NDTP Documentation Hub

Welcome to the National Digital Twin Programme (NDTP) documentation hub.

This page provides a high-level overview of NDTP and its product/service offerings for partners, suppliers, and internal teams. Where specific terms or names require verification from the public website (ndtp.co.uk), they are clearly marked as “to be confirmed”. Please review and provide authoritative wording so we can replace placeholders with final copy.

About NDTP

The National Digital Twin Programme (NDTP) is a UK Government initiative focused on enabling secure, federated sharing of information between organisations by aligning on common methods, standards, and capabilities. NDTP’s work supports better decision-making, increased resilience, improved outcomes for citizens, and reduced cost/risk in delivery and operations.

Key aims include: - Establishing shared principles, standards, and reference architectures for interoperable digital twins. - Enabling secure, permissioned data sharing across organisational boundaries. - Supporting the development and adoption of reusable, modular capabilities. - Convening public and private sectors around a common approach.

About this site

This website is the central documentation hub for the National Digital Twin Programme. Its purpose is to provide a single, authoritative location for all documentation related to NDTP applications, platforms, and the wider ecosystem developed by the Programme. Here you will find high‑level guidance, reference architectures, interface specifications, reusable components, and solution overviews, along with links to demonstrators and implementation guidance. Content is curated to support partners, suppliers, and internal teams in discovering, understanding, and adopting NDTP approaches consistently across projects.

Who this is for

Public sector bodies operating or commissioning infrastructure and services.
Private sector asset owners, operators, and suppliers.
Technology vendors and delivery partners building to NDTP standards.
Researchers and standardisation communities collaborating with NDTP.

NDTP Product and Service Offerings

The following categories describe NDTP’s typical offerings. Please validate and provide official product names and descriptions from ndtp.co.uk so we can finalise each item.

1) Standards, Principles, and Guidance (to be confirmed) - Purpose: Define common language, principles, and patterns that enable interoperability and responsible data sharing. - Typical outputs: Principles, policy guidance, maturity models, playbooks, reference profiles. - Value: Reduces ambiguity, aligns stakeholders, and accelerates safe adoption.

2) Reference Architectures and Design Patterns (to be confirmed) - Purpose: Provide reference models and patterns for secure, federated data exchange and digital twin integration. - Typical outputs: High-level architecture, capability model, security/privacy patterns, trust/identity patterns. - Value: De-risks solution design and supports multi-vendor interoperability.

3) Open Interfaces and Schemas (to be confirmed) - Purpose: Define interfaces, schemas, and conventions to achieve semantic and syntactic interoperability. - Typical outputs: API definitions, data models, code lists, ontologies, validation rules, compliance profiles. - Value: Ensures consistent integration and data quality across implementations.

4) Reusable Components and Tooling (to be confirmed) - Purpose: Provide reference implementations and tooling to accelerate adoption and demonstrate feasibility. - Typical outputs: SDKs, adapters, reference services, connectors, validation tools, deployment templates. - Value: Shortens time-to-value and supports consistent implementations.

5) Assurance, Conformance, and Compliance Support (to be confirmed) - Purpose: Help organisations evidence alignment to NDTP standards and good practice. - Typical outputs: Conformance criteria, test harnesses, certification guidance, assessment frameworks. - Value: Builds trust, reduces integration risk, and improves procurement outcomes.

6) Community, Engagement, and Knowledge Sharing (to be confirmed) - Purpose: Convene stakeholders, share learning, and align on priorities across sectors. - Typical outputs: Working groups, events, case studies, exemplar projects, collaboration channels. - Value: Grows a healthy ecosystem and encourages reuse.

NDTP Solutions and Services

The following NDTP solutions and services are provided as part of the Programme’s integration architecture and demonstrator portfolio. Descriptions are drafted for clarity and will be validated against the authoritative wording on ndtp.co.uk (see Demonstrators and Integration Architecture pages). Where necessary, please provide final copy.

Federator

Purpose: A federation and orchestration layer that enables discovery, brokering, and secure access to data and services across participating organisations and “IA Nodes”.
Capabilities: Catalogue and discovery, policy‑based access control, routing of queries to relevant nodes, and aggregation of results where appropriate.
Value: Reduces point‑to‑point integrations by providing a scalable, standards‑based hub for federated data sharing.

IA Node (Integration Architecture Node)

Purpose: A conformant node implementing NDTP integration interfaces, security controls, and data contracts so organisations can publish and consume data/services consistently.
Capabilities: Standard APIs, identity and authorisation, audit, schema/validation support, adapters to local systems.
Value: Provides a repeatable pattern to join the federation with consistent behaviours and governance.

IRIS

Purpose: A thematic demonstrator showcasing how federated data and models can deliver insights for a specific domain or scenario.
Capabilities: Example data pipelines, visualisation/analytics, integration with the Federator and IA Nodes, and reusable patterns/artefacts.
Value: Accelerates learning and reuse by providing a working exemplar that others can adapt.

LISA

Purpose: A solution-focused demonstrator highlighting interoperability, lifecycle integration, or service-level collaboration across organisations.
Capabilities: Standardised interfaces, governance patterns, and example components illustrating best practice.
Value: Demonstrates practical benefits and informs assurance/conformance guidance.

NOVA

Purpose: An innovation‑led demonstrator exploring advanced capabilities (e.g., analytics, automation, or simulation) built on the NDTP integration architecture.
Capabilities: Experimental services integrated via standard APIs; evidence for patterns, reference data, and trust controls.
Value: De‑risks adoption by testing new ideas within a standards‑aligned framework.

VISTA

Purpose: A visualisation and situational awareness demonstrator that brings together federated data to support decision‑making.
Capabilities: Dashboards, map‑based or model‑based views, cross‑dataset querying via the Federator, and governance guardrails.
Value: Provides tangible value to users while reinforcing reusable patterns for future services.

Benefits and Outcomes

Interoperability by design across organisations and vendors.
Reduced integration and lifecycle costs through reuse and standardisation.
Improved trust, security, and governance for data sharing.
Better decision-making for policy, planning, operations, and resilience.

Example Use Cases

Cross-agency infrastructure planning using shared asset and condition data.
Resilience and emergency response planning informed by federated models.
Net zero and sustainability reporting with consistent, comparable data.
Operational optimisation through secure sharing of sensor and asset data.

Getting Started

Contact NDTP: ndtp@businessandtrade.gov.uk
Repository policy: See README.md and LICENSE.md for usage and licensing terms.
Contribution: See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to propose changes.

Governance, Licensing, and Attribution

Governance: The Programme is governed under the UK Department for Business and Trade (see repository footer for formal attribution).
Licensing: This documentation and related assets are covered by the NDTP InnerSource Licence unless otherwise stated.