Digital Scotland Service Standard

4.  Help users succeed first time

Build a service that’s simple and intuitive. And test it with users to make sure it works for them.

Why it’s important

People expect services to just work, and government services should be no exception.

It costs time and money to deal with mistakes that happen when services don’t work well. And making things more complicated than they need to be undermines trust in government.

You’ll be more confident if you test the end-to-end service in an environment identical to that of the live version, including on all common browsers and devices, using fake accounts and a representative sample of users.

How you do it

• Usability testing
  Test frequently with real and potential users to understand if the service you’ve designed works in the way you expect
• Test every part of the service
  Test how users will interact with all parts of the service, like online applications and letters
• Use automated testing
  Use automated end-to-end testing to ensure systems work as expected as you continually improve the service

Links to detailed guidance:

• Guidance on usability testing from GDS
• Guidance on end-to-end testing from GDS