The requirements for each criterion are listed below, along with a brief description and best practice guidance to meet the requirements.
Criterion 1 – Have clear intent
Criterion requirements
To successfully meet this criterion, agencies need to:
- develop a business case for change
- survey the policy and service landscape
- understand the service’s lifecycle
- adopt an agile methodology.
For existing services, this means that agencies should have clearly identified the purpose for the service, the problem it is addressing and the whole of government priorities it is contributing towards.
Concepts or actions to address
- The current problem statement for the service is clear and addressed: Consider the problems the service needs to solve and why they are important. Clearly state the risks of actionand inaction, who might be impacted by the service, potential barriers to success and any knowledge gaps.
- Government priorities the service is contributing towards have been identified: Review government policies and existing initiatives and map the problem to relevant strategic objectives and priorities. Engage with stakeholders involved in related government initiatives to gain insights into government approaches and successes.
Optional: Describe how the digital service complies with this criterion, referencing best practice approaches deployed where possible.
Compliance through the IOF
Compliance information helps the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) provide government with advice on how agencies are supporting whole-of-government strategies. Compliance and performance data is used to monitor the government’s digital ecosystem.
As part of this, DTA identify exemplary services as well as systems or areas requiring uplift.
Factoring compliance into the Investment Oversight Framework (IOF)
Compliance is factored into the IOF through:
- DTA’s advice to government ensures proposals are robust and meet whole-of-government digital standards
- the development of an agency’s Assurance Plan for their proposal in accordance with the Assurance Framework for digital and ICT Investments.
Commitment to DX Policy and standards
When providing advice to government, DTA factors in a proposal’s ability to demonstrate a commitment to comply with:
- the DX Policy
- the DX Policy supporting standards.
More information
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Purpose
The Compliance, reporting and exemption guide helps government understand compliance, reporting and exemption processes for their digital service under the Digital Experience Policy.
The guide contains information about:
- the Digital Experience Policy (DX Policy)
- compliance and reporting under the DX Policy
- standards that apply to existing and new or replacement digital services
- compliance processes through the Investment Oversight Framework (IOF)
- exemption types, exemption application processes and scenarios.
This guide provides information about DX Policy processes. It does not provide guidance on meeting the criteria set out within each standard. For information about criteria, visit digital.gov.au/policy/digital-experience.
Existing services
All existing, public facing services are required to comply with the:
Any future reporting requirements will be for services with more than 50,000 end-to-end transactions or page visits per year.
New or replacement services
New or replacement services which are subject to the Investment Oversight Framework (IOF) must apply the Digital Experience Policy and any applicable standards across all states of the IOF.
Agencies are required to demonstrate compliance through the Digital Transformation Agency's existing data collection activities that support the IOF, including:
- Digital Prioritisation Data Collection Process
- Digital Capability Assessment Process (DCAP)
- Assurance Framework
- Approved Programs Collection.
If your digital service is subject to the IOF and you have questions about the existing data collection activities, email investment@dta.gov.au.
Exemption guidance
Exemption eligibility
Exemptions should only be sought where there are genuine barriers in applying the standards to a digital service, including:
- legacy technology barriers that cannot be reasonably overcome
- substantial financial burden associated with modifying a service to meet requirements.
myGov integration exemptions
Specific exemptions for the Digital Access Standard may be available for services considered for integration with myGov.
This may include:
- users not having access to myGov
- users being ineligible for a myGov account
- where it does not make sense for users to have a myGov account
- legislative or regulatory barriers preventing the service from being delivered via myGov
- circumstances where Services Australia has indicated that it is unable to onboard the service to myGov.
Exemption limits
Exemptions may apply to one or more criteria of a standard mandated by the DX Policy, or to an entire standard. Exemptions are not applied at a whole-of-policy level.
- Where an exemption from a standard is granted, it may be permanent, temporary, partial or full. Exemption applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis.
- On request, the DTA can work with agencies to interpret their eligibility for an exemption and support them through the exemption process.
Exemption scenarios
Examples of where a service may be granted an exemption if sufficient evidence is provided.
Sufficient evidence may include enhancement plans or future system changes, in line with the requirements of the relevant standard.
Digital Service Standard
An agency operates a grants system using technology that doesn’t easily support interoperability. This means it is not able to operate in conjunction with other systems.
The agency believes they can meet all Digital Service Standard requirements except Criterion 4 – Connect services. They would be exempt from designing for interoperability and joining services due to the limitations of the existing system.
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