Discovery about data collection from local authorities and transport operators for the Department for Transport
The Department for Transport is the department of state responsible for the transport network in England.
Project overview
We were asked by the department to conduct discovery research to explore the possibility of enhancing and modernising processes for collecting data from local authorities and transport operators.
Currently, the department uses survey tools to collect data from around 300 local authorities and approximately 500 bus and other transport operators, to inform policy making and funding decisions.
We conducted research to understand the purpose and context for data collection, and the user experience of providing, collecting and making use of data, before making recommendations for the department to consider.
Project goals
The main goals of the discovery were to:
- Understand the context and strategic objectives, to define the scope of the problem (to solve)
- Understand the technology and data ecosystems the surveys operate within and the the current end-to-end survey service journey
- Understand the user needs of data providers (e.g. local authorities and transport operators) and system and data users (e.g. in DfT)
- Understand what works well, and the current constraints, issues and burden (and opportunities) for surveys
- Explore options for a new solution for data collection and evaluate the suitable high-level technology options to pursue
Project team
To deliver the work, the Lagom project team consisted of a dedicated Delivery Manager, Service Designer, Digital Strategist and User Researcher.
What we did
Our discovery activities included:
- 14 stakeholder interviews and 29 one-to-one user interviews
- A user experience review of the existing tools, user journey maps and proto-personas
- Creating and and prioritising a backlog of 53 user needs, and conducting a user needs gap analysis
- An inclusivity assessment
- A landscape analysis including 5 case studies based on 1-to-1 interviews with service owners
- A co-design workshop with users, and the development of a set of user-tested concept prototypes
- Findings and recommendations show and tells, and a full discovery report
- A suggested service roadmap
Project outcomes
The discovery provided the department with a practical set of recommendations, covering user experience, governance and technology, and a roadmap with suggested experiments to conduct in an alpha phase.
“The whole team was very organised, insightful and approachable throughout, which helped create a collaborative atmosphere and some clear and helpful outputs.
Kayley Martin, Head of Local Transport statistics, Department for Transport
Lagom conducted great user research and worked flexibly to ensure that we had good coverage across our varied users to provide the evidence to support their recommendations.
Their show and tells in particular were exceptional, helping to explain all the elements of the research and recommendations clearly to the audience in a way that everyone could understand.
Thanks to Lagom, we now have some clear recommendations to take forward and it was great to work with them on this project.”
