From rinehuls@access.digex.net Wed May 8 21:31:07 1996 Received: from access2.digex.net (qlrhmEbBUV1EY@access2.digex.net [205.197.245.193]) by dkuug.dk (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id VAA11272 for ; Wed, 8 May 1996 21:31:02 +0200 Received: from localhost (rinehuls@localhost) by access2.digex.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id PAA18778 ; for ; Wed, 8 May 1996 15:30:33 -0400 Date: Wed, 8 May 1996 15:30:26 -0400 (EDT) From: "william c. rinehuls" X-Sender: rinehuls@access2.digex.net To: sc22docs@dkuug.dk Subject: SC22 N2148 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces Secretariat: U.S.A. (ANSI) ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 N2148 May 1996 TITLE: JTC 1 Products and Services SOURCE: Secretariat, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 WORK ITEM: N/A STATUS: N/A CROSS REFERENCE: N/A DOCUMENT TYPE: N/A ACTION: To SC22 Member Bodies and Working Group Conveners for action or information as applicable. SC22 Member Bodies and Working Group Conveners with comments specifically related to the work of SC22 are encouraged to submit these comments to Mr. Robert Follett, SC22 Chairman, NOT LATER THAN MAY 30, 1996 for forwarding. SC22 Member Body comments not specifically related to the work of SC22 should be submitted through their respective National Body. (NOTE: The invitation to submit comments must be restricted to participants in the email distribution of this document. Because of the limited time available for responding to the JTC 1 request, participants who receive paper copies of this document will be requested to submit their comments through their respective National Body whether or not the comments are specifically related to SC22 issues.) Address reply to: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 Secretariat William C. Rinehuls 8457 Rushing Creek Court Springfield, VA 22153 USA Tel: +1 (703) 912-9680 Fax: +1 (703) 912-2973 email: rinehuls@access.digex.net ____________________________________________________________________________ From: LISA RAJCHEL Subject: US's Homework Assignment Attached please find document JTC 1 N 4097, USA Contribution on JTC 1 Reengineering addressing JTC 1 Products and Services. National Body and SC contributions are requested on this document by 7 June 1996. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS VIA EMAIL OR DISK SO THAT THEY MAY BE DISTRIBUTED VIA EMAIL. [[ USCONTIB.TXT : 3382 in USCONTIB.TXT ]] ____________________________________________________________________________ ISO/IEC JTC 1 N 4097 US Contribution - Reengineering Activity JTC 1 Products and Services This contribution is the initial US National Body response to the assignment from the JTC 1 Sydney Plenary meeting. It addressesJTC 1 Products and Services, and suggests how these might evolve as a result of the re-engineering process. The processes used by JTC 1 are also considered, and proposals to adapt these to today's environment are offered. The US also considered the Initial List of Goals and Objectives developed at the Sydney Plenary, and has prepared a revised list, intended to stimulate additional discussion, and subsequent approval by JTC 1. Finally, the US believes it is important for JTC 1 to have a clearly articulated Scope and Mission statement, which are supportive of JTC 1's goals and objectives. JTC 1 Goals and Objectives The US believes JTC 1 must agree on goals and objectives as an essential element of the reengineering activity. The US recognizes the Initial List of Goals and Objectives, as contained in Attachment 1 of JTC 1 N 4058, Resolutions of the Sydney Plenary. is a result of a "brainstorming" session during the reengineering ad hoc meeting. The US notes many items on the initial list are inter-related, and suggests additional discussion of the goals and objectives may improve their clarity. To this end, the US has reviewed the sixteen goals and objectives put forward in Sydney. They have been organized into five basic categories, which are stated as follows: (1) JTC 1 standards development should be conducted with full attention to a strong business-like approach (e.g., cost effective, short development times, market-oriented results). (1, 2b, 10, 11b, 13) (2) The JTC 1 community should actively promote its products and services (and the benefits of using IS) such that "customers" are attracted to both the development of standards and their timely implementation in the form of useful products on a worldwide basis. (4, 7, 11a, 14) (3) JTC 1 products and services, as well as the functioning of the organization itself, must be of sufficiently high quality and within its scope and mission. (5, 16) (4) JTC 1 should provide a wide range of products and services that cover a wide spectrum of needs and that apply to all countries on a global basis. (3, 8, 9) (5) JTC 1 should ensure that user needs are fully met, such that its products and services promote international trade through their use. (2a, 6, 15) The numbers in parentheses following each category refer to the sixteen points in the Initial List of Goals and Objectives. It is intended the essence of all the original statements be captured in the above five categories. JTC 1 Scope and Mission The following Proposed Scope and Mission Statements are offered for JTC 1 discussion and comment. These statements can be important vehicles to both guide JTC 1 in the future, as well as communicate what JTC 1 is to the world wide IT community. Proposed Scope Statement International standardization in the field of information technology which encompasses the processing, transfer, display, management, organization, storage and retrieval of information. Proposed Mission Statement JTC 1's mission is to: * Develop and maintain information technology standards, and promote and facilitate their use * Provide an efficient process for the development of international standards. Strategy for Products and Services JTC 1 should capitalize on its strengths and use the existing structure to create value for its customers. Strengths that can be identified are either technology based (e.g. information encoding, database, languages, storage) or process based (e.g., National Body representation, international industrial involvement, fiscal resources). Many of these activities set the foundation for value-added services which JTC 1 can offer to the global standards community. To remain viable and competitive in the future, JTC 1 will need to be more discerning about new and existing projects. Projects which fail to complete in time to satisfy real market needs ought to be disbanded. If there is no substantial current market requirement or clear industry consensus for standardizing an emerging technology, a project ought not be pursued. The formal structure that is in place should not be so confining that the work cannot be progressed in a reasonable and time efficient manner. Liaisons must become interactive participants. JTC 1 must establish its work program based on common, accepted business practices. To begin a new project, a business case must be made. The value to the marketplace must be determined and a reasonable time line must be established. Current and additional resources must be identified and coordinated. The concept of "minimum buy-in" should be addressed --- does the JTC 1 structure support an activity when few standards developers are involved? JTC 1 should leverage off of work done elsewhere; the PAS process will allow new technology to be imported to the JTC 1 environment. A healthy balance between new, highly visible projects to more established (e.g. more mature technologies, maintenance) projects will be needed. For economic and production reasons, the SCs must be open to significant realignment. The coordinated work of a single SC should produce an implementable solution for the customer. Rather than individual, uncoordinated technical activities, the program of work should respond to a unified, end user perspective. Market driven requirements will define the scope of work that an SC undertakes. New work items can provide the underpinnings of standard functionality. Any PAS contribution that contributes to that scope of work would also fall within that SC's domain. Work that has been progressed by consortia or industry interests should be attracted to become part of the total solution. Additionally, any technical "glue" that would be required to hold the standards together would also be within the purview of the SC. Managing the scope of the SC will be very important. For instance, a scope of "GIS" would be too all encompassing. However, subject areas such as those suggested in the G7 work, or baseline technologies such as the set top functionality of IT equipment would be reasonable. Some opportunity to pull the solution together and make certain that interoperability can occur would also be of value. Prototyping will ensure the proof of the standard. Iterative implementations will guarantee that the quality of the standard increases given real experience. For those technologies that can be considered tools or techniques that span multiple SCs (e.g. programming languages, databases), it will be imperative that they substantiate the value they provide to the solution based SCs. It is also important that the solutions provided by JTC 1 act as an underlying framework to end user applications. In other words, while JTC 1 would not standardize on banking applications or electronic publishing applications, the interfaces of the JTC 1 standards must be sufficient to support both application environments. SC concentration on a total solution area should also attract greater user involvement. The business case will provide valuable information to the users as to how the standard can apply to their requirements. A user role of assisting with the business case, commenting on the progress and direction of the standards development, and assisting with applications that can prototype the implementations will advance the role of the end user within the formal standard setting process. Promotion of the standards will be much easier as some implementable successes will already have been documented and can be shared. End users will immediately see how a standard solves their business problems, not just be informed that paper has been generated. The US recommends that JTC 1 establish itself as the premier international IT standards development organization using well established business practices. Our products meet the end user's standards needs, providing the building blocks they require to implement their business applications. Our services integrate PAS and consortia contributions into a total, integrated solution. Our reputation improves as our standards are seen as aggressive, enabling technologies that are fundamental to the development of the Global Information Society. JTC 1 Processes In order to meet its goals, it is important for JTC 1 to reexamine its processes. It might prove valuable to clearly delineate between the two aspects of JTC 1's work; that of approving international standards and that of developing standards. 1. Approval One of the most significant values of JTC 1's products is they represent the consensus of the international community. This consensus is determined by the votes of the JTC 1 National Bodies, as well as all the ISO and IEC member countries. It is crucial for JTC 1's success that this consensus be maintained. In determining their positions, it is important the NBs take in account not only the traditional JTC 1 values, such as technical quality and completeness, but also consider whether the proposed standard helps satisfy JTC 1 goals of market relevance and satisfaction of user needs. To aid in this evaluation, JTC 1 should require all standards submitted for approval be accompanied by a response to criteria such as those currently required for PAS submissions. This would apply to documents from all sources, including JTC 1 SCs, JTC 1 NBs, and recognized PAS Submitters. The criteria may need to be augmented to ensure the proper emphasis on market relevance and acceptance, and response to user needs. 