Digital Experience Policy checklist for existing services: Digital Inclusion Standard

Digital Inclusion Standard checklist

The Digital Inclusion Standard is made up of 5 criteria for designing and delivering inclusive and accessible digital government services through best practice principles. To successfully apply the standard, agencies must meet all the criteria.

The requirements for each criterion are listed below, along with a brief description and best practice guidance on how to meet the requirements.

Criterion requirements
To successfully meet this criterion, agencies need to:
1. Consider diverse user needs from the outset.
2. Co-design the digital service and its accompanying artifacts.
3. Apply cohort-specific digital inclusion requirements.
For existing services, this means that agencies should demonstrate that the service meets the varied needs and perspectives of a wide range of user groups.
Concepts or actions to address
- Understand the needs of your diverse users and how the experience of the service differs between individuals from diverse backgrounds:
  - Continuously involve users in the service delivery process by incorporating their perspectives, needs and feedback. Encourage shared ownership by co-designing accompanying artifacts, such as tutorials and guides, using language that is meaningful to all. Collect analytics and data and conduct interviews, surveys and observation on user needs, goals, expectations and behaviours.
- The service meets the needs of all cohorts that access the service:
  - Conduct regular usability testing with individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those with different abilities, ages and cultural contexts. Recognise that various aspects of a person’s identity, such as race, gender and age, all work together to shape their digital experience. Tailor the digital service to meet specific needs of user groups and promote inclusion to make sure support is provided at the appropriate level.
Optional
- Describe how the digital service complies with this criterion, referencing best practice approaches deployed where possible.
Criterion requirements
To successfully meet this criterion, agencies need to:
1. Communicate the benefits of adopting a digital channel.
2. Understand the motivations of your audience.
3. Make the digital service easy to use.
For existing services, this means that agencies must demonstrate evidence of how they have communicated the benefits of adopting a digital channel, understood the motivations of their audience and made the service easy to use.
Concepts or actions to address
- The service clearly communicates the benefits of going digital:
  - Provide clear and comprehensive information about the purpose and benefits of digital services. Where possible, highlight time savings, convenience and emphasise how these enhance the overall user experience. Use inclusive language and imagery, avoiding stereotypes and biases when communicating with your audience. Consider diverse cultural perspectives and make sure content is simple, respectful, and welcoming for all.
- Understand the motivations of the services’ targeted audience:
  - Use research and insights to understand the motivations of users and encourage them to remain engaged. This will help you understand if a service is too complicated or lacks support. To determine your current baseline of engagement, assess what proportion of your target audience engages online and work towards practices that encourage greater inclusion.
- The service is inclusive and usable for everyone:
  - Co-design the digital service and its artefacts with users, incorporating their perspectives needs and feedback to ensure ease of use.
Optional
- Describe how the digital service complies with this criterion, referencing best practice approaches deployed where possible.
Criterion requirements
To successfully meet this criterion, agencies need to:
1. Establish and maintain a safe digital environment for users.
2. Counter scams and misinformation.
3. Provide transparency and feedback loops.
For existing services, this means that agencies must have mechanisms in place to ensure the service is safe, counters scams and misinformation and provides transparency and feedback loops by users.
Concepts or actions to address
- There are processes in place to ensure a safe digital environment for users of the service:
  - Create psychological safety. Hate speech and online abuse impacts participation and inclusion. Establish clear community guidelines on acceptable behaviour and proactively moderate digital content. Where appropriate, leverage technology to identifying instances of malicious behaviour and align to best practices outlined by the eSafety Commission.
- The service has measures to counter scams and misinformation:
  - Many digital users have encountered scams, fraud and loss of personal information. These experiences impact attitudes towards digital use. Help to ‘build trust in design’ by supporting the work of the National Anti-Scams Centre and mitigate misinformation by supporting the work of the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
- Transparency and feedback loops are provided for users of the service:
  - Communicate the safety measures that are in place to safeguard users against potential threats. Set up clear communication channels to report safety concerns and commit to resolving issues promptly.
Optional
- Describe how the digital service complies with this criterion, referencing best practice approaches deployed where possible:
Criterion requirements
To successfully meet this criterion, agencies need to:
1. Make the digital service accessible.
2. Comply with legislation and standards, including the:
For existing services, this means that agencies must ensure that the service and content can be engaged with by all individuals and is compliant with applicable legislation and standards (addressed under the Digital Service Standard criterion 3).
Concepts or actions to address
- Make content accessible by default:
  - Simplify language, provide consistent navigation and minimise interface distractions to help users access content. Use proper heading structures, descriptive links and alternative text for images to enhance the user experience. Offer multilingual support to cater to a diverse range of users and use accurate translations that maintain the same level of accessibility.
- Leverage technology to ensure services are inclusive:
  - Leverage Australian Government technology and anticipate how emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, impact accessibility. Use automated accessibility testing, where appropriate, in addition to testing with real people. These tools help identify common issues and streamline the testing process.
- Keep services compatible with assistive technology:
  - Services remain inaccessible if they do not work with the tools users rely on. Keep technology compatible with assistive technologies such as keyboard inputs, voice commands and screen readers. Update software, plugins and third-party tools as your service evolves. As new features are deployed, give users time to learn the features and how to use them with assistive technologies.
- Include accessibility in procurement:
  - When procuring, determine if the proposed solution can be used by everybody. Include accessibility requirements in your procurement processes so vendors adhere to accessibility standards. Where appropriate, refer to established standards.
- Train your team in accessibility and inclusion practices:
  - Make sure teams are well-versed in accessibility principles and empower them to incorporate best practices throughout the service lifecycle. Engage with accessibility experts during the design and development process and use their insights to overcome potential accessibility challenges.
- Regularly update documentation:
  - Keep accessibility documentation current. This includes guidelines, standards and resources. Provide accessible support resources such as tutorials and contact information that will empower users to find the help they need, when they need it.
Optional
- Describe how the digital service complies with this criterion, referencing best practice approaches deployed where possible.
Criterion requirements
To successfully meet this criterion, you need to:
1. Provide flexibility and choice, where available, for how users engage with your digital service.
2. Create seamless experiences across service delivery channels.
For existing services, this means that agencies must ensure that the service provides flexibility and choice for users and support seamless experiences across delivery channels.
Concepts or actions to address
- The service provides users flexibility and choice in how they engage with it:
  Best practice approaches:
  - Responsive designs allow for compatibility across various devices and screen sizes, accommodating users who access services through different platforms.
  - Elements can be customised and adapted to allow personalised experiences. This may include flexible layouts, themes to support enhanced day and night vision and tailoring the interface to different devices. Include preferences for written, audio and visual information and other settings that enhance user comfort and accessibility.
  - Save and resume functionality allows users to complete tasks immediately, or later. This is beneficial for processes that may require multiple steps to complete or information gathering. Disperse information gradually to prevent overwhelm. Be mindful to provide enough time to complete tasks and avoid time constraints that may pose challenges to individuals with cognitive or motor disabilities.
- The service supports seamless experiences across delivery channels:
  - Users can move between service channels with ease. Consider the support users need for a complete service experience and maintain non-digital channels for those who need it. Map user experiences to identify pain points and opportunities and ensure a consistent look and feel across all channels, including websites, mobile apps and in-person interactions. Real-time data synchronising across all service channels (where possible). This prevents inconsistencies and lets users to access to the most up-to-date information regardless of where or how they interact with the service (if not possible, also mark this as complete).
Optional
- Describe how the digital service complies with this criterion, referencing best practice approaches deployed where possible:

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