Digital Guides
What is the service design and delivery process?
The service design and delivery process is an agile approach. It helps the team build a service for the whole user experience. This might include connecting or replacing products owned by different parts of government.
The service design and delivery process guides the team to build a user-centred service that is simple, fast and clear.
Download the service design and delivery process poster (PDF, 229KB).
Stages of the process
The service design and delivery process has 4 stages:
Discovery
Start mapping the broader service landscape, researching the real needs and problems faced by your users, and understanding the policy intent and technology constraints.
Alpha
Test out your hypotheses by building prototypes in code to explore different ways you might be able to meet your users’ needs. Explore multiple ideas. Do user research to learn which approach works best and iterate your solution as you learn more.
Beta
Start building based on the minimum viable product scope you defined at the end of Alpha. Build this as an accessible and secure service. Allow the public to trial the beta alongside the existing service. Use their feedback to improve the service.
Live
Put the team and processes in place to continue operating and improving the service. Phasing out the old services, and consolidating existing non‑digital channels.
Why should you follow the service design and delivery process?
Traditionally, government services have focused on meeting government and policy needs. The service design and delivery process turns this around to focus on meeting user needs. Services designed in this way give users what they actually need.
The process helps teams to start small and learn fast, and to build services quickly. This saves money by reducing service failure.
The team works through the Discovery, Alpha, Beta and Live stages, to focus on building the right thing in the right way.
When do you use the service design and delivery process?
Use the service design and delivery process when you are creating or improving a service. You don’t need to be building a new service to use the process. You can start Discovery stage with a live service to find out if it’s actually delivering what users need.
The service design and delivery process is there to guide you from finding out who the users are and their needs all the way through to improving the live service.
The 4 stages build on each other, but it’s not a one-way process. A service may get to Beta stage and then go back to Discovery to meet a different need.
Get started
- Getting started with the service design and delivery processIntroducing the process we use to build services.
- Own the whole user experienceBuild services that are complete and reflect the whole user experience.
- Discovery stage: exploring the problemDiscovery is about really understanding the needs of your users.
- Alpha stage: testing hypothesesAlpha stage is about using prototypes to work out the right thing to build.
- Beta stage: building and testing the serviceBeta stage is about developing and testing the prototype to check it meets the user needs.
- Live stage: improving the serviceHow to release and keep improving the service.
Join the service design community
The Australian Cross Government Service Design Community is a place to share experiences and ask questions. It's for people who contribute to designing Australian government services, including:
- user research
- content design
- web analytics
- product management
- accessibility
It is for all parts of government: federal, state and territory, and local.
You can join Australian Cross Government Service Design Community .
You’ll need a government email address. If you don't have one, let us know about the government product you are working on.
Email community-admin@digital.gov.au if you need help joining.