Digital Credentialing: Issuance, Interoperability, and Verification Guide for Learning Mobility

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction and Purpose
  2. Core Concepts
  3. Workflows
  4. Component Specifications
  5. Interoperability Profiles
  6. Implementation Guidance
  7. Conclusion

Introduction and Purpose

Learning mobility is the ability for people to carry, build, and articulate their learning across education and employment systems and throughout their lives. Achieving that vision requires digital credentialing infrastructure that keeps data flowing across the Learning Mobility Framework’s institutional verticals: Skills/Competency Articulation, Micro-Credentialing, Credit for Prior Learning (CPL), Transfer & Credit Mobility, and Workforce Alignment.

Digital credentials are an element of foundational infrastructure for both learning mobility and skills-based hiring systems. They enable learners to carry verified achievements across institutions and employers, while simultaneously enabling employers to identify qualified candidates based on verified competencies rather than traditional proxies like degrees or resumes. This dual function—supporting learner agency while enabling skills-based hiring—makes interoperable digital credentials critical infrastructure for modern education and workforce systems.

This guide translates that framework into procurement-ready specifications for interoperable digital credentialing systems. It defines standardized interoperability profiles that ensure seamless credential exchange across different vendors and platforms so learners can confidently move their verified achievements wherever opportunity takes them—whether to transfer institutions, employers, or other verifiers.

Digital credentials act as vehicles that make learning mobility real. When issuers, holders, and verifiers all implement a common interoperability profile, credentials can move from learning environments to transfer evaluators and hiring systems without friction. The guidance in this document helps state, regional, and institutional leaders align their procurement, integration, and implementation activities with the Learning Mobility Framework, so every workflow reinforces learner agency and enables skills-based hiring practices. The recommendations in the guide might apply to applications run by educational institutions that issue digital credentials, verification tools operated by employers, or credential holder-facing tools like digital wallets. These wallets may be mobile applications or web applications, but their need to interoperate with other systems is the same.

This guide builds on iterative development work in the digital credentials ecosystem, including interoperability assessments performed as part of the SkillsFWD program. These assessments confirmed that projects were able to successfully move credentials through end-to-end workflows by implementing interoperability profiles. The SkillsFWD assessments demonstrated a flexible approach that allowed each project to choose its own interoperability profile while ensuring that essential workflows were complete and that the rights and responsibilities defined by the program were fulfilled. This guide codifies those lessons learned into standardized profiles and assessment processes that enable implementers to self-assess and report their readiness to participate in all necessary workflows for their role.

Purpose

This guide serves to organize technical requirements that can be directly incorporated into Request for Proposals (RFPs) and procurement documents. It enables funders and implementing organizations to specify exact technical requirements that ensure interoperability across the entire learning mobility ecosystem. By ensuring credentials can be reliably verified across systems, this guide enables skills-based hiring practices that match candidates to opportunities based on verified skills or competencies rather than traditional credentials alone.

Beyond procurement, this guide facilitates coordination between vendors on aspects of their systems that promote actual interoperability in the real world. By defining standardized interoperability profiles, it enables vendors to align their implementations and increase interoperability between systems in the learning mobility space—across both education and workforce environments—to an acceptable high baseline level. This coordination ensures that learners can confidently take records of their learning into other environments and be seen and understood for their skills and experience, regardless of which vendor’s systems they encounter along their learning and career journey.

Interoperability Profiles for Digital Credentials

An interoperability profile defines a specific combination of standards-based technology choices that work together to provide complete end-to-end learning mobility workflows. Each profile specifies:

How Profiles Enable Digital Credential Exchange

Interoperability profiles ensure seamless credential exchange across vendors and platforms by recommending technical choices that systems must implement. When different vendors’ systems—whether issuer platforms, holder wallets, or verifier systems—all conform to the same interoperability profile, they can exchange credentials without requiring custom integrations or direct agreements between every individual pairing of organizations. This standardization eliminates the friction that would otherwise exist when credentials need to move between different technology providers.

The Power of Community Alignment

When a community like a state system, regional consortium, or institutional network consistently adopts a particular interoperability profile, digital credentials can be moved effectively between institutions, learners, and employers to support learning mobility workflows. For example, when all institutions in a transfer network implement the same profile, learners can seamlessly carry their verified achievements from one institution to another. When employers in a region adopt the same profile used by local educational institutions, they can confidently verify and accept credentials from any participating issuer. This community-wide alignment transforms digital credentials from isolated technical achievements into infrastructure that powers learning mobility and skills-based hiring.

