Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code

A rules as code approach to rules and regulations could help close the gap between policy and service delivery for governments, delivery organizations, and—most importantly—people seeking services.

Asian woman coding at a large monitor and laptop
Software engineers using a computer and having a discussion in an office.

Translating policy into standard and transparent computer code.

Millions of people across the United States use digital systems to find out if they are eligible for health and human services, and then apply for, enroll in, and maintain their benefits. In order to implement these digital systems, program and policy teams work with software developers to translate laws, regulations, and policy documents into computer code. Implementation requires collecting and interpreting a jumble of potentially conflicting sources across programs and states. Compounding the potential for errors and inconsistencies, this process is repeated every time there are changes or updates to rules, and  duplicated across every entity that uses a digital system for benefits access. 

Adopting a Rules as Code approach—translating rules, laws, and policies into machine-consumable form—could enable more government transparency, generate cost savings, and create a more seamless system for writing, testing, and implementing government rules.

This page includes research, example projects, and technical demos of Rule as Code approaches. 

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How to Get Started

These resources can help you get oriented to Rules as Code.

Join the Rules as Code Community of Practice

The DBN’s Rules as Code Community of Practice (RaC CoP) creates a shared learning and exchange space for people working on public benefits eligibility and enrollment systems — and specifically people tackling the issue of how policy becomes software code.

Rules as Code for Benefits Delivery

The Digital Benefits Network has focused research on applying Rules as Code in the context of benefits delivery. See how Rules as Code can apply to benefits eligibility and enrollment systems.

Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code

Exploring Rules Communication: Moving Beyond Static Documents to Standardized Code for U.S. Public Benefits Programs

This brief analyzes the current state of federal and state government communication around benefits eligibility rules and policy and how these documents are being tracked and adapted into code by external organizations. This work includes comparisons between coded examples of policy and potential options for standardizing code based on established and emerging data standards, tools, and frameworks.

  • Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation
  • 2023

Policy2Code Prototyping Challenge

The Policy2Code Prototyping Challenge invites experiments to test how generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology can be used to translate government policies for U.S. public benefits programs into plain language and software code.

Discover All of Our Digitizing Policy + Rules as Code Resources

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