The DTA’s standards
The Digital Transformation (DTA) has some great standards and guidelines to help create better government digital services. Probably the two most important standards are the high-level Digital Service and the Design . Supporting the Standard are a lot of really useful that cover everything from agile delivery to open data.
The Digital Service Standard
There are 13 criteria government agencies are expected to meet:
Understand user — Knowing more about your users will deliver a better solution.
Have a multidisciplinary — A broad mix of skills in your digital team will maximise project deliverables.
Agile and user-centred — Agile means you can adapt quickly, and a user-centred process ensures your users’ needs are met.
Understand tools and — Research the technology to ensure you understand what will best meet your needs.
Make it — It’s simple: “If a service cannot guarantee confidentiality, integrity and availability of the system, people will not use it.”
Consistent and responsive — Designs should be consistent across all devices (desktop, tablet and mobile).
Use open standards and common — Using open standards and common platforms will save time and money, and deliver a more consistent user experience.
Make source code — Reusing code will eliminate duplication and save you time and money.
Make it — Everyone needs to be able to access and use your service.
Test the — Thorough testing will ensure the service is ready for users.
Measure — Metrics are a good way to ensure constant improvement and that the service meets users’ needs.
Don’t forget the non-digital — Transition between digital and non-digital channels should be smooth to improve the user experience.
Encourage everyone to use the digital — The digital channel is often the preferred channel for citizens and is cost-effective for the government, so it makes sense to promote the digital channel.
The Design Principles
The DTA presents 10 design principles:
Start with needs: user needs, not government — Identify the users’ needs to help you create the best solution.
Do — Use shared services and solutions to ‘do less’.
Design with — Use data and analytics to drive design decision-making.
Do the hard work to make it — Make sure your digital services are easy to use...even if it’s hard to deliver on!
Iterate. Then iterate — Start small and make refinements to deliver the best digital experience possible.
This is for — Make sure your service is accessible to everyone.
Understand — Think about the context of citizens’ use of your services and design around that.
Build digital services, not — Think about the service you’re delivering.
Be consistent, not — Consistency helps users navigate multiple sites, easily.
Make things open: it makes things — Sharing code, designs, ideas and plans will deliver better services and save you time and money.
What about state and local government?
While the DTA is officially a federal agency, the and Design represent best practice in the digital world and both state and local agencies would benefit from following them. In fact, there is often a crossover between the DTA’s guidelines and those issued at state and local levels. If you’re more familiar with your state’s standards, you can probably see the similarities.
If you haven’t checked out the DTA’s and Design before, we strongly suggest looking them up for lots of great insights.