When a solution or product is compatible with a particular profile, it means that for the roles it occupies (e.g., holder credential management/wallet, issuer system, verifier system), it supports all required operations defined in the interoperability profile for that role.

Using This Guide

  1. For Procurement: Copy relevant sections directly into RFPs to specify exact technical requirements
  2. For Vendor Assessment: Use the provided checklists to evaluate vendor capabilities
  3. For Network Growth: Document your system’s supported profiles to enable organic, permissionless network expansion
  4. For Implementation: Follow the detailed specifications to ensure conformance with chosen profiles

Core Concepts

Application Roles in a Learning Mobility Ecosystem

The digital credentials ecosystem consists of three primary roles:

Skills-Based Hiring and Advancement with Digital Credentials

Digital credentials enable skills-based hiring by providing verifiable, machine-readable evidence of skills or competencies that can be matched to job requirements. Different organizations may use different terms to describe related concepts like skills, competencies, or capabilities. For the purpose of this guide, we may use these terms interchangeably to describe a person’s capability that could be recognized using a digital credential or that may be required to perform a particular job role.

Unlike traditional resumes or degree requirements, verifiable credentials enable skills-based hiring in more powerful ways:

When hiring systems implement an interoperability profile in a verifier role, they can confidently accept and verify credentials from diverse issuers—educational institutions, training providers, and certification bodies that use that profile.

Interoperability Profiles

Interoperability profiles solve the challenge of ensuring that different systems can work together seamlessly. Rather than requiring all systems to support every possible standard and protocol combination, profiles define specific, tested combinations that are known to work together. The two initial profiles included in this guide are based on patterns seen in the real world among leading implementers of the W3C Verifiable Credentials and Open Badges standards for learning mobility purposes.

How Profiles Emerge

Interoperability profiles emerge from real-world implementation patterns. When multiple organizations implement digital credentials using similar combinations of standards and protocols, and those implementations successfully enable credential exchange, a pattern emerges that can be codified into an interoperability profile. New profiles are typically proposed and documented by communities of implementers who have successfully demonstrated interoperability using a particular combination of standards. These profiles are then validated through real-world testing and may be incorporated into guides like this one to enable broader adoption.

Each profile includes:

As the ecosystem matures, more interoperability profiles will be created to cover specific use cases and requirements as well as to take advantage of new standards and protocols that are developed, such as cryptographic signatures with more advanced protections against quantum computing attacks.

Conformance vs. Compatibility

This guide focuses on role-based conformance requirements to ensure reliable interoperability. Conformance is sometimes relative to a specific specification and is sometimes measured by an official body related to that standard. For example, the 1EdTech Consortium provides a conformance certification program for Open Badges 3.0 and CLR 2.0. The interoperability profiles here build on these certification programs by going deeper into the combinations of specifications that may be chosen for the various implementation options within OB and CLR to better ensure end-to-end interoperability across all the implementation roles necessary within learning mobility ecosystems that implement one of the included profiles.

Workflows

This table provides a quick reference for learning mobility coordinators to identify which workflows are relevant to their projects, which roles participate in each workflow, which profiles support each workflow, and where to find the corresponding checklists.

Workflow Role Use Cases (Learning Mobility Framework verticals) Profile Support
Issue to Wallet      
Credential Issuance Issuer Creating and delivering credentials to holders (Micro-Credentialing, Workforce Alignment) VCALM-EdDSA, OID4-ECDSA
Credential Acceptance Holder Receiving and accepting credentials from issuers (Transfer & Credit Mobility, Credit for Prior Learning) VCALM-EdDSA, OID4-ECDSA
Verify from Wallet      
Credential Request and Verification Verifier Requesting credentials from holders and validating received credentials (Workforce Alignment, Transfer & Credit Mobility, Skills/Competency Articulation, All verticals) VCALM-EdDSA, OID4-ECDSA
Credential Presentation Holder Presenting credentials to verifiers (Workforce Alignment, Transfer & Credit Mobility) VCALM-EdDSA, OID4-ECDSA
Standalone Operations      
Direct Credential Issuance Issuer Creating and delivering credentials as downloadable files or copy-paste JSON (Micro-Credentialing, Workforce Alignment) OB 3.0 Direct Delivery
Direct Credential Verification Verifier Validating credentials received as files or copy-paste JSON (Skills/Competency Articulation, All verticals) OB 3.0 Direct Delivery

Issue to Wallet

The Issue to Wallet flow pairs Credential Issuance and Credential Acceptance workflows, enabling protocol-based credential delivery from issuers to holder wallets.

