Register as a creditor in insolvency proceedings alpha assessment report
The report for the Register as a creditor in insolvency proceedings alpha assessment on the 29 June 2022
Service Standard assessment report
Register as a creditor in insolvency proceedings
| From: | Central Digital & Data Office (CDDO) |
| Assessment date: | 29/06/2022 |
| Stage: | Alpha |
| Result: | Met |
| Service provider: | Insolvency service |
Service description
Enables all creditors in debtor or creditor driven bankruptcies and company liquidations to register their interest in the insolvency case. They can obtain information about the bankruptcy, and expected outcomes (Report to Creditor) and submit their proof of debt.
Service users
- Creditors owed money from bankruptcy proceedings
- Creditors owed money from liquidated company proceedings
- Organisations who provide services to creditors to support their debt collection
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:
- user needs within the scope of the service are emerging as expected, and key themes and user segments have been identified. Hypothesis and assumptions were well articulated
- mixed method research approach is sound, with a mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches appropriate for this stage of development
- the team are working well together and research sessions are open to UCD and technical members
- research is joined up across other insolvency service developments and the team is working with others across government (HMRC specifically) looking at solving similar or linked problems for users
- there is a good understanding of access needs around the service and an emerging assisted digital strategy
- the team understands the context of the service and there is a good plan for research in the Beta phase
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- do more research. With all segments but particularly with the small creditor users who may be less familiar with the process and where needs may be more diverse
- focus some additional effort in understanding the end to end journey – particularly around how users know they need to use the service, how they find it and what happens in the event that creditors need to make a claim against a non-compliant entity (or where the entity that is bankrupt or liquidated cannot be found)
- as the team talked around some of the common difficulties in onboarding/running remote research sessions with low-confidence digital users, so they should consider talking to their participant recruitment supplier around how these issues could be mitigated with pre sessions or making sure that the participant is supported at the beginning of the research session
- conduct research and analysis to establish user needs and behaviour around the file upload feature. Uploading files can be challenging for low-confidence digital users, research around this part of the user journey can help to inform content and help text (around things like file type or size restrictions for example)
- begin to test with users of assistive technology, although the access needs landscape amongst current users is appropriately understood at this stage
- seek to recruit and research with ‘new’ users who have never used the service before, in order to demonstrate that the service is intuitive, although feedback from users at this stage is largely positive
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:
- the team have explored different sign in solutions and will aim to use the GOV.UK Sign in service. This will let users sign in to the service with their email address, password and two-factor authentication. The user will be able to use these details to access all services that use GOV.UK Sign In. This will help to ensure a consistent user experience. This is part of our ‘one login for government’ vision
- the team have responded to user feedback and added information to the service which informs the user how likely they are to receive a distribution. This will help to reduce stress and anxiety when submitting a proof of debt
- the team has made good use of user journey maps and blueprints to understand the end-to-end process
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- inform the users up front that it may be a number of months before a decision is reached. This will help to set expectations and avoid unnecessary contact from the user
- ensure the user is made aware of what will happen next, once an application is submitted
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 have prototyped email acknowledgements and email notifications to help keep the users informed at various stages in the process
- the service design supports the end to end digital by default ambition within the Insolvency service
- the team are working closely with other areas to make changes to users’ experience of both online and offline channels (for example, notification letters)
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue to collect user feedback and iterate guidance. Some users don’t know what to do until they receive the notification in the post. Improved guidance will help to answer that question for users and reduce avoidable contact
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 used design patterns from the GOV.UK design system. This helps to make the service consistent with GOV.UK and avoids repeating work that’s already been done
-
the team have iterated 5 different versions of the prototype based on insights from users. They have taken user feedback on board and made changes, for example, moving the action links in the dashboard
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue to explore using a reference that is more accessible to the user, such as a court number. The report to creditors postal notification contains a reference number, however, some users file a report before they receive this
- review the use of the inset text component, this is normally used for quotes or examples, rather than hint text. Some users do not notice inset text if it’s used on complex pages or near to other visually prominent elements. For this reason, avoid using inset text as a way of highlighting very important information that users need to see
- explore using the hint text pattern that is part of the text input component
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 department already has an assisted digital model in place which they will reuse for this service
- a ‘call back’ service from the contact centre is available if users need additional support
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue to explore any unhappy paths. For example, if the case is now closed, how will the creditor find out?
- continue to carry out research with participants who represent the potential audience for the service, including people with access needs
- continue to ensure the service meets accessibility standards, including both online and offline parts
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:
- all the roles were assigned and there was clear evidence of good communication across the team
- all stakeholders were regularly kept up to date and had good visibility of progress and blockers.
- there is a good spread of expertise across the different functions including representation from the business
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue to keep communications open and transparent
- look for ways to mitigate risk and capture these for monitoring
- maintain levels of stakeholder engagement with the development
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:
- all the ceremonies are observed and managed effectively
- the right audience levels are sourced for each ceremony
- team morale appears to be high with good engagement and visibility of future plans
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- ensure stakeholders continue to attend review sessions and have the opportunity to make comment
- continue to keep high level plans visible and open for interested parties
- ensure the team iterates frequently
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:
- the team appears to be well resourced with all the functions represented. Capacity and resources moving forward are established
- evidence was provided showing iterations were being made based on user feedback and performance measures
- development seems to be progressive and shows the team are working well together to hit goals and objectives
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- continue to ensure resource is readily available to the service as it moves into beta
- ensure iterations are based on feedback received and stakeholder needs
- ensure ceremonies continue to be observed and audiences informed
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:
- the team had sought to ensure that the legal duty to protect personal and sensitive information had been addressed
- the team were adhering to OWASP, GOV.UK Security: 007 and the Open Security Architecture group principles
- the team has identified security threats and designed a prototype to mitigate against them
- for external API authentication they are using OAuth2
- the team has utilised One-login
- large PIII data is handled with securities;
- the team is operating a Secure digital service adhering to NCSC State. Vulnerability Management and Patching, Security Operations and Monitoring and have included penetration testing in their approach
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- further explore a defined range of Persona types who may seek different means and methods to illegally acquire insolvency data, hence explore in order to mitigate the risk from each defined type
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:
- evidence showed an appreciation of measures to be implemented for beta
- the team displayed an understanding of what good looks like and a plan of how to implement it
- metrics have been identified and can be used to inform decision making
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- ensure the metrics used supplement the user research findings and combine to inform decision making moving into beta
- ensure the metrics are identifying pain points and areas of concern for stakeholders
- ensure the key performance indicators are implemented
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:
- clear consideration had been given for the tools selected on several bases, including integration with current systems
- has shown understanding of cost of ownership describing how to remain cloud offering agnostic
- there is an effective approach to the consideration of legacy manual systems, through APIs
- the team is working with open standards and the solution is cloud first where possible
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- demonstrate clarity to their approach for managing legacy technology
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:
- there is reuse of components and Library functions, using open standards; and publishing into public git repo
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:
- patterns and components are shared through Web app open standards using agency standards such as the Agency’s Azure cloud, Notify, Power BI, Power Apps
- automation has been deployed; there is no use of proprietary standards in operation.
What the team needs to explore
Before their next assessment, the team needs to:
- explore the Integrated Data Platform, a key component of the National data strategy, enabling access to different data sources across government
- ensure they are informed by the Data Standards Authority (CDDO) for data governance including standards
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:
- there is integration with future systems such as Dynamic 365
- there is Runbook for storing issues such as Confluence
- team has set up a phased testing environment
- the team has explored a multiple-layered testing approach, with many technology choices
- services are scalable with the use of a Road balancer. The service has built in a data strategy and they are utilising it