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Enabling Confidence and Interoperability in eNotebook(TM) Notebook Software |
Product Conformance Testing Toolkit
CENSA now offers its members The CENSA 
Product Conformance Testing Toolkit for electronic
notebook and related electronic recordkeeping and archiving systems. The
CENSA Product Conformance Testing Toolkit is a software
toolkit and documentation set that allows product suppliers and end users to
assess compliance with CENSA industry consensus specifications for eNotebooks
software applications and systems. The CENSA Product Conformance Testing Toolkit is offered in
addition to the detailed CENSA reference model, business requirements, and functional
specifications for eNotebook software. The CENSA
Product Conformance Testing Toolkit includes
a complete software-based assessment toolkit, specifications, and instructions
to do an initial self-certification in preparation to be independently certified
by qualified CENSA staff or a third-party qualified by CENSA to deliver the
CENSA 
Product Certification Service.
Product Certification ServiceThe CENSA Product Certification Service provides a service
to software vendors who are members of CENSA to become logo branded by CENSA
and use CENSA’s trademark and branding logo as a result of CENSA verification
of functionality, usability, and performance. The Product Certification Service
is either done directly by CENSA staff or delivered via a qualified third-party.
The CENSA trademark and branding logo are part of the CENSA quality
assurance process that allows software buyers to have a much higher degree of
confidence that electronic notebook and related data management and recordkeeping
software products have all required features and functions.
The CENSA specifications define the required features and functions. The CENSA reference model, business requirements, and functional
specifications represent the needs of individual consumers and professional
users worldwide. They have been developed and prioritized by dozens of private
and public sector organizations. Certified software products exhibiting the
CENSA logo give buyers and users a high degree of confidence
that a product will have the required features and functions before buying
them. It is easy to waste hours, days, or weeks assessing goodness
of fit to one’s needs, only to throw out a software product upon finding out
that it is missing key features for a specific application.
We provide a universal basis for building, buying, and deploying electronic notebook software applications and related systems for electronic data capture, data management, reporting, and recordkeeping by specifying and driving creation of easily-assembled, open, commercially available and supported component-based interoperable software systems for individuals and enterprises that meet key patent, regulatory, technical, scientific, and business requirements of many different types of consumers and professional users working as individuals and team members.
Our goals are to provide consumers with a high degree of confidence that notebook software and related recordkeeping systems meet all the functionality, usability, and performance requirements for authoring notebooks, managing and reusing data stored in notebooks, and recordkeeping to protect intellectual property, comply with government regulations, improve work processes, and share information.
· Membership open to any company or government agency
· Action oriented: specification, product development and testing in pilot projects
· Consensus based decision making
· Incremental delivery rather than prolonged study
· Global and individualized solutions
· Industry and government representatives working with software professionals to define standard specifications designed to be extensible and evolve over time
· Specifications are open for implementation and use by all software vendors
CENSA has an open membership policy. It has participation from organizations in many parts of society, including general consumers, engineers, scientists, corporate information managers, records mangers, archivists, attorneys, manufacturers, software vendors, information providers, government agencies, and research labs.
CENSA member organizations and their representatives fall into two general categories:
1. Individual
users who use software applications in their work or for personal
matters.
2. Software
suppliers who develop and sell software applications and related systems for electronic
recordkeeping
The benefits for software vendors to be compliant with CENSA’s
specifications are that users will be able to count on specific functionality,
usability, and performance being present. End users have higher confidence
in their software’s capabilities to capture, preserve, reuse,
and certify stored information’s integrity.
Software developers and users are looking for solutions for providing and buying Electronic Notebook Software Applications that are:
BETTER: Better functionality, usability, and performance without having to reinvent the wheel or perform extensive market research and their own product or system development
Users are demanding flexibility and quality in their Electronic Notebook Software that stand up to the pressures of heavy-duty personal and business usage. Users do not want to have to suffer with or pay too much for poor or incomplete software that does not meet their needs for data capture, data management, reuse and reporting, data integrity, recordkeeping
FASTER: Reduced delivery time for software supporting individuals in many sectors.
The life cycle of design and delivery for most products
today has decreased from a few years to a few months. software creation, its reconfiguration, are expected to keep
pace.
CHEAPER: Recover the cost from an incomplete or fractured process.
