NCIDS Maturity Model: Adoption and Evaluation
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NCI’s Office of Communications and Public Liaison (OCPL) will review the implementation of NCIDS on your site prior to its launch. The NCIDS maturity model will be used to evaluate the site’s level of adoption and compliance. Once your site meets specific assessment criteria and passes an OCPL heuristic review, it will be documented as an NCIDS-adopted site.
NCIDS Maturity Model
Websites adopting NCIDS will be evaluated based on NCIDS maturity model levels. Your site can progress through levels of maturity as it aligns with the look and feel of NCIDS and adopts the core NCIDS components and code. Learn more about the U.S. Web Design System maturity model that was the basis for the NCIDS maturity model.
- Level 1: Match the look and feel of the NCIDS header, footer, and banner. Skipnav HTML uses the correct class name and target for anchor. Use of the NCIDS core code not required.
- Goal: Gain minimum required consistency with the look and feel within highest visible areas of site. This is the minimum requirement for NCI sites.
- Level 2: Match the look and feel of the NCIDS header, footer, banner, typography, and colors. Use of the NCIDS core code not required.
- Goal: Gain greater alignment with the look and feel in highly prominent areas of site. Introduce development, design, user experience, accessibility, site maintenance efficiencies, and cost savings.
- Level 3: Use the NCIDS code to adopt the NCIDS header, footer, banner, typography, colors, and select page components.
- Goal: Gain greater alignment with NCIDS through the adoption of multiple core components. Gain additional development, design, user experience, accessibility, site maintenance efficiencies, and cost savings through NCIDS code adoption.
- Level 4: Leverage all available NCIDS components and NCIDS code.
- Goal: Fully adopt NCIDS and reach complete alignment with NCIDS standards. Maximizes development, design, user experience, accessibility, site maintenance efficiency, and cost savings.
Heuristic Review
If your site meets the initial assessment criteria, OCPL will complete a heuristic review, using the NCIDS maturity model to provide notes on how your site can meet higher levels of maturity. These notes will be marked as "must do", "should do", and "could do" to provide your team with remediation requirements and considerations. To complete the heuristic review, OCPL will request a demo of and access to your team’s development site.
The heuristic review document will include:
- annotated design and user experience (UX) notes
- annotated development notes (including notes on code adoption)
- branding guidance and corrections
- Section 508 compliance and accessibility notes
Once your site is launched, OCPL will conduct an annual review to ensure continued alignment with NCIDS. OCPL will send any findings, questions, or concerns following cyclical reviews to your team and federal system owner.