Waste tracking service alpha assessment
Service standard assessment report Waste tracking service 16/11/2023
Service Standard assessment report
Waste Tracking Service
| From: | Assurance team |
| Assessment date: | 16/11/2023 |
| Stage: | Alpha |
| Result: | Amber |
| Provider: | Defra |
Previous assessment reports
Service description
This service aims to make it easy to track waste and resources in real time throughout the economy.
Goals / outcomes for the whole service:
- track waste and resource flows
- tackle and reduce waste crime
- enable efficiencies in regulatory activities
- identify actions to support a shift to the circular economy
- facilitate strategic decision-making
- support users to make informed choices about how their waste is managed
Service users
- Internal Government Policy Officers
- Agency Officers - EA, NIEA, NRW, SEPA
- Waste Producers
- External Waste Brokers
- Waste Receivers
- Waste Carriers
- Local Government Authority
Things the service team has done well:
The Waste Tracking service aims to modernise the UKs approach to waste movements and in doing so tackle waste related fraud and crime costing ~£900m per year. The potential impacts of the service are clear and evidenced through their Discovery work and policy design.
There is a clear and achievable strategy for the service based on an extensive Alpha phase. The service team has designed a service to support several different user groups who will complete the journey in different ways. They have tested multiple ideas through prototypes to gradually iterate their approach based on user and stakeholder feedback. Overall, their approach is robust and is ready to move into Private Beta.
User research is ongoing and well executed. As a result, the team have a thorough understanding of users and how they will engage with the service. The panel was impressed by the extent of user research and the volume of site visits, which have given the team a detailed understanding into the context in which the service will be used. They demonstrated an admirable sense of who the users were, and had shaped journey maps and design solutions in direct response to their understanding of users.
The design team consisting of service, interaction and content designers have taken careful consideration to design the overall and specific user journeys for the single and multiple waste journeys. The team demonstrated use of user research insights and GOV.UK design system patterns and components to design the interface for the single and multiple waste journey in the prototype. The panel was impressed by the team’s involvement with other parts of the wider UK waste system, involving regulators, and third parties to design solutions. They also showed iteration and evolution of the user journeys and prototype design based on data and research and how their user testing has also in turn informed policy and regulatory changes that meet user needs in the waste records journeys. For example their research informed decisions to move away from real time digital waste sign offs to creating a 2 working day timeframe that recognises the needs and constraints of their users. They used very detailed storyboards and mockups that capture different scenarios in the waste journeys that enabled a clear understanding for the panel. With the few recommendations to parts of the multiple records journeys and further testing with users with access needs, they are ready move to private Beta
Building upon the work from the Export Green List Waste service, the team have designed a stable platform for the Waste Tracking service. The Azure cloud platform is being utilised correctly to provide the necessary security and resiliency controls along with Azure DevOps to ensure that build pipelines and integrations are implemented securely. The team is planning to migrate the service onto a serverless platform which would be beneficial for service costs and sustainability goals.
There is a multidisciplinary team developing the service using an agile approach aligned to the Scrum framework. The team has adapted this approach during Discovery and Alpha to maximise its impact. This also includes a 6-weekly Show & Tell cycle (separate from sprint reviews) to incorporate a much broader set of stakeholders, including representatives from devolved administrations and other related Defra services.
The team has started to develop their approach to performance analysis, including identifying some key metrics alongside the core indicators (adoption, completion, user satisfaction and cost per transaction). They have considered the tools they will need to do this and are planning to implement them during the Private Beta.
Overall, the panel were impressed by the team’s approach and the recommendations below, mainly related to beta plans, could be addressed quickly. The service is ready to move into private beta phase.
1. Understand users and their needs
Decision
The service was rated Amber for point 1 of the Standard.
Recommendations:
- develop a beta plan for research, which demonstrates how the service will be rolled out and how you will learn from this roll-out. Call out research gaps and demonstrate how you will address these in private beta.
- undertake targeted work with potential users of the single submission. Undertake testing with people who run small operations at a volume unlikely to result in multiple submissions. These may be house removals, or others called out in existing research.
- develop an understanding of how low digital skills may impact users who run largely offline businesses and what support the service will provide.
2. Solve a whole problem for users
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 2 of the Standard.
Recommendations:
- continue collaborating with the team mapping out how users will sign in to the service, once they start using GOV.UK One Login, especially since users may choose not to use their personal One Login accounts for business-related reasons during the waste tracking process.
- when businesses and individuals involved in waste tracking misreport waste in terms of its contents, types, waste codes etc., regulators must be able to see patterns in the data so they can take appropriate action and identify irregularities. The team needs to explore the process by which regulators obtain waste tracking data, the particular data requirements that they have, and the ways in which the regulators will give feedback to enhance the waste regulations and system.
- improve the EWC codes with more accurate descriptions of the waste codes offered on the system by taking into account suggestions and input from the regulatory agencies. This would make it easier for users to fill in the right codes, since the ones as the codes currently provided are not specific enough, making users search them up from other sources as they fill out the information. Even while some of this is not directly in the team’s scope, it is nevertheless important to monitor in order to help solve the problem as a whole.
