In September 2020, we completed the migration of IremboGov to a brand new 2.0 version: a major overhaul of the citizens and government experience that included new features such as e-certificates and a better user interface, to name a few.

For 2021, our main focus was to significantly improve this new version (not 3.0 yet 🙂 ) to further delight our users.

This article describes the major improvements we launched this year grouped into 4 categories:

• Feedback collection
• Revamp of key services
• Launch of new services
• Incidents communication

1. Make it easy for citizens to share feedback

One of the first key steps in improving a product is to develop a strong ability to collect users feedback in a structured way. We wanted users to let us know how easy it is to apply for services on IremboGov and how satisfied they are with the overall experience (application, payment, waiting time to get a certificate?).

So this year, we launched surveys built into IremboGov at 2 key steps:

After submitting an application, citizens are invited to provide feedback on ease of use.

Whenever citizens receive their certificate via email, we have included a survey to get their feedback on the end-to-end experience.

Given that we are able to classify users? responses per service, we have a clear idea of where each service stands in terms of user satisfaction. This feedback also provides us a compass for prioritizing our efforts.

2. Revamp high volume services

Traffic fines payments

Before the revamp, paying a traffic fine required citizens to use a ticket number received by SMS. However, many situations arose where users didn?t have the ticket number. In these cases, it was quite impossible for them to find and pay their traffic fines. To solve this issue, we introduced a feature that lets users check their traffic fines using their car plate number (information easily available) and the TIN number associated with the car (for privacy purposes). The other benefit of this feature is the ability for users to pay many fines in bulk instead of individually, thus saving time.

Driving license registration

Before the revamp, users had to wait for a batch of registration dates to open in order to register for the driving license test. This created huge traffic and a ? race ? for slots whenever these batches were opened. With the new feature, we have an open-ended schedule where users can register for driving license tests weeks or months in advance. This means better planning and more predictability for citizens!

3. Launch new innovative services

On top of simplifying key services, we also introduced new services.

Instant birth record certificate

This service enables parents to get the birth record certificate of their child just after the payment. No need to wait for approval from a sector officer. That?s why it?s instant :). This instant feature is currently available for babies registered at the hospitals and will be extended progressively to all citizens.

National identification for diaspora

This service allows Rwandans abroad to apply for a National ID from the comfort of their home, wherever in the world that may be, and pick it at the nearest embassy.

Before this service existed, they had to travel back to Kigali to start the process. We can only imagine how stressful and costly it was, and we?re excited to have relieved that pain.

4. Improve communication on incidents

Given IremboGov?s critical role for government institutions and citizens, we invest a lot of effort to avoid incidents. But when they happen, we believe that we should be very transparent and communicate clearly to our stakeholders.

It is with this understanding that we introduced IremboGov?s status page this year: it gives our users and partners near real-time visibility on incidents happening on the platform as well as updates on the incidents until they are resolved. Users can also register to receive emails or SMS messages when there is an incident on the platform.

Even if we like this feature, we hope that it will not be used that much.?

That is IremboGov?s 2021 in a nutshell. We hope that you liked the improvements we launched this year. Based on feedback received, we know that we still have a lot of growth opportunities in order to deliver an excellent user experience, and we will continue on that journey in 2022. Stay tuned for more innovations to simplify the interactions between citizens and their government?s services.