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Somerset Digital Channel Roadmap
This roadmap is for anyone who needs to understand future developments of the Somerset Digital Channel
Here are the overall objectives for somerset.gov.uk in 2024/25.
Run and maintain our existing live service, for example by:
Regularly reviewing our information, advice and guidance content to make sure it is accessible and accurate
Making sure our customers can access the information and transactions they need, when they need it
Improve our existing live service, for example by:
Transforming advice and guidance
Improving navigation across key user journeys
Replacing our search
Make our live service more efficient, for example by:
Simplifying and improving our platform to make future updates faster and more efficient
Standardising and streamlining our patterns and components to make development faster
Reviewing the use of AI and automation for content and development
Support initiatives where somerset.gov.uk is a key channel, for example by:
Supporting the transformation of our people services, including Connect Somerset
Supporting the devolution and decommissioning of our services
Helping our services to align
The Somerset Council digital offer comprises of various product groups, each with distinct objectives for the 2024/25 period.
The following sections describe our current plans for each group of products – what has been delivered recently, what we are working on now and what we plan to work on next. This is not an exhaustive list of everything we intend to do in 2024/25 and this page will be updated throughout the year.
Information, advice and guidance
This group of products gives users the information and guidance they need to understand the services Somerset Council offers and advice on how and when to use them. It includes our websites, transactions and the information used by our Customer Services.
The objectives for this group of products are to:
Maintain all existing information, advice and guidance
Improve key areas of existing information, advice and guidance
Retire content that is no longer needed
Support the transformation of information, advice and guidance for our services that are aligning
These are the specific things we are working on.
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Recently completed
Improved readability, spelling, grammar and fixed broken links on over 1900 pages. Our Silktide content score has risen from 72% to 86% since January 2024. This score reflects the quality of content for this website, including writing, accessibility, and SEO as rated by Silktide. Content accessibility is currently 95%
Developed and designed content for additional microsites and subsites including Care and Support for Adults and Smokefree Somerset.
Redesigning and decommissioning legacy information, such as ‘Self-build’ and licensing.
Reviewed and actioned over 1000 pieces of customer feedback and updated over 1700 web pages as part of service content maintenance and feedback
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Working on now
Developing and redesigning microsite content, including SCIL and HDRC – Health Determinate Research Collaboration
Redesigning our customer content journeys to match devolved services
Supporting with the co-production of content for our Somerset Local Offer
Improving the information, advice and guidance of our top 100 services
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Exploring or working on next
Supporting the review and content redesign of our people services frontend
Supporting our finance colleagues with Fees and Charges updates
Improve the structure of school admission guide pages
Continuing with the alignment of content to reflect our changing services, such as Housing Services and Planning
Accessing services
This group of products helps users to find, choose and interact with information, advice, and guidance or services. It includes service finders, directories, contact us and how to access physical services like libraries and car parks.
The objectives for this group of products are to:
Give users more relevant information about services that are available to them
Signpost users to non-council partners and services
Improve data quality for somerset.gov.uk and partners
These are the specific things we are working on:
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Recently completed
Built additional directories to let customers access more of our data or signpost to external services, including recent licence applications, warm spaces, and film locations.
Completed several content and developer accessibility fixes taking our average WCAG 2.1 accessibility score from 81% in September to 99% in January 2025
Created templates and tools to help with customer engagement on subsites, such as Jobs and Careers and Care and Support for Adults
Payment forms have been migrated from legacy systems to our new payment solution
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Working on now
Further work to improve the accessibility of our digital channels
Continuing moving unstructured and inaccessible information, advice, guidance and data into better formats
Improving the user journeys of our top 100 services
Developing or decommissioning user journeys to reflect service alignment or devolution
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Exploring or working on next
Improving how customers navigate somerset.gov.uk
Improving our Directory templates so the public and internal stakeholders find them easier and more accessible to navigate
Review of Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO’s) and removal of old records
Update the Alternative Provision directory to a digital directory and align with the new vetting process
Reviewing key user journeys in response to customer feedback, such as SEND Local Offer, report-it and waste
Transactional services
This group of transactional services lets users tell us about something, apply for something, pay for something or book something.
