Action 06: Digital by Default Service Standard
From April 2014, all new or redesigned transactional services will meet the digital by default service standard
Stakeholder(s):
- Government Digital Service: Government Digital Service will: * publish the digital by default service standard, which will describe the performance metrics
and capabilities that services must achieve. An indicative outline is published in Annex 3 * provide a programme of support,
guidance and tools that help service teams meet the standard throughout the development and life of the service * agree with
departments the deadlines for when digital services are to be redesigned * increase the scale of its transformation team to
support more transactional service redesign projects * help departments to share what they learn from exemplar projects
- Cabinet Office: Government digital services are inconsistent and often do not meet the standards that users expect. To ensure that users receive
a consistently high-quality digital experience from government, Cabinet Office will develop a service standard for all digital
services. No new or redesigned service will go live unless they meet this standard. The full standard will be published by
the Cabinet Office by April 2013. In summary, it will require redesigned digital services to: * be developed based on user
need using agile, iterative, digital development methodologies and using open source code by default * be designed, run and
continually improved by a skilled and empowered Service Manager * be iterated at least monthly based on qualitative feedback
from users and quantitative measures from analytics * be designed for inclusion, so all who should use it can use it, and
include appropriate assisted digital support for people who can't * offer high-quality APIs, allowing departments to integrate
services, and make these available to third-parties where there is a demonstrable user benefit * be designed to work well
on a wide range of web-enabled devices, including mobile phones. Stand-alone mobile apps will only be considered once the
core web service works well on mobile devices, and if specifically agreed with the Cabinet Office * use common technology
platforms * publish as much learning and code with the public as is possible * be measured against success in meeting user
needs
- UK Government Departments: All departments will redesign all their transactional services that handle over 100,000 transactions each year for completion
by the end of the next spending review period. In November 2012 there were 152 transactions that met this threshold. In exceptional
circumstances departments may seek an exemption from this requirement; for example where a business case for digital by default
service design does not demonstrate good value for money. Any put forward would be agreed at a cross-government level. Departments
will identify which services they transform first, for agreement with Cabinet Office. Annex 4 identifies a number of criteria
which departments should consider when selecting which services to redesign to ensure the greatest benefit to users and savings
to government. We recognise that DWP's introduction of Universal Credit means that a major and wide-reaching digital transformation
programme affecting all areas of the department is already underway. As such, Cabinet Office will take a flexible approach
as to any further commitments to redesigning services prior to March 2015.
Indicator(s):
|
