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13. Use and contribute to open standards, common components and patterns

Build on open standards and common components and patterns from inside and outside government.

Use open standards, and propose a new open standard if there isn’t one that already meets their needs

  • Standards that apply to our service:
    • Formatting dates and times in database
    • User research provided strong evidence against using this standard format and so we used an alternative format that meets our user’s needs, ie UTC time
    • Use consistent country codes
    • Sharing government documents
    • Exchange of contact information
  • We did find a strong user need for scientific notation and therefore have tested out how best to present this, eg 
    • Rejected: 5.755*e-4
    • Rejected: 5.755*e^-4
    • Preferred: 5.755e-4

Use standard government technology components where possible, for example gov.uk Verify for identity assurance

  • GOV.UK patterns and components used throughout
  • GOV.UK Notify service used to send out email and text notifications to users

Maximise flexibility in their use of technology, for example by using and creating application programming interfaces (APIs) and, where possible, authoritative sources of data like registers

  • Operators in public beta can access data via API in addition to using the web interface, maximising flexibility. The API has been designed based on user interviews and therefore meets their needs and technical requirements.
  • Orbital analysts will be able to access Monitor Space Hazards via API to upload their analysis and download ephemeris data.
  • Databases of all Monitor Space Hazards information that can act like registers - able to be audited and monitored, as well as accessed and edited/updated.

Use common components and patterns, and share details of any new components or patterns they create or adapt (for example, by contributing to the GOV.UK Design System)

  • We have used standard components, styles and patterns from the GOV.UK design service to create our prototype.  
  • Example components: colour labels, details, accordions, tables, breadcrumbs, radios, text areas, checkboxes.
  • Example styles: lists, headings, structures.
  • When necessary components have not been available on the gov.uk design system (for example, code for a sortable table, highly requested by our users) we have sourced these from the MoJ design system, ensuring a common pattern was used.

When services create data that’s potentially useful to others inside or outside government, they should publish them in an open, machine readable format, under an Open Government Licence

  • A range of Government users will be able to access our service - including the emergency response team, regulators, UKSA SST team.
  • However, our service is not quite ready to create any data that can be publicly shared.
    • It probably is within our agreements with SpaceTrack to publish to eg academics and insurers but not the general public. Space-Track itself requires proof that you are in a relevant industry before giving you an account.
This page was last reviewed on 7 December 2022. It needs to be reviewed again on 7 June 2023 .
This page was set to be reviewed before 7 June 2023. This might mean the content is out of date.