Guidelines for Improving Digital Services

The Digital Services Advisory Group and the Federal Web Managers Council have developed the following guidelines to meet the 6.1 milestone of the Digital Government Strategy. These recommendations apply to all digital services, including Web, mobile, apps, APIs, and online forms.

Guidelines

1. Digital Strategy

Integrate your digital presence into your agency’s overall business, communications, and customer experience strategy

2. Governance, Policies, and Standards

Establish a digital governance structure to provide accountability and enforce policies and standards

3. Cross-Agency Collaboration and Shared Services and Tools

Leverage existing infrastructure, shared tools, best practices, and communities of practice, and coordinate within and across agencies to create efficiency and reduce duplication

4. Technical Considerations

Leverage existing infrastructure, shared tools, best practices, and communities of practice, and coordinate within and across agencies to create efficiency and reduce duplication

5. Content Quality

Ensure digital content is accurate, relevant, easy-to-use, and conveyed in plain language

6. Open, Sharable Content

Publish information in ways that make it easy to find, access, share, distribute, and re-purpose

7. Usability and Accessibility

Ensure that digital services are easy to use and accessible, including for people with disabilities and those who aren’t proficient in English

8. Privacy and Security

Minimize risks associated with privacy and security

9. User Feedback

Collect and address customer feedback

10. Evaluation

Regularly evaluate all digital products for performance and cost effectiveness