Digital first and end-to-end services¶
Design whole services around users, digital by default, without leaving behind people who cannot use them online. These draft guardrails describe what that means for architecture.
Doctrine: 6. Outcomes and services over organisational structures, 7. Digital first where appropriate
Principles: 2. Design for users
Who these guardrails apply to
The core department. Whether the digital first and end-to-end services guardrails also apply to Defra's arm's length bodies is still to be confirmed.
Applies the DDTS doctrines outcomes over structures and digital first. See the Defra Digital Service Manual for design and research guidance.
Draft guardrails
These guardrails are new drafts from the guardrail backlog. Comment on them by opening an issue.
GR-DIG-01 Challenge paper and manual processes¶
Should Do not put a paper or email process online as it is. Find out why each step exists, and remove, automate or redesign it.
Why: digitising a broken process makes it faster to fail. The biggest gains come from removing steps, not speeding them up.
How to meet it: map the current process in discovery, including the parts staff do by hand. For each step, record whether it is needed, and why.
GR-DIG-02 Design across organisational boundaries¶
Should Design the end-to-end service from the user's point of view, even when parts of it are delivered by other Defra organisations or other parts of government.
Why: users do not care which organisation does what. Many Defra users deal with several Defra bodies for one task.
How to meet it: identify the whole service your work is part of, talk to the teams delivering the other parts, and agree how users and data move between them.
GR-DIG-03 Provide assisted digital and offline routes¶
Should Make sure people who cannot use the online service, or cannot use it alone, can still get what they need - with help, by phone or on paper - and that those routes lead to the same outcome and data.
Why: some Defra users have limited internet access, skills or confidence, particularly in rural areas. Service Standard point 5 asks that everyone can use the service.
How to meet it: design assisted routes in alpha, so staff-assisted applications go through the same system as online ones rather than a separate process.