In the spirit of openness and transparency, State of the USA is seeking comment on a working draft of the enterprise architecture for the first-ever Key National Indicator System for the United States of America.

"We are actively seeking critiques, ideas and suggestions about purpose, structure, content and process," Christopher Hoenig, chief executive officer of State of the USA, writes in his introduction to the draft. "Out of this dialogue will come the requirements, design and specifications for how best to start and then evolve an architecture for a Key National Indicator System."

The complete draft, and full introduction, is available for public review in the document reader below.

Federal legislation signed into law in March authorizes the National Academy of Sciences to implement the new KNIS. The Academy has designated State of the USA as a partner in the implementation, which includes designing, publishing and maintaining a free KNIS website accessible by all members of the public.

The open architecture draft is intended for technical audiences in all sectors and at all levels of society, according to Hoenig. "It represents the hard work of a dozen individuals, but anticipates engaging hundreds in a dialogue based on this document from around the country."

Why is openness so important?

"Our intent is to make the asset that is built for the nation accessible to the widest range of possible users," Hoenig writes. "This is best achieved through a transparent and collaborative process that involves representatives from diverse user and stakeholder communities."

Please provide comments and suggestions using the comments form below or email them to feedback@stateoftheusa.org.