This is a set of guidance for external developers working with Oxford City Council in developing digital services, and also a reference site for staff engaged in designing and developing digital services.
The guidance here is around front-end development as our priority is on creating an excellent customer experience. Technical guidance and project methodology will arise from interactions with one of our project managers.
Our objectives
- To provide digital services that can be completed successfully by the user first time unaided
- To make the customer experience so good that the user will prefer to use the digital service over non-digital channels
- To meet the Council's ambitions to deliver reliable and successful digital services
Definitions
- Digital service: any service required by a user (such as ‘reporting a pothole’) that is delivered by the internet and is largely or entirely automated so that it requires minimal human intervention to be processed. This includes web sites as well as web-based applications.
- User: anyone that interacts with or uses the digital service. This can include staff as well as customers. 'User' is used because 'customer' implies that there is a choice in using the service, which is not always the case.