OASIS Open

The official name is the Provisioning Services Technical Committee (PSTC). The PSTC is sometimes unofficially called the "SPML TC" or the "PSTC/SPML committee".

Inter-enterprise and intra-enterprise application architectures require interoperable provisioning services that transcend the boundaries of single security domains. The interoperable exchange of identity information between domains, including the ability to manage identities across such domains, is crucial to developing solutions for provisioning across arbitrary systems and topologies.

The purpose of the TC is to define, enhance, and maintain a standard, XML-based framework for creating and managing information that represents user identities and related entities.

The TC is engaged in evolving the suite of SPML specifications and in applying those specifications to use-cases that are of interest to its members. The Statement of Purpose above will guide the scope of this effort, which continues after the release of SPML 2.0.

This effort will deliver on the following goals:

• Address issues and enhancement requests that have arisen from experience with real-world implementations of SPML and from experience with other enterprise architectures that perform provisioning.
• Add support for features that were deferred from previous versions of SPML.
• Develop an approach for unifying various identity-provisioning models found in real-world implementations of SPML and in SPML-based provisioning services.

The TC released the V2.0 specifications on April 11, 2006. Work products may include updates to the following specifications published by the TC for V2.0:

• SPML Protocol
• SPML XSD Profile
• Glossary
• Conformance Program

The Committee may also produce additional documents, such as specifications of new SPML profiles.

The primary audience for the final output of this TC are the architects and implementers of provisioning services.

All business of the TC will be conducted in English.