DVLA Customer Account Alpha Assessment
The report for the DVLA Customer Account alpha assessment on the 22 February 2022
Service Standard assessment report
DVLA Customer Account
| From: | Central Digital & Data Office (CDDO) |
| Assessment date: | 22/02/2022 |
| Stage: | Alpha |
| Result: | Met |
| Service provider: | DVLA |
Service description
The vision for the DVLA Customer account is to put customers at the heart of our business and services. Allowing us to seamlessly join up services as we align drivers and vehicles products. Customers will initially be able to view and manage their driver and vehicle information, later extending to all motoring related information as well as transact in one place. We aim to give customer access and control over their own data so they can make updates, removing the need for them to contact DVLA via any other mean like phone or paper. It will provide a consent-based model where customers can provide digital contact details and preferences. We will have the ability to tailor notifications to the preference of users, provide progress updates and reminders for key services such as Vehicle tax.
The development of the account is integral to the development of fully user centred services, at the core of our Evolve programme. The account will allow users to take advantage of the new identity platform by authenticating once, setting up a username and password, allowing secure and easy return to DVLA services, reducing the need for repeat log-ons and duplicate identity checks.
This service will allow us to onboard customers in future to the GDS Government Single sign on and Digital identity. We intend to align to the opportunities offered by the Gov account to help create a motoring hub.
Service users
Initially the account will be for individual users of DVLA services (i.e. driving licence holders and vehicle keepers). It will later iterate to be suitable for business users and large companies allowing all DVLA customers to have an account.
1. Understand users and their needs
Decision
The service met point 1 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team is taking a well rounded approach to build up their understanding of users and their needs, employing a wide range of different methodologies and effectively bringing together qualitative and quantitative. Particularly good to see the use of longitudinal diary studies to gather rich data from users over time
- user researchers are trialling a variety of approaches to recruit low ability users with MS teams. The use of friends and family to help participants is a nice iteration for this challenge
- great to see the team ensuring 25% of all research rounds are users with some access need
- user research is clearly playing a central role in the team and its work
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- start to build up a longer-term research plan and do research early to build up an understanding of the user groups that the team feels most worried about, i.e. as mentioned: vocational drivers, small and medium-sized companies and foreign nationals
- do research to further explore the line between user wants and needs, as well as what users say they will do, vs their actual behaviour in real life. Especially important when considering potential features of the account, or any future development of an app
- explore users’ navigation patterns to, and within an account. For example when is a user going to sign in to the motoring account first, rather than searching for the specific service or need that they have. Will the account show all motoring services or just the ones that a user has used/is using?
2. Solve a whole problem for users
Decision
The service met point 2 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- while the service is not solving the whole problem just yet, the team has a clear vision for what could become part of the service, and this version now lays that groundwork. They have scoped it into small, manageable chunks
- going from a system led by driver’s licence number or registration plate to focused on customer’s various motoring needs, including reminders and communications opt-ins, takes the service from a system driven one to a user focussed service
- the team are working with other teams inside and outside of DVLA to ensure a smooth verification and login, and the account itself will reduce the user thus re-entering their information
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- consider learning from other teams with existing customer accounts such as HMRC
- as the riskiest assumption identified is actually the need for a customer account in the first place, ensure that continues to be tested and that the system does not simply create that need
- ongoing research into the “process chasing” customers’ expectations of the service, how family accounts could work as well as how to ensure user safety and privacy models
3. Provide a joined-up experience across all channels
Decision
The service met point 3 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has a good working relationship with front line staff who answer user queries. The support model is strong and the interaction with support teams includes both training them and learning from them
- digital take up plans are centred around users who wish to opt in and would benefit from an online account but it will not be mandatory and the existing channels will still be available. The plans are proportionate and the goal is digital take up for users who will find value and not all users for the sake of vanity metrics
- the team is looking into disconnected services (eg “the five transactions”) to find places to join up and help the users who want to do the right thing but have confusing and disparate services to use
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- while the identity verification is a separate service, it is one that directly feeds into this service. The customer does not know where one service starts and another begins. It is imperative the teams across the two services work closely together to ensure a smooth transition between the services, start pages that clearly lay out what is expected from the user and error messages that are helpful. One of the error messages, for example, tells the user to contact the support desk but gives no information how to do so
- ensure the non-happy path for the various users who will not be able to use the system is thoroughly tested and their expectations are managed
- keep testing what related services should be sign posted in the service and how those should or should not be rolled into this service
4. Make the service simple to use
Decision
The service met point 4 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team have tested on multiple devices
- the team is adhering to https://design-system.service.gov.uk/
- they have iterated their prototype to reflect things that the user was worried about or specifically trying to achieve such including as a red error message indicating if their MOT has expired
