Our principles for change
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
Simplicity is the overarching objective for all the improvement and change within the areas covered by this strategy.
We want to develop simple:
- digital services where residents can find the information they need
- processes that deliver exactly what the customer needs when they need it.
- online forms and intuitive processes that can be used without help.
If residents do need help, we'll offer help for those who need it, which are fully covered within other sections of this DDaT strategy.
To achieve this, our DDaT strategy guiding principles are:
Leaders have DDaT knowledge and skills to meet future challenges
For this DDaT Strategy to become embedded within the organisation, all council leaders must understand the principles of DDaT and maintain a transformational mindset.
The following DDaT essentials will be included within our leadership and management training programme to help our Senior Managers, Elected Members and staff:
- adapt to the growing availability and influence of data
- learn the skills and knowledge they need to tackle the challenges of the future.
The priority is to focus this development on Medway Leaders, but there will also be a wider workforce development plan to embed DDaT skills and knowledge across all staff.
Cyber security
We expect that all our managers and staff will understand how we manage cyber security risks along with the specific roles our staff play in mitigating these risks
Cyber security is a strategic risk for us and there are many automatic controls in place to protect systems and staff from malicious attacks.
Cyber security awareness training is delivered to all staff via our Meta Compliance platform.
This allows us to:
- monitor who has attended training
- send “nag reminders” to those who still need to complete the training
- provides the option to make the training mandatory by preventing login access to council devices until the training has been successfully completed.
Digital
We expect all our managers and staff to:
- understand to DDaT strategy and objectives and know which digital services it provides
- explain the benefit of agile and hybrid ways of working and support these methods through leadership
- understand and uphold the Digital Service Standards and have a basic understanding of accessibility requirements and where to get more advice
- understand and uphold the process for new requests for digital services.
Data
We expect all our managers and staff to:
- understand the value of good quality data
- support ethical data practices
- know how to mitigate bias in decision making
- demonstrate the use of data in evidence-based decision making, using techniques for analysis, and interpretation (such as data visualisation)
- uphold data standards and ensure data protection best practice and regulations (including GDPR) are always followed
- understand and apply Information Governance to manage and share information and data appropriately.
Technology
We expect all our managers and staff to:
- have a basic understanding of the most common technologies that underpin digital services, including APIs, cloud computing and artificial intelligence
- be comfortable with the common vocabulary of the technology industry and feel confident asking questions
- understand the importance of addressing legacy issues within complex systems, particularly regarding cyber security.
Customer centric service design
We expect all our managers and staff to:
- understand that customers and end-users are at the heart of what we do and encourage user research to understand user needs
- understand that our digital services must be carefully designed to meet user needs
- research customer and user journeys to provide a joined up experience.
- understand that public sector services must be accessible to all users and ensure that accessibility regulations and best practice are followed.
Transformational mindset
We expect all our managers and staff to:
- demonstrate innovation in the design and development of services, operations and policy
- encourage others to pursue relevant DDaT opportunities
- know how to access and work with experts to meet the demand for digital services, manage the resources required, and decide if and how to outsource
- show the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach by working with a range of teams and experts to develop high quality digital services.