The present invention provides a unified layer for Plug and Play (PnP) components and power management components while relieving device drivers from system-level complexities associated with implementing PnP and/or power management functionality. The layer operates at a level between low-level device drivers and more complex operating system tasks. The subject invention simplifies designing device drivers having proper power management support by creating an infrastructure that allows a device driver to operate within a driver framework or model and without having to process Plug-and-Play or Power Management I/O Request Packets (IRPs) directly.