Renew your driving licence with a new photo alpha assessment

Service Standard alpha assessment report Renew your driving licence with a new photo 16/03/2023

From:
Central Digital and Data Office
Published
28 November 2023
Assessment date:
16 March 2023
Result:
Met
Stage:
Alpha

Service Standard assessment report

Renew your driving licence with a new photo

From: Central Digital & Data Office (CDDO)
Assessment date: 16/03/2023
Stage: Alpha assessment
Result: Met
Service provider: DVLA

Service description

The service will allow users to meet a legal requirement and renew their photocard driving licence with a new photo. Users can supply a photo taken from HMPO and as an improvement over the existing service allow a photo upload. Users can amend their address and meet other service criteria and integrate with a Customer Account if they choose to do so. The service also requires a fee before submission.

The service includes use of a strategic internal system to manage the application internally and provide improved customer service.

The service includes the build of a strategic application management service for tracking and task requirements.

Service users

  • users who have a photocard driving licence
  • users aged between 25 years 9 months and 69 years and 9 months
  • users whose photocard driving licence is due to or has expired
  • users who want to transact online

1. Understand users and their needs

Decision

The service met point 1 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • there was a focus on the user and the problem(s) they were trying to solve
  • they used secondary research and analysis to get an idea of the problems their users were experiencing
  • the team tested multiple iterations of the different areas of their service
  • the team used different research methods where appropriate, depending on what they wanted to learn from their users

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to

  • look into testing the content on their service pages, so that they can test whether their users understand the information shared
  • share what assumptions, hypotheses, research questions they wanted to test, so that the beta assessment panel can understand more of what you learnt through the service development cycle and whether there were any unexpected findings etc
  • although users with relatively severe visual impairments are unlikely to be allowed to drive, we think it’s worth considering them in your testing if they required a driving licence for identification
  • look at how you might broaden your recruitment methods/channels so that you can test with users who are lower down the digital inclusions scale and users who are more likely to user mobile devices.

2. Solve a whole problem for users

Decision

The service met point 2 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the service had considered all the key areas required for a user to renew their driving licence with various options presented to the user to update their photo
  • the service is a already a potential exemplar for x-gov working and data sharing, with the passport photo from HMPO sharable on the DVLA renew a licence service
  • the team has designed a well functioning service for one user group: those who need to renew their driving licences when it is out of date and have a UK passport.
  • as well as improving the digital experience the team also improved the letter reminders for renewing your driving licence.

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • the assessment team was slightly unsure what product offerings were in or out scope until they asked. A high-level overview early on about the overall evolve programme and related services would help when presenting at beta
  • the team should highlight to the beta panel that the service is part of the top 15 services of the top 75 government services
  • the team mentioned that the users who do not want to login to an account can temporarily use the old motoring.dvla website but in the future they will need to be able to have a journey on the new service domain as well.
  • ideally the team want to solve a whole problem for all users groups. Therefore before public beta the team needs to consider how the current MVP might change when other users are added such as young demographics, non-UK passport holders and over 70 years old. The beta should explore ensuring there is a consistent service for all users groups as more functions are added

3. Provide a joined-up experience across all channels

Decision

The service met point 3 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the service team had made considered effort to build a journey that users with low digital literacy could have confidence in
  • the team had ensured the service included help for those users requiring help via off-line channels such as assistance via the post office

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • we would like to see the team explore a bit more on how they could improve the service across channels. For example: Are there improvements needed on the renew your driving licence landing page on GOV.UK and could you potentially improve the forms in the post office?
  • the team in beta should explore further key pain-points in the user journey such as users missing the reminders to renew; team could explore options for getting reminders without needing an account
  • 4.5% of users applying for the wrong service. Team in beta, should identify why this is and make improvements across those channels. For example: Does post office staff need updated training because they advice users incorrectly? Or do we need better guidance online?
  • explore improving the payment methods of choice. In the post office users can only pay with cheque or postal order. Could the service expand on this limited offering to users?
  • data Validation: 16% of caseworking can be attributed to lack of inline validation rules on the application form. Could the team look into improving the forms?
  • improvements could be done on the donor page: they could explain why they are asking about it and how it will be logged on their driving licence. Also add how their data would be used. For example if a user was in an accident can the NHS see it on their driving licence if they are an organ donor?

4. Make the service simple to use

Decision

The service met point 4 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the team used components from the design system
  • the team iterated the interface based on user research and most of the service fits with the gov.uk design pattern.
  • content has been tested and iterated. The team doesn’t have a content designer but the interaction designers with the support from the comms team seem to be able to interpret the user research and use their expertise to improve the content in each sprint. For example they have considered the reading age.

