The Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy (CHDE) has adopted a new digital policy to deliver better experiences to members of the public dealing with the Queensland Government.
The Department said the Digital services policy replaced Websites policy (IS26) and was based on the Australian Government’s Digital service standard.
“The policy requires digital services meet all 13 criteria in the Digital service standard when developing or significantly altering Government digital information, products and services,” CHDE said.
“Agencies will need to assess new or redeveloped high-volume transactional digital services against the criteria, using the assessment framework, to be able to demonstrate they comply with the Standard.”
The Department said a new Queensland Government design system with reusable design patterns and components was being developed to help designers and developers across Government build consistent, accessible, user-focused experiences, which would comply with the Standard.
“The transition plan for the Digital services policy supports the staged adoption of the policy with three phases over six years,” it said.
“Services with the greatest customer reach and impact should be prioritised first to deliver value early.”
CHDE said the benefits of the new policy included being able to broaden scope to digital services, not just websites; strengthen design efforts in a more contemporary and customer-focussed way; align with best practice and other Australian jurisdictions; and move to WCAG2.1 AA accessibility.
It said guidance and tools would be available to assist Agencies transition to the Digital service standard, including a 50-minute online information session this Thursday (17 March).
Registration for the information session can be accessed at this PS News link.
