A Standards Update - The ISO process - part 2

Welcome to this edition of a regular column about standards in the Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) industry. This column will be updated regularly to keep you current on news of standards and their impact on the industry.

In the coming months, we will try to educate you on the various technologies covered under the AIDC umbrella as well as bring news of the standardization process and its progress. If you have news about standards that you want to share, or questions you want to ask, send them to steve@hightechaid.com and we will try to incorporate them into the next column.

In last month's issue of this column, we summarized the process that is necessary to create a standard under the JTC1 banner. This month we will look at the Fast Track process and other possible shortcuts.

There are a couple of ways to short circuit the six step process that we discussed last month and there are advantages and disadvantages to each of them.

1. During stage one, a working draft can be submitted with the NP. If approved this can considerably shorten the process time for the document in committee as a working draft. The document is usually created by someone who is knowledgeable about the subject and who is able to do much of the work without the aid of the committee. This approach is an excellent one for many projects, as there usually is someone more knowledgeable than others in the early stages (the inventor for example). Now when the workgroup start work they have a document before them from day one, and we all know that it is much easier to find fault with an existing document than it is to create a new one. If the standard is a straight forward one, this can reduce the time as a working draft by a significant amount of time.
   


2. If there has been a de-facto standard for some time before the submission of the NP, it may be possible to submit a NP with a CD ballot. This method assumes that there is considerable reason to believe that the document is substantially correct and there are few changes likely to be made to the document. One disadvantage to this method is that the workgroup find themselves inheriting a document that has been created elsewhere and that they have little ability to influence. If this approach results in a successful ballot, the time to standardization has been considerably reduced. If it fails the CD part of the ballot but is accepted as an NP, then no time has been lost and work progresses normally. If it fails the NP ballot then it is no different from any other NP submission that fails. In order to get acceptance in the ballot a substantially complete and correct document is needed.
   


3. The fastest way to create a standard is the Fast Track process. This process allows a P member of JTC1 or a category A liaison to submit a document effectively as a Draft International Standard (DIS). The ballot process is six months, and the P members can vote to accept it, to disapprove it with suggestions to make it acceptable, or to abstain. At least two thirds of the P members must approve it, with no more than one-quarter of the total number of votes cast being negative, and more than 50% of the P members voting. A ballot resolution meeting is scheduled for the conclusion of the vote and at the end of this meeting, if the above conditions are met, the document is said to have passed. All that is left is for the project editor to implement any changes agreed at the ballot resolution meeting and the document is on its way to publication.
   


4. Another method to get a standard published is by using something called the PAS (Publicly Available Specification) method. This process allows a company or other organization, not normally recognized by JTC 1, and allows them to submit their own specifications for adoption as a standard. The company applies to JTC 1 for recognition as a PAS submitter. Once they are approved, they can submit any of their specifications into JTC 1 for recognition as a JTC 1 standard. The adoption process closely mirrors the Fast Track process as far as approval for the standard is concerned.

This details the processes that can allow some shortcuts into the standard JTC 1 standardization procedures. Coupled with the standard six step method detailed in last months column, you should now understand all the options available for standardization within JTC 1.

Next month we will start looking at the various AIDC technologies and who is involved in standardization in these technologies.