One digital platform, many users
More and more governments and organisations are building shared digital platforms to help consolidate their digital presence and technical debt. Examples include Victoria’s Single Digital Presence and NSW’s OneCX platform.
These platforms often have diverse users and it can be tempting to build custom solutions to meet individual use cases. However, it’s very important for the platform’s purpose and longevity to focus on building components that can be used by all. Yes, new components will need to be built, but feature development should focus on meeting the needs of multiple users with a single solution to avoid building duplicate custom functionality.
Building reusable components
To meet diverse user needs and prevent building redundant custom features, Salsa Digital focuses on:
- User-centric analysis
- Unified design
- Feature configurability
- Iterative feedback loops
- Flexible architecture
- Regular review and refinement
- Steering committee and governance
Feature development should focus on meeting the needs of multiple users with a single solution to avoid building duplicate custom functionality.
User-centric analysis
We conduct comprehensive user interviews and surveys from relevant stakeholder members of the community. We pinpoint overlapping needs and requirements, ensuring we have a clear understanding of commonalities across our user base.
Unified design
Armed with insights from user analysis, we design features that cater to the broader common needs first, ensuring maximum utility for a diverse user group.
Feature configurability
Rather than multiple custom implementations, we build features that are highly configurable. This enables users to adapt the functionality to their specific use cases without altering the core offering.
Iterative feedback loops
We maintain continuous engagement with users during development, gathering feedback and making necessary adjustments. This ensures the final product meets a wide range of needs.
Flexible architecture
Our software design is inherently modular, allowing components to be reused or combined in various ways, further reducing the need for custom solutions.
Regular review and refinement
Post-release, we routinely gather feedback and analyse user interactions, ensuring that our single solution remains relevant and continues to meet evolving user needs without the need for customisations.
Steering committee and governance
It’s also a good idea to establish a team or committee that reviews new feature requests to ensure they align with the project's vision/roadmap and to prevent duplication.
Our strategy for reusable components
The process above ensures our strategy is anchored in understanding shared user needs and designing for configurability. This enables us to provide one solution that effectively addresses the requirements of multiple users without creating duplicate custom functionalities.