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You may need to book a service assessment to check you鈥檙e meeting the Service Standard. Check if you need an assessment if you鈥檙e not sure.

Your assessment will be run by a panel of experienced specialists from the Government Digital and Data community. Panels are normally made up of a lead assessor, a user researcher, a designer, a technical lead and sometimes a performance analyst. There might also be one or two observers, but they will not ask questions.

Assessments usually last about 4 hours.

Preparing for an assessment

It can be tempting to spend a long time preparing for assessments.

But try not to over-prepare. Do just enough to make sure you can give an open and honest account of the work you鈥檝e done and what you鈥檝e built.

And remember that the panel is not there to catch you out. They offer a peer review of the work you鈥檝e done and help you understand anything you鈥檒l need to change or improve.

What to cover on the day

Spend the first 30 minutes of the assessment talking about and demonstrating what you鈥檝e built. During that time, you鈥檒l need to:

• give an overview of your service
• walk the panel through the user journey

Give an overview of your service

In any assessment, it鈥檚 useful to start by briefly setting the scene. This usually means talking about the things you learnt during your discovery and alpha, including:

• why you鈥檙e solving the problem you鈥檙e solving
• who your users are and what they鈥檙e trying to do
• the work you鈥檝e done to understand the user鈥檚 wider journey, if there is one

It鈥檚 also useful to explain any changes you made based on the feedback the service got at its previous assessment, if it had one.

You probably shouldn鈥檛 spend more than 10 minutes covering these issues.

Walk the panel through the user journey

Once you鈥檝e explained what your service is and why you鈥檙e building it, spend around 20 minutes walking the panel through what you鈥檝e built.

You might not have time to show every screen, but you should make sure to show any particularly important interactions.

And don鈥檛 just focus on the happy path. Also show what happens to users who are not eligible, or who cannot provide a piece of evidence at the right time.

Remember to talk about the whole user journey, including offline channels. This means explaining the processes that support staff need to follow to deliver the service, as well as the skills and capabilities they need to have.

At the alpha stage, you don鈥檛 necessarily need to prototype the entire user journey - just enough to test your riskiest assumptions. It might be worth bringing along a set of user needs or a rough journey map to your assessment too.

Answer questions from the panel

Once you鈥檝e demonstrated your service, the panel will spend the remaining time asking questions about the decisions you鈥檝e made and how you鈥檝e built your service.

There鈥檚 no specific set of questions that a panel will ask during an assessment. It鈥檒l differ depending on the service you鈥檝e built and which development phase you鈥檙e in.

It鈥檚 a good idea to make sure you and your team are familiar with:

• the Service Standard
• the requirements for the development phase you鈥檙e working in

There鈥檚 also guidance on how assessors will apply the Service Standard.

Get your result

Your service will be assessed as 鈥榞reen鈥�, 鈥榓mber鈥� or 鈥榬ed鈥�.

鈥楪reen鈥� means that the service has met the standard and can continue to the next phase of delivery.

鈥楢mber鈥� means that the standard has not yet been met, but the issues are not critical. The service can continue to the next phase of delivery while you work on the amber issues.

You need to fix amber issues within a reasonable period of time, usually up to 3 months. You must record your progress in a live 鈥榯racking amber evidence鈥� document which will be visible to the assessments team.

鈥楻ed鈥� means that the standard has not yet been met and the issues are critical. The service will stay in its current phase of delivery. Further work needs to be done on the points that did not meet the standard before they can be reassessed. .

If your service has been assessed by a cross-government panel you鈥檒l get your result in a report within 3 to 5 working days.

What happens next depends on the result of the assessment, and the delivery phase your service is in.

Departmental assessments

There can be exceptions to red, amber and green assessment ratings.

Your service may be assessed as 鈥榤et鈥� or 鈥榥ot met鈥� if the assessment was done by a panel from your own department. Contact your department鈥檚 assurance team to ask how your service will be assessed and when you鈥檒l get the result.

Assessment reports

GDS will publish the outcome of the assessment - see the list of published Service Standard Reports. You鈥檒l have the chance to fact check it before it鈥檚 published.

Examples and case studies

Read the Department for Work and Pensions鈥� blog post on .

Read the Office of the Public Guardian鈥檚 (OPG) blog post on how they .

Related guides

You may also find the following guides useful:

• Check if you need a service assessment
• Book a service assessment