It has been estimated that up to 30% of the cost of building software products is due to the fractured processes and communication of the software industry with a broad array of users.
Users demand software applications that are full-functionality, less expensive to use and integrate with other software, and less expensive to maintain, and operate. Critical requirements missed early in the R&D process cause software vendors to spend excessive time and money on development or fail later in the marketing, sales, or product support processes.
GLOBAL: The Software Development Process has become global in nature.
It is almost impossible to find software being built today that does not need a certain baseline of interoperability and integration with other products built or purchased internationally.
Industry Reference ModelThe Utility of an Industry Reference Model
The intention of the CENSA Industry Reference Model (CENSA IRM) is to specify
all the functionality, usability, and performance requirements for applications and related electronic recordkeeping and
archiving systems. This includes authoring and managing information, creating
and keeping records, protecting intellectual property, demonstrating regulatory
compliance, and sharing information stored in them. The CENSA Industry Reference Model Specifications provide conceptual
models, requirements and functionality descriptions, and supporting data structures
useful in sharing data across applications.
The CENSA Industry Reference Model enables interoperability
among electronic notebook software applications. Software developers can use
the CENSA IRM to create software that uses universal IRM software
components based on CENSA specifications. Data created in one application can
be exchanged with and reused in another CENSA-compliant application.
This CENSA IRM defines features, components, and behaviors of software, for example:
"I am an electronic notebook component and I know that I am part of an electronic notebook system. I also know how I must deliver data to other applications, and accept data from applications. I know what is expected of me with regards to data preservation, data integrity, and data reprocessibility. Additionally, I know what my permitted operations are, what my output device geometries are, and so forth."
Applications that support the CENSA Industry Reference Model will allow members of teams
to share notebook software data in an electronic format. This will help to
ensure that the data are consistent and co-ordinated. Furthermore, this shared
notebook data can continue to be reused and evolve after the original notebook
is created. Information generated by the team will be available in intelligent,
electronic format to all users through their CENSA-compliant software.
Member organizations in CENSA, frustrated with the current fractured development in the information technology systems industry, are working together to make this happen. CENSA includes industry and government leaders from the international community. This group is uniquely qualified to develop the specifications. CENSA works with software companies that serve electronic notebook users to adopt and promote the CENSA specifications and to enable creation of new generations of software applications that apply the potential of computers to electronic notebooks and related recordkeeping activities across all industrial, government, and individual applications.
Industry Reference Model Release DeliverablesThe CENSA Industry Reference Model is documented for three readers:
1) the individual user of software who uses software for personal applications, 2) various types
of professionals who use software in their daily work (authors, scientists, engineers,
attorneys, quality assurance, manufacturing specialists, etc.), and 3) the software
technical specialist (a category that includes both software developers and support specialist). CENSA Industry Reference Model Release documents include:
The CENSA Industry Reference Model Guide provides a reference
for the technical requirements, content and arrangement of the Component Model. It includes the following major elements:
·
The Industry Reference Model Architecture that describes
the principles of how the components are organized.
·
The Component Naming and Development Convention which describes
how all of the elements of the model should be named and the guidance rules
for the creation of components and property sets so that data can be exchanged among data source and data user applications.
·
Samples of parts of the Component Model for information.
The Guide is intended for software system developers and
support staff who are interested in complete system development and for software developers who need
to understand how the Component Model has been created.
The CENSA IRM defines the Component Model. This includes all information required
by the notebook-keeping processes structured in an IRM detailing standard components
and interfaces and data types. It also presents key concepts used in the design
of the IRM including: structure, design intent, sharing semantic relationships,
and model extension by application developers.
It also documents the interoperability model used to represent
the IRM Component Model so that compliant software can exchange notebooks and component data.
This interoperability model is defined using the Universal Modeling Language
(UML) and the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) defined by the World Wide Web
Consortium and can be used directly by software developers. This document gives
an overview of the file format.
This is the principal document in the IRM Release Document Suite and contains a large quantity of information. It is valuable both to end-users and to software implementers. To assist navigation, it is made available primarily in PDF format and can be browsed any PDF Reader or Web browser with a PDF reader plug-in.