2. Development Consistent with the recommendation of the Business Planning ad hoc, the development process within JTC 1 should be opened to more closely involve liaison and other related activities, such as consortia. The benefits of this should include more timely standards that truly meet market needs and requirements, by involving all interested parties. This would provide both additional expertise focused on the solutions JTC 1 is developing and additional resources to accomplish the task at hand. National bodies would fully retain the control they have today. All new work (NPs) would have to be approved by NBs, as today. Participation by a (to be specified) number of National Bodies in a given work item would be required, to ensure the activity remains relevant to the needs of the market. Finally, the approval of the resulting standard remains in the hands of the National Bodies. The key change is an opening of the technical development process to all interested parties, with the primary benefit being incremental resources and expertise providing solutions for users' needs and requirements. Clearly, additional work is needed to fully specify the procedural changes necessary to implement the principles identified above. Assuming there is general support for the direction indicated, future contributions will suggest the required detail. US Contribution - Reengineering Activity JTC 1 Products and Services This contribution is the initial US National Body response to the assignment from the JTC 1 Sydney Plenary meeting. It addressesJTC 1 Products and Services, and suggests how these might evolve as a result of the re-engineering process. The processes used by JTC 1 are also considered, and proposals to adapt these to today's environment are offered. The US also considered the Initial List of Goals and Objectives developed at the Sydney Plenary, and has prepared a revised list, intended to stimulate additional discussion, and subsequent approval by JTC 1. Finally, the US believes it is important for JTC 1 to have a clearly articulated Scope and Mission statement, which are supportive of JTC 1's goals and objectives. JTC 1 Goals and Objectives The US believes JTC 1 must agree on goals and objectives as an essential element of the reengineering activity. The US recognizes the Initial List of Goals and Objectives, as contained in Attachment 1 of JTC 1 N 4058, Resolutions of the Sydney Plenary. is a result of a "brainstorming" session during the reengineering ad hoc meeting. The US notes many items on the initial list are inter-related, and suggests additional discussion of the goals and objectives may improve their clarity. To this end, the US has reviewed the sixteen goals and objectives put forward in Sydney. They have been organized into five basic categories, which are stated as follows: (1) JTC 1 standards development should be conducted with full attention to a strong business-like approach (e.g., cost effective, short development times, market-oriented results). (1, 2b, 10, 11b, 13) (2) The JTC 1 community should actively promote its products and services (and the benefits of using IS) such that "customers" are attracted to both the development of standards and their timely implementation in the form of useful products on a worldwide basis. (4, 7, 11a, 14) (3) JTC 1 products and services, as well as the functioning of the organization itself, must be of sufficiently high quality and within its scope and mission. (5, 16) (4) JTC 1 should provide a wide range of products and services that cover a wide spectrum of needs and that apply to all countries on a global basis. (3, 8, 9) (5) JTC 1 should ensure that user needs are fully met, such that its products and services promote international trade through their use. (2a, 6, 15) The numbers in parentheses following each category refer to the sixteen points in the Initial List of Goals and Objectives. It is intended the essence of all the original statements be captured in the above five categories. JTC 1 Scope and Mission The following Proposed Scope and Mission Statements are offered for JTC 1 discussion and comment. These statements can be important vehicles to both guide JTC 1 in the future, as well as communicate what JTC 1 is to the world wide IT community. Proposed Scope Statement International standardization in the field of information technology which encompasses the processing, transfer, display, management, organization, storage and retrieval of information. Proposed Mission Statement JTC 1's mission is to: * Develop and maintain information technology standards, and promote and facilitate their use * Provide an efficient process for the development of international standards. Strategy for Products and Services JTC 1 should capitalize on its strengths and use the existing structure to create value for its customers. Strengths that can be identified are either technology based (e.g. information encoding, database, languages, storage) or process based (e.g., National Body representation, international industrial involvement, fiscal resources). Many of these activities set the foundation for value-added services which JTC 1 can offer to the global standards community. To remain viable and competitive in the future, JTC 1 will need to be more discerning about new and existing projects. Projects which fail to complete in time to satisfy real market needs ought to be disbanded. If there is no substantial current market requirement or clear industry consensus for standardizing an emerging technology, a project ought not be pursued. The formal structure that is in place should not be so confining that the work cannot be progressed in a reasonable and time efficient manner. Liaisons must become interactive participants. JTC 1 must establish its work program based on common, accepted business practices. To begin a new project, a business case must be made. The value to the marketplace must be determined and a reasonable time line must be established. Current and additional resources must be identified and coordinated. The concept of "minimum buy-in" should be addressed --- does the JTC 1 structure support an activity when few standards developers are