Whole of Government
Digital Services Policy
Document Control
The Western Australian Whole of Government Digital Services Policy: version 1 - May
2016
Produced and published by: Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Acknowledgements The Policy was developed in collaboration with the Western Australian
public sector agencies.
Contact:
Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
2 Havelock Street
WEST PERTH WA 6005
Telephone: (08) 6552 5444
Email: policy@gcio.wa.gov.au
Document version history
Date
Author
Version
Revision Notes
May 2016
OGCIO
1
Release
This document, the Western Australian Whole of Government Digital Services Policy,
Version 1 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you attribute the
Government of Western Australia (Office of the Government Chief Information Officer) as
author, indicate if changes were made, and comply with the other licence terms. The licence
does not apply to any branding or images.
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
Attribution: © Government of Western Australia (Office of the Government Chief Information
Officer) 2016
Notice Identifying Other Material and/or Rights in this Publication:
The Creative Commons licence does not apply to the Government of Western Australia Coat of
Arms. Permission to reuse the Coat of Arms can be obtained from the Department of Premier
and Cabinet.
The cover image by Ellagrin is reproduced with the permission of istock.
Purpose
The purpose of the whole-of-government Western Australian Government Digital Services Policy (Policy) is
to provide a position for the provision and management of Western Australian (WA) Government’s digital
service offerings for the community.
Background
With technology advances, the online environment has become a preferred and convenient method for
most, allowing 24/7 access to information and services. As Australians turn to the internet to obtain
government information and services, the WA Government needs to adapt and take full advantage of the
internet channel and deliver online services that benefit citizens and meet their needs. In turn digital service
offerings are a more cost effective method to provide real time services to the community compared to over
the counter transactions.
Objective
The Policy aims to:

Transform government processes and provide services through the appropriate digital channels.

Design services that are based on citizen needs and life events.

Deliver discoverable services that are current, reliable and accessible anytime, anywhere, using any
device.

Deliver services that are digital by design and digital by default.
The objective is to provide more than 75% high quality citizen focused government service transactions
digitally by 2020.
Scope
The Policy applies to all WA Government digital presence initiatives.
Policy Requirements

Web presence only sites must be enhanced to provide additional interactivity; and progress to an
interactive and integrated service delivery state.

Actively seek opportunities to collaborate with other agencies to deliver citizen-focussed digital services
that are connected and consistent.

All online presence must deliver a unified consistent presence across channels to enable better user
experience for Western Australian citizens.

All digital presence must be actively monitored and assessed against stated business objectives. All
digital presences that are no longer current, required or are redundant must be decommissioned.

Undertake ongoing user research, usability testing and measure user satisfaction to continuously inform
digital service improvement.

Comply with relevant Commonwealth, state, territory and local government legislation, policies and
standards.
Related Guidance
Agencies will need to ensure this Policy, is incorporated into existing business processes for continuous
improvement and operates within any applicable legislative, policy and strategic frameworks. Supporting
standards and guidance is available from the Office of the GCIO website – www.gcio.wa.gov.au.
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Definition of Terms
Citizen-focussed digital services: Provide digital services which are more responsive to the needs of
people from diversified community groups within our society.
Digital by design: “Digital by design refers to information that has been designed, from the outset, to be
consumed online – or digitally.”1
Digital services refer to “conducting government services through digital channels rather than offline
alternatives like phone, post or face-to-face conversations”. Digital services can be either transactional or
information services. Transactional services in government are defined as: “an exchange of money, goods,
services, permissions, licences or information between the government and a service user, resulting in a
change to a government system” (e.g. submitting a claim, updating contact details). Information services
refer to “services which help users to better understand and interact with government” (e.g. agency
website, publications).2
Digital presence is the collection of an agency’s digital services, which include information services like
static websites through to transactional government services like online payments.
Interactive online presence refers to more sophisticated website that enables a number of key business
transactions to be conducted online, such as payments, applications, registrations, enrolments, account
enquiries, service delivery enquiries, requests for information and services, interaction, consultation and
information sharing with citizen provided through a number of facilities.
Integrated Service Delivery: The type of facilities described under ‘Interaction’ have been extended to
cover all the main lines of business and the online services provided are fully integrated with other delivery
channels available (e.g. shopfront, telephone). A citizen can move seamlessly between available delivery
channels (e.g. start a transaction online, enquire on its progress by telephone and complete the transaction
face-to-face) without having to restart the business they want to do or complete the whole transaction
online.
Life event is a major event that changes in a person’s circumstances, for example: marriage, divorce,
giving birth, loss of job, coming of age, etc.
Online presence is the collection of an agency’s online initiatives and can include website, blog, social
media pages as well as discussion forum comments and reviews.
Web presence refers to website composed of mostly static pages providing information about the
organisation, policy statements, website’s function, services provided and contact information,
downloadable forms and documents.
1
Good practice publishing for Australian Government entities, June 2015.
This content has been adapted from the Digital Service Standard; Australian Government Digital Transformation
Office. https://www.dto.gov.au/standard/scope-of-standard/.
2
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