File Your Confirmation Statement Alpha Assessment Report
The report for the File Your Confirmation Statement Alpha Assessment on the 23rd March 2021
Service Standard assessment report
File Your Confirmation Statement
| From: | Central Digital and Data Office |
| Assessment date: | 23/03/2021 |
| Stage: | Alpha |
| Result: | Met |
| Service provider: | Companies House |
Service description
The confirmation statement is an annual prompt for companies to check and confirm that their company record is up to date.
The service supports this requirement by displaying the current company data within the filing journey and prompting the user to confirm it is correct. The service also acts as the vehicle for the company to pay their annual fee.
Where necessary, the service will direct the user to take the appropriate action to update their record. The update journey is not in scope for this service assessment.
When a confirmation statement is accepted, it will appear on the company’s filing history on the public record.
Service users
- Directors of companies who are responsible for maintaining the company data.
- Presenters acting on behalf of directors such as company secretaries, accountants, solicitors etc.
- Companies House internal users
- Search customers – consumers of output data e.g. credit reference agencies, banks, financial institutions
1. Understand users and their needs
Assessed by: User research assessor
Decision
The service met point 1 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team had identified a wide range of users and understood them in depth
- the team took into account digital inclusion and accessibility very well for alpha
- the team had used insights from user research to lead and iterate their designs.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to;
- complete end to end testing with users with access needs
- explore how the update journeys affect user experience of submitting their confirmation statement.
2. Solve a whole problem for users
Lead assessor, particularly with design and research input
Decision
The service met point 2 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team had a good understanding of the other Companies House projects that they are dependent on to deliver a full user journey of “confirm” and “update” (if needed)
- the team had a good understanding of their stakeholders and where the service fits in the wider Companies House and Government landscape
- the team had a good service vision with the SRO and some team members being shared over interdependent projects
- the team had thought through the impact of change on internal Companies House users.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- consider the scope of the service for Beta, ensuring the wider end-to-end “confirm” and “update” journeys work well for users
- continue influencing the roadmap for the other projects that this service is dependent on for a full “confirm” and “update” user journey
- explore consolidating a consistent identity and authentication user journey for this service, Webfiling and other update services before a Beta assessment.
3. Provide a joined-up experience across all channels
Lead assessor, particularly with design and research input
Decision
The service met point 3 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team had thought about the different channels for users and how to help users go between channels
- created a script for contact centres to help users on non-digital channels.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- improve how the information of an item being updated is displayed to the users.
4. Make the service simple to use
Design assessor
Decision
The service met point 4 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the overall usage of GOV.UK Design System components is well used with some slight inconsistencies such as the check progress table being slightly indented
- the components used are all standard on the Design System and have been implemented in the correct way.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- spend more time looking at how this service will work with other services as there is a lot of dependency on other services to make sure the service is simple to use
- in Beta it would be strongly recommended to show examples of where these different services are coming together as well as how the Companies House account service ties into this service
- demonstrate how error validation works and looks like. At time of presentation the prototype didn’t have the error message content so it couldn’t be assessed.
5. Make sure everyone can use the service
Design assessor
Decision
The service met point 5 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the service team demonstrated a strong knowledge of accessibility and of using technologies to make sure that the services meet accessibility standards
- they have done research with users who have assisted digital needs or use assisted digital software and will continue to do so in Beta
- the service team have done a good amount of work in Alpha and Discovery to understand user needs and have improved the content design based on user research and insight.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue researching with users, especially ones who use Companies House less frequently making sure they understand how the service works and what information they’ll need when using the service
6. Have a multidisciplinary team
Lead assessor
Decision
The service met point 6 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the service team was a sustainable, multidisciplinary team made up mainly of Civil Servants, but with some contractor support where needed
- the team is empowered under the SRO to design and build a service that will work for users
- the team were skilled, knowledgeable and experienced, having a good understanding of their users, landscape and wider Government agenda.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- explore the role of a Service Designer, specifically to help with end-to-end / front to back wider Companies House user journeys that cross the different projects.
7. Use agile ways of working
Lead assessor
Decision
The service met point 7 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team is working well in an agile way with the expected ceremonies and processes
- governance is working for the team, enabling delivery
- the team is making good use of online tools to continue delivering at pace throughout COVID
- the team invests time to learn and prioritise together
- the team take part in a wider technical design group to technically align the different projects in Companies House.
8. Iterate and improve frequently
Lead assessor
Decision
The service met point 8 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has developed a good service roadmap, starting small and iterating over time
- the team has iterated and improved their prototype throughout Alpha
- the team is enhancing the technical architecture to allow for regular iterations to be released efficiently.
9. Create a secure service which protects users’ privacy
Tech assessor
Decision
The service met point 9 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team had incorporated security and privacy measures in the microservice design, access control and data protection
- the team used the information assurance officer, technical design group and IT security to assure the security and privacy of the service
- the design was guided by the security practice, standards and governance structure in Companies House.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- complete a pentest or IT Health Check before the beta assessment, mitigate or accept any presented risks
- have a threat modeling session to identify the threat and risks exposure of this service
- update DPIA to cover any changes during the development in Beta.
10. Define what success looks like and publish performance data
Analytics or lead assessor
Decision
The service met point 10 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team has a good understanding of the value of analytics and has thought through appropriate KPIs
- the team has a tool in place to monitor and track analytics and have a process in place to work with their performance team on a regular basis to monitor and iterate them
- the SRO displayed clear ownership of the KPIs and the value in using them to iterate the service moving forward.
11. Choose the right tools and technology
Tech assessor
Decision
The service met point 11 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team had planned to use the Companies House standard framework, common programming languages and components in software development
- the team had planned to use the Companies House matured operational platform and standard toolings in operating the applications.
12. Make new source code open
Tech assessor
Decision
The service met point 12 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team had planned to open source their code in Github when software development starts.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- embrace coding in the open from the beginning and demonstrate this in the next assessment.
13. Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns
Tech assessor
Decision
The service met point 13 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team had factored API, JSON, OAuth2 open standards in the microservice design
- the team had planned to adhere to ‘12 factor app’ open standards in software development
- the team had planned to integrate to GOV.UK Pay as the payment system, which will handle all the card payment data.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue to work with other teams and services, seek to influence decisions to drive a better organisational architecture, including identity, payment and notification systems
- understand whether they can use GOV.UK Notify to replace the current in-house notification service and seek to influence the change
- align the strategic direction of the Companies House Account with GOV.UK Account.
14. Operate a reliable service
Lead, Design and Technology assessors.
Decision
The service met point 14 of the Standard.
What the team has done well
The panel was impressed that:
- the team had planned to use the right tools to monitor the reliability of services
- the team had planned to use a test-driven approach for software development
- they had planned to use continuous integration, tests and multiple environments.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- design integration tests with all the dependent services and teams to understand and make sure that the integrations work and scale as expected
- capture reliability and scaling metrics of the services and present this in the next assessment.
Next Steps
This service can now move into a private beta phase, subject to implementing the recommendations outlined in the report and getting approval from the GDS spend control team. The service must pass their public beta assessment before launching their public beta.
The panel recommends this service sits a beta assessment in around 6 - 9 months time. Speak to your Digital Engagement Manager to arrange it as soon as possible.
To get the service ready to launch on GOV.UK the team needs to: