UNCONFIRMED REPORT OF THE SECOND MEETING OF THE TMB AD HOC GROUP STANDARDS AS DATABASES

1
UNCONFIRMED REPORT OF THE SECOND MEETING OF THE
TMB AD HOC GROUP STANDARDS AS DATABASES

• 18-19 September 2006, Geneva, ISO Central
  Secretariat

2
DRAFT AGENDA Document Reference
1 Opening of the meeting 2 Introduction of the
participants 3 Review of the mandate of the
group 4 Adoption of the agenda 4.1 Overview of
the issues on the agenda Towards a Database of
Concepts 4.2 Issues raised during the
discussions STD_DBs N12 (Rev. 2) STD_DBs
N13 STD_DBs N14 (Rev. 1) 5 Development procedure
and use of the harmonized stage code
system STD_DBs N15 STD_DBs N16 STD_DBs
N17 STD_DBs TF 1 N01 STD_DBs TF 1 N02 STD_DBs TF
1 N03
3
DRAFT AGENDA Document Reference
6 Functional requirements for a database to
manage concepts STD_DBs N18 7 Data model for a
database to manage "concepts" (Proposal) STD_DBs
N19 8 Uniform Resource Name (URN) scheme to
identify concepts STD_DBs N20 9 Discussion of
aspects of possible business models STD_DBs
N21 10 Practical steps towards an implementation
of a concept database 11 Conclusions 12 Planning
of the next steps and assignment of tasks 13 Any
other business
4
TCs Attending

• ISO/IEC JTC 1 (Information technology )
• ISO/TC 10/SC 10 (Technical product documentation,
  Process plant
  documentation and tpd-symbols)
• ISO/TC 29 (Small tools)
• ISO/TC 37 (Terminology and other language and
  content resources)
• ISO/TC 145 (Graphical symbols)
• ISO/TC 172/SC 1 (Document management
  applications, Quality)
• ISO/TC 184/SC 4 (Industrial automation systems
  and integration,
  Industrial data)
• ISO/TC 199 (Safety of machinery)
• ISO/TC 215 (Health informatics)
• AFNOR (France)
• BSI (United Kingdom)
• JISC (Japan)
• ISO Central Secretariat
• IEC Central Office

5
Issues for ad hoc Group from TMB

• Broad mandate to review all issues related to
  this new development in the maintenance and
  development to standards, starting from
  procedural, technical aspects and even involving
  issues related to business models
• Multiple initiatives by TCs to develop their own
  databases had led to inconsistencies which could
  be avoided if ISO would be able to provide a
  common, but flexible framework for such
  developments
• Repetitive and partially conflicting definitions
  of terms arising from lack of visibility of
  existing terminology had been developed - there
  was a need for closer integration between the
  activities of different committees and a need to
  increase visibility.
• Standards as databases had posed new challenges
  in the national adoption of standards
• The right of ISO members to exploit standards and
  database content in various forms needed also to
  be considered in the light of the increased use
  of databases

