“We Build Digital By Default Services, Not Websites” Says GDS

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has claimed that although it doesn’t have to be part of the formal digital by default assessment process, it has opted to do so anyway.

All new and redesigned digital services in government must meet the digital by default standard.

Services processing or likely to process over 100,000 transactions a year are assessed at GDS, will those with fewer than 100,000 are internally assessed and the Department self-certifies it meets the standard.

“Despite being a service that doesn’t have to be part of the formal service assessment process, we decided that it would be in the best long-term interest of the service to opt for an assessment,” claims Digital Marketplace service manager Ivanka Majic in a recent GDS blog post.

“Government isn’t building websites, it is building digital by default services to meet users’ needs. This standard makes up a crucial part of the DNA of those services that will help build services people can use,” she added.

“Place Service Standards Into Everyday Working Life”

GDS urges government Departments to embed agile working and digital by default values into everyday culture.

“Running through [the 26 service standard assessment] points early on helps keep the standard in mind from the outset,” claims Majic.

“By doing this the standard then becomes inherent to the process and allows a team to concentrate on making a great service.

“It’s a useful exercise as the team is assembled from different places and has a varied level of experience of things like user-centred design or government security standards,” she adds.

According to GDS, behaviours of agile delivery must be embedded in government IT teams because they are not something that can be added in at the end.

Majic also uses the blog post to remind suppliers who believe they are providing cloud services that the digital by default service is being built upon that G-Cloud 6 is open for submissions.

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