Test the digital service

• Test the product or service with users.
• Test the product or service for usability, security, and performance load.
• Have a business continuity and roll-back plan.

All government services should be clear, simple and easy to use, regardless of the technology your users use, their expertise with the subject matter, or their level of digital skill.

You cannot wait until the service is live to discover problems that stop people from using the service. You need to rigorously and comprehensively test every part of the service during development.

The depth of your testing should reflect the scale and nature of the digital service.

During Alpha stage you should be testing your prototypes with users.

As you move into Beta stage and then onto Live stage, you need to be able to show:

• the steps required to achieve an end-to-end service delivery outcome for the user
• the testing environment; using test plans, real world scenarios and user stories
• the deployment environment
• ability to create new environments quickly and easily
• that your service can perform under expected loads with suitable scale contingencies
• you understand the systems you need and the testing environments for non-digital parts of the service
• that users can seamlessly move between channels as required
• how you explored integrating automated testing into the deployment process
• you have a business continuity plan and a roll-back option.

Web application security testing guideline

• 18F Testing Cookbook (Opens in new window)
• GOV.UK Service Manual Test your services performance