Barbados Digital Service Standards – Digital Toolkit

These are the standards by which public-facing digital services in Barbados will be assessed before they are published and made available to the public.

The checklists in the “How to do it” sections contain ideas about how you might practically check if you are building services in line with the standards.

What to show at each phase gate

Services are assessed against these standards at the end of each phase – discovery, alpha, beta – and again from time to time once live. An assessor gives one of three outcomes: met, met with conditions, or not yet met. Most services need more than one look before a gate is fully met. That is normal.

Not every standard applies fully in early phases. Aim to show honest progress against each one for the phase you are in. GovTech runs the assessment; the MDA that owns the service accepts the outcome and decides to commit budget to the next phase.

Discovery to alpha

Before you start building prototypes, you should be able to show:

who your users are and what they need
a clear problem statement, based on research, not assumption
that the problem is worth solving and fits your MDA’s remit
a plan for the alpha and the team to run it

Alpha to beta

Before you build the real service, you should be able to show:

prototypes tested with real users, and what you learned
the approach you have chosen, and why you ruled others out
the main technology and design decisions, and the risks
that the service can realistically be built, run and afforded

Beta to live

Before you open the service to everyone, you should be able to show:

a working service that real users have completed end to end
that it is accessible, secure and protects personal data
performance data, and how you will keep measuring it
a team and budget in place to run and improve the service

Once live

Going live is not the finish line. A live service is checked from time to time to confirm it still meets user needs and the standards. If a service stops being maintained or measured, it may be asked to fix this or be retired.

How to prepare

You do not need a polished presentation – you need honest evidence. Read the standards, gather real artefacts (user research, prototypes, test results, decisions, performance data), be honest about gaps, and contact GovTech at info@govtech.bb before you reach the gate.

1. Make sure your service meets your users’ needs

Users should continuously be engaged and involved from the initial design all the way through development, implementation, and improvement of the service.

What it means

From the start, service teams should

speak with, observe, and understand users and their needs before and while building the service. The realities, preferences, cultures, characteristics, expectations, challenges and behaviours of users should determine how the service is designed, organised, and delivered.
observe users in the context of how, where and when they will really use the service, not just in ideal ‘lab conditions’.

Why it’s important

This will ensure that users use the service as it meets their needs. If the service is not built with users in mind, there may be low adoption of the service, and resources used in building the service would have been wasted.

How to do it

Before building the service, interview at least five people who are facing the problem you are trying to solve. Do not simply rely on what they say they want or need alone, probe to learn about what they need and why.
Based on insights from the interviews, write a clear problem statement that covers what user needs you are trying to solve
Itemise potential services that could address the challenge based on your drafted problem statement
Prioritise what service to focus on, by gaining input from users and stakeholders and using analytics
Test the first service prototype with potential users quickly as soon as you build it
Ask users what they need to be able to achieve when they are accessing the service
Observe users to note the degree of ease or difficulty with which they can access the service, and why
Find out if there is a category of users or user groups that are unable to access the service or find it particularly more challenging than others to access the service, and why
Build, run and modify the service based on continuous feedback from users

Resources

Understanding problems
- How understanding problems helps us to help users
- What are problem statements?
How to conduct user testing
Conducting user research and interviews
Making prototypes

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2. Discover, design, build and deliver with a multidisciplinary team

Establish a multidisciplinary team that can discover, design, create and operate the service in a sustainable way.

What it means

The digital service is run by a multidisciplinary team (or teams) of experienced digital professionals who discover, build, operate and maintain the service. The team will likely include;

Product managers
User researchers
Subject matter experts in e.g. procurement, health, education within (and potentially outside) the relevant government ministries, departments, and agencies
Designers - content designer, service designer, UI/UX designer
Technology experts
Software developers
Delivery/Project managers
Front-line service staff

Senior decision-makers should also be a part of the team so that the team is empowered to quickly respond to users’ needs.

The team’s shape will change over time. The core team(s) should have the skills to consider and support all delivery channels (including those with limited or no internet access) and may also engage vendors and specialists (e.g. in gender and inclusion, etc) to support their work. Team members should work from the same location as much as possible.

Why it’s important

This will ensure that all skills needed to optimise every stage of service development will be present. For example, if you just have builders in your team and no user researchers or designers, you run the risk of creating a service that is not user-centred.