3. Provide a joined-up experience across all channels
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 3 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- in the end-to-end user journeys for UK waste, the team mentioned that a waste carrier or receiver would know when waste is misreported at the checkpoints that match up the digital and physical representation of the waste. There is a common duty of care amongst the users in the journey to do the right thing. However a huge group of producers are reliant on the carriers or users who are experts or most knowledgeable. The team can close the knowledge gap regarding waste codes and categorization by providing information on waste that is easily accessible and easy to understand. This will ensure all users and parties in the journey are cable of using the digital service
- explore and define how the producer, carrier and receiver get notified of the movement of the waste in the digital service. Design and test usability of different ways to alert these users of changes made on the waste records. Explore what types of waste record changes and information is relevant for which type of users.
4. Make the service simple to use
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 4 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- explore further and implement an accessible solution for displaying the waste details in summary cards, with accordions or another pattern that allows easier user navigation for multiple waste records.
- the team has explored how users upload multiple waste records in one go for high volume waste movement. The team needs to further explore how single or multiple records within the bulk are then amended, changed and updated.
5. Make sure everyone can use the service
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 5 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- explore and have a detailed plan for how the team will handle the telephone service that will enable digitally excluded users to register for the waste tracking service and to provide the required information in advance of a waste movement. The team are aware of off grid waste sites that will be supported by phone, email and paper records
- test with more users with access needs, neurodivergent, and users of assistive tech, especially on the multiple records journeys that involve bulk waste records uploads. Use the findings from accessibility research to inform design and product improvement iterations.
6. Have a multidisciplinary team
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 6 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- ensure the product, delivery and service ownership is sustainable with civil servants leading the team, where possible, to ensure continuity. Review the division of responsibilities to ensure there are clear divisions between the roles.
- use the Beta phase to explore and refine the resourcing model for when the service goes live to ensure there is a sustainable model for running the service.
- ensure there is sufficient performance analysis expertise within the Beta team to develop a robust performance framework, monitor progress and ensure the service is effective.
7. Use agile ways of working
Decision
The service was rated Amber for point 7 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- work with stakeholders to develop a clear scope for the Private Beta phase so there are clear agreements around the types and volumes of users required to assess if the service is successful. The team referenced having around 10% of the user base during Private Beta which would be approximately 500 businesses. However, it isn’t clear how these users will be selected, onboarded and monitored or if this has been agreed with stakeholders.
8. Iterate and improve frequently
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 8 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- review the approach to prioritisation for the minimum viable product to ensure that the team can adapt effectively as the Private Beta phase progresses. This will include working with policy and operational delivery teams to define the essential functionality for users to be onboarded.
- continue to iterate and refine the approach for bulk movements upload via csv which will likely provide the minimum viable product for large scale businesses.
9. Create a secure service which protects users’ privacy
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 9 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- further develop plans for how the service will integrate with other permits for devolved nations services NIEA, NRW and SEPA. This should focus on what data is being transferred between these systems and how this will be made secure.
10. Define what success looks like and publish performance data
Decision
The service was rated Amber for point 10 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- develop a clear performance framework for the service that will measure if the service is successful. This should be aligned to the overarching objectives for the service that the team have defined, such as reducing waste related fraud and crime, providing accurate data on waste movements, and reducing the burden on waste producers. This should include a combination of quantitative and qualitative metrics with targets defining success.
- define the key metrics for evaluating the Private Beta phase with performance targets that need to be met for the service to move into Public Beta.
- collate baseline performance data for the existing non-digital service so that the impact of the new digital service can be evaluated robustly. The team reference a policy impact assessment process that is underway which may provide the basis for this in addition to their user research activities.
11. Choose the right tools and technology
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 11 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- provide more detail about how the service will be migrated from Azure Kubernetes Service to Azure Container Apps. The benefits for this migration should be explained as well as how the pattern for usage of Azure Container Apps will be applied to other DEFRA services.
12. Make new source code open
Decision
The service was rated Amber for point 12 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- the frontend code for the service needs to be published on the DEFRA public github repository as soon as it is available.
- more detail needs to be provided about how most of the source code for the service will be made publicly available. This process should align with other DEFRA digital services.
13. Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 13 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- further investigation is required for how additional location services can be integrated into the service. Postcode Address File is sufficient during Alpha but the Ordnance Survey Places API would be more suitable for identifying locations rather than addresses. What3words, which was mentioned as a possible alternative, could be used but the team would need to check licensing requirements with the Geospatial Commission.
14. Operate a reliable service
Decision
The service was rated Green for point 14 of the Standard.
Recommendations
- ensure there is sufficient support in place for the service during the Private Beta phase so that the processes and documentation are also assured during the phase.
Next Steps
This service can now move into a private beta phase, subject to implementing the recommendations, review of the amber points within 3 months time and CDDO spend approval. The amber points primarily relate to refining and articulating plans for the private beta phase.
To get the service ready to launch on GOV.UK the team needs to: - get a GOV.UK service domain name - work with the GOV.UK content team on any changes required to GOV.UK content