The Importance of Standards

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The Importance of Standards

• Zelda Carson
• CIS 450
• 10/28/03

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Introduction

• What are Standards
• Where do Standards Come From
• Standards in IT
• The Role of Standards in Km and IRM
• The Importance of Standards

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What Are Standards

• The meaning of the term standard is not always
  clear. In fact it is commonly used to refer to
  four different definition types
• The item itself
• The process of creating the item
• The document describing how to create the item
• The process of creating this particular document
• 02002 ACM l-SB113-445-2/02/03

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Standards Definitions

• The definition of standards also depends on
  whether it is used as a noun or an adjective.
• Noun Definitions
• 1. An acknowledged criterion, reference point or
  basis of
• comparison, judgement and evaluation of other
  things,
• for quantitative or qualitative value.
• 2. A practice or a product that is widely
  recognised or
• employed, especially because of its excellenc .
• 3. Something (a definite rule, principle or
  measure)
• established by authority, custom, or general
  consent as a
• model or example, or a rule for the measure of
  quantity,
• weight, extent, value, or quality .
• 02002 ACM l-SB113-445-2/02/03

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Standards Definitions

• Adjective Definitions
• 1. Conforming to or constituting a usual,
  regularised or
• accepted kind of standard of measurement or
  value,
• especially as established by law or custom
• 2. Established or widely recognised as a model
  of
• authority or excellence, having recognised
  and
• permanent value
• 3. Regularly, well established, familiar and
  widely used,
• supplied, available or sold.
• 4. Sound and usable but not of top quality
• Many definitions have stated that a standard
  is something that is
• used by many, and often being so because of
  it being established
• by some authority.
• 02002 ACM l-SB113-445-2/02/03

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Formal Definitions

• 1. "...an anthoritative principle or rule that
  usually implies
• a model or pattern for guidance, by
  comparison with
• which the quantity, excellence, con'ectoess,
  etc of other
• things may be determined."
• 2. "Document, established by consensus by a
  recognised
• body, that provides, for common and repeated
  use,
• rules, guidelines or characteristics for
  activities and
• their results, aimed at the achievement of
  the optimum
• degree of order in a given context.
  Standards should be
• based on the consolidated results of
  science, technology
• and experience, and aimed at the promotion
  of optimum
• community benefits."
• 3. "A technical specification approved by a
  recognized
• standards body for repeated or continuous
  application,
• compliance with which is not compulsory."
• 02002 ACM l-SB113-445-2/02/03

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Where Do Standards Come From

• THERE ARE TWO GENERAL STANDARDS CATEGORIES
• Defacto Standards
• Formally Established Standards

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Defacto Standards

• Definition Standards are used whether or not
  they are
• formally specified and these standards are
  referred to as
• defacto standards.
• - These standards grow as they are
• needed within the industry.
• -They are not established through
• concensus by a recognized body.
• -defacto standards because they lack
  formalization by a
• recognized authority and do not come from
  a specified
• planning process are hit or miss.
• -Defacto standards in general use may be
  formalized by a
• standards organization.

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Formalized Standards

• Who creates them
• How are they created

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Standards Organizations

• There are many standards Organizations who are
  responsible for creating formalized Standards
  from the international level down.
• The main international standards organization for
  us is The American National Standards
  Institute(ANSI)
• Below the umbrella of ANSI we have such
  organizations as IEEE, ACM, ADAPSO, ASQC, EIA etc.

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Creating Standards

• In general standards are created by subcommittees
  within these groups which must then be approved
• Participation by as many people as possible is
  usually encouraged in the standards creation
  process
• Standards creation usually takes years to complete

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IEEE EXAMPLESoftware Engineering Standards
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The Organizational Environment

• A. The American National Standards Institute
  (ANSI) acts as the umbrella organization for all
  volunteer standards-
• making organizations in the United States.
  Details of ANSI are provided in the ANSI
  Constitution and Procedures.
• B. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics
  Engineers (IEEE) operates in part under the
  umbrella of ANSI as one
• of several volunteers standards-making
  organizations. As an international organization,
  the IEEE also operates a
• portion of its standards-making functions
  outside of ANSI. The major activity of the IEEE
  with which this guide is
• concerned is the IEEE Standards Board.
  Details of the IEEE organization are provided in
  the IEEE Constitution
• and Bylaws while the detailed requirements
  of the IEEE Standards Board are provided in the
  IEEE Standards
• Manual.
• C. The IEEE Computer Society is one of the member
  societies of the IEEE. Details of the IEEE
  Computer Society
• organization are provided in the IEEE
  Computer Society Constitution and Bylaws.
• D. As established in Article XI of the IEEE
  Computer Society Bylaws, the Standards Activities
  Board monitors all Stan-
• dards Activities to assure conformance to
  approved policies and practices. One specific
  activity of the Standards
• Coordinating Committee of direct interest to
  all is the Computer Dictionary Project
• E. The Technical Committee on Software
  Engineering (TCSE) is one of several IEEE
• Computer Society Technical Committees that
  sponsor the development of standards.

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The Process

• The standard begins in the working group where
  membership is not restricted anyone can and is
  encouraged to participate.
• Once the working group has completed its efforts
  the SESS chairperson will run a ballot on the
  draft standard.(The ballot group is restricted
  according to IEEE rules).
• The SESS and Work Group Chairperson resolve
  comments from balloting, notify the balloting
  group and forward the draft Standard to the IEEE
  Standards Board for approval
• After approval the standard board normally
  forwards the standard to ANSI for adoption as an
  ANSI standard
• Proceedings acm84 conference the fifth
  generation challenge

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Standards for IT

• Standards for IT are well developed
• They can be seen in all areas of computing such
  as networking, ascii text conversion, and snmp to
  name a few
• While standards are still being developed for IT
  it has become a fairly routine procedure

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Standards for KM and IRM

• KM and IRM are relatively new
• Standards are currently being created to deal
  with the new issues these fields create.
• The IEEE example mentioned previously is one of
  these

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Approved Standards ForSoftware Engineering
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Standards in the Future

• It is expected that most of the standards work in
  the future will be in the area of KM and IRM
• Both because they are new fields and conceptually
  complex there is a lot of work to be done.

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Why Are Standards Important

• Business people who can anticipate the emerging
  standard have the market at their feet.
• Standards provide cheaper better software
• Standards allow consumers more flexibility
• Standards are essential for creating ever larger
  economic communities
• COMMUNICATIOMSOFTHEACM December
  1993/Vol.36, No.12 17

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Conclusion

• We have covered the following points
• Definitions
• Types of Standards
• Standards Organizations
• Standards Creation Process
• Standards in IT, KM, and IRM
• The Importance of Standards

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The End