How to do it

Identify all the skills you have in-house.
At the stage when you are trying to discover the problem, you must have product management, user research, subject matter expertise and design skills within the team
At the stage when you are exploring ideas and building prototypes, you must have product management, delivery/project management, user research, design, content design, software development, technology and accessibility skills within the team
When building the earliest version of the service, you must have the same skill set employed in the ideas and prototypes phase, with the addition of service testing. You may however need to increase the number of people on the team so that part of the team can focus on building the first version, while the other focuses on how to make the service ready for end-users.
When end-users start using the service you must have the same skill set employed in building the first version of the service. You can however reduce the team size as necessary, as you have finished building, and the focus of this stage is to ensure that the service is continuously functioning well and improved upon
When engaging external vendors to build a service, check in with them at least twice a month, and ensure their process and decision-making are research-backed

Resources

Understanding digital roles
Managing a service team: roles, recruiting the people you need, working with contractors, training.
Create and empower an interdisciplinary team
Form the right team
Set up a service team at each phase

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3. Ensure that everyone can use the service

The service should be inclusive of the different demographics of the Barbadian public.

What it means

Ensure that everyone who needs to access the service is able to, regardless of their educational background, academic literacy level, digital literacy level, financial status, geographical location, gender, age, access to technology, physical ability or the language that they speak. The service should exclude no one. The Barbados Design System developed on the basis of research and experience of the digital service teams at GovTech Barbados should guide the approach to designing service user interfaces.

Make sure that the digital service, where online, should require as little Internet data as possible, ensuring accessibility even for communities with limited access to internet connectivity, and those who are unable to afford expensive data plans.

Ensure that digital services are always built in a way that even the users who don’t own internet-enabled devices or who lack digital skills can still access them. The needs of users without internet-connected devices should be considered and catered for in the service design and delivery.

Making your service accessible to users with disabilities is important for delivering inclusive services. Avoid excluding any segment of society that your ministry, department or agency (MDA) is intended to serve.

Why it’s important

The government exists to serve all citizens. The services the government runs must do the same. Therefore, members of the public who need to access these services should be able to.

How to do it

Identify and enumerate particular groups or communities that it is important not to exclude, and work out how to ensure they are not.
Refer to any government or partner organisations – for example Civil Society Organisations – that can help you reach under-represented communities.
Recruit user research participants from among your actual users - make sure you design for their needs and continually test your service with them
Use research techniques that help to include harder-to-reach groups
Based on the learnings from your discovery, identify all the channels potential users currently use in accessing existing services
Led by an accessibility expert in your team, design and build the service to be accessible through all identified access channels. Look for points in the service that could exclude particular groups and address them
Consider alternative familiar channels to the internet-enabled platforms through which the public can access the services.
Consider providing secure proxy access so that your users are able to access the service via their trusted families or friends
Use the Barbados Design System to inform the design of the service’s user interface to promote accessibility and improve the experience of users

Resources

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4. Use simple and relatable language

Use visual, audio, and written language that is familiar to Barbados’ residents and other users of the service.

What it means

The users of the public services in Barbados are not all proficient in reading and writing of the English language. You should ensure that all users of the service, regardless of background, ethnicity, and language are able to access the content in the service.

Why it’s important

This will ensure that more users are able to access the service

How to do it

Based on the learnings from your discovery, identify all languages and channels of communication potential users currently use in accessing existing services
Led by an accessibility expert in your team, design and build the service to be accessed in all languages and channels of communication
Identify the average reading age of your users and ensure that content is written in an accessible way for them
Through research, observe your users attempt to perform tasks using your service and check that they are able to understand the content and language used

Resources

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5. Make sure the service works the first time it’s used

The service should be simple and intuitive to use.

What it means

The service should be designed so that the experience is as straightforward as possible, with simple words, symbols, images, number of steps and navigation. Users must be able to use the service as they intended from start to finish, the first time, with minimum help.

Every interaction that users have with the service should be reliable and move them closer to the goal of addressing their problems.

Why it’s important

This ensures that users have a successful experience using the service, and do not need help doing so. It also reduces the long term operational cost of running the service because users are able to complete their transactions without error, or the need to ask for help.

How to do it

Perform usability tests at all stages of service development.
Watch your users actually try to perform a task first time on your service and see how easy it is for them to use
Build the service using insights from usability tests After the service is made available for end-users, continuously observe how easy it is for users to use the service
Continuously improve the service based on insights from end-users

Resources

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6. Choose the right tools and technology

Put the right tools and technology in place to deliver and sustain the service.