6
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
1. Objective of the procedure for standards as
databases 1.1 Is the procedure intended a) as a
maintenance procedure for standardized content
which has been developed initially in the
traditional way through the regular standards
development process or b) is it also intended to
be applied for projects aiming at the development
of new standards? Results of the meeting It was
agreed that the process could be applied to the
maintenance of existing standards stored in
databases and for new developments.
7
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
2. Possible deficiencies in the IEC procedure 2.1
In some contributions (AFNOR, ISO/TC 172) it was
pointed out that the IEC procedure did not
foresee a generic withdrawal option. Results of
the meeting It was decided to reconvene Task
Force 1 "Process and procedure" to review -
amongst other issues - the aspects of
revision/withdrawal. 2.2 Some contributions
pointed out that the time frames in the IEC
procedure were considered to be "excessive"
(ISO/TC 184/SC 4), others considered them as
"appropriate" (ISO/TC 172). Results of the
meeting It was agreed that the time periods in
the procedure should be seen as limit times,
which could be reduced by TCs/SCs in consultation
with their P-members as required. The IEC limit
dates will be reviewed to ensure that they are
suitable in the ISO environment. 2.3 It was
noted that the procedure foresaw that
supplementary procedural information,
requirements or criteria that apply to particular
standards database(s) could be described in
separate document(s) within the domain of the
responsible technical committee or subcommittee
(ISO/TC 145). Results of the meeting It was
agreed that individual TCs/SCs may apply
supplementary procedures as long as they were
consistent with the generic procedure.
8
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
3. Relationship between the current ISO
procedures and the database procedure 3.1 What is
the relationship between the current operational
procedures in ISO, e.g. in the form of
maintenance agencies (MAs), registration
authorities (RAs) and the database procedure
(AFNOR, ISO/TC 184/SC 4)? 3.2 Some contributions
point out that the procedure should be applied by
MAs or RAs (AFNOR, ISO/TC 29, ISO/TC 145) others
state that the procedure could replace MAs and
RAs since their activity could be undertaken by a
committee (the P-members or a subset of them)
itself or that a taken. Results of the meeting
The database procedures may be operated by ISO
committees or Maintenance Agencies (MAs), and the
use of the procedure may evolve to supersede the
need for MAs. Registration authorities fulfill a
different function, since they merely operate a
registration service, and do not have delegated
responsibility like MAs for the content of a
standard. Systematic reviews (SRs) on databases
will be initiated on the usual cycle,
irrespective of change in the database. The
function of SRs is to review the complete
standard, whereas changes through the
maintenance/validation process may not address a
standard as a whole.
9
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
3. Relationship between the current ISO
procedures and the database procedure 3.3 Some
contributions referred to the role of the ISO
Central Secretariat and its function as the
organizer of DIS and FDIS-ballots. Will this
function be affected? (ISO/TC 184/SC 4, ISO/TC
199, AFNOR). Results of the meeting As a
principle, the functions of ISO/CS would remain
unchanged, but there was no thorough discussion
of this topic. 3.4 Will the Systematic Review
procedure as well as the publication of
Amendments and Corrigenda be replaced by the more
frequent maintenance of standardized content kept
in databases? (ISO/TC 61, ISO/TC 184/SC
4) Results of the meeting See results as stated
to items 3.1 and 3.2. The database procedures may
be operated by ISO committees or Maintenance
Agencies (MAs), and the use of the procedure may
evolve to supersede the need for MAs.
Registration authorities fulfill a different
function, since they merely operate a
registration service, and do not have delegated
responsibility like MAs for the content of a
standard. Systematic reviews (SRs) on databases
will be initiated on the usual cycle,
irrespective of change in the database. The
function of SRs is to review the complete
standard, whereas changes through the
maintenance/validation process may not address a
standard as a whole.
10
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
4. Initiation of the procedure and the role of
the Proposer 4.1 One contribution suggested that
the right to propose a modification to the
database (a change request) should be open to in
principle everybody and not be based on a special
authorization. Following the submission the
proposal would then be reviewed and decided upon
by a validation team (VT)) (ISO/TC 29). Results
of the meeting Change requests may be submitted
from any authorized source, with the
possibility of incorporating in the procedure a
review by a committee, MA or Validation Team,
which may then result in support for a change
requests coming from another source.
11
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
5. Validation and Maintenance Teams and their
composition 5.1 Some contributions (e.g. ISO/TC
184/SC 4) suggested that there should be more
than one Validation Team (VT) or Maintenance
Agency (MA) for a standard since the maintenance
required different types of expertise and that a
role should be foreseen for internal liaisons
(with other committees) as well as external (A-)
liaison organizations as key stakeholders and key
resources. ISO/TC 172, however, pointed out that
liaisons do not have the right to vote, but only
the right to submit comments. Results of the
meeting Multiple teams may be established under
a VT, with representation nominated from
P-members and A-liaison organizations, with a
minimum of 5 P-members represented, and one vote
per country. A-liaison organizations would be
able to comment, but not to vote. Whether or not
a single or multiple VTs would be established is
for a committee to decide (possibly on a
case-by-case basis) in the light of the
complexity of the work and the expertise required.
12
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
5. Validation and Maintenance Teams and their
