If you’re looking for digital service standard examples, particularly UK Government, then you might find the following information useful.

GOV.UK Digital Service Standard

The Digital Service Standard is a set of 18 criteria to help government create and run good digital services.

1. Understand user needs
Understand user needs. Research to develop a deep knowledge of who the service users are and what that means for the design of the service.

2. Do ongoing user research
Put a plan in place for ongoing user research and usability testing to continuously seek feedback from users to improve the service.

3. Have a multidisciplinary team
Put in place a sustainable multidisciplinary team that can design, build and operate the service, led by a suitably skilled and senior service owner with decision-making responsibility.

4. Use agile methods
Build your service using the agile, iterative and user-centred methods set out in the manual.

5. Iterate and improve frequently
Build a service that can be iterated and improved on a frequent basis and make sure that you have the capacity, resources and technical flexibility to do so.

6. Evaluate tools and systems
Evaluate what tools and systems will be used to build, host, operate and measure the service, and how to procure them.

7. Understand security and privacy issues
Evaluate what user data and information the digital service will be providing or storing and address the security level, legal responsibilities, privacy issues and risks associated with the service (consulting with experts where appropriate).

8. Make all new source code open
Make all new source code open and reusable, and publish it under appropriate licences (or provide a convincing explanation as to why this can’t be done for specific subsets of the source code).

9. Use open standards and common platforms
Use open standards and common government platforms where available, including GOV.UK Verify as an option for identity assurance.

10. Test the end-to-end service
Be able to test the end-to-end service in an environment identical to that of the live version, including on all common browsers and devices, and using dummy accounts and a representative sample of users.

11. Make a plan for being offline
Make a plan for the event of the digital service being taken temporarily offline.

12. Make sure users succeed first time
Create a service which is simple to use and intuitive enough that users succeed the first time.

13. Make the user experience consistent with GOV.UK
Build a service consistent with the user experience of the rest of GOV.UK including using the design patterns and style guide.

14. Encourage everyone to use the digital service
Encourage all users to use the digital service (with assisted digital support if required) alongside an appropriate plan to phase out non-digital channels and services.

15.Collect performance data
Use tools for analysis that collect performance data. Use this data to analyse the success of the service and to translate this into features and tasks for the next phase of development.

16. Identify performance indicators
Identify performance indicators for the service, including the 4 mandatory key performance indicators (KPIs) defined in the manual. Establish a benchmark for each metric and make a plan to enable improvements.

17. Report performance data on the Performance Platform
Why you should report data and how you’ll be assessed.

18. Test with the minister
Test the service from beginning to end with the minister responsible for it.

Original author / source: GOV.UK

Local Government Digital Service Standard

The Local Government Digital Service Standard suggests a common approach for local authorities to deliver good quality, user centered, value for money digital services.

1. Understand user needs. Research to develop deep knowledge of who the service users are and what that means for the design of the service.

2. Ensure a suitably skilled, sustainable multidisciplinary team, led by a senior service manager with decision making responsibility, can design, build and improve the service.

3. Create a service using the agile, iterative and user-centred methods set out in the Government Service Design Manual.

4. Build a service that can be iterated and improved in response to user need and make sure you have the capacity, resources and technical flexibility to do so.

5. Evaluate what tools and systems will be used to build, host, operate and measure the service, and how to procure them, looking to reuse existing technologies where possible.

6. Evaluate what user data and information the digital service will be providing or storing and address the security level, legal responsibilities, privacy issues and risks associated with the service.

7. Use open standards, existing authoritative data and registers, and where possible make source code and service data open and reusable under appropriate licenses.

8. Be able to test the end-to-end service in an environment similar to that of the live version, including all common browsers and devices.

9. Make a plan for the event of the digital service being taken temporarily offline, and regularly test.

10. Make sure that the service is simple enough that users succeed first time unaided.

11. Build a service consistent with the user experience of government digital services, including using common government platforms and the Government Service Manual design patterns.

12. Encourage maximum usage of the digital service (with assisted digital support if required).

13. Identify performance indicators for the service, incorporating existing indicators and publishing to a performance platform, if appropriate.

14. Put a process in place for ongoing user research, usability testing to continuously seek feedback from users, and collection of performance data to inform future improvement to the service.

15. Test the service from beginning to end with appropriate council member or senior manager responsible for it.

Original author / source: Local GOV Digital

Digital First Service Standard

The Digital First Service Standard is a set of 22 criteria that all digital services developed by Scottish Central Government sector organisations and Scottish Government corporate services must meet.

1. User Centred
Understand user needs. Research to develop a deep knowledge of who the service users are and what that means for the design of the service.

2. Usable and Accessible
Create a service that is usable, accessible and intuitive enough that users succeed first time.

3. Channel Shift
Identify and, wherever possible, remove impediments that prevent users from using the digital service, clearly establishing it as the primary channel. Plan to provide appropriate assisted digital support if necessary.

4. Consistent User Experience
Build a service consistent with the user experience of the rest of mygov.scot including using the design patterns and style guide.

5. Continuous Feedback
Put a plan in place for ongoing user research and usability testing to continuously seek feedback and input from users to improve the service.

6. Data Driven
Use tools for analysis that collect performance data. Use this data to analyse the success of the service and to translate this into features and tasks for the next phase of development.

7. Cross-functional Team
Put in place a sustainable multidisciplinary team that can design, build and operate the service, led by a suitably skilled senior manager with decision-making responsibility.

8. Sustainability
Build a service that can be iterated and improved on a frequent basis and make sure that you have the capability, resources and technical flexibility to do so.

9. Continuous Improvement
Build the service incrementally, releasing early and often, using the iterative and user-centred methods set out in the GDS service manual.

10. Business Continuity
Define, document and regularly test a plan to handle disasters and other incidents that may cause the digital service to be taken temporarily offline.

11. Technology Appraisal
Evaluate what technology, tools and systems will be used to build, host, operate and measure the service, and how to procure them.

12. Information Governance
Evaluate what user data and information the digital service will be providing or storing, and address the security level, legal responsibilities, privacy issues and risks associated with the service (consulting with experts where appropriate).

13. Open Data
Make all non-personal, non-commercially sensitive data from the service available for re-use by others under an appropriate licence.

14. Ecosystem
Identify how your service aligns with Scotland’s digital ecosystem.

15. Open Source
Make all new source code open and reusable, and publish it under appropriate licences (or provide a convincing explanation as to why this cannot be done for specific subsets of the source code).

16. Open Standards
Use open standards and common government platforms where available.

17. Green ICT
Deliver a digital service whose impact on the environment, over its whole lifecycle, is understood. Plan to reduce the environmental impact of the service over time.

18. Data Hosting and Data Centres
Adopt cloud computing or virtualisation as the preferred approaches to the delivery of data hosting for the service.

19. Performance Management
Identify performance indicators for the service, including the 4 mandatory key performance indicators (KPIs) defined in the GDS service manual. Establish a benchmark for each metric and make a plan to enable improvements.

20. Transparent
Publish performance data on the Digital First Performance Platform.

21. Operational Acceptance
Regularly test the end-to-end service in an environment identical to that of the live version, including on all common browsers and devices, and using dummy accounts and a representative sample of users.

22. Sponsor Acceptance
Test the service from beginning to end with the minister responsible for it.

Original author / source: MyGov Scotland