A practical demonstration of the value of The Open Group are the registers of commercially available products, individuals and services which have been certified as meeting the Open Group Standards recorded in the Standards Information Base.
The Open Group's certification registers provide a framework to record the claims of vendors and individuals regarding the Certification of their products, themselves and the services they provide.
The Open Group certification programs provide a framework for processing and recording information about products, individuals and services with Guaranteed Conformance, a guarantee by the certified party that the certified entity conforms to one or more Open Group Product Standards, through use of one of The Open Group's certification marks, backed by a Trademark License Agreement or Certification Agreement.
More detailed information about The Open Group's certification programs can be found at http://www.opengroup.org/certification/.
This procedure relates only to programs which use a trademark owned by The Open Group.
The Open Group's certification programs provide a guarantee of conformance to customers. A Trademark License Agreement or Certification Agreement must be executed before a certified party can use The Open Group's certification mark "on and in connection with" their product, themself, or a service, and commits the party to
There are a number of stages in the development and implementation of a new Open Group certification program:
It is the final stage, the processing of applications for certification, that results in the population of Certification Registers with information relating to products, individuals and services with Guaranteed Conformance.
The certification policy describes the way in which a certification program will operate. An approved certification policy becomes the framework for all future steps.
It is at the discretion of The Open Group whether a full certification policy document is developed. For additions to an existing certification program which are significantly different to the current program or for any where a new or amended legal agreement is required, an agreed certification policy builds consensus at an early stage in the development process.
Where an approved certification policy exists, review of all subsequent documents is restricted to the correct implementation of the approved policy.
The certification policy for a functional area should normally define the following information
- An overview describing the proposed scope of the program and terminology and definitions.
- The outline certification process and how to apply for certification.
- The policy regarding Conformance in the program, what constitues a conformance release and how conformance requirements are defined.
- Obligations on Suppliers of Certified Products, Services, or on Certified Individuals (if applicable).
- The Trademark Licensing policy.
- The policy relating to inclusion and removal from the Certification Register
- The testing policy for the program.
- The certification requirements for modifications to certified entities.
- The certification renewals process.
- The certification problem reporting and interpretations process.
- The appeals policy.
- The non-disclosure policy.
In order to support the introduction of a new Product Standard, the following conformance materials are required:
The Product Standard(s) represent the normative definition of what a product must conform to in order to qualify to carry the certification mark. It defines:
From time to time, additional materials are needed to define specific aspects of Certification (e.g. The Interoperability Assurance Program). These will be developed and approved in the same manner as Product Standards.
CSQs are pro-forma documents used by trademark licensees to define exactly how their product relates to the Product Standard, especially in places where the Product Standard and/or referenced Technical Standard(s) contain optionality or flexibility.
Where a desirable indicator of compliance for a certification program is an Open Group test suite, The Open Group will establish an appropriate project for the development of the test suite, subject to a satisfactory business case.
Certain other materials must be developed as part of the certification process. These may include:
These materials are not themselves subject to any consensus process.
NOTE: The majority of new programs use standard templates for the TMLA and other legal agreements, or are an extension to an existing TMLA.
The TMLA is structured so that information that changes over time in schedules can be easily updated. One or more of these schedules may need revision in the following circumstances.
The launch of an Open Group certification program is the responsibility of Open Group Certification Manager.
The timing of the launch of a new certification activity shall take into account:
The method and scope of launch of a new certification activity will normally be established by the budget available.
When an application for certification has been successfully processed, details of the product, individual or service,as appropriate, are added to the relevant Certification Register for the certification program.
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