Almost everyone these days, if asked to name an ISO standard, would think of ISO 9001, and most people would be able to say that having a “Standard” allows more effective exchange of information. For exchange of engineering data between applications, has ISO really delivered:
- Are the ISO standards sufficiently widely known, are they accessible?
- Are they being applied – and if so, are they the most effective and most used data exchange protocol?
- What metrics are being collected about usage levels, cost of adoption versus savings through their usage, and other impacts of adoption or non-adoption?
STEP (ISO 10303)
The COMP-LIFE project is primarily interested in ISO 10303 (STEP), and the particular parts ISO 10303-45 (Materials) and ISO 10303-235 (Materials information for the design and verification of products). Building on these, and others, we will be looking at the potential needs surrounding data capture of through-life composite material engineering component data.
Accessibility
A key question in accessibility, is that users know that the standard exists, that the standard is implemented in the software tools that the users use, and that those who develop the software tools have access to the definition of the standard.
On a simple level, accessibility implies publication. For book publications there is a system, ISBN, which means that the publication can always be found. If one copyright library burns down, the publication will be held in duplicate at another. How robust is the accessibility of the ISO standards? Is there an ISO standard for the maintenance of publication systems and platforms?
On another level, accessibility implies price. In the software industry, if you want everyone to adopt something, you provide it free at the point of use. Just look at the examples of GNU, Firefox, Wikipedia, and so on. Pricing, if applied at all, could be on the basis of donation, or a charge that represents the cost of reproduction, handling and postage, rather than on the value of the intellectual property of the content. Like many academic journal papers, ISO standards are developed by volunteers or those funded by the public purse. There will be an increasing demand for publicly funded content to be made available in an open access format, or for a fair price.
Application
I really have nothing to say on this subject yet. I’d be very happy to hear your views, readers of this blog.
Metrics
This is another aspect on which I would value your opinions.
Conclusion
I’m at the start of a feasibility study, and having lifted the hood on the ISO 10303 standards, I’m somewhat concerned about the status of what I find. For the onward activities of both the feasibility study, and any follow-on project planning, I am concerned about building on unstable ground.
I really would value input and opinions from readers, particularly those who are direct users of standards and software vendors of software which uses STEP data for input or output.
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COMP-LIFE project 