composition 5.2 In relation to the possibility
of multiple VTs, it was explained out that there
would be a need for a higher-level responsible
body with the function to arbitrate and decide
between possibly conflicting positions adopted by
different VTs on the same or related issues
(ISO/TC 172). Results of the meeting It seemed
that there was no such need considering that the
VTs would be operating under one committee and
that the committee was responsible to resolve
conflicts between different VTs should they
occur. 5.3 The question was raised as to whether
VTs should be composed of all P-members in a
committee or possibly only a subset similar to
the rule of 5 P-members participating actively as
a requirement for the initiation of a new project
(AFNOR). Results of the meeting See result of
meeting related to 5.1. Results of the meeting
Multiple teams may be established under a VT,
with representation nominated from P-members and
A-liaison organizations, with a minimum of 5
P-members represented, and one vote per country.
A-liaison organizations would be able to comment,
but not to vote. Whether or not a single or
multiple VTs would be established is for a
committee to decide (possibly on a case-by-case
basis) in the light of the complexity of the work
and the expertise required.
13
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
5. Validation and Maintenance Teams and their
composition 5.4 It was agreed that there needed
to be clear responsibilities for the
development/maintenance of the content of the
database. Some contribution suggested that these
responsibilities should be defined and
implemented on the basis of commonly agreed rules
and defined (business) roles to ensure
transparency of the operations (ISO/TC
172). Results of the meeting Agreed in principle.
14
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
6. Content and structure of the database(s) 6.1
Should the database contain the items of one
standard only or should it cover content from
multiple standards (AFNOR, ISO/TC 29)? Results of
the meeting Databases may be compiled from
multiple standards if required, noting the need
for configuration management for reference
purposes to a standard as of a certain date. 6.2
Should the database be centralized or should it
be federated and each "segment" of the database
maintained by different responsible groups (e.g.
by a TC or SC or coordination teams of TCs or
SCs), although being perceived by the end user as
a single entity (chair of ISO/TC 37)? Results of
the meeting Federated management shall be
possible, but at the same time the integration of
federated databases for end users shall also be
achieved.
15
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
6. Content and structure of the database(s) 6.3
Should the linguistic content of the database be
multilingual (beyond the official ISO languages)
with national equivalents added by responsible
national standards bodies or alliances of them in
case they share a native language (chair of
ISO/TC 37)? Results of the meeting Databases do
not always have linguistic content. However,
where this is the case multilinguality shall be
supported (at least in the official ISO
languages).
16
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
7. Existence of standards as documents versus
standards as databases and reference to standards
in databases 7.1 If standards exist as databases,
should they also exist as (paper and/or
electronic) documents (ISO/TC 199, ISO/TC
61)? Results of the meeting This will be a
market-driven choice by the TCs/SCs - electronic
or paper forms may be produced in collaboration
with the ISO Central Secretariat. 7.2 Standards
in the form of documents have a publication date
and an edition number. How should one refer to a
standard if its content changes frequently? Does
each modification of an individual item result in
a new edition of the whole standard (ISO/TC 199,
ISO/TC 184/SC 4, ISO/TC 172, ISO/TC 61)? Results
of the meeting References to databases will need
to accommodate version control at the individual
item and the whole standard level. Outstanding
issue on how to normatively reference databases -
maybe need release versions.
17
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
8. Standards as databases and the different
deliverables of ISO (and IEC) 8.1 How should the
procedure be applied for International
Deliverables other than International Standards,
in particular the Technical Specification (TS)
and the Publicly Available Specification (PAS)
(ISO/TC 184/SC 4)? Results of the meeting The
extended procedure can be applied for the
de3evlopment of TS and PAS in the normal ISO
process. 8.2 Some contributions suggested that by
default these deliverables should be developed
using the normal database procedure (ISO/TC
172). Results of the meeting This depends on
whether the development is a new project or the
maintenance of an existing TS/PAS (same principle
applies as for the development of standards).
18
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
9. How do we transform existing standards into
databases? Do we need some procedures? Results of
the meeting There may be various details to be
considered. Additionally, it also hinges on the
availability of a development environment
provided by ISO/CS. From a procedural point of
view a database is just another rendition of the
standardized content since the conversion of this
content from a document-based rendition to a
database does not involve changes to the content.
19
Issues raised during the discussions (Document
STD_DBs N14 (Rev.1)
10. Which domains lend themselves to the DB
approach? Results of the meeting In addition to
the fields of terminology and graphical symbols,
other areas such as codes, data dictionaries,
product properties etc. are candidates for this
approach, i.e. to all standards which are
composed - completely or partially - of
individual structured content ("collection of
items"). There was therefore no limitation to
specific subject domains.
11. Address normative versus informative elements
of standards and the impact on related
standards Results of the meeting There was
agreement that informative elements should also
be included in a database. It was noted that
further review of this issue was needed.
20
5. Development procedure and use of the
harmonized stage code system

