https://registry.boston.gov/birth
There were more constraints with this product than there were with death certificates. State law prohibits access to the records of individuals whose parents were not married when they were born. These restricted records create a security and privacy challenge for us to tackle.
Also found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/14pKZCyDCDXWP32_opAPOuog-DFbdxBCJ
We focused on death certificates first because of the way the laws are structured in Massachusetts. Death certificates are entirely public record throughout the Commonwealth, so there are fewer privacy and security concerns associated with them.
The Registry Department has been working to digitize death certificates over the last few years, building out a database to be used for fulfillment. The database currently has records back to 1956.
We were able to leverage this database to connect it to a user-facing application on Boston.gov which allows constituents to order death certificates online. Payment processing is routed through Stripe. The Registry receives the payment as well as the order request and can then ship a certified copy of the death certificate to the constituent by mail.
We successfully launched the death certificates application in March 2018 and have seen increases in online purchases (versus in person or by mail) since implementation. You can read more about the project here.
Original Project Team
Product Management: Rachel Braun
Engineering: Fiona (Fin) Hopkins, Jessica Marcus
Design: Caroline Stjarnborg
Database/Fulfillment: Rich Oliver, Scott Blackwell
Subject Matter Expert: Patty McMahon (City Registrar) and Registry Team
Testing/staging environment: https://registry-certs.digital-staging.boston.gov/birth
https://registry.boston.gov/death | Launched in March 2018
Staging: https://registry-certs.digital-staging.boston.gov/
Bunch of historical documents: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1cA1LXMcCAOcwKHJyYJAJWxjGwJ-C9Dpv
Login system to save shipping / credit card details and show order history
ACH support, either through Stripe customers behind a login system, or instant verification with something like Plaid
Marriage certificates
Birth certificates
Original Project Team
Product: Josh Gee, Rachel Braun
Front End Engineering: Fin Hopkins
Back End (Fulfillment) Engineering: Scott Blackwell, Rich Oliver
(Re)visit online marriage intention during COVID19. One main goal: Minimize public interaction with City Registry staff and computers.
Background research/product findings found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gyvpy50TFBQj0w0z4cyV4eZRpKbQminetykqr3_rPqE/edit#
Sample forms (for printing): https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1V6GTEN3R0E1M7USECAFhJSy1QYIA-EUn
Image of historical app: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xpqdHD_yV8lsPKjFW336PcuDNPwbwVWC/view?usp=sharing
https://registry.boston.gov/marriage
Test: https://registry-certs.digital-staging.boston.gov/marriage
Historical information on this: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/16k9PSEG6-m-4kWbl_mrP2tCqwLF6TOht
Scans of what the blank forms and certificates look like: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1V6GTEN3R0E1M7USECAFhJSy1QYIA-EUn
The City of Boston's Registry Department manages birth, marriage, and death records for Boston with records dating as far back as 1630. They complete more than 100,000 transactions a year. Their pages are some of the most trafficked parts of Boston.gov and provide vital services to constituents. Patty McMahon is the main end stakeholder for this.
The Department of Innovation and Technology’s (DoIT) Digital Team brought these records online.
When these applications are worked on Rich Oliver and Georges Hawat should be in the loop so that we ensure database or back end application changes happen alongside Digital development. Scott Blackwell can be a resource for this as well.
Along the way, items got added to certain of the three apps, but at times they didn't get completely added.
Items that need to be address/re-addressed: https://github.com/orgs/CityOfBoston/projects/2
Small insight into backend applications (video): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vw_jiPGUUd8vwx9yemEqAjKkeShqkQlK/view?usp=sharing
Payment information
The applications are connected to Stripe for payment. We've explored using InvoiceCloud, but the functionality needed isn't developed/offered by InvoiceCloud. They say they're developing it and it will be usable by the end of 2021. There are ongoing conversations and contracting needs about this. The Administration and Finance Cabinet (Treasury) should always be looped in on these conversations.
International ordering is an interesting challenge for the City; these apps don't currently support international ordering/shipping. Insight from the Registry office: When a user tries to put in an international address it won't accept it. To workaround this, they advise constituents to enter the following information as the shipping address: Boston, MA 99999. This alerts staff that it is an international order. When the user gets the confirmation email, they ask that the constituent please reply to it with the full address that you want the record mailed to. After that is received, Registry processes the order. They haven't flagged this as a super high priority item, so we have not chosen to prioritize/implement.