Standards Community Goals for WIS3 Next Week: Building on Last Year

As we prepare for the Workshop on Information Sharing and Safeguarding Standards (WIS3) this Monday, December 5, I’d like to reflect on last year’s standards event, when industry and government first came together to chart a way forward for standards. We’re also interested in hearing your thoughts about it and what you’re hoping to get out of the event next week. (We just added commenting to our blog, so please add your comment below!)

Four major themes emerged about how the community could work together to build the Information Sharing Environment (ISE):

1. Immediately leverage existing standards - NIEM IEPDs provide the centerpiece of the semantics of DHS/ISE/DOJ data interchange and there are several great examples of reference IEPDs accepted across interagency partners. More work can be done to abstract the technical process of creating IEPDs from the information exchange business requirements through the use of a NIEM UML profile.
2. Prohibit “data lock down” - There was broad agreement among government leaders and industry representatives that standards and technologies that enable data independence must be acquired, implemented, encouraged, and further developed while those that discourage or prevent such data independence must be prohibited. Language about this must exist in standards development and implementation organizations, federal acquisition regulations, and federal contracting requirements.
3. Drive standards – Standards organizations derive their agenda from their participants.  It is critical that PM-ISE, the NIEM PMO, SDOs, and other government organizations and stakeholders participate in information sharing standards efforts.
4. Build community – Starting with the attendees at the workshop, build a Community of Practice dedicated to sharing ideas and rapidly solving problems in the information sharing space.

As we come together again and build on the work of the past year, including the creation of a NIEM UML Profile through OMG, we should consider how we can continue to progress toward these goals and advance standards-based information sharing as a unified community.

Learn more about WIS3 or register now. Continue reading about last year’s event in this blog post by OMG’s Richard Soley. And as I said above, please comment below to let us know what you thought of last year’s event and what you’re hoping for in WIS3 next week.