Strategic Innovations, Inc.

As some of you may recall, in the past I have written about the concept of applying ISO standards to the way that you operate a general government organization. As was noted, ISO already touches some of the functional areas typically provided by local government. Today it was revealed that a new tool in the march toward standardization exists with ISO approval of the OASIS Open Document Format specification. More information is also available from a press release issued by the ODF Alliance.

Why is this important? By complying with an ISO standard file format, you can improve both your internal and external sharing of data. By data, I am not referring to the pieces of information contained in a database. I am referring to the information that is contained in files like word processing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. The knowledge that is contained in the office documents your organization produces.

Internally, this means that the data contained in your document will always be available to you. By producing documents that comply with the ISO standard, you can ensure long-term data retention and not have to worry about changes in the software you use to access those documents. The most typical issue in the past has occurred when Microsoft changed the format of its own files (e.g. .doc, .xls, etc.) and the new format was not backward compatible.

Externally, it means your citizens and constituents can now access and use your documents without having to purchase a specific software package. In the past, if someone wanted to read something that you had in a .doc format, they too needed to possess Microsoft Word. With this new ISO standard in place, it means many more vendors will be able to supply the tools necessary to access documents complying with the standard.

If you want to take advantage of this new ISO certified file specification, it probably will require a significant change in some of your software. Currently, Microsoft does not support the Open Document Format (virtually every other vendor does) and they have not indicated any intentions of supporting the format. Thus, you would have to change your office suite. Strategic Innovations recommends OpenOffice.org as a replacement. It is cross-platform and free to deploy. In addition, you can avoid the costs and hassle associated with license compliance from using Microsoft Office. For more on that, you might want to check out the OpenOffice.org Get Legal! page. OpenOffice.org is not the only office suite that supports the Open Document Format though. A commercial version of OpenOffice.org is available from Sun (StarOffice) and there are other vendors producing software that complies. If you would like more information on making the transition away from Microsoft Office, please feel free to contact us.

In the meantime, be sure to examine your current requirements regarding the production of documents and what their availability to others is. With another upgrade cycle from Microsoft pending, now might be the time to make the switch and save money, time, and frustration!