APPENDIX D. CUSTOMER JOURNEY
Introduction
This gives an overview of how the citizen will access Local Authority service information via Directgov. It has been written mainly for Local Authorities to understand the "customer journey" and processes used to enable the user to access the correct service page within the appropriate Local Authority website. It is only an overview, and has been written whilst the technical solution is still being designed and implemented.
A PowerPoint presentation will also be made available to complement this paper, through graphical representations of the web pages through which the user will journey.
Once Local Authorities have supplied the data necessary for their own site(s) to be accessed, they will be invited to trial and test customer journeys to their own site, to verify that the solution does operate properly, and does not "misinterpret" their site.
Overall Journey
The customer will enter Directgov (www.direct.gov.uk). By browsing through the standard navigation structure currently used within Directgov, the customer can access an article in the site relating to the "service" or "interaction" (transaction) required. Alternatively, the customer may also search the site to reach the required article.
Note: It is NOT intended in this paper to describe the architecture of the Directgov site in any detail. Readers unfamiliar with Directgov are advised to look at the site at www.direct.gov.uk and experiment with the navigation and search facilities provided.
The customer will reach an article giving details of the service and/or interaction. The number of articles present on Directgov for services which are delivered by Local Authorities is being increased significantly in November 2005, with links to Local Authority sites added in January 2006.
At present, where the service is delivered by local government, a link on the article page is used to access a list of Local Authorities. This will be replaced by the new facility known as "Local Directgov" (although the customer will still consider him/herself to be inside the Directgov site).
The customer will be passed to a page asking the user to identify:
- either, the Local Authority whose service they wish to access
- or, the location of the service they desire, which will be used to identify the Local Authority(ies) for that location.
When the customer has entered these details satisfactorily, the site will use these two key pieces of information - the service/interaction and the Local Authority to link the customer to the appropriate page within the Local Authority site. Once linked to the target Local Authority site, the customer will be able to use the full range of functions of that site, as if he/she had entered it directly. Return to the Directgov site will be by closing or minimising the Local Authority window.
The diagram summarises the basic customer journey, and the next section explains each step in the process in some more detail.
Journey Stages
The numbers in this section refer to the stages in the above diagram
1. Customer Enters Directgov
2. Customer browses Directgov for article on required service and interaction
3. Customer searches Directgov for article on required services and interaction
The customer will use the standard browsing and search facilities within Directgov.
4. Customer reaches the required article for a service / interaction delivered by local government
The number of articles relating to local government services in Directgov is being significantly increased. Most citizen-focused services represented on the Local Government Service List (LGSL) will have an article (Directgov does not cater for business-focused services). For most services, the article will refer to the overall service (which will be interpreted as relating to the "providing information" interaction). For some services, the customer will additionally be able to choose one or more other interactions (e.g. making a payment, making an application etc.)
Each article page for a local government service will link to Local Directgov which will give the customer the choice of selecting the Local Authority or specifying the location of the service.
5. Customer selects desired Local Authority
If the customer opts to select the Local Authority, he / she will be able to do this by either:
- inputting the name of the Local Authority
or
- using maps to select the Local Authority
In the former case, Local Directgov will match the name input with a table of Local Authority names. It will be able to cope with misspellings, and partial names. Where two or more authorities could be possible, the alternative authorities will be displayed for the customer to select. Local Directgov will also check whether the service required is provided by the level of authority selected (i.e. unitary, county, district etc), and will prompt the customer to re-select if it is not.
If the customer opts to use the map facility, he / she will be provide with three levels of maps to drill down to the required authority. When the customer has selected an authority, Local Directgov will then check that the service is provided by that level of authority (as above)
6. Customer specifies desired location of the service / interaction
7. Location details are used to identify the most appropriate Local Authority
If the customer opts to enter a location, he / she will be able to do this by inputting either
- a postcode
or
- town and street name
In the former case, if the postcode is valid, Local Directgov will look-up and select the appropriate authority(ies) providing the required service for that postcode. Partial postcodes and postcodes which lie across council boundaries will result in the customer being asked to select from a list of town, street and postcodes.
In the latter case, the customer will be able to enter the town name, the street name, or both. Local Directgov will validate this against a table of street and town names to identify the one or two authorities covering that location. If the information provided is ambiguous, the customer will be asked to select from a more detailed list.
8. Service / interaction and Local Authority details are used to look up the URL of the target site
Local Directgov will then use the combination of service / interaction details and the Local Authority details to look up the URLs of the most appropriate pages on the websites of the identified councils. The customer will be presented with a primary URL link to the page for the requested service / interaction in the one or two authorities selected (note that some services are delivered at both tiers of local government in the same area).
Additionally, the customer may be given
- related URL links - to the pages for related service and interactions within the same authority(ies)
- neighbouring LA links - to the pages for the requested service / interaction in neighbouring authorities to the one(s) selected (note that these links will only be shown for services which may be open to the residents of neighbouring councils)
9. Customer is linked to the most appropriate page of the target website
The customer will click on the link that he / she wishes to view, and will be transferred into the appropriate page within the selected authority's website. The customer will be notified that he / she is being transferred from Directgov to an external site
10. Customer accesses the service and is free to use the full functionality of the target site
Once transferred to the council site, the customer will be able to make full use of that site, and will not be restricted to the link page. If the customer wishes to return to Directgov, he / she will do so by closing or minimising the Local Authority screen.
The above description of the customer journey has not covered the detailed experience when errors or ambiguities are detected by Local Directgov. In general, the customer will be notified of the nature of the problem, and given options to correct it by, for example, choosing from a list of options or repeating a stage or providing additional information. The customer can abort the transaction in a controlled fashion at any time.
Screen Designs
PowerPoint presentation of the wire frames of the above journey is available on the Local Directgov website at: www.localegov.gov.uk/localdirectgov