Digital Service Standard

Services covered by the Digital Service Standard

The Service Standard is mandatory and applies to informational and transactional digital services that are:

subject to the requirements of the Investment Oversight Framework (IOF)
new or replacement public-facing services
new staff-facing services
all existing public-facing services.

Informational services provide information to users, such as reports, fact sheets or videos. They may include:
- government agency websites
- smart answers and virtual assistants
- e-learning
- publications
- online libraries
- databases and data warehouses.

Transactional services lead to a change in government-held records, typically involving an exchange of information, money, licences or goods.
Examples of transactional services include:
- logging in to a portal or platform
- submitting a claim
- registering a business
- updating contact details
- lodging a tax return
- subscribing to newsletters
- grant applications
- public consultation submissions.

Staff facing services provide information to government employees or support employee transactions. They may include:
- intranets
- learning management systems
- records management systems
- case/client management systems
- decision-making systems
- any systems or platforms utilised by staff.
'For more information on how ‘portals’ are defined, please refer to the Australian Government Architecture (AGA).

Implementation timeline

For new and replacement public-facing services, the Service Standard came into effect on 1 July 2024.
For new and replacement staff-facing services, the Service Standard came into effect on 1 July 2024.
For existing public-facing services, the Service Standard came into effect on 1 July 2025.

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Meeting the Digital Service Standard