How the Open UI Initiative Works
The initiative brings together stakeholders, including states, vendors, and subject matter experts, to establish an organizing framework for modular development. This framework will:
- Identify the common functions across UI benefits, tax, and appeals systems today
- Define a set of modules to support them
- Document related interoperability standards that guide how those modules should function and work together
Beyond the benefit to an individual state of using the Open UI Framework established by the Initiative, a critical mass of participating states will push the marketplace toward use of the Open UI Framework with their procurement power. States that are satisfied with their current solutions can continue with them, but the vendors they use may choose to participate in the Open UI Framework for particular modules. The published standardization of requirements among states will make it easier for new entrants to be successful, increasing competition and innovation.
Mission
Open UI is a community whose mission is to design and enable the technology and supporting infrastructure to deliver responsive, flexible, and modern systems for the effective administration of unemployment insurance. Our community provides a trusted structure for individuals and organizations to create, develop, validate, and ratify standards, and encourage the unemployment insurance ecosystem to evolve. Openly sharing ideas, specifications, code, and other intellectual property is the key to reducing implementation risk, developing a thriving ecosystem for all participants, and maximizing innovation in unemployment insurance technology.
Vision
As stakeholders across different groups take part in our community, we are creating and validating standards, specifications, and certifications, making it possible for more states and vendors to transition from their existing inflexible, closed solutions to benefit from the Open UI approach. As unemployment agencies must do more, faster, and better, with less, our community must meet those responsibilities in the most effective, responsive, and flexible way. Unemployment insurance technology must become a commoditized and evolving set of products optimized for these challenges.
