Understanding Computer System Standards and Profiles

1. IT3223 Chapter Standards

2. Why Standards? • Characteristics • Organizational processes • Profiles

3. What is a Standard? • Public document • Defines specification • Complete, precise, verifiable • Requirements • Design • Characteristics • Maintained by group consensus

4. Computer System Standard • Specification Defines • Interface • Service • Processes • Protocols • Data formats • Maintained by group consensus

5. Profile • Set of one of more standards to accomplish particular function

6. Standards • de facto • Specification for particular product that emerges due to product’s popular use • May be linked to single vendor • de jure • Specification created by accredited standards development organization • Goals: • Broad availability of products • Competition • Lower prices

7. Standards Organizations • How standards developed? • Differences among standards • Government • Industry • Trend in 1990’s for government to adopt industry standards instead of creating

8. Top 10 NonGov’t US Standard Developers • ASTM • US Pharmacopeia • SAE • AIA • AOAC • ANSI • EIA • Amer. Assoc State hwy and Trans Officials • Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance

9. Influential Standard Organizations • ISO • ANSI

10. Influential Standard Organizations • ISO • Worldwide standards • Facilitate international exchange of goods & services • Develop cooperation • Intellectual • Scientific • Technical • Economic

11. Influential Standard Organizations • ANSI • Private • Nonprofit • US representative of ISO • Promotes voluntary consensus • Protects integrity of standards development process • No official government charter • Open to manufacturers, organizations, users, communication carriers • 13000 approved ANSI standards • Developed by member organizations • Coordinates work • Certifies standards developed according to accredited procedures • Does not judge standards

12. Standards Organization Categories • Accredited • Approved by international standards organization such as ISO or ANSI • Define and publish public standards • Non accredited • Consortia, private organizations, vendor: de facto • Define and publish group standards

13. Consensus Processes • Group consensus used to develop standard • Multiple people or organizations • Process in which consensus achieved • Developer accredited

14. Typical Formal Process • Submit project authorization request • Obtain approval for request • Organize working group • Develop draft standard • Vote on draft standard • Approve draft standard • Publish approved standard • Forward to international standardization

15. Other processes • Change requests • Interpretation of standard • Review of standard for update or removal

16. Standard Approval • Balance working group • Producers • Users • General interest participants • Ballot process outside of working group

17. Facets of Consensus • Participation • Development and approval process • Post approval process to monitor changes to existing standards • Willingness of organization to accept and vote on standards developed by affiliate groups

18. Consensus Processes • Impacted by type of organization • Membership may be limited • Level of agreement necessary for approval • Appeal available? • More time needed for formal process and larger consensus group • More complex with formal process and larger consensus group • Formal process more predictable and stable

19. Standard Changes • Corrections • Clarifications/interpretation of existing functionality • New, modified functionality • Process of change impacted by type of organization and scale of process • Some organizations require review/reaffirmation of standards at stated intervals ( ballot )

20. Standard Stability • Accredited generally more stable • Must consider compatibility of change to prior standard implementation

21. Characteristics of Standards • Types of information • Normative • Prescribes requirements, specifications • Requirements may be mandatory or optional • Optional features may impact interoperability • Optional features must conform to standard • Some specifications may be implementation defined • Informative • Discloses instructive information – not requirements • Examples, tutorial, guidance

22. Standards Maturity • Stability • State of development and approval • Degree of acceptance in the marketplace • Age – issues identified and cleaned up • Technology can render standards obsolete

23. Approval States • Approved • Draft • Cancelled

24. Profiles • Developed from one or more base standards • Allows inclusion of different types and sources of standards • Defines mandatory parts of standards and included optional parts • Requires thorough understanding of standards

25. Value of Profiles • Document appropriate standards • Document relationships among them • Visibility • Gaps • Overlaps • Inconsistencies • Incompatibilities • Document how products using standards should work together

26. Profile Characteristics • Satisfies all functional requirements • Satisfies all logical requirements • Provides sufficient detail for implementation • Provides sufficient detail for conformance testing

27. Profile Issues • ID potential for variations as implemented • Classification schemes • Adding functionality to profile • Coherence among standards in profile • Overlap confusion of standards • Conformance to standard vs conformance to profile

28. Conformance • Relationship of standard to implementation • Strict ( no additional features ) • With extensions

29. Conformance • Specify • Conformance statements • Test assertions • Verify • Testing using standard test suites • Reference implementations • Conformance demonstrations

30. Break Out • You need to develop policy for the webct replacement project regarding use of vendor extensions. • What are you concerned about? • What do you think policy should be? • What impact does the marketplace have on your policy?