Guidance
Create and manage DDT standards
Guidance and information to create and manage DDT standards.
Review DDT standard categories
The following categories are used to group standards. Each category may have sub-categories which allow for more granularity of standard application.
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Architecture | Standards related to the design and structure of systems, including enterprise architecture, systems integration, and security architecture. |
| Benefits | Standards defining the management and realisation of benefits from projects and programmes. |
| Commercial | Standards governing procurement, supplier management, and contract negotiations. |
| Continuity | Standards for ensuring business continuity, disaster recovery, and resilience planning. |
| Data management | Standards governing data management, including data quality, governance, analysis, and security. |
| Finance | Standards for financial planning, management, reporting, and governance. |
| Information and Data Security | Standards for the security and management of data, its control, retention, and disposal. |
| IT Operations | Standards for the management and operation of IT systems, covering areas such as infrastructure, cloud services, and system monitoring. |
| Product and Delivery | Standards related to product management, agile delivery, and project management frameworks. |
| QA and Development | Standards focusing on software development, testing, quality assurance, and continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices. |
| Risk | Standards for risk management, including identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks in projects and operations. |
| Security | Standards for ensuring the physical and cyber security of organisational assets and infrastructure. |
| Sustainability | Standards promoting sustainable practices, including environmental responsibility and energy efficiency. |
| Technical | Standards for the technical implementation of products and services. |
| User-Centred Design and Accessibility | Standards around user experience, accessibility, user research, and service design. |
Sub-categories or groups
| Sub-category | Description |
|---|---|
| Business architecture | Defines and aligns the strategic vision, processes, and organisational structure to achieve business goals effectively. |
| Data architecture | Focuses on designing and managing the structure, storage, and integration of data to support business needs. |
| Enterprise architecture | Provides a comprehensive framework for aligning IT strategy with business objectives, ensuring consistency across systems and services. |
| Network architecture | Designs and implements communication networks, ensuring reliable, scalable, and secure connectivity. |
| Security architecture | Develops frameworks and systems to protect an organisation’s assets from cyber threats and ensure compliance with security standards. |
| Solution architecture | Designs specific technical solutions to address business requirements, integrating systems and technologies effectively. |
| Technical architecture | Defines the technical standards, tools, and infrastructure required to deliver IT solutions efficiently and consistently. |
| Group | Description |
|---|---|
| Analytics engineering | Focuses on designing, building, and maintaining analytics systems and pipelines to process and analyse data efficiently. |
| Data analysis | Involves examining data sets to identify trends, draw conclusions, and support decision-making. |
| Data engineering | Concerned with building and optimising systems for collecting, storing, and analysing data at scale. |
| Data ethicist | Ensures ethical considerations in the collection, storage, and use of data, addressing issues such as privacy, consent, and bias. |
| Data governance | Focuses on establishing and maintaining policies, processes, and standards to ensure the integrity, security, and quality of data. |
| Data science | Combines programming, statistics, and domain expertise to extract actionable insights from complex data sets. |
| Machine learning | Develops and applies algorithms that allow systems to learn from and make predictions or decisions based on data. |
| Performance analysis | Involves evaluating and measuring the effectiveness of systems, services, and processes to optimise performance and outcomes. |
| Group | Description |
|---|---|
| Application operations | Manages the day-to-day running, monitoring, and optimisation of software applications to ensure continuity and performance. |
| Business relationship | Focuses on fostering effective communication and alignment between IT services and business stakeholders to meet organisational goals. |
| Change and release management | Oversees the controlled planning, testing, and deployment of IT changes to minimise disruption and maintain system stability. |
| Command and control | Coordinates and directs IT operations, particularly in high-pressure scenarios, to ensure swift resolution of issues and effective incident response. |
| End user computing | Provides and manages the tools, devices, and support required for end users to perform their roles efficiently. |
| IT service management | Delivers and supports IT services based on established frameworks and best practices, such as ITIL, to ensure quality and efficiency. |
| Incident management | Handles unplanned disruptions to IT services, aiming to restore normal operations as quickly as possible and minimise impact. |
| Infrastructure operations | Manages and maintains the hardware, networks, and systems underpinning IT services, ensuring reliability and scalability. |
| Problem management | Identifies and addresses the root causes of incidents to prevent recurrence and improve overall system reliability. |
| Service desk | Provides a single point of contact for users to report issues, request services, and receive assistance with IT systems. |
| Service transition | Manages the process of deploying new or changed services into operational use, ensuring smooth handover and minimal disruption. |
| Group | Description |
|---|---|
| Business analysis | Identifies business needs, analyses processes, and proposes solutions to help organisations achieve their objectives effectively. |
| Delivery management | Ensures the successful delivery of projects and services by coordinating teams, managing risks, and maintaining focus on outcomes. |
| Portfolio management | Oversees and prioritises a collection of projects and programmes to align with organisational strategies and maximise value. |
| Product management | Focuses on the lifecycle of a product, from conception to delivery, ensuring it meets user needs and business goals. |
| Programme delivery | Manages the delivery of complex programmes, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives and successful outcomes across multiple projects. |
| Service ownership | Accountable for the end-to-end delivery, quality, and performance of a service, ensuring it meets user and business needs. |
| Group | Description |
|---|---|
| DevOps | Combines software development and IT operations to streamline delivery, automate workflows, and improve system reliability. |
| Frontend development | Focuses on creating user interfaces and ensuring a seamless user experience through web and application development. |
| Quality Assurance Testing | Ensures that software meets specified standards and functions as intended through systematic testing and defect identification. |
| Software development | Designs, codes, and maintains software applications to meet user needs and organisational requirements. |
| Test engineering | Develops and implements testing frameworks, tools, and processes to ensure the robustness and reliability of software systems. |
| Test management | Oversees the planning, execution, and reporting of testing activities, ensuring alignment with project timelines and quality standards. |
| Group | Description |
|---|---|
| Archiving and record management | Manages the storage, retrieval, and preservation of records and archives to ensure accessibility and compliance with regulations. |
| Classification | Applies categorisation and labelling systems to organise information and ensure appropriate access and security levels. |
| Data ethics | Ensures the ethical use of data by addressing issues such as bias, consent, privacy, and accountability in data handling. |
| Data handling | Manages the proper collection, storage, processing, and sharing of data to maintain quality and compliance. |
| Data inventory | Maintains a comprehensive register of an organisation’s data assets to support governance, compliance, and usage optimisation. |
| Data protection | Ensures that personal and sensitive data is safeguarded in compliance with laws and standards, such as GDPR. |
| Data retention and disposal | Manages the lifecycle of data, ensuring it is retained as long as necessary and disposed of securely when no longer required. |
| Encryption | Implements encryption techniques to secure data and protect it from unauthorised access or breaches. |
| Personal data | Focuses on the management and protection of personal information to comply with data privacy regulations and uphold user trust. |
| Risk management | Identifies, assesses, and mitigates risks associated with data to safeguard organisational assets and ensure resilience. |
Benefits
Risk
Commercial
Finance
Continuity
Security
Sustainability
| Group | Description |
|---|---|
| Security managements | Ensuring platforms and services are secure. |
| Technical management | Ensures platforms and services meet technical requirements. |
| Sub-category | Description |
|---|---|
| Accessibility | Responsible for ensuring that digital services are accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. |
| Content design | Ensures that content we are creating and managing content is clear, accurate, and easy to understand. |
| Interaction design | How we design user interfaces and interactions, including styles, components, user journeys and prototyping. |
| Service design | Designing services that are easy to use, accessible, and meet user needs. |
| User research | Standards to ensure high levels of quality, ethics and safety in user research activities. |