The organisational model for UCD can be seen as an evolution of that developed for payment systems:

Orchestration Provider (OP)

Service providers will not wish to have to enter into separate contracts with every wallet provider, nor would it be practical for them to do so.

Thus an OP is a single-point-of-contact for service providers to the infrastructure. It’s function is similar to the merchant acquirer role in payment systems

Some sectors – such as education and health – may choose to build an ‘in-house’ OP; in other sectors, a competitive market of OPs will likely develop.

Characterizing Authorities (CA)

Personal data – such as a qualification – can be worthless unless the organization that issues it is entitled to do.

Thus – to participate in UCD – each service provider will be required to obtain confirmation of its identity, and role with respect to the individual, from a CA. Typically CAs already exist in each sector, but are not yet online. For example, the UK Department of Education maintains a list of all organizations in England able to award university degrees.

Decision Support Services (DSS)

In many sectors, individuals need help in choosing between (or applying to) competing service providers. Examples include Uswitch for energy, and UCAS for higher education, each offering minor differences in functionality.

We call these entities Decision Support Services (DSS) and envisage that – in time – they will be integrated within the UCD infrastructure.

UCDx

The proposed governance body for a proposal to create UCD type infrastructure, in the UK, starting in education.

UCDx can be compared to the role played by Visa (or Mastercard) in payment systems, save that

• UCDx is a public interest entity, set up as community interest company, whereas Visa is a fully commercial entity;
• UCDx is a governance body only, and will contract with a special purpose implementation entity; whereas Visa acts as its on implementation entity

SoftCos

Software developers, who will compete to supply standard compliant code to participants in the infrastructure. Some code elements may well be Open Source, perhaps supplied through the Open Wallet Foundation (which is hosted by the Linux Foundation).