With public finances under enormous pressure and new complexities arriving daily, departments and agencies need their digital services to deliver the best possible return on every pound they invest.
Could their case management systems be holding them back?
Ideally, these systems provide simple routes through mazes of complexity. Enquire, apply, praise or complain, they’ll show you what to do and how to do it. In many ways, case management systems are the archetypes of digital government efficiency because they were designed to make critical services work at scale for service users.
Designed for users, yes, but always manifested according to that design? No.
Why leaving users behind costs money
“Start with user needs” is the preeminent service design principle. When digital services align to how users live their lives, they work brilliantly. Which in turn means low demand on other resources, no one ‘lost in the system’, and smooth workflows for busy teams: that’s what makes things efficient.
The aim of user-centred design is to keep services accessible, inclusive and efficient at all stages of the agile process. In theory, a deep understanding of user needs combined with detailed journey mapping keeps the user front of mind from the initial research stage right through to live operation.
Yet when it comes to the design and evolution of case management systems, the reality is different because the stakes are higher. What seems like ‘one system’ is actually an ecosystem of platforms, users and data sources that must function seamlessly from end to end. Even with the best laid plans, there are multiple stops where the user can get left behind, creating inefficiencies along the way.
Six drivers of case management costs
- The wrong point of origin: Some systems start life supporting a single transaction or enabling just one department to implement a policy. They can evolve up to a point, but these narrow foundations often lead to manual workarounds, which can grow in cost and user impact as services expand.
- Diverse user communities: Understanding users in both their individuality and their operational context will help to deliver smooth services. Complex case management might involve hundreds of different agencies and communities, each with multiple user types, making things hard from the start.
- Difficult journeys: Some users are involved from end-to-end, some only for one stage. Others may come in and out several times, complicating journey mapping and generating long lists of pain points and happy paths.
- Complex connections: Many users will interact with – knowingly or not – a raft of other systems along the way, and this needs careful consideration. Because these systems will themselves evolve, either in a planned user-centric manner, or more challengingly and disruptively, as a consequence of introducing AI and process automation into the mix.
- Infrastructure impacts: Usage will fluctuate, sometimes wildly. Unexpectedly high volumes need to be anticipated and designed for, because users expect high performance regardless of demand. The management of sensitive data to audit-ready standards may also require higher security requirements than usual.
- Frequent changes: With services such as grants and license management, eligibility tends to shift over time. Add in the potential length of the end-to-end process, and case management can become vulnerable to policy changes that derail even well-mapped journeys.
The challenge is not just designing around user needs, but ensuring systems can continue to support those needs as complexity, scale and change increase over time.
Taking a user-first and iterative approach from discovery to live helps to counterbalance these issues and manage the complexity of the end-to-end journey. Recognising that change is inevitable means avoiding costly lock-ins and hard-coded technology.
Yet even for simple services, constraints encountered in later phases can push the user into second place, affecting uptake and efficiency. Even before then, proving that a service meets the Government Service Standard for user journeys might be hard if the operating model will impact the experience. And failing those assessments can lead to costly re-designs.
It is important to recognise that user needs do not trump business needs, such as legislative compliance and financial prudence; they are, or should be, complementary to them. Aligning the needs of the business with those of the user, and vice versa, is an important element of service design.
Exploring better ways to move forward
From decades of experience, we’ve seen that user-centred design adds real value – not just at the start of the agile process, but throughout development and into live operation.
This includes our work developing a new case management system for the Police Digital Service. GDS assured, the Asset Recovery IT service is designed to support more than 180 agencies and Police Forces in managing the measured sale and disposal of the proceeds of crime. By working closely with police officers, financial investigators, prosecutors and local authorities, the service has been shaped to meet diverse user needs while maintaining efficiency at scale.
More broadly, addressing the cost drivers requires a shift in how services are designed, delivered and evolved over time. Case management is not a single system or phase but an ongoing journey; one that must balance usability, operational performance and adaptability in equal measure.
To find out more about our unique user-centred approach to the development of case management systems, please visit our website.