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- ensure that the start page is tested and clearly defines what the users will need to use the service successfully, including who might not be able to use it
- working with a content designer to continue the DVLA’s efforts of making terms easier for the public to understand. An example, the term MAM is in the tab for what type of vehicle the licence holder may drive, but no clarification as to what that means
- consider the journey for users exiting family accounts and starting their own, if family accounts are going to go ahead
5. Make sure everyone can use the service
Decision
The service met point 5 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the DVLA policy of always testing with a percentage of user using assistive technology has ensured the accessibility is always being considered and is designed according to WCAG standards. They also maintain a close relationship with the Digital Accessibility Centre and access their services early
- they have clearly articulated their use of the digital inclusion scale in this alpha and where it aligns/ does not align with the population as a whole
- the team has ensured a fair geographic representation across a variety of access and cognitive needs
- the team is mindful of the needs of their youngest users who are often having their first interaction with government when they use their first DVLA service
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- prioritise research with people lower on the digital inclusion scale
- test guidance text, error text, and terminology with users for understanding
- consider adding non-native English speakers to the research participants
6. Have a multidisciplinary team
Decision
The service met point 6 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team appears to be very robust with all of the roles expected at alpha and additional roles such as the performance analyst
- the majority of the team are perm, including core roles and will stay with the service through beta
- the team seems to be enabled and collaborating well
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- identify a content person
- clearly articulate the role of Service Designer/Service Owner and Product Manager and responsibilities as this didn’t come across easily; appreciating that DVLA have different names for roles than GDS
7. Use agile ways of working
Decision
The service met point 7 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team clearly are conducting the appropriate Agile ceremonies (stand ups, show and tells)
- the team are using expected tools for collaboration; Jira and Confluence
- the team are using user research and usability testing to guide the design and content decisions
- the team are engaging early with working groups and other departments working on identity products
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- ensure there is a detailed plan for the Beta phase, building on the future interactions with other departments’ solutions inc Single Sign In and share insights.
- demonstrate in more detail the interactions across the teams within the Evolve programme
8. Iterate and improve frequently
Decision
The service met point 8 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- iterated content based on user’s understanding and common terminology
- could clearly show iterations that had been made over time informed by customers and good design principles
- the team drew on a multitude of different research methods to inform iterations; diary studies, surveys, group workshops etc
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- further understand existing and new user segments and how their needs could shape the service
- dig into the unknowns as there was still a lot of considerations for the team to work through which will also shape the service; one example being the other identity documents
- bring a content designer into the team to help guide content iterations
9. Create a secure service which protects users’ privacy
Decision
The service met point 9 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) were conducted with privacy policies including GDPR law, along with security system reviews
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continually keep abreast with the progress of SingleSignIn functionality being developed by the digital Identity programme
10. Define what success looks like and publish performance data
Decision
The service met point 10 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team have started to think about their success metrics outside of the mandatory 4 that will capture service measurements
- the team have a performance analyst early on
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue to work with the performance analyst to understand the benchmarks of your success criteria “what good looks like”
- evolve the initial KPIs to be more meaningful and measurable
- further understand how you will be using the data you plan to capture
- decide on the tools you will use to capture the data
11. Choose the right tools and technology
Decision
The service met point 11 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has referenced and kept abreast with identity work currently underway with the digital identity programme
- technologies chosen were tried and tested in other government departments, i.e. Forgerock
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- clearly define the purchasing strategy, showing options explored prior to the selected software, (such as the Forgerock identity platform)
12. Make new source code open
Decision
The service met point 12 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- open source strategy storing and sharing software in github improving transparency, flexibility and accountability
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue to ensure new code is open
13. Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns
Decision
The service met point 13 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the programme had a policy of Cloud first. Using AWS
- the team is using serverless technology, serverless data streaming service that stores and ingests various streaming data in real time at any scale
- the technology included building on open standards ensuring technology works and communicates with other technologies including using standard protocols such as OAuth 2.0
14. Operate a reliable service
Decision
The service met point 14 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- customer Identity connects to an identification system, retaining minimal data in the system hence enhancing privacy
- amazon Kinesis Data Streams will process and store data streams at any scale making better use of data
-
clear consideration given to CI/CD pipeline with intended regular deployment
- there are plans for Standard Monitoring
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- review choice for Database as QLDB does not allow for data removal, but functions by creating versions of data that would have been deducted