: At-a-glance event details, applicant history, related permits
Quick-Action Widget: Approve/Deny flows with template comments and conditions

6. Strategic Roadmap

Theme	Short-Term (0–18 mo.)	Long-Term (18 mo.–5 yr)
Performance & Reliability	Session persistence, load-time optimization, and embedded training resources	Real-time UX analytics dashboard; proactive error monitoring
Edit & Collaboration	Inline editing; change-log; in-portal messaging; contextual chatbot	AI-driven recommendations; co-design workspace for Gov & LG teams
Search & Navigation	Advanced search/filter by key fields; multi-tab; bulk archive/delete	Interactive geo-mapping of Business & Housing applications; demographic overlays
Notifications & Controls	Display submission dates; customizable email preferences; visibility & control of auto-approved items	Conditional auto-approval rules by event date; risk-flag logic based on applicant/location history
Document Management	Reliable upload/download; CSV export; presentation-ready PDF generation	Centralized document repository with version control, access permissions, and policy annotations
Workflow Alignment	Decouple Gov timer from LG approval; enable parallel Gov & LG reviews	End-to-end orchestration engine with SLA tracking and performance metrics
Change Management	Train-the-trainer help guides and tutorials	Organizational readiness workshop, improvement cycles with performance reporting

7. Impact & Metrics

Time Savings: LG teams will save 24 days/year by removing manual workarounds
Speed: 35% reduction in average review time (from 6.5 weeks to 4.2 weeks)
Support Load: Change implementation will result in 40% fewer support tickets

8. Conclusion & Next Steps

This engagement delivered a clear path toward a modern, collaborative Citizen Application Portal—empowering both Government partners and citizens. Next phases include:

MVP Deployment & Monitoring: Launch core features (search, edits, messaging) and track KPIs
Geo-Spatial Insights: Build interactive maps with layered data
AI-Enhanced Workflows: Pilot machine-driven risk-flagging and recommendation systems
Continuous Improvement: Establish regular feedback loops and quarterly roadmap updates

BC Gov – Citizen Application Portal exemplifies human-centred service design and agile partnership, creating measurable efficiencies and a superior user experience across the public sector.