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Standards and practices

Setting the right standards and working practices can enable your teams to deliver quality outcomes. Learn what has worked for others and see what you can introduce in your government transformation programs.

Technical standards

PublicCode.yml

Italy

publiccode.yml is a metadata standard for repositories containing open source software, aimed at making them easily discoverable and reusable by other entities. The standard is interoperable internationally.

Github | Forum

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Government of Canada Standards on APIs

Canada

Canadian government’s standards on Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which govern how APIs are to be developed across the Government of Canada to better support integrated digital processes across departments and agencies.

Website

Visits

API technical and data standards (v2 - 2019)

United Kingdom

UK government’s guidance on Application Programming Interface (API) shared standards.

Website

Visits

API Standards

United States

US government’s guidance on Application Programming Interface (API) standards that capture the General Services Administration’s recommended best practices, conventions, and standards for APIs.

Website | GitHub

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National API Design Standards (NAPIDS)

Australian Government Design Standards for Whole of Australian Government Application Programming Interfaces (API)s.

Website | GitHub

Visits

Best practices for government transformation programs

Ways of working for digital teams

British Columbia content design and strategy

British Columbia guidance for designing, testing and maintaining web content.

Website

ONS Visualisation Guidance

Guidance for writing about statistics, creating charts and tables, and using colour in data visualisations.

Website

Digital Principles for the Government of British…

Principles to guide the day-to-day work of BC Public Servants and contractors who are designing, developing, and delivering digital services.

Website | Github

Service Manual

The GOV.UK Service Manual provides resources on how to design and implement services that adhere to the Service Standards.

Website

Buying and hiring

Open Contracting Data Standards prototype…

A working prototype which helps users publish Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) compliant notices for invitations to tender, contracts awarded, and contract spend. It was produced by the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) Global Digital Marketplace Programme, and formally adopted by the Office of Chief Procurement Officer in the South African National Treasury, as part of a global anti-corruption prosperity programme.

Website | GitHub

Agile digital and IT projects: clarification…

UK government business case guidance for planning and approval of spending proposals for agile digital and IT projects.

Website

Digital Buying Guide

Website

TechFAR Handbook

Handbook for digital acquisition created by the US Digital Service.

Website

Conducting user research

User Research Library

Initiated by Hackney Council in the UK, this user research library collects UK local government user research.

Website

British Columbia Design Research Guide

The British Columbia Design Research Guide provides information on doing design research as a public servant.

Website | Github

Canadian Digital Service Design Research…

A design research handbook including methods, tools, and processes developed by and for the Canadian Digital Service.

Website | Github

Making accessible services

W3C Web Content Accessibility…

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) on how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.

Website

Pa11y

A suite of open source tools to help test and improve the accessibility of websites and digital services.

Website | Github

U.S. Accessibility Program - Section 508

A set of open source tools and resources from the U.S. Federal Government to help ensure websites and digital services are accessible.

Website

U.S. Plain Language

Laws, requirements, guidelines, training, and examples of writing plain language content for digital services.

Website | GitHub

Designing for the web

GOV.UK Frontend

GOV.UK Frontend contains the code to start building a user interface for UK government platforms and services.

Website | GitHub

Designers Italia

Designers Italia is the reference point for the design of digital public services for municipalities and and schools: models, kits and guides to facilitate design processes centered on citizens' needs.

Website | Github

United States Web Design System

The United States (US) Web Design System for the US federal government to build accessible, mobile-friendly websites for the public.

Website | GitHub

French Government Design System

Guidance and resources for designing French Government websites.

Website | Github

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Explore further

Explore policies and strategies of successful digital transformation

Explore policies and strategies

Explore open source software you can reuse to accelerate your digital transformation

Explore open source software

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