The Ministry of Finance plays a key role in establishing, implementing, and reviewing government’s economic, fiscal, financial management and taxation policies.
Challenge
The provincial government wanted an interactive tour component for the Legislative Assembly of BC and Government House.
It was important to expand their exhibits to be more engaging and inclusive for different audiences – including youth and tactile learners.
They decided upon touch-screen kiosks for people attending onsite tours to view and interact with content.
The solution required a modern look with an intuitive user experience (UX). Guests should be able to navigate the kiosk and explore content without difficulty.
In-house content managers needed to update content quickly and easily in the “back end” without large amounts of training.
Finally, the hardware and software running the kiosk needed to be secure and not rely on Wi-Fi to operate.
They had a website full of information, but no real way for people to do an in-person tour to view or interact with it.
Matt Longpre, Designer, Developer and Consultant, Regroove Solutions Inc.
Solution
The Ministry of Finance hired Regroove Solutions to take on the project.
Regroove transformed their old content into a new format using custom app development. The custom interface tailored the content to be displayed exactly the way the client wanted it to look.
Regroove setup WordPress; a simple, intuitive content management system to be the backend database for storing content.
WordPress was selected due to the platform’s popularity. This provided the client with an extensive community of people with WordPress skills. Their in-house content managers and developers also have access to an extensive library of free, online WordPress documentation and videos to learn and innovate.
Regroove selected JavaScript with React, the current web standard that everything is built in, to build the front end of the app.
This universally understood developer language is one of the most popular developer languages. The massive eco-system of developers work together creating open source packages to help improve the technology.
Graphic designers on the Regroove team enhanced the content to create a modern look with clean, crisp lines and a simple complimentary colour palette.
Finally, Regroove setup the kiosk hardware. Attention was given to ensure people cannot hack into the device to explore or display inappropriate content. The machines are locked with security software and the content lives on the device, so connection to the internet is not needed.
We used a custom interface that pulls data from the database and tailors it exactly to the way the client wanted it to look.
Matt Longpre, Designer, Developer and Consultant, Regroove Solutions Inc.
Outcome and Benefits
The Ministry of Finance now has two touch-screen kiosks on display.
Guests taking tours at either location can easily explore and find all the content that interests them.
They can touch the screen to filter content by areas on a map or by year. They can also search by name using a keypad that pops up on the screen.
The “Honours and Awards” touch-screen kiosk is installed at the British Columbia Parliament Buildings, home to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.
The “Royal Visits” touch-screen kiosk is installed at Government House, the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor and the ceremonial home of all British Columbians.
Content can easily be added and updated by in-house content managers.
The Provincial government can easily hire from the massive eco-system of WordPress and JavaScript developers should they want to continue to add functionality using in-house resources.
This interactive tour component can easily be updated, and the user can easily explore and find all the content.
Matt Longpre, Designer, Developer and Consultant, Regroove Solutions Inc.
Screenshots:
This solution was built using:
- WordPress
- JavaScript
- React