24. When should a project start to think about
standardization
Once you have decided your project should interface with standards bodies,
it becomes important to include activities for these interactions as part of
the project work plan. There are different aspects to be considered such as
timing of interactions, the formal
mechanisms that enable interactions, and the tasks that are needed to effectively contribute to
standards.
24.1 Timing of interactions
Progressing your project’s deliverables through the standardization
process can be a time-consuming process. Although there may be – depending
on the nature of the input you intend to deliver, as well as on the type of
standard you decide to pursue – ways to achieve your goals within 6-12
months, mostly standardisation processes will take longer and require between
1 and 3 years.
Your project will however have a limited lifespan and will most likely not
be able to allocate resources to standards work beyond that lifespan. In
order to safeguard ongoing standardization work from falling apart after the
completion of your project contract, you will either have to:
- Ensure all your project’s standardization activities can be
completed before your project finalizes its activities;
- Ensure one or several of your consortium partners are in a position to
continue and complete the standardization work initiated by your project at
their own cost;
- Build a constituency among relevant stakeholders that are willing to
continue and complete the standardization work initiated by your project at
their own cost.
For these reasons it is recommended to plan interfacing with standards
organizations at the beginning of your project’s activities. Even though
your deliverables will not be available yet, it will help you synchronize
with relevant ongoing standardization processes, and start the process of
building the consensus required in order to achieve the goals you are
pursuing.
Postponing this interfacing until your standardization deliverables are
completed – usually towards the end of your project – will delay the
standardization process and increase the ‘standardization gap’ between
the end of your project and the availability of standards resulting from
it.
24.2 Formal mechanisms for interaction
between research and standardization
Planning your project's interaction with standards processes requires an
evaluation whether (temporary) membership of
the targeted organization is desirable, or necessary to obtain the desired
outcome. Once you have decided that the best way to participate is through
membership, it is advisable to evaluate whether the
project itself should in fact obtain a membership of the organisation, or
whether the project's standardization activities should be pursued through
one of it's consortium partner's membership, as the evaluation of pros and
cons associated with either of the two options may be determined by your
project's specific circumstances.
24.3 Tasks
Once the decision has been made by a project to interface with
standardization, the type of tasks that might be included in a
standardisation work package are listed below. Carefully consider which of
the tasks outlined should be part of your project and how much resources are appropriate for each task, given the
specific technologies from your project and the standards bodies you intend
to target.
- Formal submission preparation – understanding the required format
for submissions utilised by the target standards body and preparing the
research results as a formal submission to the standards body. The actual
content of the submission would be developed in one of the other technical
work packages.
- Constituency building – identifying the various constituencies that
will have an opinion or position with regard to the proposals from the
project and to meet with them to understand their interests and positions.
- Consensus building – organising meetings and briefings with those
individuals or organizations that are important for the decision making
within the standards body. This is an essential part of achieving acceptance
of the project submission from as an industry standard.
- Conflict resolution – there will likely be questions, challenges,
and alternative approaches from the members of the standards bodies
concerning the proposals made by the project. These will often require
technical resources to investigate and respond in order for the
standardization process to move forward, but may also require further
business or market data, or collection of additional and user needs and
requirements.
- Accelerating standards take-up – there are actions that can be taken
that can accelerate the take-up of new standards. Some of these include
creation of a trust-mark or brand that gives assurance that products conform
to standards, others might involve certification using test technologies or
working with a certification organisation to put in place a conformance
programme.
- Dissemination and awareness – creating awareness amongst important
constituencies of those that might exploit and those that might benefit from
related technologies can build momentum within the standardization process.
This task can be part of a broader dissemination programme within the
project.
[Back to questions]
See also
- How do I embed standardization
activities in my project'swork plan
- How should my project initiate a new
standardization process
- What if there's no standards
organization that is able to address my project's output
Created by Bart Brusse & Rigo Wenning
last updated $Date: 2006/11/03 14:19:28 $