Currently, citizens communicate with the Government through several different channels, and there is no systematic approach, method or shared reference between Portuguese public entities, on the design and development of digital public services. Therefore, this makes it difficult to implement principles and good practices generally accepted by the various governments, both nationally and internationally.
Given the complexity of navigating through the Portuguese Government multiple online services, Mosaico was launched in October of 2022 as Digital Service Standard, also known as the common model for designing and developing digital public services, centred on citizens and businesses, which contributes to a better coherence and consistency in the user experience.
With this model we aim to improve the citizen's relationship with the Government using a single identity, guaranteeing a simple and transparent experience, and inclusive access of citizens to public services.
Mosaico was created to be used by all managers and technical workers of the Public Administration, external entities, citizens, companies, civil society entities and Public Administration workers. Always centered on those who use it, the citizens, Mosaico is a transversal work tool. It seeks to respond to the most urgent needs of users through four fundamental reading vectors: Stages, Principles, Profiles and Technical areas. These vectors, along with good practices, practical guides, legislation, and other tools, provide content capable of adapting to each context or person, depending on their more technical or functional mission.
Mosaico’s principles:
- Understand users and their needs
- Make the service simple to use
- Make sure everyone can use the service
- Create a secure service which protects users' privacy
- Ask for new information only once
- Make new source code open
- Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns
- Have a multidisciplinary team
- Use agile ways of working
- Iterate and improve frequently
- Define what success looks like and publish performance data
