OASIS Adoption Services Program

Referral service provider guidelines for conformance, interoperability, or training/personal skill certification programs

Policies and Procedures

NOTE: This policy has been rescinded by the OASIS Board of Directors through RESOLUTION 2008-06-19.2 and has therefore ceased to be in effect as of 19 June 2008. This document is retained here for historical purposes only.

Table of Contents

Overview
Steps to Approving a Referral Program for OASIS Adoption Services
Proposal Guidelines
OASIS Adoption Services Roles & Responsibilities
Third-Party Service Provider
Referral Service Agreement
OASIS Referral Disclaimers
Promotional Opportunities
Logistics and Budget
Guideline Feedback

Overview

This document is intended for OASIS member organizations who are interested in working with OASIS to create a referral relationship for Adoption Services such as conformance, interoperability, or training/personal skill certification programs related to OASIS Standards. In exchange for offering promotional opportunities associated with the third-party Referral Services under a referral relationship, OASIS will receive financial and other benefits associated with the program.

OASIS Adoption Services are a group of services which help drive global adoption of OASIS Standards via various service offerings. The OASIS Adoption Services Program is flexible enough to handle the intricacies of working with multiple service providers, standards organizations, and global regions in order to develop fair, equitable and reasonably priced services that will drive the global adoption of OASIS Standards.

These Adoption Services Program Referral Guidelines have been developed to ensure fair participation, proper coordination, and maximum promotion for OASIS Adoption Services. Members and non-members interested in working with OASIS to develop referral services are advised to review this Guideline and consult with the appropriate OASIS TC Chair(s) and OASIS staff. Organizations interested in recommending or becoming OASIS Referral Service Providers are encouraged to explore opportunities by emailing adoptionservices@oasis-open.org.

Steps to Approving a Referral Program for OASIS Adoption Services

  1. OASIS Adoption Services are designed to promote the adoption of the approved work of one or more OASIS TCs. Specifications considered, therefore, should have attained the status of OASIS Standard or OASIS Committee Draft.

  2. Potential Referral Service Providers must submit a Proposal for a new referral service to the OASIS Adoption Services Program Manager following the process outlined in the Proposal section of this document. The Proposal must also include all elements listed in that section including a list of OASIS Member Advocates who support the service.

  3. The OASIS Adoption Services Program Manager will review the service business case and work with the Referral Service Provider to clarify the business case and technical requirements.

  4. The technical requirements and business case will be shared with OASIS TC(s) for a 30 day review period. During this review period TC members will have the opportunity to provide feedback to the OASIS Adoption Services Program Manager on the advisability of OASIS entering into a Referral Service Provider relationship. As part of the technical review process, the Service Provider being considered must supply the following documentation for review:

    1. Requirements for conformance, interoperability, or implementation testing service:

      1. Test assertion summary document

      2. Testing process overview

      3. Process and procedures for:

        1. Test case development

        2. Collection, documentation, and reporting of client issues

        3. Problem/issue resolution, particularly clarifying OASIS involvement

        4. Process for handling bug fixes for service

        5. Proposals for how the Service Provider will handle OASIS Specification changes and versioning

    2. Requirements for training or personal skill certification program:

      1. Summary of training or test information

      2. Training or testing process overview

      3. Process and procedures for:

        1. Program development

        2. Problem/issue resolution, particularly clarifying OASIS involvement

        3. Proposal for how the Service Provider will handle OASIS Specification changes and versioning

  5. OASIS Adoption Services Program Manager and OASIS Member Advocates will submit the Proposal to the OASIS President for approval.

  6. Once the Proposal is approved, OASIS Adoption Services Manager develops the OASIS Adoption Service Referral Service Agreement for Service Provider.

  7. Referral Service Agreement would go to OASIS President for approval.

  8. Referral Service Agreement would go to Referral Service Provider for approval.

  9. Once the Referral Service Agreement is approved and executed, the following actions will take place:

    1. E-mail announcement to OASIS Membership

      1. Program overview

      2. Program details

      3. OASIS Disclaimers

Proposal Guidelines

Completed proposals for OASIS Referral Service Provider Services should be submitted by the Referral Service Provider to adoptionservices@oasis-open.org. Proposals must include the following information:

  1. Description of the service which has been or will be offered to the public

  2. Identification of OASIS Member Advocates from the active TC which issued the referenced specification:

    • Requires at least 2 Sponsor Members and 2 Contributor Members (minimum of 4 member companies). These members are considered Member Advocates for the service.

