U.S. General Services Administration
Digital Strategy
GSA exists to support other agencies in achieving their missions by providing policy, services, workspace, and contracting vehicles for procuring products and services. This is our approach to leveraging the capabilities of the internet and World Wide Web.
Guiding principle: task completion
GSA strives to help the user achieve their mission-related task quickly.
Description
GSA digital assets primarily exist to provide policy, information, services and workspace to the federal government. GSA assets are not vanity presses, document archives, or platforms to discuss the organization. We speak directly to the user with words she understands to help her quickly get information or complete a task. All content must be both factually correct and engaging to users.
Performance objective
Decreased time on task, decreased call center volume and increased positive response to survey questions on task completion
Guiding principle: audience-centered and business-centered decision making
GSA bases digital decisions on audience needs and business goals.
Description
Any content that does not meet a user need or business goal does not belong on the GSA digital presence. The exception to this is some content may need to exist because it’s required by law, but even then we optimize it for the prospective user.
Performance objective
Compliance rate with style guide and performance rate against business KPIs
Guiding principle: content-first and data-informed design
GSA designs digital based on content and data.
Description
GSA uses data and content to determine the need for a new or revised digital asset. Once the need has been established, we use content and data to define the layout and elements in a design, rather than the other way around.
Performance objective
Compliance rate with internal processes for content creation and redesign
Guiding principle: unity
GSA speaks with one voice.
Description
Although we have numerous audiences and goals, GSA collaborates internally to present a unified experience that delivers the right information to users and makes it easy for users to know where to start their journey. GSA does not make digital decisions in silos. GSA acts as one agency, sharing knowledge and jointly agreeing upon solutions to serve our users with a high-quality effective digital presence.
Performance objective
Compliance rate with design system, style guide and other standards