What it means

The service should be built using tools and technologies that should be easy to use for both citizens and the government. This increases the likelihood of building a sustainable digital service that can be continuously iterated and improved, and also reduces the likelihood of vendor lock-in through tools and technology that are not commonly used, or for which the skills required are hard to find.

Why it’s important

When you make a decision about technology, you’re making a significant investment. The choices you make will have a significant impact on your ability to create, iterate and operate the service in a sustainable way.

This ensures that the service is built using the most cost-effective tools and technology. It also helps to get the most value for money when engaging vendors to build a service. Sometimes choosing the wrong tools and technology means that a service has to be scrapped after it has been built, leading to a huge financial loss. It ensures that the service can be scaled cost-effectively.

How to do it

Led by your team’s technology expert, alongside insights from the discovery and design phase, assess all available tools and technology based on cost, ease of scale, ease of use, and accessibility
Seek advice from the Ministry of Industry Innovation Science and Technology (MIST) on which technology will be most appropriate for your situation
Avoid using heavy front-end frameworks that will increase page load times
Choose tools that enable continuous integration, interoperability, and continuous deployment, so that you can more rapidly build and deploy your service
Choose the tools and technology that rank the highest
Use the resources available in the Design System to access reusable components that will provide a consistent experience for users of digital services across Barbados

Resources

Technology: Choosing technology, development, integration, hosting, testing, security and maintenance.
Choosing technology: an introduction
Working with open standards
Moving away from legacy systems
Designing for different browsers and devices
The UK’s Design System

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7. Use open, common, interoperable platforms

Build using and connecting to platforms that already exist as much as possible.

What it means

By talking to other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) the service team should establish if MDAs have built or are building something similar. When there are similarities, the team should build on and improve what already exists, especially in the case of components like payment gateways and existing databases where there is likely to be common user needs, and in the Design System where there are reusable resources. The team should also ensure that it liaises with MIST to adopt any Digital Public Infrastructure that’s been put in place by the government (e.g digital identity, payments and data exchange / interoperability platforms)

Why it’s important

This reduces duplication of effort across the government. This could also help teams build services faster and cheaper. Interoperability would also allow for data exchange between MDAs, which improves the overall experience of interacting with the government.

How to do it

Check the country’s catalogue of services to see if any similar service has been previously built
Your technology expert should assess whether your service can be built on top of already existing services or as a modification of existing services
Identify common components needed for your service such as databases, and payment gateways
Check Barbados’ catalogue of common components and the Design System to see if what you need for your service already exists
Where possible, use open source digital public goods (DPGs) that are regularly maintained, instead of proprietary technology
Reach out to the Ministry of Innovation, Industry Science and Technology for guidance on adoption of Digital Public Infrastructure

Resources

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8. Make the service scalable and sustainable

Plan for, and design sustainability and scalability into the service from the start.

What it means

The team should plan for integration of the service with ‘business as usual’ and ensure that there is the team and funding in place for it to continuously adapt and improve over time.

Why it’s important

The continuity of funding, tooling and teams is essential for a service having a long term and lasting impact.

How to do it

Ensure that software codes and other important information about the service are documented, and store them in a shared and easily accessible repository online
Ensure that you have access to the skills you need to run and grow the service available. Ideally the team would be co-located.
Think about interoperability from the start
Have at least a six-month budget available to run and grow the service every time
Be careful about relying on one vendor for the development, delivery and maintenance of the service

Resources

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9. Be open and transparent

Work in the open and collaborate with other government ministries, departments, and agencies

What it means

Your ways of working should contribute to openness and collaboration between government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) that are delivering services.

This means publishing source code in open code repositories in a secure way, working in the open and regularly showing the progress you’re making on your service, even as you are still building it so that other MDAs and even users can learn about the service and provide helpful feedback.

Why it’s important

This will help facilitate knowledge exchange and capability building within the Government of Barbados. Publishing source code in open code repositories will make it easier for other MDAs to build similar services in the future.

How to do it

Have a regular cadence of show and tell sessions with MDAs when building services
Continuously publish code updates to open code repositories e.g. GitHub across the entire build lifecycle, ensuring transparency from day one.

Resources

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10. Make sure the service can be continuously improved

Build a service that is responsive to changing user needs

What it means

The team must design and deliver the service in such a way that they can easily adapt the service as more is learned about users’ needs.

