It is important that you test any improvement ideas with both staff (who will know how the process really works rather than the official version and may be able to suggest problems with your improvements and improvements of their own) and customers (who are the people who can tell you whether it would really be an improvement). This does not mean you have to accept what they say at face value but you need to consider it in making your plans – possibly building in training or modifying the message.

This co-design work should happen at all stages of the process from the start of the work – to find out they would want to improve – through the business process re-engineering – to test the suggested improvements – to the marketing work to make sure the messages are ones which the target group will understand and respond positively to. It should also be used in the measurement and evaluation to make sure what we have done has met the needs they outlined at the start of the process.

There are some useful pointers to co-design at http://www.serviceuser.org/ and www.england-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/.../power-of-information-review.pdf