Designing

At the designing stage, you choose the best methods to evaluate your service.

Types of evaluation

There are 3 main types of evaluation that help measure different aspects of service success:

1. Process evaluation
2. Impact evaluation
3. Value-for-money evaluation

Process evaluation

Process evaluation focuses on how the service is delivered. It helps answer questions like, "Is the service user-friendly and accessible?" and "Is it being delivered as planned?" For example, after launching an online application, process evaluation can help determine if users find it intuitive and easy to use.

Example: A public service website introduces a self-service tool for updating personal details. Process evaluation could track whether users can easily find the tool and complete the update without needing assistance.

Impact evaluation

Impact evaluation looks at the outcomes of the service to see if it achieved its goals. For a digital application portal, it might show whether the new system reduced processing times and improved user satisfaction.

Example: A council introduces a digital form for housing applications. Impact evaluation might assess how many applications are completed online compared to paper forms and whether processing times improved as expected.

Value-for-money evaluation

Value-for-money evaluation measures cost-effectiveness by comparing benefits to costs. This type of evaluation shows if the benefits, such as time saved or increased participation, justify the cost of developing and maintaining a service.

Example: After launching an e-learning platform, this evaluation could compare development and maintenance costs to the number of users and time saved compared to in-person training sessions.

Designing the evaluation

Choose methods based on your service goals. Consider tools like usability testing, analytics, or surveys to gather data. For a service update, a simple survey may be enough, but more complex services could benefit from detailed insights through user journey analysis.

By selecting the right evaluation methods, you ensure you get the data that matters most to assess service performance and identify areas for improvement.

Accessibility compliance

Planning for accessibility ensures everyone can use your service, including people with disabilities. You must consider accessibility from the start. This will meet legal requirements, improve user satisfaction, and create an inclusive service.

When designing your evaluation, check that the service meets standards like WCAG 2.2 AA. Use tools like WAVE or the Scottish Government’s Accessibility Cloud platform to identify issues such as missing alt text or poor colour contrast. Plan usability testing with a diverse group of users, including those who use assistive technologies such as screen readers.

Accessibility should also be part of your metrics. You can:

• track how often users with assistive devices encounter errors or complete tasks successfully, such as improving the task completion rate for screen reader users from 70% to 90% by fixing navigation issues
• include accessibility-related questions in user satisfaction surveys

Embed accessibility in the design phase. This will spot and fix barriers early. It will improve the user experience and cut costly fixes later.