The objectives for this group of products are to:
Maintain our digital transactions
Make more of our services available digitally
Improve the usability of our transactions by making sure they are accessible, easy to use and meet our service standard
Support the decommission of legacy platforms and alignment of our services by recreating, rebuilding or redesigning transactions
These are the specific things we are working on:
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Recently completed
Created a consistent user experience in more than 200 transactions across our legacy systems
Supported the design of our ePayment provider consolidation project
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Working on now
Optimising transactions for our top 100 services
Ongoing digitisation of non-electronic forms and transactions
Improving the accessibility of our transactions by updating any that do not meet WCAG guidelines
Creating a directory to hold essential information about our digital services for our service and internal customers
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Exploring or working on next
Continued consolidation and alignment of transactions
Creating a single pipeline for the design, development and management of customer-facing transactions
Developing or decommissioning transactions to reflect service alignment or devolution
Platform
This group of products affects all or large portions of the Somerset Digital Channel, including how we publish content, how users find and use services and how users navigate our websites. It includes our content management system, transactions, navigation patterns and search.
The objectives for this group of products are to:
Simplify and improve the reusability of the Somerset Digital Channel (for example, content management system, patterns and components) to make future delivery more efficient
Reduce our ‘technical debt’ by decommissioning and consolidating systems and services
Explore modern technologies to reduce the need for skilled legacy support
These are the specific things we are working on:
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Recently completed
Created and continuously applying UI and UX design standards to ensure consistently good user experience
Decommissioned legacy microsites such as Somerset Independence Plus and transferred to a subsite on core to reduce our technical debt
Simplified and refactored the code of our core and partner (microsite) websites to improve the efficiency and performance
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Working on now
Conducting proof-of-concept work to build a closer relationship between our customer frontend and our back office systems using Power Automate and other Microsoft tools
Updating our code frameworks to comply with WCAG 2.2 requirements
Decommissioning legacy page builder components
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Exploring or working on next
Rebuilding our directory template
Continuously modernising our website technologies and frameworks (for example GOV.UK Frontend)
Reviewing the implementation of a booking platform
Working with our GIS Team to optimise the customer-facing user experience of our maps and geolocation data
Other websites and transformation initiatives
This group of products cover our major transformation initiatives and the development of other websites that are not currently part of somerset.gov.uk but are part of our wider digital channel. It includes campaign websites, services trying to create behavioural change or services trying to engage with ‘hard-to-reach’ demographics.
The objectives for this group of products are to:
Support the design and development of digital user experience for corporate transformation initiatives
Reduce our technical debt and cost of ownership by decommissioning parts of our digital channel, which are no longer required or supported
Save money by reducing the number of externally built and hosted websites
Streamline common user experiences across our digital channel to improve findability and efficiency
These are the specific things we are working on:
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Recently completed
Rebuilt microsites to reduce technical debt and improve accessibility, including Smoke free Somerset and Jobs in Somerset (previously known as DAS Jobs).
Decommissioned legacy microsites, integrating them into somerset.gov.uk. Including Somerset Independence Plus and Smokefree Life
Supported the communications team in creating a subsite for their Become a Childminder campaign
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Working on now
Rebuilding the SCIL microsites for improved functionality and user experience
Creating a new grant-funded microsite for Health Determinate Research Collaboration Somerset
Redesigning the user experience of our subsites and microsites
Designing, developing or decommissioning digital services in response to service alignment and devolution
Continuing to co-produce our Local Offer with the Somerset Parent Carer Forum and the SEND Service
Adjust the layout of Local Offer menus to streamline customer entry points by age range AND subject matter and change the menu and page titles so they are easier to understand by non-experts
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Exploring or working on next
Supporting services generating income, such as Visit Somerset
Support the Communication team with the Working in Social Care recruitment campaign
Rebuilding or retiring more of our legacy web estate
Supporting the Connect Somerset Community Hubs project
