SES 3, “Recommended Practice for Joint Standards Development,” has just been released. It is a companion standard to the previous SES releases: ANSI/SES 1 “Recommended Practice for Designation and Organization of Standards” and SES 2, “Model Procedure for the Development of Standards.” Issued by the organization SES – The Association for Standards Professionals, this new recommended practice provides SDOs (Standards Developing Organizations) with guidelines for working together with other associations to author and publish documents.
What’s so hard about joint standards authorship? Actually, it’s not as easy as it sounds. First, SDOs need to enter into a Joint Standards Agreement defining the roles and responsibilities of each of the participating societies. Then, they need to set up a process for managing the development of standards together. Since traditionally SDOs have each had their own systems for standards development, this can be a bit of a can of worms!
So the SES 3 provides information on a number of ways that SDOs can set up such agreements. These include MoUs (memorandum of Understandings), contracts, and other agreements. Any project your organization enters into should have clear statements of scope, purpose, policies, process, dispute resolution, branding, publication, marketing, distribution, and maintenance of the joint publication.
Why a standard for joint development now? Trends show that SDOs are entering into agreements for and developing joint standards at an ever increasing rate. With standardization taking on an increasingly global bias, the need for standards developers to partner with affiliated organizations is increasing.
How does SES 3 fit into the SES suite of standards? Over the years, SES has issued 3 standards in an attempt to provide SDOs with guidelines in order to “standardize the standardizers.” Here at Document Center Inc., since we’re in the business of selling standards we are constantly challenged by the variety of ways that SDOs number and categorize their publications. Additionally, having a variety of formats and used within these documents can make using standards more difficult. And certainly, the protocols for the development and maintenance of these documents can vary widely, raising validity issues.
So the SES 1 particularly addresses the numbering and formating of a number of types of standards. The SES 2 tackles what’s called “due process,” the way that standards themselves are developed. This is to support authorship of unbiased standards promoting public health and safety goals, among other things. The community of standards developers recognizes that having a voluntary standards system carries the responsibility of ensuring that these publications are generated in a fair and open way.
Now to get your copy of the SES standards. Why don’t you use Document Center Inc. as your standards source? You can search for and order standards at our webstore, www.document-center.com. Here is a direct link to the order page for SES 3 for your convenience. Need additional services to keep your standards collection current and complete? Check in with our staff by phone (650-591-7600) or email (info@document-center.com). We’ve been working with standards since 1982 and have many products and services aimed at helping you solve your compliance documentation challenges. Make us your Standards Experts!
