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We must begin digital projects by exploring and pinpointing the needs of the people who will use the service, and the ways the service will fit into their lives. Whether the users are members of the public or government employees, policy makers must include re...

We need to understand the different ways people will interact with our services, including the actions they take online, through a mobile application, on a phone, or in person. Every encounter — whether it’s online or offline — should move the user closer towa...

Using a government service shouldn’t be stressful, confusing, or daunting. It’s our job to build services that are simple and intuitive enough that users succeed the first time, unaided. Key Questions What primary tasks are the user trying to accomplish? ...

To improve our chances of success when contracting out development work, we need to work with experienced budgeting and contracting officers. In cases where we use third parties to help build a service, a well-defined contract can facilitate good development p...

There must be a single product owner who has the authority and responsibility to assign tasks and work elements; make business, product, and technical decisions; and be accountable for the success or failure of the overall service. This product owner is ultima...

We need talented people working in government who have experience creating modern digital services. This includes bringing in seasoned product managers, engineers, and designers. When outside help is needed, our teams should work with contracting officers who ...

The technology decisions we make need to enable development teams to work efficiently and enable services to scale easily and cost-effectively. Our choices for hosting infrastructure, databases, software frameworks, programming languages and the rest of the te...

Our services should be deployed on flexible infrastructure, where resources can be provisioned in real-time to meet spikes in traffic and user demand. Our digital services are crippled when we host them in data centers that market themselves as “cloud hosting”...

Today, developers write automated scripts that can verify thousands of scenarios in minutes and then deploy updated code into production environments multiple times a day. They use automated performance tests which simulate surges in traffic to identify perfor...

Our digital services have to protect sensitive information and keep systems secure. This is typically a process of continuous review and improvement which should be built into the development and maintenance of the service. At the start of designing a new serv...

At every stage of a project, we should measure how well our service is working for our users. This includes measuring how well a system performs and how people are interacting with it in real-time. Our teams and agency leadership should carefully watch these m...

When we collaborate in the open and publish our data publicly, we can improve Government together. By building services more openly and publishing open data, we simplify the public’s access to government services and information, allow the public to contribute...

You are currently assigned, or planning your upcoming performance, in one of the most exciting and impactful roles within your Agency. In FY2023, OMB released Memorandum A-11 which included a directive that SAPOCs must be included in the review and approval of...

Forming and developing a winning team as a SAPOC is essential for effectively driving shared service initiatives within the agency. You are supported by resources that have a vested interest in your success. There are people in your agency who believe in the i...

Task optimizations are your best opportunity to quickly make progress and gain support for Shared Services. Task-centered evaluations allow you to identify processes that can be optimized to reduce manual data entry, improve data accuracy, automate functions, ...

Removal of redundancies, sunsetting, and or consolidation of existing legacy systems may be of critical importance in your Agency. Evolving requirements, legislation, and guidelines can impact legacy systems, such as the impact of future FedRAMP requirements f...

Leading, influencing and advising your Agency’s Shared Service efforts across all major lines of business is a full contact sport. You will need to hone your coaching and mentorship skills to adjust to the unique needs of each operational area. Be mindful that...

You can leverage the SAPOC ecosystem as a powerful tool to drive success in managing Shared Service initiatives within your Agency. Initially, you should tap into the diverse network of SAPOC peers across different agencies, fostering collaboration and knowled...

A SAPOC succeeds by leveraging all available resources at their disposal to drive success in managing Shared Service initiatives within the agency. This means identifying and mobilizing a comprehensive array of resources, including human capital, financial inv...

An introspective SAPOC is one who consistently engages in self-reflection and self-assessment to enhance their effectiveness in driving shared service initiatives within their Agency. This involves regularly examining their own actions, decisions, and leadersh...