6. Contributor Guidelines - opensupplyhub/supplychaindata.exchange GitHub Wiki

Contribution Guidelines

This page outlines how to contribute to the development and maintenance of the SC-DEX technical standard, as well as how to support the broader open data infrastructure that SC-DEX is building. While the original focus of SC-DEX was on a shared technical schema, the initiative is now evolving into a broader ecosystem.

This guide focuses on maintaining and expanding the technical standard. It includes both technical and non-technical ways to contribute: proposing identifiers, testing schema extensions, offering research insights, or building open tools. Contributions are welcomed from individuals, civil society groups, academics, technologists, and organizations working on supply chain transparency. We'll provide more guidance and introduce how to contribute to the pledge and network soon!

1. Overview

SC-DEX is maintained by a collaborative community of contributors and reviewed by an interim governance board. This guide provides clarity on how anyone can get involved.

While the technical standard has clear schema files and implementation tools, the project also depends on broader research, testing, and knowledge exchange. You don’t need to be a software developer to contribute—this is a space where data workers, researchers, civil society, and standards experts all shape the future of open supply chain data exchange.

2. Ways to Contribute

We welcome contributions across many areas. These include but are not limited to:

  • Propose a New Identifier or Affiliation
    Suggest new location identifiers (e.g. national factory registries), organization identifiers (e.g. government databases), or relationship types (e.g. ownership, certification linkages). See all location identifiers here. See all organization identifiers here.

  • Suggest a New Tool
    Recommend or build tools that make SC-DEX more usable—such as schema validators, API wrappers, or spreadsheet converters. See an example of a tool here.

  • Start a Discussion to Improve the Standard
    Share questions, use cases, or edge cases that test current schema boundaries. See current discussions here.

  • Propose a New Extension
    Suggest sector- or policy-specific extensions to the core schema, such as wage metrics, carbon footprint attributes, or certifications. See an example here.

  • Add to Related Initiatives and Tools
    Share initiatives aligned with SC-DEX’s mission—such as data mapping platforms, labor standards, or federated identifier systems. See current list here.

  • Facilitate or Document a Pilot
    If you’ve used SC-DEX in a data tracing or compliance use case, share lessons learned and implementation stories. Read about our pilot cases here

  • Contribute to the Expert Interview Series
    Nominate interviewees or participate in a podcast episode to share your expertise on standards, transparency, or open data. Listen to the series here.

  • Sign and Share the Open Letter
    Join other organizations in expressing public support for an interoperable open data ecosystem. Read more about the letter here.

  • Join the Slack Community and Peer Network
    Stay updated, connect with others, and help co-design the future of SC-DEX. Join the conversation here

3. Contribution Process

Below are instructions for how to contribute to SC-DEX, whether you're submitting identifiers, sharing tools, or offering insights from research or practice. You don’t need to be a developer—many contributions help set direction, surface insights, or prepare resources that others can build on.

Propose a New Identifier or Affiliation

Want to suggest a new location identifier (like a regional registry), organizational identifier (like an international business registry), or a new affiliation type (like “parent company” or “shares board member”)?

How to contribute:

  1. Go to the GitHub Issues page.
  2. Select the appropriate issue template:
  3. Fill in the required fields in the issue template. This might involve researching how the identifier is used, whether it’s open access, and who maintains it.
  4. Submit the issue. Other community members may comment or offer feedback.
  5. If approved by the advisory board, the proposal issue will be closed, the label will be changed from "proposal" to "approved", and will show up on the approved location and organization identifier lists.

Suggest a New Tool

If you’ve built or use a tool that could make SC-DEX easier to adopt—such as a data converter, validator, lookup service, or API—you can propose it for inclusion in our Related Initiatives and Tools directory.

How to contribute:

  1. Jump into the discussion on Tools for SC-DEX.
  2. Include the tool name, a one-sentence description, and a link to it (GitHub repo, website, etc.) in the thread.
  3. Explain how it aligns with SC-DEX (e.g. helps generate JSON, map OSIDs, look up LEIs).
  4. Please feel free to bring it up in our Slack, or create an issue to start a workstream.

Start a Discussion to Improve the Standard

If you’ve noticed a gap in the schema, have a use case that’s hard to represent, or just want to explore ideas around how the standard could improve, start a community discussion.

How to contribute:

  1. Go to the GitHub Discussions tab.
  2. Choose a category like "Ideas" or "Schema Feedback."
  3. Describe your idea, question, or challenge in 2–3 paragraphs.
  4. Tag relevant people or link to existing resources if applicable.
  5. Discussions thenmay be converted into formal issues or working group topics.

Propose a New Extension

Extensions allow SC-DEX to support sector-specific data like wages, certifications, deforestation risk, or labor indicators.

How to contribute:

  1. Submit an Extension Proposal Issue.
  2. The proposal will ask you to briefly describe:
    • What the extension is for
    • Who it serves
    • What new fields it would add
    • A potential or group of partner organizations who would likely use this extension
  3. After community review and testing, extensions may be published alongside the core schema. Submitting an extension proposal doesn't mean you need to be the one to write it up! Ideas for what the extensions might be are helpful as well. If you are able to build someone's extension and standardize it into a schema, be sure to refer to this repository for an example.

Add to Related Initiatives & Tools

If you know of an organization, dataset, or mapping initiative that aligns with SC-DEX’s mission, add it to our Related Initiatives and Tools directory.

How to contribute:

  1. Read through the current index to see if your initiative or resource is already listed. If not, jump into this discussion to share a project that you've found.
  2. Please include:
    • Name of the initiative
    • Link to its website
    • One-liner summary of its purpose
    • How it aligns with SC-DEX
  3. The entry will be reviewed and added to the index by wiki maintainers.

Facilitate a Pilot Implementation

Running a small data collection or tracing exercise using SC-DEX? You can share what you learned to help future pilots.

How to contribute:

  1. Run a pilot using SC-DEX by following any of the suggested use cases in 7. Implementation Tutorials.
  2. Use our Pilot Report Template (coming soon) to share:
    • Your use case
    • What worked well or didn’t
    • Tools or extensions you used
    • Any identifier or schema challenges
  3. Reports will be added to the SC-DEX Implementation Tutorials and inform future versions of the standard.

Record an Expert Interview

We’re actively recording a podcast series with experts in open data, policy, civil society, and supply chains. If you’d like to be interviewed—or nominate someone—reach out.

How to contribute:

  1. Listen or subscribe: SC-DEX Expert Interview Series on Spotify
  2. Submit an Interview Nomination Form and someone will reach out with more instructions on best practices on how to record your interview.
  3. Interview episodes are shared on LinkedIn and added to the research archive.

Sign the Open Letter and Share It

Join a growing list of stakeholders calling for interoperable supply chain data.

How to contribute:

  1. Read and sign the SC-DEX Open Letter
  2. Share with your networks or encourage your organization to sign.

Join the SC-DEX Slack & Network

Want to stay in the loop or help organize future working groups?

How to contribute:

  1. Join the Slack: Join the SC-DEX Community
  2. Introduce yourself and find channels aligned with your interest
  3. Stay updated on upcoming calls, extensions, and governance updates

4. Guiding Principles

All contributions to SC-DEX should align with the following principles:

  • Open by Default: Proposals should favor open licensing, open data, and open infrastructure.
  • Interoperability: New tools, identifiers, or extensions should aim to work alongside existing standards.
  • Usability: SC-DEX should be usable by a wide range of actors—from grassroots civil society to multinational firms.
  • Collaborative Design: We welcome co-creation and encourage shared ownership and feedback.