PR Digital Transformation Initiative

The Digital Transformation Initiative in the Government of Puerto Rico strives to develop a new, centralized form of e-government where services are offered to citizens in a fast, efficient, and consistent manner. As an Innovation Intern, I researched and developed innovative solutions that will redefine the island’s use of technology to provide essential services to its citizens.

During the internship I worked with and learned about:

For years, Puerto Rico has attempted endless forms of providing services online. Most of these attempts, however, were hard to use and citizens had difficulties accessing them. The multitude and inconsistency between these platforms created additional problems in accessibility and find-ability when deciding to use an online service.

To understand how to best transform a wide-array of government services and online offerings, I researched successful Digital Reform strategies used around the world and spoke on proposals about how these could be implemented in the island.

Specifically, I developed a case study on Colombia’s Digital Transformation initiative and studied how they were able to move their hundreds of transactions online. Colombia was an important location to study since it faced the same issue Puerto Rico faces, long lines to conduct transactions and little to no platforms for citizens to access services online.

I also envisioned a redesigned PR.GOV that would take Puerto Rico to the 21st century in terms of technological development. Collaborating hands-on the PRITS team, we worked with citizens, stakeholders, and policy teams to envision new ways of delivering online services.

These efforts are focused on providing an innovative way of doing governance that reduces the work that citizens have to go through to access basic and fundamental services.

A major measure we pitched to officials was to move the hundreds of services offered in PR.GOV away from siloed agency lists and organize them by themes. Citizens wouldn’t need to know which of the over 100 agencies offered the specific service they were looking for.

Throughout the Summer I also developed UI concepts, Twilio SMS bots, and Python bots that will improve citizens’ access to services, data, and essential information while aiding in Puerto Rico's recovery and future developments by making it simpler to do business in the island.

Citizens will be able to access services, which they traditionally go to a physical location to process, through consistent online platforms that reduce the steps required to complete.

Our contributions and the impact that the proposed strategies may have on the island's social and economic future made direct influence in the redaction of the August 20, 2018 Revision of Puerto Rico's Fiscal Plan. It states the importance of a new PR.GOV platform to improve government services:

“Digital Reform. The Government will implement a broad digital reform that maximizes the use of technology to streamline citizen and business services, while providing greater transparency and tracking of data in order to help sustain a modern structure for the economy of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Services Office (PRITS) will provide oversight and support to Government agencies in the implementation of structural reforms that incorporate technology. Other initiatives like the recently launched Digital Dashboard (“TIM”) assist the government, and eventually the public, in keeping track of KPI’s and data. Projects like improving the PR.GOV website will facilitate online government services and make it easier to do business in Puerto Rico.”

Our efforts were also highlighted by Metro Puerto Rico, a local newspaper, in an article presenting the Digital Transformation Initiative and the impact it will have on our island.

The Innovation Internship at the Puerto Rico Innovation & Technology Service was bound by an Non-Disclosure Agreement. The information presented here has been previously disclosed through public channels or otherwise accessible online as part of official government announcements, social media, or from public presentations done by government employees. No information outside of this scope was included in this project description.