Quality assurance

When considering a new application process we often look for assurance of its effectiveness. Standard approaches might include testing on focus groups or user acceptance testing. However, neither of these approaches adequately tests the behavioural aspects of the design.

CFS recommends testing a replacement application form in a live environment while maintaining the previous form in a ‘control area’ e.g. separate geographic area or department. Where a process is completely new, this phase can test two or more variants of the form. The ‘Test, Learn, Adapt’ process is a useful model in measuring the effectiveness of the form design (Behavioural Insights Team, 2012). The Learn phase allows the designer to compare the data from the new process against the control area, or differentiate between the variant versions. In the Adapt phase the designer applies the findings to improve the form.