Specification Development Guide The Specification Development Guide provides an extensive
reference on how to develop specifications in a consistent way. It describes how
to develop a project proposal, document development processes, and component
models that can then be synthesized into a software system that conforms to
the CENSA Industry Reference Model. It includes appendices that
describe in simple terms some of the technologies used in development. These appendices are useful in learning
and understanding why and how software components are specified in a manner that is
independent of software implementation.
Software Implementation Guide The CENSA Software Implementation Guide provides information and
guidance to software programmers on how best to go about developing CENSA compliant software. It draws on the experience of those
organizations that have already developed such software and contains vital information
that can reduce the time (and cost) of development. It discusses potential
implementation strategies and includes list of software toolkits and platforms
that are available to speed up the development of CENSA compliant software applications.
Software Implementation Certification Guide The CENSA Software Implementation Certification Guide describes
the process that has been adopted for certification of CENSA conformance-tested
software applications and how such compliance must be demonstrated. It also
describes the use of the compliance testing toolkit software and how to get
the most current release of The CENSA Product Conformance Testing Toolkit software
and documentation kit. Finally, it describes the follow-on the process that
CENSA uses in The CENSA 
Product Certification Service for software vendors
to get products certified by CENSA and use the CENSA branding logo and trademark on conformant electronic notebook products
and related electronic recordkeeping and archiving systems.
Product Conformance Testing Toolkit and Product Certification
Service
CENSA collects three levels of data on
software and related systems for electronic recordkeeping
and archiving. The first is summary data. Collection and verification of this
first level data is not complex. The second level data is comprehensive data
on compliance with functional specifications and other requirements. For this
second data group, we encourage vendors to use The CENSA Product Conformance Testing Toolkit and The CENSA Product Certification Service. The third level
of data is research reports on a software supplier’s track record in the marketplace.
Areas are explored such as developing, delivering, integrating, and supporting
their product in a multi-vendor software environment and partnering with other
vendors for application integration and delivery.
Certification and a right-to-use license for the
CENSA branding logo and trademark are awarded only after a thorough review of
a vendor’s software by a CENSA-qualified auditor and demonstration of a vendor’s
commitment to accuracy. All products that have been certified are identified
as such to end users working with CENSA data; this offers major benefits to
the end users and prospective buyers. CENSA product experts meet with participating
vendors to directly validate the vendor’s product for conformance with technical
functionality and other business requirements data stored in CENSA databases.
It is important to note that, when CENSA presents software product research
to companies selecting systems, the total selection process ensures that uncertified
products listed have disadvantages based on their having more alleged (unverified)
functionality. This is explained more below.
Presenting product details that are considered accurate and useful (and that are typically difficult for the prospect to quickly verify) is critical in the sales process for building trust and moving the sales process along. Prospects cannot reach a serious level of comfort based on attractive brochures and benefit statements. CENSA provides the process and structure for vendors to easily provide this information to prospects.
Certified products have an edge over uncertified products: CENSA uses industry-wide consensus specifications for business and technical requirements, functionality, usability, and performance that have been developed over many years of working with thousands of end users and prospective buyers. There is a higher likelihood that products will succeed in customer-specific environments when they also meet an industry-wide established baseline for requirements. The buyer benefits financially because he or she does not have to pay for individually customized software. Instead, the cost of support is spread over the vendor’s entire customer base. Economies of scale and lower costs are achieved for all customers. There is also the advantage of easier vendor substitution a particular vendor’s product or business fails for any reason.
Once listed, non-certified software products are penalized
in the marketplace, because buyers favor products that have been designed and
implemented according to priorities determined by a large body of end users
and buyers. Certified products are not subject to these penalties. CENSA often
participates in end user product selection process that includes meeting the
industry-defined baseline first, then a broad spectrum of qualitative and functional
priorities of the specific end user. Vendors who understand the importance of
certification can leverage the strength of the CENSA logo brand and the
trademark in presenting their specific products.
Therefore, the edge in product certification is the underlying
foundation of accuracy and objectivity provided the vendor in a sales process
in which CENSA Industry Reference Model specifications and research
reports are utilized. Product certification is also an advantage when suppliers
or end user use CENSA tools and methods (consultant sales tool, pre-implementation
planning/execution, and ongoing improvement/optimization management) for which
underlying accuracy of software product data is critical.