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • the team should join the design system slack channel and have a close relationship with the design system community. #govuk-design-system on cross-gov is the place to go for general support and if they want input from the community
  • the team should add their rationale and any relevant research findings on the notification banner github page: https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-design-system-backlog/issues/2
  • the team should test the accessibility of green buttons on a page, because it’s not necessarily clear what the main action is, together with the placement in the right column undermines the idea that they’re main actions

5. Make sure everyone can use the service

Decision

The service met point 5 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the service team has used a range of research methods to test the service
  • the service was tested with users from different levels of ability on the digital inclusion scale.
  • the service was tested with user from a range of access needs
  • the team has efficiently synthesised the insights from the research and adapted the designs.

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • the team has focused on one user group; users who need to renew their driving licence and have a  UK passport. Next  they should test the service with other user groups to collect insights about broken journeys and learn what can be done to improve them.
  • when the team comes to the beta assessment they should have integrated the other features in the service so more user groups can use the service not just people with UK passport.

6. Have a multidisciplinary team

Decision

The service met point 6 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the team is well resourced with all major DDaT disciplines well represented
  • the team is well engaged with their governance structures and policy to ensure any required changes can be easily researched in future discoveries and resourced at pace

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • the team could consider getting a dedicated content designer for consistency across the evolve programme of work
  • demonstrate to the beta panel where contractor/supplier based roles are being replaced by full time staff when the service is in live running

7. Use agile ways of working

Decision

The service met point 7 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the service is mature for an alpha with a clear plans through beta and into live
  • the team has been working in sprints and have a well blended team of developers and user researchers

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • the team should demonstrate at beta how the data they have started to generate from the service analytics has been added to the work backlog and will inform future stages of development

8. Iterate and improve frequently

Decision

The service met point 8 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the service team demonstrated throughout the assessment how user research was being used to inform future iterations of the service delivery
  • the service team were aware of the current policy constraints around signatures and destruction of old licences and demonstrated where the service could make improvements in these areas

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • the team should add the points to explore from within this alpha report and work in an agile way to address them in future sprints

9. Create a secure service which protects users’ privacy

Decision

The service met point 9 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the service team explained which data they would be storing and for what purpose.

  • the service team demonstrated that their data retention policy complied with GDPR regulations.

  • the service had been deployed using best practices to protect sensitive data in their cloud infrastructure.

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

10. Define what success looks like and publish performance data

Decision

The service met point 10 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that the team:

  • even at the alpha stage the team had considered how to collect analytical data to drive service performance

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • ensure a dedicated performance / analytic insight lead from the service team presents to the performance analyst assessor on the beta assessment panel

11. Choose the right tools and technology

Decision

The service met point 11 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the infrastructure uses cloud best practice and the appropriate cloud managed services for the service.

  • the GOV.UK Frontend will replace the existing non-compliant service frontend, which will maintain accessibility requirements and provide consistency with other gov.uk services.

  • the service has been designed to remove dependencies on the legacy D90 system where possible.

What the team needs to explore

Before the next assessment, the team needs to:

  • investigate how development environments can be run more efficiently within sustainability guidelines.

  • provide more detail about how remaining dependencies on the legacy system will be removed and how this aligns with the Evolve platform timelines.

12. Make new source code open

Decision

The service met point 12 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the service team will continue to make their source code open which will benefit other departments developing similar services: https://github.com/dvla.

  • DVLA has an open sourcing strategy which will be employed by the service team.

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • publish the relevant service components on the DVLA github repository

13. Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns

Decision

The service met point 13 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the service uses GOV.UK Notify for notifications.

  • the service uses the Ordnance Survey Places API for addressing.

  • the service uses GOV.UK Pay for payment.

  • the GOV.UK Frontend has been incorporated into the service.

What the team needs to explore

Before their next assessment, the team needs to:

  • investigate how the Passport Office perform photo image validation and any commonality it has with the DVLA Image utility.

14. Operate a reliable service

Decision

The service met point 14 of the Standard.

What the team has done well

The panel was impressed that:

  • the team will be running the service on a fully managed cloud platform (AWS UK) to provide a reliable service

  • the team were taking advantage of the monitoring features that the managed AWS platform provides.

What the team needs to explore

Before the next assessment, the team needs to:

  • provide more detailed documentation regarding disaster recovery, service level agreements and non-functional requirements for the service

  • provide more information regarding performance testing

Published 28 November 2023
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