Criterion 2. Define your service offering

Criterion 2 – Define your service offering

Understand what capabilities are needed to support the new service.

Your responsibilities

To successfully meet this criterion, agencies need to:

enhance digital experience of the service offering by using familiar platforms, products and capabilities
demonstrate that new access points and capabilities will provide future opportunities for reuse.

When to apply

Apply Criterion 2 during the Discovery phase to help determine if the consolidation of multiple existing access points is achievable. Apply Criterion 2 during the Alpha and Beta phases to validate that the service offer meets the needs of target users.

Questions for consideration

What are the current pain points and needs of the target users that this digital service will address?
Are there existing digital services/access points you should replace or consolidate to reach the optimal service offering for your new digital service?
Is there an existing digital service doing it well that you could learn from?
Should the service offering extend to pointing users to other related and complementary digital services?

How to apply criterion 2

Identify capabilities: Determine the outcomes the digital service enables and use these to inform the capabilities and functions required to achieve this and support the best experience for the users. Test the proposed digital service offering with target users to confirm and iterate the service offering to maximise uptake and make it relevant to the users.
Reuse where available: Reuse existing capabilities when these meet the needs of the users. Understand how these capabilities will enhance the overall experience of users and support their rollout where appropriate.
Consider common non-government capabilities: Understand non-government capabilities that users utilise and if they can be used to support or improve the overall digital experience.
Ensure scalability and reusability: Where new capabilities are required, make sure these can accommodate reuse and future growth while maintaining performance.
Learn from others: Engage across government to learn from others and apply these learnings across the development and design of the new service. Understand from others about how to incorporate reuse into the new service.
Develop a roadmap: Document the plan to reuse new solutions in upcoming projects.

Guidance to define your service offering

Define the scope, purpose and desired outcomes of your service offering and how it aligns with government priorities and outcomes.
Do this by identifying the outcome you seek and the value it will deliver to users and government. Document your service vision, goals and objectives concisely.
Use tools and methods such as:
- service design
- business analysis
- stakeholder engagement
- existing frameworks or strategies that are relevant to your service domain, such as the Digital Service Standard, or the Service Design and Delivery Process.
Describe the features and functions of your service offering and how they meet user needs and expectations.
To specify the requirements and functionalities of your service use methods such as:
- user stories
- scenarios/user journey maps
- value propositions.
Ensure that your service offering is accessible, inclusive, secure, and compliant with relevant policies and standards and prioritise the most important and essential features and functions based on:
- user research
- feedback
- testing.
Compare your service offering with existing or similar services across government and identify gaps, overlaps, or opportunities for collaboration or integration.
- use the Australian Government Architecture (AGA) (criterion 3) to find and analyse existing or planned services, platforms, and capabilities that are related to your service domain or target audience
- assess if any of these services, platforms, or capabilities can be reused, shared, or adapted for your service offering, or if your service offering can complement or enhance them
- engage with other agencies or delivery partners (criterion 5) that are responsible for or involved in these services, platforms, or capabilities to explore potential synergies or dependencies.
Document your findings and recommendations on how to apply criterion 2, to do this:
- make sure your proposal supports your decisions and shows how you have defined and differentiated your service offering based on user needs, government priorities, and existing services
- use the Digital Investment Overview (DIO) Data Collection form to report on how you have met the criterion
- use the Digital Capability Assessment Process (DCAP) template to report on how you have met the criterion.

Digital Access Standard

Criterion 2 – Define your service offering

Your responsibilities

When to apply

Questions for consideration

How to apply criterion 2

Guidance to define your service offering

Criterion 3 – Use the AGA to find reusable platforms and capabilities

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