• IEC introduced the database procedure in a
  bottom-up approach with the following
  characteristics
• Initial objective of the procedure to address the
  needs to maintain an existing standard (IEC
  61360).
• Designed originally as a maintenance procedure.
• Afterwards extended to provide also the option -
  in principle to develop new standards.
• Application of the procedure requires in each
  instance approval by the IEC Standardization
  Management Board (SMB).
• IEC operates a mixed business model for access to
  standards in databases.
• Set of basic terminology of electrotechnology,
  the IEC Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV), is
  only accessible through subscription services.
• IEC provides terms and definitions from
  standards, which do not appear in the IEV,
  publicly without any charge from its website (the
  "IEC glossary").

21
5. Development procedure and use of the
harmonized stage code system

• Basic objective of standards as databases -
  review which items are already available,
  including identifying conflicts between items in
  the database in order to find commonly agreed
  solutions (inside and between committees).
• ISO/CS is working towards a concept database
  comprising terminology from ISO standards with
  the following main objectives
• Make it possible to identify which terms and
  definitions already existed (including possible
  inconsistencies and contradictions)
• Support a structured development process in ISO
  committees, incl. balloting of items at certain
  instances of the process in accordance with the
  ISO/IEC Directives
• Speed up the development and maintenance of the
  respective standards.

22
5. Development procedure and use of the
harmonized stage code system Discussion on the
procedure and the stage codes

• Agreement was reached on the following issues
• Procedure applies to the maintenance of existing
  standards, but also the development of new
  standards from the beginning.
• Procedure supports three procedural routes
• Route 1 Editorial changes
• Route 2 Normal database procedure (similar to
  the operations of the maintenance process and
  handled by a maintenance and validation team)
• Route 3 Extended database procedure (following
  the full development process, but with the
  database as the source container of standardized
  content)
• The development of new standards shall always
  follow the full process, i.e. the extended
  database procedure, and be conducted on the basis
  of the regular approval processes in ISO, i.e.
  starting with the New Work Item Proposal etc.
• In the instance of additions/changes to the
  content of a database, a case-by-case decision
  needs to be taken as to the application of the
  normal or the extended procedure.

23
6. Functional requirements for a database to
manage concepts

• The functional requirements as described in
  document N18 prepared by ISO/CS.
• Approach to terminology had been extended to
  cover all classes of concepts, including
  graphical symbols.
• Some level of information may be publicly
  available free of charge, but it was proposed
  that an additional level of information, as well
  as items still under development, would be
  restricted to subscribers or otherwise defined
  individuals performing certain roles under a
  permissions structure managed by the ISO Global
  Directory.
• Any permission model would need to support
  multiple levels of information hierarchy, such as
  the individual item, sets of items (a work
  package), a project set (all the items belonging
  to one project, if not covered within a single
  work package) as well as additional levels of
  hierarchies.
• Intend to provide a development environment for
  all committees working on the development of
  concepts, with support for a structured process
  as well as to facilitate stronger consistency
  between the work of different committees as well
  as inside committees at early stages of the
  development process.

