Analysis Model for Selection of Private Sector Consensus Standards [i] to be E-Gov Standards

 

Applicability of standard

 

Is it clear who should use the standard and for what applications?

How does the standard fit into the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA)?

What was done to investigate viable alternative standards (i.e., due diligence) before selecting this standard?

 

Availability of standard

 

Is the standard published and publicly available?

Is a copy of the standard free or must it be purchased?

Are there any licensing requirements for using the standard?

 

Completeness of standard

 

To what degree does the candidate standard define and cover the key features necessary to support the specific E-Gov functional area or service?

 

Implementations to standard

 

Does the standard have strong support in the commercial marketplace? 

What commercial products exist for this standard?

Are there products from different vendors in the market to implement this standard?

If the standard is proprietary, are there nevertheless many products readily available from a variety of vendors?

Are there any existing or planned mechanisms to assess conformity of implementations to the standard?

 

Interoperability of standard

 

How does this standard provide users the ability to access applications and services through Web services?

What are the existing or planned mechanisms to assess the interoperability of different vendors? implementations?

 

Legal considerations

 

Are there any patent assertions made to this standard?

Are there any IPR assertions that will hinder USG distribution of the standard?

 

Maturity of standard

 

How technically mature is the standard?

Is the underlying technology of the standard well-understood (e.g., a reference model is well-defined, appropriate concepts of the technology are in widespread use, the technology may have been in use for many years, a formal mathematical model is defined, etc.)?

Is the standard based upon technology that has not been well-defined and may be relatively new?

 

Source of standard

 

What standards body developed and now maintains this standard?

Is this standard a de jure or de facto national or international standard?

Is there an open process for revising or amending this standard?

 

Stability of standard

 

How long as this standard been used?

Is the standard stable (e.g., its technical content is mature)?

Are major revisions or amendments in progress that will affect backward compatibility with the approved standard?

When is the estimated completion date for the next version?

 

 

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[i] Web-based sources for information about private sector consensus standards include:

 

European annual survey of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) standards developers:

 

            http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/isss/consortia/index.asp

American National Standards Institute search engine for standards:

 

                  http://www.nssn.org/