Credential Issuance Workflow

The credential issuance workflow defines how credentials are created and delivered by issuers. This workflow focuses on the issuer’s role in creating, signing, and delivering verifiable credentials to holder wallets using interoperability protocols.

Example Scenario: Micro-Credentialing: A community college offers a series of stackable micro-credentials in cybersecurity. When a student completes a course module demonstrating proficiency in network security, the college’s learning management system automatically issues a digital micro-credential. The issuer system creates a W3C Verifiable Credential with Open Badges 3.0 schema, signs it using EdDSA cryptographic signatures, and delivers it via VCALM Exchanges protocol. The credential is cryptographically signed and verifiable, ensuring that regardless of which wallet receives it or which employer platform reviews it, the micro-credential maintains its integrity and can be verified across different systems.

Implementation Requirements

This workflow is implemented by issuer systems as they interact with holder wallets. See implementation requirements in supported profiles:

Step-by-Step Process Flow

  1. Credential Request Initiation
    • Holder initiates credential request through wallet interface OR through SSO login to issuer platform (e.g., SIS interface)
    • Wallet or issuer system accesses credential request using protocol-specific endpoint
  2. Authentication
    • Issuer authenticates holder DID identifier
  3. Credential Generation
    • Issuer creates credential with required schema and proof mechanisms
    • Issuer signs credential using profile-specific cryptographic suite
    • Issuer updates status list if applicable
  4. Credential Delivery
    • Issuer delivers credential to holder using profile-specific protocol
    • Credential is ready for acceptance by holder in the Credential Acceptance workflow

Credential Acceptance Workflow

This workflow defines how holders receive and accept credentials from issuers. This workflow focuses on the holder’s role in receiving credentials via interoperability protocols, verifying their authenticity, and ensuring they can be exported for use in other systems.

Example Scenario: Transfer & Credit Mobility / Credit for Prior Learning: A student has earned credentials from multiple institutions: an associate degree from a community college, industry certifications from professional training programs, and micro-credentials from online learning platforms. Each credential is delivered to the student’s digital wallet via VCALM Exchanges or OID4VCI protocol. The wallet verifies each credential’s cryptographic signature, checks its status, and ensures it can be exported in standard formats. When the student applies to transfer to a four-year university, they can export their credentials and share them with the receiving institution’s transfer evaluation system, which can verify each credential’s authenticity and status. This interoperability ensures that credentials from different issuers can be reliably accepted, verified, and used across different systems.

Implementation Requirements

This workflow is implemented by holder wallets as they interact with issuer systems. See implementation requirements in supported profiles:

Verify from Wallet

The Verify from Wallet flow consists of a verifier making a Credential Request, the holder software parsing and responding to that request with a Verifiable Presentation, followed by the verifier verifying the presentation and the credentials it contains.

Credential Request and Verification Workflow

The credential request and verification workflow defines the end-to-end process of requesting credentials from holders and validating received credentials. This workflow covers the verifier’s role in creating and sending credential requests, receiving verifiable presentations from wallets, and verifying the authenticity and validity of those credentials.

Example Scenario: Workforce Alignment: An employer’s applicant tracking system needs to verify that job applicants have the required skills and credentials for a data analyst position. The verifier system creates a credential request specifying the required credential types and attributes (e.g., data analytics micro-credentials), then sends this request to the applicant’s digital wallet using VCALM Exchanges or OID4VP protocol. The wallet parses the request, asks the user for authorization, and packages the response as a verifiable presentation. When the verifier receives the presentation, it verifies the cryptographic signatures, validates the credential structure and schema compliance, checks credential status using Bitstring Status List, and validates the issuer’s authorization through trust registries. This complete end-to-end workflow enables skills-based hiring, allowing employers to confidently identify qualified candidates based on verified competencies. Successful interoperability ensures that credentials issued by different training providers can be requested, presented, and verified consistently across various employer platforms.

