FASTER
Overview.
The Challenge.
As part of the programme, Digi2al was tasked with supporting the development of a FASTER platform as a service (PaaS), adopting a modern architecture and development environment to enable secure and remote development, integration, and testing. Digi2al was brought in to deliver a supplier-focused user centred research approach, which would prioritise engagement with the supplier community to capture their specific needs before and throughout development.
The Solution
Our User Research team worked closely with the developers to create research interviews and design a demo of the platform.
The team carried out:
- One-to-one interviews and 1.5-hour group sessions with the wider development team, delving into the platform's components and asking practical questions about how the platform would operate.
- End-to-end process walkthroughs, from Statement of Requirement announcements to awarding work and in-house development.
Our approach allowed suppliers to express, in detail, exactly what they needed from the platform, and led to 68 recommendations across eight themes.
To make the insights actionable, we categorised the recommendations into high, medium, and low rankings based on evidence, with each recommendation mapped to relevant service areas, such as support, onboarding, and upfront information. We then held one-on-one sessions with Service Capability Leads and iHUB team members to reprioritise these recommendations based on team capacity and implementation difficulty.
The Results.
The confidence that decisions were underpinned by evidence and user needs marked an enormous step forward for the Programme. By taking a user-led approach, we have not only given suppliers confidence in the programme’s decision making but also ensured that future solutions are more likely to be adopted and effective from the start, reducing the potential need for costly rework.
The recommendations are now integrated into the programme’s work plans, with many already being actioned. For example, suppliers will soon benefit from improved upfront information and longer bidding timescales, directly reflecting their feedback. This ongoing commitment to user research will continue to shape the development processes, ensuring the Programme delivers a platform that truly meets the needs of users.
Project highlights.