    • Contact information for Member Advocates (name, company, phone, e-mail, TC) must be provided

  3. Market driver(s) for the service

  4. Potential market size

    1. Estimated number of companies who would be interested to participate in the testing

    2. Expected timeframe for service to be available

    3. Service pricing

  5. Technical requirements of service

    1. Level of participation required of the OASIS TC

    2. How would the service be made available in the market

  6. Service overview

    1. Service Provider name

    2. Service overview

      1. Toolset

      2. Service details

      3. Methodology

      4. Staffing

      5. Service Provider organizations related to the service

      6. Planned development/improvements/changes to program

    3. Pricing information

    4. Certification program (if applicable)

    5. Proposed revenue share with OASIS

OASIS Adoption Services Roles & Responsibilities

Third-Party Service Provider Referral Service Agreement

The Referral Service Agreement must include the following items:

  1. Commitment levels for service:

    1. Requirements for third-party Service Provider's conformance, interoperability, or implementation testing service:

      1. Test assertion summary document

      2. Testing process overview

      3. Process and procedures for:

        1. Test case development

        2. Collection, documentation, and reporting of client issues

        3. Problem/issue resolution, particularly clarifying OASIS involvement

        4. Process for handling bug fixes for service

        5. Proposals for how the service provider will handle OASIS Specification changes and versioning

    2. Requirements for third-party Service Provider's training or personal skill certification service:

      1. Summary of training or test information

      2. Training or testing process overview

      3. Process and procedures for:

        1. Program development

        2. Problem/issue resolution, particularly clarifying OASIS involvement

        3. Proposal for how the service provider will handle OASIS Specification changes and versioning

  2. Financial reporting process and procedures

  3. Marketing

    1. Referral Service Provider will not use the OASIS name or logo in any marketing or press release material unless pre-approved by OASIS Director of Communications in accordance with the OASIS Media Relations Policy

    2. OASIS will not use the Referral Service Provider's name or logo in any marketing or press release material unless pre-approved by the Referral Service Provider marketing contact

    3. List of potential OASIS promotional opportunities

    4. List of potential Referral Service Provider promotional opportunities

  4. Contract termination rules:

    1. Referral Service Provider performance issues

    2. Referral Service Provider violation of service agreement terms

    3. OASIS performance issues

    4. OASIS violation of service agreement terms

    5. Termination for any reason with 60 days advance notice

    6. Termination for agreement violations with 30 days advance notice

  5. OASIS shall in no event be held liable for special, indirect, consequential, or punitive damages, whether foreseeable or not

  6. OASIS must not be named as a party to any agreements between the Referral Service Provider and Service Provider service consumers (i.e. Referral Service Provider's customers)

OASIS must have a legal agreement in place with Referral Service Provider to adequately ensure that OASIS limits any legal issues resulting from use of or participation in 3rd party service.

OASIS Referral Disclaimers

All OASIS marketing and promotional material will include a disclaimer that includes the following key items:

  1. OASIS does not guarantee the content and accuracy of the Referral Service Provider's service.

  2. Service is a contractual arrangement between Referral Service Provider and its customer.

  3. OASIS bears no financial responsibility for any interaction between 3rd party Service Provider and its customers.

  4. IN NO EVENT SHALL OASIS BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, WHETHER FORESEEABLE OR NOT.

Promotional Opportunities

OASIS promotional opportunities provided to the Referral Service Provider through the Agreement may include the following activities coordinated by OASIS staff:

  1. Regular updates and announcements via OASIS News.

  2. Referral Service Provider listing (including disclaimers) on the OASIS Adoption Services web page.

  3. Entries for specific activities and events placed on the OASIS Events and XML.org Events calendars.

  4. A press release may be created and distributed by OASIS staff in coordination with the Referral Service Provider marketing contacts. In order for a press release to be issued, at least three OASIS Sponsor-level members must participate in the press release. Only Sponsor-level members are eligible for OASIS promotional benefits, thus, Sponsor-level members will be the only organizations named and quoted in an OASIS Referral Service press release. Contributor-level members may upgrade their membership to take advantage of this benefit. See OASIS Membership Categories for more information on membership benefits and levels.

  5. A promotional flyer may be created by OASIS staff for specific events.

  6. For specific events, OASIS staff may coordinate an onsite press event.

As a reminder, promotional opportunities must follow these guidelines:

  1. Referral Service Provider and participants in 3rd party referral service may not refer to OASIS in any marketing or press release material unless pre-approved by OASIS Director of Communications per the OASIS Media Relations Policy.

  2. Participants in 3rd party referral service must abide by 3rd party Service Provider agreement for any announcements concerning test results and/or certification.

  3. Participants may not refer to themselves as OASIS tested or certified based on participation in Referral Service Provider service

Note: The OASIS Media Relations Policy will apply to materials and statements generated for the event, and among other things, may require OASIS staff review and clearance of official statements regarding the specification and the relevant Technical Committee.

Logistics and Budget

The OASIS Referral Service Provider Program is designed to be a self-supporting program in which the generated revenues offset OASIS expenses used to support the Referral Service Provider Relationship including, but not limited to, communications and travel. OASIS' goal is to manage the relationship in a cost recovery mode in order to help drive broad, global interoperability and adoption of OASIS Standards.

Where applicable, one or more OASIS members can fund the development and support for Adoption Services and events to help defray the cost of the program to Participants and to OASIS.

Guideline Feedback

Suggestions on how to improve upon the above process or which seek to add value to the overall OASIS Referral Service Guidelines are welcomed. Please send comments to adoptionservices@oasis-open.org.