Certification Service Details A) Using the CENSA Software Profiler conformance testing application,
software vendors provide initial answers to questions about conformance to technical
functionality and business requirements. Many vendors in CENSA have done this
step.
B) A CENSA auditor meets with the vendor's assigned
software experts to audit and certify the vendor’s responses to the functionality
questions using the CENSA Software Profiler conformance testing application
to capture all details. Auditors are experienced in both the vendor's software
type and The CENSA Product Certification Process. The auditor determines
the correct response taking into consideration the following:
1. Consensus
Requirements and Guidelines established by CENSA in the CENSA Industry Reference Model
2. Correct
usage of the CENSA Specification Development Guide, The CENSA IRM Software Implementation Guide
3. Acceptable responses allowed for all vendors
4. Degree to which the vendor's functionality meets the specific intent of the question
5.
Usage of The CENSA Software Implementation Certification Guide
C) If third-party add-in product(s) provides substantial functionality to a vendor’s product(s), the auditor may require the third-party product(s) to be demonstrated.
D) The vendor works with the auditor and CENSA to reconcile any discrepancies in the audit to produce the final certified answers. Vendors also have an opportunity to appeal the auditor's response to CENSA. This is usually a straightforward process, as accurate answers benefit all parties. CENSA determines the final response.
E) The CENSA auditor will collect general product information that helps potential buyers more clearly understand a vendor's product and company. This validated information, cast in non-sales language, is included in CENSA research reports and can be used by vendors in their own marketing and sales programs. General product information includes, but is not limited to, the following types of information:
· Company profile
· Product profile
· Third-party application development guidelines
· Customization and modification tools
· Internet/collaboration strategy
· Product development strategy
· Reporting tools
· ASP or third-party support options
· Reseller channel(s)
F) Upon completion of the full certification process, we issue a joint press release of this event into our respective PR channels.
A) As pertinent functionality evolves based on end users’ requirements, CENSA will add, modify, or remove functionality questions from the standard set and will coordinate with vendors to update their certification profile. The steps to process new or modified requirements are the same as described for the original certification process.
B) If updates to the vendor's product are released after it has been certified, the vendor and auditor may utilize one or more of the following options to verify any responses that may need to be changed.
· The vendor and auditor can meet in person to review the updates.
· The vendor may provide the auditor a new product release containing the updates.
· The vendor may conduct an Internet demonstration to review the updates.
· The vendor may provide appropriate screen shots and other supporting information that demonstrate the updates.
· Vendors may provide CENSA with the names of qualified consultants, resellers, and installers. CENSA can include location-specific information to end user clients when the vendor's product is listed in a selection report. CENSA can also make this information available to its network of trained consulting partners. Since additional third-party support is a key advantage, this enables the consultants to form more comprehensive relationships with the appropriate resellers in their geographic region and bring them into the selection and implementation process at the earliest opportunity.
· Because a vendor's product profile is certified, CENSA can assist the vendor in coordinating with consultants/end users in our network to analyze why the vendor's product was eliminated from further consideration, and if appropriate, help the consultant/end user resolve the misunderstanding.
· If CENSA does not have standard functional questions for the vendor's product and targeted industry vertical, then CENSA will work with the vendor to develop a list of requirements that are representative of the vendor's product and the industry it serves.
· CENSA, the CENSA market and product development process and network of consultants have established visibility, and the visibility is growing. Being highlighted in this network and CENSA's objective process is a significant benefit.
·
In a software selection project in which several fundamentally
similar products are under consideration, prospects tend to gravitate toward
products for which they have immediate, trusted, and unbiased information.
The CENSA branding logo, the trademark and CENSA Certification Service provide greater confidence
because of the trusted and unbiased information that CENSA uses in developing
and evolving the CENSA Industry Reference Model and specifications for
software for electronic notebooks and related systems for electronic recordkeeping
and archiving systems.
· Vendors, their resellers, and other consultants all gain an opportunity to form a closer relationship with the CENSA consultant network. While this relationship may not directly result in sales, it enables CENSA consultants to serve their clients more effectively by calling on vendor experts when required. This close working relationship will not be lost on prospects and may positively influence the prospect's ultimate purchase decision.
· Certified functionality data, being comprehensively studied by end users, will facilitate preparation for implementation.