When building and running the service, create a mechanism for receiving continuous feedback from users. The learnings from users’ feedback should be used to improve the service.

Running a live service doesn’t have to mean a full team working on the service 100% of the time when the service is live. But it does mean being able to make substantial improvements throughout the lifetime of the service. Make sure you have the capacity, resources and technical flexibility to iterate and improve the service frequently.

There should always be a continuous cycle of building, getting feedback, drawing learnings, and service improvement.

Why it’s important

Services are never “finished”; they must keep improving. Iteration isn’t just for the early stages of a service’s development. Using agile methods means getting real people using your service as early as possible, and then making improvements throughout the lifetime of the service.

Making improvements means more than doing basic maintenance like fixing bugs in code, deploying security patches and keeping documentation up to date. If that’s all you do, you’ll be fixing symptoms rather than underlying problems. And over time, the service will stop meeting user needs.

Continuous improvement means you can respond to changes in user needs, other data availability, third-party services, technology, social norms or government policy throughout the lifetime of the service. So rather than having to be replaced, the service stays relevant until it’s ready to be retired.

How to do it

Get real users to quickly begin using the earliest version of your service so you can begin to understand the needs of your users
Continuously conduct user research to understand your users’ needs and use what you learn to improve the service
Work with your organisation to make sure that you’re able to focus on improvements that have the most value.
Turn off services and features that are no longer used or supported.

Resources

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11. Design for trust, safety, and confidentiality

Have and comply with trust and safety requirements

What it means

The legitimacy of the service must be convincing, clearly indicating to users that they are transacting with the government. This means adopting and following the Barbados Design System for a consistent user experience.

The service should abide by national and international security, data protection and confidentiality standards. Users should feel a sense of safety and confidentiality when using the service.

The team should be equipped to understand both general and specific security risks related to the design, operation and use of the service and to effectively manage them on an ongoing basis.

Why it’s important

It enhances the social contract between the government and users. It also ensures that users can easily detect imposter and fraudulent services.

How to do it

Ensure there is expertise in national and international security, data protection and confidentiality standards within the team
When building the service, apply the national and international security, data protection and confidentiality standards
Run regular security tests on the service
Run safety and confidentiality user perception tests for the service
Use the Barbados Design System for all your design needs. If you have new design elements not yet included, liaise with GovTech Barbados to have them included in it

Resources

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12. Make it easy for users to find

Have information about the service available where your users can easily learn about it.

What it means

The service team should ensure that citizens, residents and other stakeholders who need to use the service are adequately signposted to it, particularly via major search engines.

It should also be easy for the user to learn about any alternative channels through which they can access the service if they cannot access it online.

Why it’s important

For a service to solve users’ needs, the users must first know that it exists. Usually, those who want to access a service online think about it as an action that they would like to perform e.g. “apply for a permit to play loud music", “pay tax”, “register my baby’s birth”, “get a document notarised” etc.

How to do it

Understand your users and where they usually go to access information. Leverage those channels to drive awareness about the service.
Name the service using verbs, and not nouns, and using language familiar to the general public and not descriptions or titles that are only really familiar to the government. User research can help you test and determine what works.

Resources

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13. Monitor, manage, and measure performance

Work out what success looks like for your service and identify metrics to measure it.

What this means

Identify and define metrics which will tell you what’s working with the service and what can be improved, combined with user research. Measure the performance of your service and understand what outcomes it is delivering. Report results to your stakeholders openly and regularly to encourage continuous improvement.

Iterate and improve your metrics and performance data collection practices as you learn more about user needs.

Remember that the value of the service stems from how it solves users’ problems, not from numbers of users.

Why it’s important

Having performance metrics based on your definition of what good looks like means that you’ll know whether the service is solving the problem it’s meant to solve for your users.

How to do it

Discuss how you could measure the performance of a service. What kind of metrics are important common indicators for you? How would you use them to stop or change a service? Are there any that all services must publish?
Identify metrics which will indicate how well the service is solving the problem it’s meant to solve, and track performance against them
Actively seek feedback to identify impacts – positive and negative – that are not being measured, and improve metrics where necessary
Collect and use performance data from all channels, online and offline.
Use performance data to make decisions about how to fix problems and improve the service
Publish service performance metrics to your stakeholders

Resources

Piloting new ways of measuring digital success
Measuring complex digital services
How to use data to improve your service
Measuring and sharing performance data.
Measure performance

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