Our digital service standards

We work in multidisciplinary teams

To have teams that can design, build and implement the service, led by a senior service manager.

A multidisciplinary team provides help with the following aspects:

Building the service self-sufficiently, with no external dependency
Constantly improving based on the needs of the users
Taking decisions quickly

We start with user needs

To develop greater knowledge about who uses the service and what that means for designing the service.

This is fundamental for building a service with the following characteristics:

It helps users do what they need to do easily
It is based on actual needs of real users, not assumptions

We use agile methods; we build iterations

To build the service using agile iterative methods based on the end users.

These methods help build services with the following characteristics:

They meet the needs of users
They are simple and convenient to use
They can easily adapt to technological or government changes
They constantly improve

We reduce the burden on the public

To use information already held by the public authorities:

To build interoperability with other public authorities to avoid asking the public to provide the same documents more than once
To avoid unnecessary documentation
To ensure there is consent for the use of personal documents

We use open code and open standards

To use open code whenever possible
To use open standards whenever possible
To make all new code open and re-usable,and publish it with the proper licences

We understand security, privacy and ethical issues

To assess which user data and which user information the service will provide or store and tackle the following issues:

Level of security
Legal responsibilities
Privacy aspects and risks

Users will not use the service if the following guarantees are not provided:

Confidentiality
Access to their information whenever theyneed it

We design a plan for service downtime

Users will expect the service to be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

A plan must be in place for when services are temporarily offline. The effects of that on users must be understood and there must be ways to restore the service.

We ensure excellent visual design and accessibility

To build a service that is coherent with the user experience at Barcelona City Council based on the visual design and accessibility guidelines.

Users trust in the City Council services because they recognise their style
Time should be saved by re-using repeatable templates, enabling a focus on the unique parts of each service
Templates and styles based on user studies should be used

We have a plan for people who need digital support

To help people develop their digital skills
To offer digital support to those who cannot use digital services on their own
When providing a basic service, to ensure it adapts to people with no digital devices

We constantly assess the user experience

To implement a plan to assess and test the user experience, in order to improve the service based on feedback.

To check that the service helps users do what they have to do
To continue improving the service based on their needs

We assess the tools, systems and services

To assess the tools and systems used and ensure the following:

The technology principles code is followed and the associated technical risks are understood
The tools, systems and services can be procured sustainably, while guaranteeing vendor independence
The services follow ethical data use principles

We re-use what exists already

Whenever possible, services should try to re-use existing infrastructure and shared features to achieve the following:

To create a coherent service experience
To save time and resources when building features that already exist

We implement a maintenance and support plan

To have a plan for minimising service downtime in the event of an incident.

To identify the basic components of the service that should be monitored.

To use key measures for ongoing service improvement.

We measure and report on service Performance

To gather and present indicator scores in a coherent, structured, understandable and accessible manner for the public.

To use operation and performance indicators to constantly improve the service:

Learning about its strengths and weaknesses
Using the data as a basis for the desired improvements

We have a plan for doing it all online

The digital services must allow the public to upload, sign and check their documents.

If the public cannot provide documents digitally, the City Council must provide an alternative document digitalisation service

We manage change

To facilitate a transition between the current non-digital service and the new digital service.
When a digital service is replaced, to have a transition plan for switching from the old service to the new service.
To migrate existing data and documents to the new digital service formats.
To avoid any interruptions when the public access the service and ensure there is a plan to encourage use of the new service.