Implementation Requirements

This workflow is implemented by verifier systems as they interact with holder wallets. See implementation requirements in supported profiles:

Step-by-Step Process Flow
  1. Request Creation
    • Verifier constructs a presentation request asking for specific credential types and attributes (e.g., “credentials of type Open Badge”)
    • Verifier specifies required credential types, attributes, and any constraints
    • Verifier prepares request using profile-specific protocol (VCALM Exchanges or OID4VP)
  2. Request Delivery
    • Verifier exposes credential request to holder’s digital wallet using profile-specific protocol URL
    • Holder wallet fetches the request and parses it. The holder wallet asks the user for permission to share the credentials requested.
    • Holder wallet creates a verifiable presentation containing the requested credentials and proves control of their DID using the profile-specific cryptographic suite.
  3. Presentation Reception
    • Verifier receives verifiable presentation from holder wallet in response to the request
    • Verifier validates presentation structure and format
    • Verifier validates the presentation proof signature, creation date, challenge and expiration if present
    • Verifier extracts credentials from the presentation
  4. Credential Verification
    • Extract proof from each credential
    • Resolve issuer DID to obtain verification key
    • Verify cryptographic signature using profile-specific suite
    • Validate proof creation date and expiration
    • Validate W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0 compliance
    • Verify Open Badges 3.0 schema compliance
    • Check required fields and data types
    • Validate credential expiration dates
    • Validate recipient identifiers in each credential matches holder DID
  5. Status Verification
    • Retrieve current status list from issuer
    • Check credential status using Bitstring Status List
    • Verify status list signature and freshness
    • Handle status service unavailability
  6. Trust Registry Integration
    • Query trust registries for issuer authorization
    • Validate issuer credentials and accreditation
    • Check for issuer revocation or suspension
    • Maintain current trust registry data

Credential Presentation Workflow

The credential presentation workflow defines how holders present credentials to verifiers in response to credential requests. This workflow focuses on the holder’s role in responding to requests and presenting credentials using interoperability protocols.

Example Scenario: Workforce Alignment: A job seeker has completed a series of industry-recognized micro-credentials in data analytics through a workforce development program. When applying for a data analyst position, the employer’s applicant tracking system requests verification of relevant skills and credentials. The job seeker uses their digital wallet to selectively share only the data analytics credentials that match the job requirements, maintaining privacy over other credentials. The employer’s system receives the verifiable credentials and can immediately verify their authenticity and current status. This streamlined presentation process enables skills-based hiring, allowing employers to quickly identify qualified candidates based on verified competencies rather than relying solely on traditional resumes. Successful interoperability ensures that credentials issued by different training providers can be presented and verified consistently across various employer platforms.

Implementation Requirements

This workflow is implemented by holder wallets as they interact with verifier systems. See implementation requirements in supported profiles:

Step-by-Step Process Flow

  1. Credential Request Reception
    • Holder wallet receives credential request from verifier in the Credential Request and Verification workflow
    • Holder wallet processes request and identifies matching credentials
  2. Holder Consent
    • Holder wallet presents available credentials matching request
    • Holder reviews and selects credentials to share
    • Holder provides consent for credential presentation
  3. Credential Presentation
    • Holder wallet creates verifiable presentation with proper cryptographic signatures
    • Holder wallet delivers presentation to verifier using profile-specific protocol
    • Presentation is received and verified in the Credential Request and Verification workflow
  4. Success Handling
    • Verifier presents success message to user or follows redirect URI
    • User receives confirmation of successful credential presentation

Standalone Operations

Standalone operations enable credential issuance and verification without protocol-based delivery, supporting direct file download, copy-paste JSON, and upload workflows.

Direct Credential Issuance Workflow

The direct credential issuance workflow defines how issuers create and deliver credentials directly as downloadable files or copy-paste JSON without protocol-based delivery. This workflow focuses on the issuer’s role in creating, signing, and providing credentials that recipients can download or copy directly.