24
6. Functional requirements for a database to
manage concepts

• Prototype of a concept database developed, with
  filters on ICS and TCs/SCs. Individual terms link
  to originating ICS and committees with links to
  related terms.
• Plan to combine this feature with the graphical
  symbol database to generate an ISO concepts
  database showing the definition, illustrations,
  links and multilingual terms.
• Prototyping phase, using the platform Artesia,
  which offers a broad range of management tools,
  access control, file renditions features and
  XML-based integration services which will support
  authoring tools. Inputs from the committees are
  sought to refine the current design.
• Agreement that a permissions structure would be
  needed to control changes to the database which
  would reflect business roles and support the
  process reviewed and discussed earlier.
• Multiple classification schemes should be able to
  be supported

25
6. Functional requirements for a database to
manage concepts

• JTC 1-questioned whether there would be any
  process for rationalizing conflicting
  definitions. The JTC 1-vocabulary project had
  revealed significant duplication even within
  standards of JTC 1 which were planned to be
  reviewed in the coming months.
• TC 184/SC 4-representative noted that the Open
  Technical Dictionary (OTD) implementation by
  ECCMA (ISO/TS 22745) offered the possibility to
  search for ISO terms and definitions and could
  therefore also assist in identifying conflicts
  across ISO standards, and links to the underlying
  standards. He stated that it was already
  populated with ISO, IEC and other definitions and
  underlined the need that such repositories be
  regularly updated with the latest ISO
  definitions. He offered to provide input from
  this development activity to ISO/CS.

26
7. Data model for a database to manage "concepts"
(Proposal)

• Proposal developed on the basis of experiences of
  ISO/TC 37 in managing terminology has been
  extended from terminology to also include in
  principle graphical symbols and other types of
  concepts.
• Foresees support for multilinguality, including
  federated maintenance of content in other
  languages by authorized bodies as well as the use
  of multiple representations (e.g. through terms
  as well as graphical symbols) to represent the
  same concept.
• For each concept, the model includes one or more
  Locale representations giving the definition
  and additional metadata in the respective
  language, each of which may have one or more
  representations, which can also be common across
  different locales.
• Current draft needs to be aligned with the
  refinements to meet the proposed ISO procedures
  and stage codes specifications as well as aspects
  of the business model.
• Representatives from ISO/TC 145 explained that
  some additional information needed to be stored
  to accommodate specifics of graphical symbols. It
  was therefore decided that there needed to be
  further discussion in order to accommodate such
  content within the data model.

27
8. Uniform Resource Name (URN) scheme to identify
concepts

• Convene Task Force 2 "Identification issues" and
  to review existing schemes for the unique
  identification of items residing in databases
  (e.g. doc. STD_DBs N20 with the URN scheme
  developed by ISO/CS) to develop, if required,
  extensions to such schemes for the management of
  items in databases to review needs related to
  the referencing of items and the need to support
  references over time and changes which had
  occurred in databases (change/configuration
  management).
• Participants
• Joseph Coté (ISO/IEC JTC 1)
• Christian Galinski (ISO/TC 37)
• Chris Kreiler (ISO/TC 184/SC 4)
• David Leal (ISO/TC 184/SC 4)
• Melvin Reynolds (ISO/TC 215)
• Reinhard Weissinger (ISO/CS - Convenor)
• Additional participant(s) from ISO/CS (to be
  announced)

28
9. Discussion of aspects of possible business
models

• Mr. Nicolas Fleury, Director, Marketing and Sales
  at the ISO Central Secretariat, reported that the
  mission of ISO has two aspects, i.e. to ensure
• the widest possible dissemination and use of ISO
  standards and
• the financing of the ISO system.
• One-third of the budget of the ISO Central
  Secretariat comes from sale of standards.
  Similarly, more and more ISO members are
  depending to a large extent on the revenue from
  the sale of ISO Standards and/or the national
  adoptions thereof.
• ISO standards are seen by its customers to be of
  high quality and resulting from an authoritative
  source.
• In 2006, the ISO Council re-affirmed the
  principle of no free availability of ISO
  standards when adopting the new edition of the
  ISO's commercial policy, called ISO POCOSA 2005.
  Any exception to this principle has to be agreed
  by the ISO Council on a case-by-case basis.

