The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) has begun to identify and define the role of single service owners (SSOs) for each of the top 75 central government digital services.
The move marks a significant step in the commitment in the Government’s Transforming for a Digital Future roadmap for digital and data.
Nicola Betz, strategic projects lead at CDDO, said in a blogpost that it has been working with service teams to identify leaders who should be responsible for an end-to-end service, and has developed a comprehensive role definition for SSOs.
They will be responsible for ensuring the quality of a service, managing multiple products, budgets, staffing, procurement and performance and ensure services align with programme and departmental objectives while meeting user needs. They will also act as advocates for agile, outcome based approaches.
Testing and refining
Betz said CDDO is currently testing the SSO role outline with service teams with plans to refine the description, and will then assess current accountability structures to determine how much change is needed. This will involve engaging with teams in government departments and developing a training and support offer for SSOs.
Among the departments involved are the Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
“We're on a mission to revamp ownership across the top 75 services so that leaders aren’t bound by 'traditional' functional boundaries and are instead empowered to shape the end-to-end outcomes including all aspects of digital, policy, and operations,” Bentz said.