Example Scenario: Micro-Credentialing: A professional training organization offers industry-recognized micro-credentials in project management. When a professional completes a certification program, the organization’s system creates a digital credential. The issuer system creates a W3C Verifiable Credential with Open Badges 3.0 schema, signs it using EdDSA cryptographic signatures, and provides it as a downloadable JSON file or copy-paste text. The recipient can download the credential file or copy the JSON text, then share it with employers or other verifiers who can verify its authenticity and status. This direct delivery approach enables simple credential issuance without requiring wallet integration.

Implementation Requirements

This workflow is implemented by issuer systems as they deliver credentials to recipients directly. See implementation requirements in supported profiles:

Step-by-Step Process Flow
  1. User Authentication
    • User authenticates via SSO/login to issuer platform (not wallet presentation)
    • Issuer verifies user identity and achievements/qualifications
  2. Credential Generation
    • Issuer creates credential with required schema and proof mechanisms
    • Issuer signs credential using EdDSA cryptographic suite (eddsa-rdfc-2022)
    • Issuer uses email address-based identifiers for credentialSubject
    • Issuer updates status list if applicable
  3. Credential Delivery
    • Issuer provides credential as downloadable file (JSON format)
    • Issuer provides credential as copy-paste JSON text
    • Credential can be saved and shared by recipients

Direct Credential Verification Workflow

The direct credential verification workflow defines how verifiers validate credentials received as files or copy-paste JSON. This workflow focuses on the verifier’s role in importing, validating, and verifying credentials that were delivered directly without protocol-based presentation.

Example Scenario: Skills/Competency Articulation: An employer receives a credential file from a job applicant who downloaded it from their training provider. The verifier’s system imports the credential JSON file, validates its structure, verifies the cryptographic signature, checks the credential status, and validates the issuer’s authorization through trust registries. Once verified, the platform can use the credential data to match the applicant’s skills to job requirements. This direct verification process enables employers to confidently accept credentials delivered through simple file sharing, supporting reliable skills-based hiring decisions.

Implementation Requirements

This workflow is implemented by verifier systems as they validate credentials received from recipients. See implementation requirements in supported profiles:

Step-by-Step Process Flow
  1. Credential Import
    • Verifier receives credential as JSON file or copy-paste JSON text
    • Verifier validates JSON structure before processing
    • Verifier handles malformed credentials gracefully
  2. Signature Verification
    • Extract proof from credential
    • Resolve issuer DID to obtain verification key
    • Verify EdDSA signature (eddsa-rdfc-2022)
    • Validate proof creation date and expiration
  3. Credential Structure Validation
    • Validate W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0 compliance
    • Verify Open Badges 3.0 schema compliance
    • Check required fields and data types
    • Validate credential expiration dates
  4. Status Verification
    • Retrieve current status list from issuer
    • Check credential status using Bitstring Status List
    • Verify status list signature and freshness
    • Handle status service unavailability
  5. Recipient Identity Confirmation
    • Extract identifiers from credential (email addresses from credentialSubject)
    • Compare extracted identifiers to authenticated identifiers for the user submitting the credential
    • Send email confirmation codes if necessary for verification
    • Handle cases where email verification is not possible
  6. Trust Registry Integration
    • Query trust registries for issuer authorization
    • Validate issuer credentials and accreditation
    • Check for issuer revocation or suspension

Interoperability Profiles

Profile 1: VCALM-EdDSA Profile

Profile Identifier: vcalm-eddsa-v1

Description: This profile uses VCALM Exchanges for credential issuance and presentation with EdDSA cryptographic signatures.

Key Components:

Use Cases:

Profile 2: OID4-ECDSA Profile

Profile Identifier: oid4-ecdsa-v1

Description: This profile uses OpenID for Verifiable Credentials (OID4VCI/OID4VP) for credential exchange with ECDSA cryptographic signatures.

Key Components:

Use Cases:

Profile 3: OB 3.0 Direct Delivery Profile

Profile Identifier: ob3-direct-delivery-v1

Description: This profile uses EdDSA cryptographic signatures with Open Badges 3.0 schema for direct credential issuance and verification. It supports direct-download/copy JSON and upload/paste workflows without protocol-based delivery, using email address-based identifiers for recipients in credentialSubject.

