Department
Service Standards and Assurance
Owns the Commonwealth Service Standard, runs the assessment panel every public service must pass before launch, and publishes the results.
What this directorate does
Service Standards and Assurance decides whether a public service is good enough to be used by the public. The directorate maintains the Commonwealth Service Standard, convenes the independent assessment panels that apply it, and publishes every assessment report — including the ones that record a service was not ready.
It also runs the spend control process. A department planning to spend more than 500,000 crowns on a digital service needs the directorate's agreement before it commits, which in practice means showing the work has been researched with the people who will use it.
Responsibilities
- Maintaining and versioning the Commonwealth Service Standard
- Convening independent assessment panels and publishing their reports
- Operating digital spend controls across the Commonwealth
- Training and accrediting service assessors in departments
- Reassessing live services every three years
Services run by this directorate
Book a service assessment
Book the independent panel review that every Commonwealth public service must pass before it launches to the public.
Guidance maintained by this directorate
The Commonwealth Service Standard
The fourteen points every Commonwealth public service is assessed against before it launches, and every three years after that.
Preparing for a service assessment
What an assessment panel will ask, what evidence to bring, and the reasons teams are most often asked to return.
Writing for public services
How to write service content people understand first time, including the Commonwealth's rules on terminology, tone, and reading level.