Social Work England digital user research, user experience, accessibility and content

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Social Work England will become the regulator of social workers in England no earlier than Spring 2019. Social Work England will be a digital first organisation. Strategic services including a register of social workers, reporting a concern and enabling the finding of approved social work courses are required for the new SWE website on socialworkengland.org.uk. These need to be user-led and meet user need. We also need to ensure that each phase adheres and passes GDS service standards. As part of our wider programme for building the new organisation, the GDS compliant digital services will support the establishment of SWE. Problem to Be Solved - Discover an evolving understanding of SWE users and their user needs through user research, user experience and design to deliver the user research / user experience outcome for each project phase - Understand and articulate the accessible user needs - Contribute to overall development of bespoke services - Engaging content that meets user needs - Articulate the user needs through ceremonies and iterative user stories to other team meetings to ensure the products meet the needs Who Are the Users Our initial understanding: social workers, their employers, students, graduates, potential social workers, universities, regulators, local authorities, opinion-formers, media and press, political representatives (such as MPs and government researchers), and policy makers to report a concern, find an approved course, look at the register of social workers, see reports, find education information, find consultation and corporate information, news and contact details the general public to report a concern, look at the register of social workers, find about us information, reports and contact details potential employees to find recruitment information and contact details. They need to access the service 24/7. Early Market Engagement Work Already Done An interim website due to go live in April 2018 for transitional information (not offering full services). Logo and digital branding. Pre-discovery on the strategic project has included research on exemplar regulators and service design. Two sprints of Discovery have taken place for SWE digital services looking at finding a course and other core services. Networks have been contacted to build a database of users to talk to. An initial UR plan is drafted, user interviews have taken place for initial understanding of needs and the development of the first personas. Further partnering with other regulators to understand lessons learnt. Existing Team Two delivery managers, two product owners, Senior Responsible Owner, Digital Programme Manager, two business analysts, one senior user researcher, branding agency Design 102, one architect, regulator service design consultants, communications manager Current Phase Discovery Work Location Social Work England Department for Education/Department of Health 2 St Paul’s Place, 125 Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2FJ Working Arrangments Quasi co-located working. Attend daily stand-ups, ceremonies, show and tells face to face. Use Slack, Jira and other devices. Interviews and other work can be offsite. Informal status reports required weekly Work with the Agile team to deliver the outcomes facilitated by the SWE delivery manager/scrummaster. Security Clearance Additional T&Cs Skills & Experience Deliver user research, user experience, accessibility digital services within a multidisciplinary agile team, using visuals, iteration and prioritisation. Working as an inter-organisational team with team members in other organisation Deliver to GDS principles Demonstrable experience of rapid and iterative user research including for users with accessibility and assisted digital needs Demonstrable experience of rapid and iterative user experience prototypes and design Demonstrable experience of producing engaging content that meets user needs Presentation of progress and understanding using audio and visual media at show and tells and similar ceremonies. Demonstrable experience of working with organisations like Social Work England Nice to Haves No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria Evidence of delivering user research and user experience design activities and outputs in line with the Government Digital Service’s Design Principles and Digital Service Standard Evidence of delivering user research and user experience design activities for a digital service during an iterative development project Evidence of facilitating face-to-face and remote sessions with end users including those with accessibility needs Evidence of producing content that meets user needs based on an organisation’s draft Evidence of analysing and developing actionable recommendations from user research Cultural Fit Criteria Work as an inter-organisation team with our organisation and other suppliers Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions Take responsibility for their work Understand organisational goals Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Written proposal Work history Reference Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers Budget range up to £550,000 (exclusive of vat and expenses)