Key Components:

Use Cases:

Selecting an Interoperability Profile for Your Community

When coordinating a learning mobility ecosystem, selecting the right interoperability profile is critical for minimizing implementation effort while maximizing interoperability. Follow this process:

Step 1: Identify Community Participants and Their Roles

Step 2: Inventory Existing Technology Platforms

Step 3: Assess Profile Support Across Existing Systems

Step 4: Evaluate Implementation Effort

Step 5: Select the Best Fit Profile

Technical Considerations:

Step 6: Document Profile Selection Decision

Profile Comparison

Component Profile 1 (VCALM-EdDSA) Profile 2 (OID4-ECDSA) Profile 3 (OB 3.0 Direct Delivery)
Exchange Protocol VCALM Exchanges OID4VCI/OID4VP None (direct file/copy-paste)
Cryptographic Suite eddsa-rdfc-2022 ecdsa-rdfc-2019 eddsa-rdfc-2022
Credential Format VC Data Model 2.0 VC Data Model 2.0 VC Data Model 2.0
Credential Schema Open Badges 3.0 Open Badges 3.0 Open Badges 3.0
Status Method Bitstring Status List Bitstring Status List Bitstring Status List
DID Methods did:web, did:key did:web, did:key did:web, did:key
Recipient Identifiers DID-based DID-based Email-based

Note: While all profiles use the same credential format and schema, they are not directly interoperable due to different exchange protocols (or lack thereof) and cryptographic suites. Profile 3 (OB 3.0 Direct Delivery) uses email-based identifiers for recipients, while Profiles 1 and 2 use DID-based identifiers.

Implementation Guidance

Using Profiles in RFPs

When incorporating this guide into procurement documents:

  1. Specify Profile Requirements
    • Clearly state which interoperability profile(s) must be supported
    • Include all mandatory requirements from the chosen profile
    • Specify optional extensions that are desired
  2. Define Conformance Criteria
    • Require vendors to demonstrate conformance with chosen profile
    • Specify testing and validation requirements
    • Include interoperability testing with other profile-conformant systems
  3. Include Implementation Timeline
    • Specify when profile conformance must be achieved
    • Include milestones for testing and validation
    • Define acceptance criteria for profile implementation

Assessing Your Capabilities

This section describes how to assess vendor capabilities using workflow-by-role checklists. Often each technology provider will self-assess, but the same items could be documented by learning mobility coordinator through an interview process. Interoperability profiles are organized into workflows (such as Credential Issuance, Credential Acceptance, Credential Request and Verification, Credential Presentation) and for each workflow, there are role-specific checklists that define the requirements for each system participating in that workflow.

How to Select Interoperability Profile Checklists

Each interoperability profile includes checklists organized by workflow and role. To determine which checklists apply to a vendor’s system:

  1. Identify Workflows: Determine which workflows are needed for the overall learning mobility strategy and which workflows the vendor’s system participates in. For example, in a project to implement credit mobility using digital credentials, the players are educational institutions and learner wallets or persistence applications. The institutions fulfill roles of both issuer and verifier, and a participating wallet integrates with them to complete credential issuance and presentation workflows.
  2. Identify Roles: For each workflow, identify the role(s) the system plays:
    • Issuer: Creates and issues credentials
    • Holder Wallet or Persistence Application: Receives, stores, and manages credentials
    • Verifier: Requests and verifies credentials
  3. Select Checklists: Use the checklists that correspond to the system’s role(s) in each relevant workflow

For example, a wallet system that participates in both Credential Acceptance (as holder) and Credential Presentation (as holder) would need to complete the holder checklists for both workflows.

Documenting Profile Support Across a Network

When coordinating multiple vendors and platforms in a learning mobility network, you need to document profile support both for individual vendors and across the entire network.

For Individual Vendors:

  1. Identify the vendor’s system roles across all workflows
  2. For each role, determine which checklists apply
  3. Complete or request vendor self-assessment for each relevant checklist
  4. Document:
    • Which profile(s) the vendor supports
    • Which workflows and roles are supported
    • Implementation status (Fully Implemented / Partially Implemented / Planned / Not Supported)
    • Any limitations or constraints

Across Multiple Vendors in a Network:

  1. Create a network-wide profile support matrix:
    • List all vendors/platforms in the network
    • For each vendor, document their supported profiles and roles
    • Identify gaps where no vendor supports a required role for a workflow
    • Highlight vendors that support multiple roles (e.g., issuer + wallet)
  2. Assess network completeness:
    • Verify that all required workflows have at least one vendor supporting each necessary role
    • Identify if multiple vendors support the same role (providing redundancy and choice)
    • Document any dependencies between vendors (e.g., wallet must work with specific issuer platforms)
  3. Plan network growth:
    • Identify which additional vendors or capabilities would strengthen the network
    • Document which profiles new vendors should support to maximize interoperability
    • Create a roadmap for expanding network coverage

Example Network Documentation: Here is a set of fictitious product names and how you might track their support for the profiles and roles in the workflows. With this example set of vendors, the learning mobility coordinator would likely identify VCALM-EdDSA as the best fit profile for the network.

Vendor Profile Support Issuer role Holder role Verifier role Notes
ExampleCreds VCALM-EdDSA ✓ Full ✓ Full - Primary issuer platform with integrated wallet
ExampleCreds OID4-ECDSA ✓ Full - - Implements OID4 alternative flow only as issuer
TalentWallet VCALM-EdDSA - ✓ Full ✓ Full Wallet + verifier/talent marketplace
SkillAssessX OID4-ECDSA ✓ Partial - - Needs wallet integration

Self-Testing Conformance

Vendors can self-test their conformance with a profile by following these steps:

  1. Select the Appropriate Checklist
    • Choose the interoperability profile your system needs to support or the profiles that the learning mobility coordinator is considering for the project
    • Map the learning mobility vertical to digital credentials workflows described in the profile. For example, recognizing that a Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) project may involve an institution issuing fresh credentials to learners based on documentation of their past experience and it may also involve that institution verifying previously issued credentials held by the learner.
    • Identify which workflows and which roles in those workflows your system participates in
    • Select the role-specific checklists for your system’s role(s) in each workflow
  2. Complete the Self-Assessment

For each requirement in the selected checklists, document:

  1. Test End-to-End Workflows
    • Demonstrate each workflow your system participates in:
      • For Issuers: Show credential creation and delivery to a holder
      • For Holders: Show credential reception, storage, and presentation to a verifier
      • For Verifiers: Show credential request, reception, and verification
    • Document the workflow with screenshots or video walkthroughs
    • Provide example credentials in the standardized format

  2. Assess Workflow Completeness Against Project Goals

    Assessment ensures that implementations support the learning mobility goals of your project. The SkillsFWD program provides a useful example of how workflow-by-role assessment validates that essential workflows are complete and that project goals can be accomplished. Rather than prescribing specific rights and responsibilities, SkillsFWD created modular checklists for each workflow role, allowing each project to choose its own interoperability profile while ensuring that learners can effectively use their credentials.

Case Study: Learner Control Over Credential Sharing

To illustrate how this works, consider the principle of learner control over credential sharing. A SkillsFWD assessment was drafted to verify that learners can share credentials in VC format without substantial restrictions, which supports this principle. The assessment plan included an item to verify that learners can share or export credentials in VC format without substantial restrictions.

These assessment items are organized into modular checklists for each workflow role. For example, in the Credential Presentation workflow, holder systems were assessed on their ability to share credentials, while in the Credential Acceptance workflow, holder systems were assessed on their ability to receive and export credentials. This modular approach allows projects to demonstrate compliance even when credential persistence platforms are integrated into the same software as issuer systems—the assessment verifies that workflows involving learners exporting credentials in interoperable formats can still occur, regardless of system architecture.

The SkillsFWD program accommodated various workflow configurations, including fully integrated systems where issuer, holder, and verifier roles all exist within a single platform. Even in these cases, the assessment ensured that learners could still export credentials in standardized formats (such as JSON or baked PNG/SVG images) so they could share credentials with verifiers beyond the original project ecosystem. For detailed information on the SkillsFWD assessment methodology and modular checklist approach, see the SkillsFWD Interoperability Assessment Guide and SkillsFWD Technical Interoperability Assessment Plan.

Example: State Workforce Agency Micro-Credentialing Initiative

Consider a state workforce agency planning to execute a learning mobility strategy focused on micro-credentialing for employment. The agency is gathering both higher education institutions and professional continuing learning organizations to offer skills-based micro-credentials that will be consumed within employer and applicant-facing talent marketplace tools.

