{"id":5692,"date":"2025-12-02T10:02:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/digital\/?p=5692"},"modified":"2025-12-02T10:02:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:02:43","slug":"shaping-the-future-of-statistics-gov-scot-from-discovery-to-alpha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/digital\/2025\/12\/02\/shaping-the-future-of-statistics-gov-scot-from-discovery-to-alpha\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaping the Future of Statistics.gov.scot: From Discovery to Alpha"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blog by Auren Clarke, Senior Product Manager, and Sean Nugent, Technical Architect in the Scottish Government Digital Directorate, Data Division.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re pleased to be able to share with you the latest from the Statistics.gov.scot<\/a> Improvement Project. This blog is for those wanting to stay up to date with what we are planning for statistics.gov.scot, and for anyone who is simply curious to find out more.<\/p>\n

Statistics.gov.scot Improvement Project re-cap<\/strong><\/p>\n

We began our journey to improve Statistics.gov.scot in early 2024. Our first step was to run a discovery<\/a> phase, which helped us better understand our users and their needs. You can read more about this in the blog<\/a> and the full user research report<\/a> we published at the time. Through this work, we uncovered a significant gap between what users needed and what the current service was delivering. It became clear that a comprehensive overhaul of the site was necessary. Staying true to the agile delivery, we decided to move forward into the next phase: an alpha<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alpha<\/strong><\/p>\n

During our alpha phase, we set out to achieve several key objectives. We aimed to design, build, and test prototypes that would help us explore different approaches. At the same time, we wanted to refine our understanding of users\u2019 needs, build the capability of our project team, and begin shaping what a future state service might look like. A particular focus was to identify the minimum viable solution we could prioritise first.<\/p>\n

Taking an Agile approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through creating a series of agile prototypes, we explored the needs of our users and data publishers. The goal was to better understand what functionality and design would best meet user needs, while aligning with the Scottish Government Design System.<\/a> \u00a0We adopted an agile approach from the outset, working in sprints with clear objectives and regular stand-ups. This helped us stay focused, iterate quickly, and respond to feedback throughout the development process.<\/p>\n

Accessibility and usability were key priorities throughout. We registered our prototypes on the Digital Scotland Service Manual\u2019s Accessibility Cloud<\/a> testing platform. We had many accessibility-focused sprint goals, and ran specific accessibility-focussed testing sessions in our programme of user research.<\/p>\n

Two prototypes stood out.<\/p>\n

Prototype 1: CKAN based platform \/ Cobalt<\/strong><\/p>\n

CKAN<\/a> was a natural starting point given its widespread use across government and public sector organisations. We began by familiarising ourselves with the out-of-the-box interface and we quickly identified limitations around customisation and accessibility. \u00a0To address this, we planned a custom frontend using the Scottish Government Design System. Through workshops and design sessions, we shaped a user-centred interface and built it using React, connecting it to CKAN\u2019s backend via existing APIs. This prototype became known internally as Cobalt.<\/p>\n

We maintained two environments within the Scottish Government\u2019s Cloud Platform, development and production (though not live), with weekly releases to Dev for testing and bug fixes, followed by major releases to Production once stable.<\/p>\n

We selected a sample of 14 datasets to migrate and opened the platform for user testing. Feedback was gathered and addressed in line with agile practices, ensuring continuous improvement.<\/p>\n

Prototype 2: PxStat \/ Emerald <\/strong><\/p>\n

In parallel, we explored a second tool: PxStat<\/a>, developed by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland used on data.cso.ie<\/a>. The CSO kindly walked us through their platform and codebase, which allowed us to build a tailored frontend aligned to our requirements.<\/p>\n

This second prototype, Emerald, followed the same agile process, albeit a few sprints behind. It is a heavily statistics orientated platform and offered advanced data slicing features and a different user experience, giving us a valuable point of comparison.<\/p>\n

Sharing our findings<\/strong><\/p>\n

As with our discovery user research<\/a>, we\u2019re pleased to be able to share with you the full report on the programme of alpha user research<\/u><\/a>. Tom Farrington, Storm ID User Researcher said \u201cWorking with such an enthusiastic, forward-thinking, and user-focused team was as inspiring as it was satisfying. For me, this was an exemplar of how a team should work together during Alpha, striking just the right balance between pace and thoughtfulness<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

In summary, for an Open Data Portal, users want:<\/p>\n