OASIS Open

OASIS Open Document Format Interoperability and Conformance (OIC) Technical Committee

The OpenDocument Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) OASIS Standard defines an XML schema and semantics for a document format for office applications. OpenDocument Format is suitable for office documents, including text documents, spreadsheets, charts and graphical documents like drawings or presentations, but is not restricted to these kinds of documents.

There are several commercial and open source applications available based on the OpenDocument Format, with more currently under development. With the depth and breadth of functionality specified by OpenDocument Format (ODF), achieving conformance and interoperability requires attention to numerous details and diverse requirements.

It is the purpose of the OIC TC to produce materials and host events that will help implementors create applications which conform the ODF standard and which are able to interoperate.

In accordance with the OIC TC's purpose, the scope of our work will include the following activities:

1. Initially and periodically thereafter, to review the current state of conformance and interoperability among a number of ODF implementations; To produce reports on overall trends in conformance and interoperability that note areas of accomplishment as well as areas needing improvement, and to recommend prioritized activities for advancing the state of conformance and interoperability among ODF implementations in general without identifying or commenting on particular implementations;
2. To collect the provisions of the ODF standard, and of standards normatively referenced by the ODF standard, and to produce a comprehensive conformity assessment methodology specification which enumerates all collected provisions, as well as specific actions recommended to test each provision, including definition of preconditions, expected results, scoring and reporting;
3. To select a corpus of ODF interoperability test documents, such documents to be created by the OIC TC, or received as member or public contributions; To publish the ODF interoperability test corpus and promote its use in interoperability workshops and similar events;
4. To define profiles of ODF which will increase interoperability among implementations in the same vertical domain, for example, ODF/A for archiving;
5. To define profiles of ODF which will increase interoperability among implementations in the same horizontal domain, for example ODF Mobile for pervasive devices, or ODF Web for browser-based editors;
6. To provide feedback, where necessary, to the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC on changes to ODF that might improve interoperability;
7. To coordinate, in conjunction with the ODF Adoption TC, Interop Workshops and OASIS InterOp Demonstrations related to ODF;
8. To liaise on conformance and interoperability topics with other TC's and bodies whose work is leveraged in present or future ODF specifications, and with committees dealing with conformance and interoperability in general.

The following activities are explicitly not within the Scope of the OIC TC:

1. Acting as a rating or certifying authority or agency for conformance of particular ODF implementations;
2. Authoring or distributing software that tests the conformance or interoperability of ODF implementations.

1. Initial report on the state of ODF conformance and interoperability (March 1st, 2009);
2. Report on the best practices on profiles and recommendations on possible ODF-related profiles (April 1st, 2009);
3. A conformity assessment methodology specification, detailing how each provision and recommendation in the ODF standard may be tested for conformance (May 1st, 2009);
4. Interoperability test corpus documents, released in batches, according to functional area (several incremental deliverables, Q4 2008 through 2009).

This TC will operate under the "RF on Limited Terms" mode

The direct audience of the OIC TC's work will be:

1. Implementors — Commercial and Open Source publishers of ODF native or compatible applications and tools.
2. Testers — Third-party testing and certification labs.
3. Procurers — Those who purchase or define requirements for the purchase of ODF-related technology.
4. Regulators — Officials who specify the use of document standards.

Other, indirect users of the TC's work may include:

1. Integrators — Third-party developers and independent software vendors who interact with and/or integrate ODF.
2. Users — End Users of ODF applications and tools, including both typical and "power" users.

TC business will be conducted in English