Catalyzing the Science, Engineering and Business of Automation and Information Management
General InformationAs a global market development association, CENSA sponsors research and development programs to develop new markets by developing "the right products" to populate them. Our overriding goal is vibrant markets populated with great products that integrate work together to solve difficult product R&D, manufacturing, and testing laboratory problems.
CENSA's market R&D programs engage teams of end users and product suppliers in focused collaborative projects to specify and develop software and hardware products that solve major R&D and enterprise automation and information management problems. We work with both industrial and government R&D enterprises and laboratories. In our programs, CENSA Staff, End User Members and CENSA Supplier Members work together to create new products that change the nature of scientific research, product innovation, product development, and product testing processes.
CENSA's Market Development Programs:
CENSA is running the following programs to create technical specifications, standards, and products to catalyze our targeted markets:
- Standards for Legal and Regulatory Requirements, Policies, and Procedures for Electronic Records
- Enterprise and R&D Electronic Records Management and Archives Management Systems
- Collaborative Electronic Notebook Systems (CENS)
- Intelligent Collaborative Environments for R&D (emphasizing standardized, intelligent integration architectures and tools for "assembling" rather than custom coding solutions for Collaborative Intelligent Problem Solving Environments )
- Specialized Science and Engineering Components (for biologists, chemists, materials scientist, engineers, and other specialists)
- Knowledge Management Tools and Processes for R&D Portfolio, Pipeline, and Process Optimization
- The Open Science Alliance Program(TM) to create standards, policies, education for buyers of data producing software to get perpetual data access and reuse rights to those assets and properly use them as long as needed.
Audience for CENSA's Programs:
How We Do Our Work
CENSA, the association is made up of its Staff, End User Members, and Supplier Members. CENSA staff members have extensive training in the chemical and life sciences, product and process engineering, records management, archives management, software engineering and development, project and program management, information technology, laboratory automation, training and education), marketing and business development, and market economics. We use staff employees, contractors, and consultants to create deliverables to catalyze product and market development.
We use our detailed knowledge of scientific R&D and product engineering processes to collect, prioritize, and gain broad consensus on the software functional requirements for products in the targeted markets. We build cross-functional teams of scientists (chemists, biologists, materials scientists, and others), product engineers, records managers, archivists, patent attorneys and other legal professionals, information technologists, automation specialists, and systems engineers.
CENSA staff work on these cross-functional teams in the roles of scientific, technical, and legal subject matter experts, co-leaders, and process facilitators. The teams' deliverables include concept papers, detailed requirements documents, software functional specifications, product testing methodologies, tools, and reports, implementation guides, and shared experiences from testing different software products and approaches before they hit the market. Without a detailed knowledge of the scientific, engineering, legal, regulatory, and business processes, getting new or enhanced products "good enough" the first time is nearly impossible. These cross-functional teams articulate the business and technical requirements clearly and cleanly so that commercial product developers know exactly "what" to build so their products can be successful in the marketplace.
Once we have a clear articulation of what is required to meet the complex set of needs, we seek out the best qualified suppliers to become Supplier Members to build and support the targeted products. Supplier Members benefit because the End User Members' requirements are already prioritized into "must-have", "should-have" or "nice-to-have" features with product versions that stretch out over time. It is extremely expensive to develop a coherent set of prioritized requirements that meet a large consensus of needs. Unless new product features are properly "version-controlled" and time-sequenced, the problem of expanding scope or "scope creep" can easily jeapordize an otherwise successful project. Our staff and member company scientists, technologists, and process experts work together with product buyers and product developers to ensure products have the right features in early versions.
We prefer to start with existing products sold by suppliers with successful track records of building and supporting products. It is much easier to add incremental functionality to an already-successful product than it is to build a new product from scratch. However, many times existing products just do not come close enough to meeting new product requirements. In these cases we will work to create brand new products to fill the gaps in the marketplace.
We also work with emerging or startup companies, because they often can focus better and build new products that meet the needs faster than established suppliers. Established suppliers have the "nice" problem of well-established customers that expect (or demand) good support for their existing or "legacy" products, AND simultaneously trying to invest in new product development or major enhancements to their existing products. Sometimes established supplier simply cannot move fast enough into new market niches. Startup companies do not have the problem of a large existing customer base to support or legacy products to deal with, but startup companies can present real dangers of business and product risk to prospective customers. The association's market and product development work includes due diligence processes to help ensure that today's "startup" company doesn't become tommorrow's "shutdown" company.
In cases where a product development company may be too small or may not have the core competencies or expertise in required scientific or technical areas, we work to build relationships between the emerging supplier and existing suppliers who bring decades of experience and more financial resources to the problem-solving team. The result is better solutions based on stronger businesses that can solve more complex problems faster.
Our teams of scientists, engineers, and other subject matter experts work with product developers so that they fully understand the detailed product requirements. Fully understanding the requirements is a very knowledge and labor-intensive process. Our teams then provide real-world testing of the new or improved products. Results from product alpha, beta, and pilot testing processes are detailed feedback to the Supplier Members that helps them correct any missing or errant product design or implementation features. We also provide feedback on how to improve usability, performance, and integration with other products that already exist in end users' environments.
Bottom Line Benefits to CENSA Member Companies and the Markets We Are Developing
The bottom line benefits to End User Members are new and improved products that meet their requirements faster or more completely than by "traditional" product or market development process. Taking advantage of the Association's prior R&D work and consensus processes means End Users don't have to "reinvent the wheel" themselves by articulating requirements, locating focused suppliers, doing due diligence on suppliers' businesses, working with product developers, testing products, and doing large scale rollouts entirely on their own. The risks and costs of getting major new products developed and deployed is spread out among all end users, who ultimately end up paying the costs anyway.
The bottom line benefits to Supplier Members of the Assocation's work are new or improved products with the right features that are more likely to thrive in the marketplace because they have a stronger customer base and more reference sites to help Supplier Members make more sales. There are fewer risks in the product and business development processes. A significant portion of the up-front work and cost of product development has been transferred to prospective buyers.
The marketplace overall benefits because there are better-defined product categories with a sufficient number of vendors fulfilling a broader baseline of needs. Economies of scale are achieved. More capital is available to the markets we target because it is focused on a broad consensus of needs, rather than individual company needs. The risks of market failures is reduced because there is a greater focus on the essential ingredients for success.
Members Gain Immediate Access to CENSA Resources and Deliverables
If your company is already a CENSA Member, you can register for access to the Members Only Site simply by filling out the form in Member Registration After we confirm your identity and your company's membership, you will be notified within one business day via email when you have been granted access. If you have any questions or problems, please call us at 781-395-3004, or e-mail us at