involved? JTC 1 should leverage off of work done elsewhere; the PAS process will allow new technology to be imported to the JTC 1 environment. A healthy balance between new, highly visible projects to more established (e.g. more mature technologies, maintenance) projects will be needed. For economic and production reasons, the SCs must be open to significant realignment. The coordinated work of a single SC should produce an implementable solution for the customer. Rather than individual, uncoordinated technical activities, the program of work should respond to a unified, end user perspective. Market driven requirements will define the scope of work that an SC undertakes. New work items can provide the underpinnings of standard functionality. Any PAS contribution that contributes to that scope of work would also fall within that SC's domain. Work that has been progressed by consortia or industry interests should be attracted to become part of the total solution. Additionally, any technical "glue" that would be required to hold the standards together would also be within the purview of the SC. Managing the scope of the SC will be very important. For instance, a scope of "GIS" would be too all encompassing. However, subject areas such as those suggested in the G7 work, or baseline technologies such as the set top functionality of IT equipment would be reasonable. Some opportunity to pull the solution together and make certain that interoperability can occur would also be of value. Prototyping will ensure the proof of the standard. Iterative implementations will guarantee that the quality of the standard increases given real experience. For those technologies that can be considered tools or techniques that span multiple SCs (e.g. programming languages, databases), it will be imperative that they substantiate the value they provide to the solution based SCs. It is also important that the solutions provided by JTC 1 act as an underlying framework to end user applications. In other words, while JTC 1 would not standardize on banking applications or electronic publishing applications, the interfaces of the JTC 1 standards must be sufficient to support both application environments. SC concentration on a total solution area should also attract greater user involvement. The business case will provide valuable information to the users as to how the standard can apply to their requirements. A user role of assisting with the business case, commenting on the progress and direction of the standards development, and assisting with applications that can prototype the implementations will advance the role of the end user within the formal standard setting process. Promotion of the standards will be much easier as some implementable successes will already have been documented and can be shared. End users will immediately see how a standard solves their business problems, not just be informed that paper has been generated. The US recommends that JTC 1 establish itself as the premier international IT standards development organization using well established business practices. Our products meet the end user's standards needs, providing the building blocks they require to implement their business applications. Our services integrate PAS and consortia contributions into a total, integrated solution. Our reputation improves as our standards are seen as aggressive, enabling technologies that are fundamental to the development of the Global Information Society. JTC 1 Processes In order to meet its goals, it is important for JTC 1 to reexamine its processes. It might prove valuable to clearly delineate between the two aspects of JTC 1's work; that of approving international standards and that of developing standards. 1. Approval One of the most significant values of JTC 1's products is they represent the consensus of the international community. This consensus is determined by the votes of the JTC 1 National Bodies, as well as all the ISO and IEC member countries. It is crucial for JTC 1's success that this consensus be maintained. In determining their positions, it is important the NBs take in account not only the traditional JTC 1 values, such as technical quality and completeness, but also consider whether the proposed standard helps satisfy JTC 1 goals of market relevance and satisfaction of user needs. To aid in this evaluation, JTC 1 should require all standards submitted for approval be accompanied by a response to criteria such as those currently required for PAS submissions. This would apply to documents from all sources, including JTC 1 SCs, JTC 1 NBs, and recognized PAS Submitters. The criteria may need to be augmented to ensure the proper emphasis on market relevance and acceptance, and response to user needs. 2. Development Consistent with the recommendation of the Business Planning ad hoc, the development process within JTC 1 should be opened to more closely involve liaison and other related activities, such as consortia. The benefits of this should include more timely standards that truly meet market needs and requirements, by involving all interested parties. This would provide both additional expertise focused on the solutions JTC 1 is developing and additional resources to accomplish the task at hand. National bodies would fully retain the control they have today. All new work (NPs) would have to be approved by NBs, as today. Participation by a (to be specified) number of National Bodies in a given work item would be required, to ensure the activity remains relevant to the needs of the market. Finally, the approval of the resulting standard remains in the hands of the National Bodies. The key change is an opening of the technical development process to all interested parties, with the primary benefit being incremental resources and expertise providing solutions for users' needs and requirements. Clearly, additional work is needed to fully specify the procedural changes necessary to implement the principles identified above. Assuming there is general support for the direction indicated, future contributions will suggest the required detail.