Case StudyRhode Island DMV
During COVID-19, the Rhode Island DMV moved to a reservation-only model for in-person services. The initial online reservation system, created by another vendor, helped the agency respond quickly but became difficult to adapt as operational needs changed. RI DMV needed a more flexible, accessible, and maintainable system that could support both staff workflows and public appointment scheduling.
Focus: replacing a fragile appointment system with an accessible, user-centered reservation experience for public DMV services.
Role
Sole Front-end Developer; UX & Accessibility Implementation Lead ยท 2021, 3-month engagement
Challenges
After the original reservation system went live, RI DMV stakeholders found that even small changes were costly and time-consuming to request from the vendor. The agency also received consistent feedback that the interface was unintuitive and confusing. As appointment demand increased, a secondary market emerged where reservations were being claimed and resold to residents who needed DMV access.
The client needed a replacement quickly: a new, production-ready reservation system in less than three months.
Process & Solution
As the sole front-end developer, I served as the implementation bridge between backend services, QA validation, accessibility requirements, and client-facing experience decisions.
- Worked with stakeholders and the development team to clarify requirements, constraints, and the vision for a better reservation experience.
- Participated in user interviews to identify pain points in the existing appointment flow.
- Partnered with the business owner to align interface behavior, service rules, and implementation details.
- Created a mini in-app style guide to support consistent branding and future DMV service expansion.
- Integrated Google reCAPTCHA to reduce automated abuse and reservation resale behavior.
- Implemented a responsive, custom-branded reservation system that has served Rhode Island residents since August 2021.
- Built on the reservation platform to support payment-related services and a separate online service application for additional DMV transactions.
Outcome
The replacement reservation system gave RI DMV a more flexible, accessible, and maintainable platform for managing customer appointments. It also introduced safeguards to reduce automated appointment abuse and bulk reservation behavior, helping protect availability for legitimate users.
The system launched in August 2021 and has continued serving Rhode Island residents as part of RI DMV's online service ecosystem.
Technologies & Tools
- Front-end Vue, Axios, internal NPM package, custom CSS components
- Payments & Integrations Forte, Google reCAPTCHA, Google Analytics
- Design & Accessibility Adobe XD, VoiceOver, NVDA, WAVE, Lighthouse
- Delivery & Quality Azure DevOps, ALM Octane, SonarQube, Sentry, LambdaTest