Case study
Digitising Civil Service Assessments for greater inclusion and operational efficiency at The Cabinet Office Fast Stream Assessment Centre (FSAC)
Summary
The Cabinet Office’s Fast Stream and Early Talent programme aims to identify leadership potential within the Civil Service, with a specific focus on improving diversity and success with traditionally underrepresented groups. The original in-person, entirely paper-based assessment process – the Fast Stream Assessment Centre (FSAC) – took place in two offices in London and Newcastle and presented challenges both in accessibility and operational efficiency. Both of which needed to be tackled in a new, secure, inclusive remote service, if FSAC was to achieve its objectives.
Company Size
7,000+
Industry
Government
Challenge
The traditional assessment centres in London and Newcastle were in-person and paper-based processes. They were resource-intensive and inefficient for FSAC team members, and had limited accessibility for candidates nationwide.
There were accessibility barriers for underrepresented groups. Disabled, neurodiverse, and BAME candidates faced challenges with the existing assessment format, leading to lower success rates and so needed an end-to-end service that reassured and boosts confidence for such candidates.
This combination of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, meant there was an urgent need for digital transformation that necessitated a swift transition to an inclusive, Government Digital Service-compliant, remote assessment model without compromising security or the integrity of the assessment process.
The service needed to be implemented in such a way that allowed continuous improvement and adaptation to user needs over time and that Cabinet Office and FSAC stakeholders had the skills, capabilities and positive inclination for the adoption of the new service model.
Solution
CACI led the digital transformation of the Fast Stream Assessment Centre (FSAC) by adopting an Agile, human-centred Service Design approach. The team conducted extensive user research to understand the needs of diverse candidates and assessors. The resulting Empathy and Journey Maps that enabled us to start reimagine the entire end-to-end service experience for all stakeholders.
We mapped out the “current-state” physical assessment experience and designed the desired “future-state” of a new remote service; the blueprints highlighting pain points and opportunities for improvement with all stakeholders: candidates, admins, assessors and other internal team members.
From a Service Design perspective which looks at the ability of the organisation to provide the desired service experience, we identified gaps in technology, processes and skillsets that needed to be addressed to deliver the new operational model. As well as a new design solution, we developed a bespoke technology platform on Drupal CMS configured as a learning management system that allowed assessors could dynamically alter content in real-time and keep to strict time constraints, embedded with robust accessibility measures exceeding WCAG guidelines.
Taking an Agile, collaborative approach with FSAC team members and in line with GDS standards, the platform was built hosted on Gov.UK PaaS to ensure scalability and security. Rigorous usability testing and risk assessments were conducted to mitigate potential challenges, such as candidates leaking content onto social media.
Results
With improving candidate diversity and inclusion and operational efficiency the Fast Stream objectives, the new, fully-remote FSAC digital service delivered on every front, achieving drastic improvements in success rates of all under-represented candidates through addressing specific barriers and providing empathetic, tailored support:
- 120% increase in the number of successful Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates
- 63% uplift in the number of successful disabled candidates
- 34% rise in successful candidates from lower socio-economic backgrounds
Through meticulous planning, risk mitigation and change management, the new service also successfully passed each GDS Service Standard assessment at Alpha, Beta, and Live at first-time of asking; achieving a 100% client satisfaction from the Cabinet Office team.
Due to the operational improvements achieved by the new service, FSAC was transformed into a multi-site application (Final Selection Board) so all FSBs across the Civil Service could benefit from the solution.
The FSAC platform has so achieved multiple awards; including a Civil Service Award for Advancing Disability Inclusion, Total Recruitment Award for “Best Innovation in Student Recruitment” and recognition by the global Service Design Network Awards.
