Applying, paying and documents

This lesson follows one application from the citizen's first search to the verified document, and shows what the officers do in between. Every service follows the same path; only its configuration differs.

The citizen's side: generic features

The national portal offers the same features for every service of every MDA:

Feature	What the citizen does there
Find a service	Search or browse the catalogue, read the service passport
My applications	Follow every application, its status and the next step
My licences / permits	Download issued documents, see their validity
My payments	See amounts due and receipts, pay
Documents to sign	Sign documents a service needs signed (for example a lease)
My notices	Read messages and notices about their applications
Find an old application	Find an application made on the legacy platform
Verify a document	Check that any document is genuine and valid

There are no ministry-specific sections. "My forest licences" or "Rental payments" would break the rule: those are simply licences and payments, shown from data.

Step 1: find and read

The citizen finds the service and reads its service passport: who can apply, required documents, the fee, the processing time, the validity of the document and the legal basis. The portal is designed to work at 375 px width on a slow mobile connection, and is available in English with Nyanja, Bemba and Tonga translations.

Citizens sign in with the national identity provider (ZamPass today, Pamodzi Pass when it replaces it). What the identity provider has verified matters:

An NRC counts as proof of identity only when the identity provider marked it verified.
A self-declared NRC, typed into a profile or a form, never links accounts or grants access.
Some services need a verified identity before they accept an application.

Step 3: apply

The application form is the service's configured form. The citizen can:

save a draft and come back later;
apply for themselves, on behalf of another person, or for an organisation;
upload the required documents, which are checked as they arrive (type by content, damage, password protection,
antivirus);
see the fee before submitting;
make the declaration that the answers are true and complete (kept in their consent ledger).

On submission the application gets a case number and the citizen is notified.

Step 4: pay

When the process reaches a payment step, the platform raises an invoice through ZamPay, the government payment gateway.

The citizen pays online. ZamPay calls the platform back, and the payment is finalised through one path, whatever
the channel.
Officers can take counter payments by cash, mobile money, bank deposit, cheque or card, with a reference for every
method except cash. The POS app supports counter and field work.
Part payments are allowed; the balance is shown, and the invoice stays pending until it is paid in full.
A paid invoice cannot be paid twice, and a wrong amount or a replayed callback is refused. Every such rule has an
integration test proving the abuse case fails.

Step 5: officers process the case

In the back office, officers work from queues (assigned, completed, all cases) scoped to their own ministry. They:

review the application and documents;
send it back to the applicant for more information, with a reason;
inspect a site, book appointments, consult experts or committees, as the process requires;
record the decision: approve, reject, or an executive decision.

Each step names the roles that may act. Step gates prevent skipping required work, and a service-level clock shows what is due soon or overdue. A citizen whose application is refused can ask for an internal review. By default the review must be asked for within 30 days, and it is decided by an officer who took no part in the original decision.

Step 6: the document is issued

At the output step, the platform fills the service's template, seals the document with the platform's signing service and adds a QR code. The citizen downloads it from "My licences / permits", or collects it at a counter when the service requires a paper copy.

Documents carry a validity. Holders are reminded before expiry (by default 90, 30, 14 and 7 days before), and a lapsed document no longer passes verification. Officers can suspend, revoke or cancel a document.

Step 7: anyone verifies it

Anyone (an employer, a bank, a border post) can scan the QR code or type the verification code on the portal's verification page. The answer says whether the document is genuine and whether it is still valid.

The public page looks up codes, not document numbers, and is rate-limited against guessing.
Partner systems can verify by document number through the Partner API, with the permits:verify scope.
The national portal answers for documents issued on any MDA's back office, including federated nodes.

Notifications

Twenty-odd notification events (submitted, returned, approved, invoice raised, payment confirmed, permit issued, expiry reminders and others) can be sent by SMS, e-mail or both. Administrators edit their wording, including a shorter SMS wording that fits one billed segment. Free-text fields such as an officer's note are deliberately not sent by SMS: they do not belong on a handset in plain text.

Example timeline (synthetic)

Time	Who	What happens
Day 1, 09:00	Citizen	Signs in, applies for "Example Trading Permit", uploads two documents, submits. Case number issued
Day 1, 11:30	Case officer	Reviews, sends back: "Upload a clearer copy of the lease"
Day 2, 08:15	Citizen	Uploads a new copy, resubmits
Day 3, 10:00	Inspector	Visits the site, records the checklist and photographs
Day 3, 14:00	Supervisor	Approves. An invoice of ZMW 500 is raised
Day 3, 14:20	Citizen	Pays through ZamPay. Payment finalised, receipt issued
Day 3, 14:21	Platform	Issues the sealed permit with its QR code, notifies the citizen
Day 10	A bank	Scans the QR code: genuine, valid until the expiry date

Check your understanding

Name four generic citizen features of the national portal.
Why does a self-declared NRC not prove identity?
How does the platform make sure a payment is finalised only once, whatever the channel?
What may the public verification page look up, and what may it not?
Why are officers' free-text notes not sent by SMS?