By Brendan Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Konsentus.
When taking a scheme-based approach to building an Open Data ecosystem, it is the job of the scheme owner to define the standards, rules and operating procedures that participants sign up to.
This means creating the scheme rulebook, processes and infrastructure requirements that underpin the Open Data ecosystem. There is no set rule about who should be a scheme owner, they could be a national regulator, someone appointed by a national regulator or it could be market-led.
It is important to note that this role is distinct from the primary regulator (which legislates or compels market participants to follow rules), a competent authority (which supervises market participants and determines access criteria) and the scheme operator (of which there may be many for different tasks, responsible for running processes and infrastructure that are used by or involve scheme participants).
Whoever takes up the role of scheme owner must understand the dynamic nature of an Open Data ecosystem and plan accordingly. This involves continuous monitoring and evaluation of technical developments and market trends, and ensuring flexibility to accommodate new iterations and advancements over time.
When establishing a framework and infrastructure requirements for an Open Data ecosystem, Scheme owners should allow for iterative updates and revisions, and incorporate consultation and feedback mechanisms with industry players.
In addition to creating the scheme’s rulebook, the scheme owner must specify who can participate in a scheme and under what conditions, and who can make what decisions and on what subjects.
Scheme owners also need to define the scheme procedures such as onboarding, offboarding and conformance testing and ensure all scheme participants can successfully access and deploy products and services. This means ensuring third-party providers can access highly available and performant APIs, that any changes to the ecosystem’s infrastructure are signposted to participants well in advance, and that there are proficient and effective measures in place to resolve disputes.
The scheme owner is responsible for ensuring there are clearly defined standards across a range of areas. This includes participant registration and defining who is eligible, how they are identified and what permissions they have. It also involves defining identity and security credentials, such as what certificate and trust standards will be implemented and who will be allowed to issue certificates, as well as how will they be used and where will they be stored. Scheme owners also need to decide who is authorised to inform the relevant certificate issuance authorities to revoke certificates and how participants will be notified, and how end users (consumers and businesses) will be authenticated and to what level.
In addition, scheme owners need to define the system. For example, which API standards will be used and where those standards will be published. Scheme owners must also decide how adherence to API standards will be tested and certified, and whether or not there will be detailed user experience standards to ensure a common experience across the ecosystem. They must also decide how changes to standards will be managed.
Finally, when defining standards, scheme owners must consider what will happen when the ecosystem is live. This includes deciding how system performance and availability will be measured and reported, how issues and disputes will be reported and managed, and how fraud will be monitored and reported.
Security is another key aspect that scheme owners must consider so that customers using services within the live ecosystem feel safe and secure. This means putting in place centralised governance and operational processes (albeit with some technical elements remaining distributed).
The scheme owner will be responsible for several central infrastructure components but may delegate to a scheme operator to run them, such as directory services, conformance testing, helpdesk, dispute management and compensation mechanisms.
Scheme owners usually charge participants a membership or registration fee for entry into the ecosystem on a not-for-profit basis to cover their costs. They may also charge an on-going service fee for access to the central services. This could be a flat fee for all participants or a metered fee depending on how much the participant uses those central services.
By following these steps, scheme owners can ensure they are building an Open Data ecosystem that will function effectively and meet the needs of all market participants.
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