Step 1: Identify Project Goals and Required Workflows The agency identifies that their micro-credentialing initiative requires:

Step 2: Map Participants to Workflow Roles The agency identifies:

Step 3: Inventory Existing Technology Platforms The agency surveys participating institutions and organizations to identify:

Step 4: Vet and Recommend Technology Partners The agency identifies two candidate interoperability profiles that could work for their ecosystem. They vet several interested vendors that might be recommended to organizations needing a technology partner. For each vendor, the agency:

Step 5: Select Profile and Establish Commitments After reviewing vendor self-assessments, the agency finds that one interoperability profile has wider support across existing platforms and candidate vendors. This reduces implementation effort and increases the likelihood of successful adoption. The agency then drafts memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with participating institutions, specifying that they must support all requirements of the relevant role-specific checklists by the program launch date.

This approach ensures that the agency’s learning mobility goal—enabling learners to share skills-based micro-credentials with talent marketplace tools—can be accomplished through interoperable credential exchange, while accommodating the diverse technology platforms already in use across participating organizations.

Vendor Evaluation Process

When evaluating vendors, use a three-stage process:

  1. Self-Assessment
    • Provide vendors with profile-specific, workflow-by-role checklists
    • Require detailed responses for each capability
    • Review self-assessment documentation for completeness
  2. Technical Validation
    • Conduct technical interviews on profile requirements
    • Review vendor architecture and implementation plans
    • Validate understanding of mandatory vs. optional requirements
    • Verify that workflow-by-role checklists have been correctly applied
  3. Interoperability Testing
    • Test vendor systems with other profile-conformant systems
    • Validate end-to-end credential workflows
    • Verify compliance with all profile requirements for the vendor’s roles
    • Confirm that rights and responsibilities are fulfilled

Organizing Vendor Development Work

Vendors can use this guide to organize their product development and engineering work as they implement support for an interoperability profile. The workflow-by-role checklists provide a structured way to break down implementation work, track progress, and ensure conformance before release.

Documenting Your System’s Supported Profiles

To enable organic network growth:

  1. Profile Documentation
    • Document which profiles your system supports
    • Specify any optional extensions implemented
    • Provide technical contact information for integration
  2. Public Registry
    • Register your system in relevant trust registries
    • Provide clear technical specifications
    • Maintain current contact and support information
  3. Integration Support
    • Provide integration documentation and examples
    • Offer technical support for partner integrations
    • Participate in interoperability testing events

Growing Networks Organically

With clear profile requirements, networks can grow organically:

  1. New Entrant Onboarding
    • New participants can see exact technical requirements
    • Clear conformance criteria enable self-assessment
    • Standardized profiles reduce integration complexity
  2. Partner Discovery
    • Profile compatibility enables automatic partner discovery
    • Trust registries provide authoritative partner information
    • Standardized protocols enable seamless integration
  3. Ecosystem Expansion
    • Profile-based requirements scale across organizations
    • Standardized testing enables quality assurance
    • Clear specifications enable vendor competition and innovation

Conclusion

This guide provides the technical foundation for interoperable digital credentialing systems that power learning mobility and enable skills-based hiring and advancement. By defining specific interoperability profiles with mandatory requirements, this guide enables reliable credential exchange across different vendors and platforms, supporting both learner agency and employer access to verified competency data.

The three defined profiles (VCALM-EdDSA, OID4-ECDSA, and OB 3.0 Direct Delivery) cover most common use cases in learning mobility ecosystems, providing technical specifications that can be directly incorporated into procurement documents and implementation plans. These profiles enable credentials to flow seamlessly from educational institutions to hiring systems, supporting the transition to skills-based hiring and advancement practices that match candidates to opportunities based on verified competencies.

Organizations using this guide can confidently select technical requirements that ensure interoperability, assess vendor capabilities against clear criteria, and build networks that grow organically with new participants able to understand exactly what technical requirements they must meet to participate. Whether supporting learning mobility across institutions or enabling skills-based hiring in workforce systems, interoperable digital credentials provide the infrastructure needed for modern education and employment ecosystems.

The foundation established by this guide enables the future development of automated testing tools and conformance validation systems that will further reduce the complexity of achieving and maintaining interoperability across learning mobility ecosystems and skills-based hiring systems.