Manage Record Compliance
Source: gov.uk (2025-10-03)

The National Archives's Manage Record Compliance alpha service assessment report

Service Standard assessment report

Manage Record Compliance

Service description

This service aims to solve the problem of…
- bringing together The National Archives’ key compliance monitoring and reporting functions into a single platform. It enables organisations subject to the Public Records Act to conduct information assessments, report compliance, and manage their record backlog applications through a streamlined workflow — supporting efficient data collection, structured reporting, automated tracking, and actionable insights.
Service users

This service is for…
- organisations subject to the Public Records Act.
| ## Things the service team has done well:
- Overall the panel felt that the service team had taken a pragmatic and effective approach to identifying and standing-up an MVP that might resolve their problem.
- They had given clear thought to how the solution could fit into the wider extant ecosystem and wider strategic alignment.
- Specific detail on how the service team has done well has been captured against each relevant service standard point.
1. Understand users and their needs

Decision

The service was rated green for point 1 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-1-understand-user-needs).

Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service
- the research identified many user needs, demonstrating a good understanding of the primary users within the Public Record Bodies and The National Archives.
- the team had considered accessibility, focusing on testing their prototype with users with cognitive and neurodivergent needs. The team explained that recruiting users with both access needs and domain knowledge proved to be difficult, so the focus was on recruiting proxy users with access needs instead. This is the best approach given the circumstances and ensures access needs are at the forefront of design choices.
- some consideration should be placed on users who may need support in understanding whether they’re in scope under the Public Records Act. Although the proposed service is driven by an initial invitation email to Public Record Bodies by TNA, users within public bodies (such as local authorities) may need to understand whether this applies to them or not, particularly if they take the initiative in driving the process instead. This helps mitigate any potential downstream failure demand.
- a research plan is in place for beta to expand the number of research methods to include usability testing, diary studies, analytics monitoring, surveys and testing with assistive technologies. There are also plans to reach out to partner organisations and low-confidence users.
2. Solve a whole problem for users

Decision

The service was rated green for point 2 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-2-solve-a-whole-problem).

Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service
- the team have set a clear scope for the project which will bring genuine value to users. The team should continue to work with other service teams within The National Archives to fully understand the end-to-end user journey including: initial user awareness, the Information Management Assessment (IMA) itself, and if things go wrong such as consequences for non-compliance etc.
3. Provide a joined-up experience across all channels

Decision

The service was rated green for point 3 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-3-join-up-across-channels).

Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service
- the team recognise that they have a suite of products. While they have set a clear scope for this work they recognise the need to be aware of how this service sits within the wider process.
- the team have not uncovered any user needs thus far to suggest the service needs to provide support channels other than email. However, this should be explored fully in beta, in particular with low confidence users. Any pain points uncovered during private beta should primarily be addressed in the design, or failing that, through adequate support responses. The team explained that the existing manual process will still exist if for whatever reason a user cannot.
4. Make the service simple to use

Decision

The service was rated green for point 4 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-4-make-the-service-simple-to-use).

Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service
- the team have a good approach to iterative design, making changes to features based on user feedback and testing.
- the team have identified that they need to broaden their design expertise and have planned for this in the next phase.
5. Make sure everyone can use the service

Decision

The service was rated green for point 5 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-5-make-sure-everyone-can-use-the-service).

Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service
- the team are actively seeking to test with users who have access needs. They also recognise that this is a challenge and are making plans for how to mitigate any limitations they may face in finding users.
- the team should reach out to internal networks if recruiting for participants with domain knowledge and access needs becomes challenging. For example, the Civil Service Disability Network (CSDN) has a good pool of proxy users who can test the interactive components of a service.
6. Have a multidisciplinary team

Decision

The service was rated green for point 6 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-6-have-a-multidisciplinary-team).

Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service
- the team had clearly worked in an Agile way, with inputs from the relevant specialisms feeding into the service development.
7. Use agile ways of working

Decision

The service was rated green for point 7 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-7-use-agile-ways-of-working).

8. Iterate and improve frequently

Decision

The service was rated green for point 8 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-8-iterate-and-improve-frequently).

9. Create a secure service which protects users’ privacy

Decision

The service was rated green for point 9 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-9-create-a-secure-service).

10. Define what success looks like and publish performance data

Decision

The service was rated green for point 10 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-10-define-success-publish-performance-data).

Optional advice to help the service team continually improve the service
- the team have a clear understanding of the as-is situation and how the service MVP will potentially improve the user experience. As the team moves into Private Beta they must engage a Performance specialist to clearly define their performance framework and resolve the problems they have identified in order to measure and publish the 4 mandatory KPIs.
11. Choose the right tools and technology

Decision

The service was rated green for point 11 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-11-choose-the-right-tools-and-technology).

12. Make new source code open

Decision

The service was rated green for point 12 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-12-make-new-source-code-open).

13. Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns

Decision

The service was rated green for point 13 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-13-use-common-standards-components-patterns).

14. Operate a reliable service

Decision

The service was rated green for point 14 of the Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard/point-14-operate-a-reliable-service).

##

Next Steps

This service can now move into a private beta (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/agile-delivery/how-the-beta-phase-works) phase, subject to getting approval from the CDDO spend control team. The service must meet the standard at beta assessment before launching public beta.

To get the service ready to launch on GOV.UK (http://gov.uk/) the team needs to:
- get a GOV.UK service domain name (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/get-a-domain-name)
- work with the GOV.UK content team (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-assessments/get-your-service-on-govuk) on any changes required to GOV.UK (http://gov.uk/) content