And then, we went live

Post by Gareth, Registration Lead, Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA)

There’s something slightly strange about launching a government service for the first time.

After two years of work, you might expect the moment it finally goes live to feel momentous. Maybe there should be a countdown, some fanfare, even a little celebration.

Instead, someone clicked a button. And there it was. Version 1 of the Register your visitor accommodation in Wales service was live. Accommodation providers in Wales now have until 31 March 2027 to register with the WRA.

Years of legislation, policy, design, user research, development and testing, distilled into a few clicks. It was, if I’m honest, a little anticlimactic. But because of all of that work, perhaps that’s exactly how it should be.

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Two years in the making

The launch might have taken a few clicks, but getting to that point certainly did not. The service has been shaped by legislation, policy and, most importantly, the people who will use it.

In our previous blog posts, we shared what we’ve been learning. From understanding the legislation, through to designing registration numbers, understanding how partnerships might register and creating a fully bilingual service.

We documented milestones throughout our journey, such as:

• completing the end-to-end ‘simple route’ for the first time
• moving towards an external testing environment
• running a private beta
• putting the service through a Digital Service Assessment

Each felt significant at the time. Looking back, they were all steps towards that moment in the office when someone finally pressed the button.

Designing for a diverse sector

We’ve also shared what we learned from user research with a surprisingly broad range of accommodation providers. We’ve spoken to self-catering hosts, campsite and glampsite operators, hotels, hostels and festival organisers.

That breadth of users has been one of the biggest challenges, and one of the most interesting parts of building the service. How do you design something that works for a large multinational hotel group and someone renting out a room occasionally?

How do you create a journey that works for someone registering one property and someone managing many? There is not always a single answer. That’s why so much of the work has involved listening, testing, learning and changing.

Putting users at the heart of the service

One thing that has remained constant throughout the project is our focus on the people who will actually use the service.

It sounds obvious, but it’s not always straightforward. Government services often have to take complicated legislation and policy and turn it into something that a person can understand and complete. The policy and the legislation might be complicated, but the service should not.

That doesn’t mean we’ve got everything right first time. In fact, we know we haven’t, and that’s one of the reasons we’re launching in public beta. There is a difference between watching someone use a service in a research session and seeing thousands of people use it in the real world. Real users will do things we didn’t anticipate. They’ll ask questions we didn’t think of. They’ll find parts of the journey that are not as clear as we thought they were. And they’ll help us see where we can make things better.

Going live is not the end

Going live is often described as the finish line. For us, it feels much more like the starting line.

There were challenges getting the service live, as there inevitably are when you’re building something new. In our case, it was a combination of things taking longer than predicted and having the right skills at the right time. So, some things we had hoped would be available from day one, are not quite there yet. That is sometimes frustrating, but it’s also part of working iteratively.

Rather than waiting until every feature is available, we’re getting the core service live and continuing to improve it over the coming weeks and months.

We’ll add features that allow you to:

• update your details
• add other users
• deregister

Sign up for updates if you would like us to let you know when these features are available.

So, what’s next?

The next stage is about learning. We’ll be monitoring how the service is being used, listening to feedback and continuing to work through improvements with users at the centre of our decisions.

If you’ve used the registration service, please tell us what you think. At the end of the registration journey, you’ll have the opportunity to provide feedback. We’d really encourage you to use it. Tell us what worked. Tell us what worked, what did not, what confused you, and what you think could be better. Every piece of feedback can make a difference.

And back to that button

Looking back, the significance was not really in the button. It was everything that came before it. So, although the final push was a bit anticlimactic, seeing that service in production for the first time, knowing all that work had come together into something real people could use, was a pretty special moment.

Please note: everything we share is work in progress and may change as we continue to develop the service.