Preface

The Open Group

The Open Group is a global consortium that enables the achievement of business objectives through technology standards. Our diverse membership of more than 800 organizations includes customers, systems and solutions suppliers, tools vendors, integrators, academics, and consultants across multiple industries.

The mission of The Open Group is to drive the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow™ achieved by:

  • Working with customers to capture, understand, and address current and emerging requirements, establish policies, and share best practices

  • Working with suppliers, consortia, and standards bodies to develop consensus and facilitate interoperability, to evolve and integrate specifications and open source technologies

  • Offering a comprehensive set of services to enhance the operational efficiency of consortia

  • Developing and operating the industry’s premier certification service and encouraging procurement of certified products

Further information on The Open Group is available at www.opengroup.org.

The Open Group publishes a wide range of technical documentation, most of which is focused on development of standards and guides, but which also includes white papers, technical studies, certification and testing documentation, and business titles. Full details and a catalog are available at www.opengroup.org/library.

This Document

This document provides a Handbook for individuals who are participating in Forums or Work Groups within The Open Group. It includes guidance on the development of The Open Group publications. It should be read in conjunction with The Open Group Standards Process and the Handbook for the Consensus Decision-Making Process.

Note: This document focuses on textual publications. Executable Standards will typically produce alternate forms of deliverable; for example, XML reference models, schema definition files, API libraries, etc. This document includes a brief introduction to Executable Standards (see Executable Standards). Further guidance on Executable Standards is expected to be provided at a later date in a separate publication.