2: Description
This section provides context for this Building Block.
What is a Registration Building Block?
In simple terms, it is a pre-built toolkit that enables governments to create simple online application forms for everything, from national IDs and licenses to title deeds, business permits, social benefits, and other government or public services.
The Registration Building Block (BB) provides a generic service for recording information about any entity (persons, organisations, places, assets, events, or devices) into an authoritative registry and issuing a credential as proof of registration. It is domain-agnostic, reusable across sectors, and integrates with other GovStack Building Blocks (e.g., Identity, Payments, Registries, Workflow, and Consent).
Parties in a Registration
A registration involves at least two parties:
Applicant – the entity (person, organisation, or system) that requests a registration or who want to register.
Registrar – the authorised entity or system responsible for validating and recording the registration, and issuing the credential. It is typically a government entity
Optional third parties (validators, witnesses, payment providers, external data sources) supporting the process.
The BB supports both single registrations and integrated registrations, where multiple registries can be updated in one transaction while the applicant provides information and payment only once.
One registration may involve more than two parties, as one or more third parties can be requested to assert/confirm the information provided by the applicant (a notary, a family member, a witness, another public entity, or a non-human entity such as a database); or a third party can be requested to receive the payment made by the applicant (a bank, a cashier, an online payment service). The registry or registries where the information is written can also be considered as a third party.
In some cases, multiple registration processes can take place simultaneously, i.e. the same applicant gets information registered in various registries and receives various credentials while providing information and money only once. This is known as “single window”, “simultaneous registrations” or “integrated registrations”.
Registration Process
From the Applicant’s perspective
Check eligibility: Determine eligibility (Answer questions to determine the Eligibility), If the applicant is eligible to register according to the data, credentials/documents, and fees required (for the applicant’s case).
Submit data: Provide data and upload credentials/documents.
Make Payment: Pay fees at a physical point of service or through an online service (via the GovStack Payments BB or equivalent).
Provide Consent: Confirm his/her will to register..
Track Status: Query/track the status of the registration process.
Receive Outcome: Receive credential(s) electronically or collect them at a physical point of collection.
From the Registrar’s/System’s perspective
Triage Data: Collect required information through one or more interfaces to determine if the applicant is entitled to register.
Validate and Verify: Validate completeness and correctness of submitted information. in case the information entered is incomplete or incorrect, send the file back to the applicant for correction.
Verify eligibility of the applicant (optionally involving third-party assertions).
Manage payment: Facilitate or confirm payment.
Enroll: Record the applicant’s information in the registry.
Issue a credential as proof of registration.
Audit: Maintain audit logs, version history, and compliance records for governance and accountability at service level.
The Registration BB is not a standalone service. It integrates with other GovStack BBs for complete functionality, including Identity (for applicant verification), Payments (for fee collection), Registries (for authoritative storage), Workflow (for approvals), and Consent (for user authorisation and data sharing).
The Registration BB integrates with other GovStack Building Blocks for end-to-end processes:
Identity BB – to identify the applicant and registrar.
Payments BB – to process registration fees.
Registries BB – to store authoritative records.
Consent/Authorization BB – to capture applicant consent and enforce access policies.
Workflow BB – to orchestrate approval, validation, and notification steps.
Registration Process Diagram:
