The Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission of Jamaica (BGLC) is implementing a ‘Powered by POSSE’ solution to automate the regulatory and control processes required for betting, gaming, and lottery operations within a comprehensive new enterprise Gaming Management Information System (GMIS).
In this ongoing blog series, we explore BGLC’s project journey from initial kick-off to go-live to see firsthand how the implementation of this new system will impact the people, plans, and processes for this future focused gaming agency.
In the previous installment of this series, the project was gaining momentum with five initial license groups delivered for User Acceptance Testing (UAT):
Building on these initial ‘quick wins’ afforded by POSSE GCS’s off-the-shelf licensing workflows, the Project Team was ready to progress with two more robust deliverables:
The TAJ interface exchanges data between the Tax Authority of Jamaica and POSSE GCS for ongoing record management.
The Gaming Machine Management module equips the BGLC to facilitate the necessary controls for machine inventory, decommissioning, tracking of machine transfers, and more.
Moreover, with the completion of the initial license groups in the previous phase, all project participants were now fully aligned to tackle the key pillar of the project: detailed configuration of POSSE GCS to achieve the comprehensive functional requirements of the GMIS. Leveraging the configurable development capabilities and automated workflows of the POSSE Platform, these core system requirements included the following:
Early in the partnership between the BGLC and CX, both teams realized one of the keys to project success was the creation of a common language for all project stakeholders. With the robust new POSSE GCS system able to facilitate a transformative modernization of business processes, efficient knowledge transfer in both directions was critical for achieving lasting project success. With CX staff focused on communicating the new capabilities and workflows of the GMIS system and BGLC staff focused on communicating core business requirements and potential areas for enhancement, both teams set out to quickly develop a common project language.
Given the geographic and cultural challenges of the project, both teams emphasized the importance of creating and maintaining a common frame of reference for the new system via clear and understandable documentation and face-to-face meetings at key project junctures. As more licensing workflows and features came onstream, the new system ultimately became the most important common frame of reference. With BGLC staff now able to get hands-on, a common project language quickly advanced with all parties able to clearly articulate key requirements, tasks, and development iterations, within the framework of the new GMIS system.
With all project participants uniting around a common vision, the true work of solution envisaging progressed quickly with the objective of defining not only what the POSSE GCS system must do to meet core requirements, but what else it can do to facilitate true modernization and innovation throughout the organization.
“Rather than focusing solely on replicating current business processes with a more modern system, we really engaged BGLC stakeholders to keep in mind the core of what they are trying to accomplish. By keeping that innovation vision in mind, the organization could embrace a robust change management approach to reinvent their standard operating procedures (SOP) to take full advantage of the new system’s workflow automation capabilities. Rather than modeling inefficient processes, we start with a best practice workflow that’s available out-of-the-box and work closely with the client to refine these processes specific to their regulatory model and overarching innovation vision. This approach depends on adaptive thinking by the agency to truly embrace ‘the art of the possible’ rather than clinging to established workflows that can be comfortable and well-established but are ultimately inefficient and restrictive. BGLC did an excellent job in this regard with their various project champions always reinforcing to staff the value of embracing new workflows based on current industry best-practices.”
This adaptive approach to solution envisaging highlighted a fundamental aspect of the client engagement process, the importance of listening to encourage a mutually beneficial understanding and partnership between solution vendor and government agency. This was especially crucial to properly serve a jurisdiction with unique challenges specific to their regulatory model and geographic location.
“The rules of law for a betting, gaming, and lottery commission are different in Jamaica than they would be for a North American agency. The business logic and automation of the system must be tuned to these regulatory realities. For example, BGLC has to react much more rapidly on emerging international issues than a US or Canadian based regulator. Jamaica has also placed a huge emphasis on mitigating the social costs of gambling, so the system needs to accommodate the necessary checks and balances to address these issues both now and in the future.”
As another example of these region-specific requirements, the GMIS system requires the necessary security protocols to properly manage ID authentication in a society where possessing physical ID isn’t as ubiquitous as it is in North America.
Geographic and cultural idiosyncrasies such as these reinforce the critical importance of listening carefully so every project detail, however small it may seem on the surface, is not overlooked in the configuration of operational workflows intended to stand the test of time.
Of course, transformative innovation cannot occur in a culture unwilling to embrace change, and it was here that the management and staff of the Betting, Gaming, & Lotteries Commission of Jamaica truly shone like the sun.
“The lasting memory for me from the project will be the openness of the BGLC staff, how receptive they were to change and eager to embrace modernization and innovation. The agency is taking a massive leap forward in terms of the anti-money laundering (AML) protections and workflow automation they are introducing, and they’ve been very open with their processes to ensure they are utilizing their new system to its full potential. They’ve been very transparent on their internal processes, much more than our traditional North American client might be, and that has facilitated a rapid and beneficial information exchange for all involved. With the BGLC, they see Computronix as a partner and not a technician and that strong feeling of collaboration has carried through into all aspects of the project engagement.”
For example, as the new Gaming Management Information System (GMIS), progressed into the all-important User Acceptance Testing phase, BGLC staff noticed that the new system workflows contained business processes rectifying previously unknown gaps that had existed in the legacy system. Seeing new feature functionality that simultaneously exceeded both user expectations and the project system requirements reinforced the utility of the POSSE GCS solution to its newest users, immediately instilling confidence in the value of the technology.
This openness to change amongst the staff and management of BGLC has even influenced the approach to technical training facilitated by the training experts at Computronix.
“With this project, we’re rolling out training in a much more phased approach with a special emphasis on role-based training. Instead of focusing on specific task orientations alone, we’re integrating business and technology training simultaneously. Rather than simply demonstrating ‘how to approve a license,’ we’re also looking at ‘why you would approve a license.’ Not only does this help us to incorporate various ‘what if’ scenarios, it gives us the ability to demonstrate how the system can provide several approaches to solving the same problem. Studies have consistently shown that technology adoption works best when users have multiple avenues for utilizing a toolset. By giving end users different options for completing a task, they’re much more likely to gravitate towards the task approach that suits them best.”
As the BGLC’s new Gaming Management Information System (GMIS) achieved its successful live launch on CONFIRM SYSTEM LAUNCH DATE HERE, the various factors critical to project success were all working in alignment: a robust and configurable product solution, a common language for project communication, and a transparent partnership open to change and innovation.
People, process, and product. Through 40+ years of successful projects, this has been the winning formula for government implementation achievement for Computronix and the GMIS project provided further evidence validating this approach.
Throughout the project, the project champions at the Betting, Gaming, & Lotteries Commission of Jamaica repeatedly rose to the occasion to maintain internal momentum, exchange information and expertise, and most importantly, keep everyone onboard with a vibrant vision for system modernization and innovation. While space prevents us from celebrating all the stalwart efforts made to achieve this project success, we’d be remiss without celebrating the dedication and professionalism of these key project champions:
With the new GMIS system now live, the Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission of Jamaica has the robust gaming platform in place to facilitate system modernization and workflow automation across their entire product and service portfolio. Highly configurable for regulatory and region-specific requirements and fully extensible, this POSSE GCS powered solution is the foundational platform required to facilitate further modernization in distinct gaming verticals from a licensing, enforcement and compliance perspective.
With GMIS, the gaming experts at BGLC have a system capable of robust data collection, reporting, and analysis, with robust modules for tax collection and gaming machine management. With client data conversion nearing completion, a mobile friendly, device agnostic licensing portal will also debut in February 2025. In addition to these modern digital services, a new public kiosk has been made available to applicants without a computer, to walk them through the licensing process.
Satisfied with their feature rich licensing capabilities for bookmaking, racing, lottery, and gaming premise operators, the BGLC is now planning to extend the capabilities of its new GMIS system into casino licensing and improved gaming machine management, as well as potential horse racing utilizations. The timing of these system enhancements is fortuitous for the Casino Gaming Commission with the island set to welcome its first resort casino with the Princess Grand Jamaica scheduled to open in mid to late 2025.
With a new Gaming Management Information System in place, its first resort casino on the horizon, and future enhancements developing for casino, gaming machine, and horse racing system modernization, the future is as bright as a Jamaican sunrise for the dedicated team of the Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission of Jamaica (BGLC).