29
9. Discussion of aspects of possible business
models

• Experience in ISO with market trials using JTC 1
  standards as an example had shown that sales of
  standards are not subject to price elasticity.
• Even decreases of 80 on the original price had
  not resulted in an increase of the number of
  copies purchased, i.e. users who need a standard
  seem obviously willing to pay for them.
• In the last years a significant increase in the
  number of customers buying standards had been
  noted.
• Experience gained until now with databases is
  through the sales of annual subscriptions to the
  ISO and IEC Graphical Symbols database.
• Considerations to sell individual items from a
  database for a reasonable price.
• Indeed, customers often only needed one symbol
  instead of the whole content of a database. A
  crucial point is to understand the needs of end
  users and to provide them with the corresponding
  granularity in the offering.
• Some groups of companies contributing significant
  financial input to the development of standards,
  often request that the resulting standards be
  made available free of charge.
• Smaller companies in their supply chain were
  unwilling to face the financial burden of having
  to pay for a standard.
• If standards would only be available against
  payment, companies would turn to SDOs or other
  platform like consortia which would give the
  standards away free of charge.
• Important and timely for ISO to review its
  business model and to adapt it in the light of
  these developments in the market.

30
9. Discussion of aspects of possible business
models

• In response to these comments it was underlined,
  that ISO was seen as a recognized brand and mark
  of quality for authoritative and trusted
  information, and that this provided an added
  value for the companies.
• Suggested to allow free access to the digital
  versions of standards and coded content, which
  would only be computer-interpretable. Digital
  representation of standards as databases should
  be made freely available.
• Publication of standards as databases is seen as
  an opportunity to improve the delivery mechanism
  and to make the content of standards more widely
  known.
• Certain subsets of data from a standard should be
  made freely accessible (in the form of "teasers")
  to allow a user a well-grounded decision as to
  whether they wanted to buy the whole.
• Principle could also be applied to certain types
  of standards, e.g. certain terminology standards
  could be made available for free, which could
  possibly have a stimulating effect for the sales
  of other standards.
• Other examples were graphical symbols in
  thumbnail presentation, which could not be used
  in technical drawings and other applications, but
  would allow users to determine which content
  existed and to assist them in their decision to
  buy certain content.

31
9. Discussion of aspects of possible business
models

• ISO/CS reported that consideration is now also
  being given to pricing in relation to market
  needs and structures and not only to the number
  of pages as the principle for the determination
  of the price. The Commercial Policy Steering
  Group (CPSG) has already conducted discussions on
  how to apply such an approach.
• ISO's unique selling proposition was to provide a
  platform for the dissemination of high quality
  coded content in the form of flexible sets of
  items, including individual items. Only ISO had
  the authority to develop and to maintain a
  platform for the development and the maintenance
  of coded content.
• Another suggestion was made that ISO consider
  providing value-adding web-services for
  standardized content and that standards as
  databases provided a great opportunity for such
  an approach.
• Through links to other standardized content,
  standards as databases could also serve as a tool
  which would allow users to discover information
  and new content which they had not been aware of
  before.
• Other options could be a one-time free access to
  a database after which payment would be required.

32
9. Discussion of aspects of possible business
models

• Other participants agreed that if sufficient
  material, however defined, was available free of
  charge it could encourage sales of more valuable
  information services and complete standards.
• IEC noted that some of the IEC databases were
  available free of charge, covering such areas as
  terminology or dictionaries promoted in
  competition with other freely available
  standards.
• Other databases were only accessible via
  subscription services, including updates to the
  content.
• Suggested that a reasonable approach to making
  certain content freely available would pre-empt
  competing products from consortia, and could help
  to serve the public service obligations of
  standards bodies.
• Agreed that ISO/CS will consider the different
  options for making available certain components
  from standards or types of standards taking into
  account the overall ISO business model with a
  view to providing a framework for the marketing
  of added-value paid services and standards.

33
Questions?
Comments?