This document is a guide to the steps for an organization to
achieve certification against the S/MIME
Secure Messaging Services Product Standard and if applicable
the S/MIME Secure Messaging Training Product Standard.
Registration
Accessing the Web Certification System
The Certification Authority provides a web based certification system through which your organization can register for services certification.
The entry point to this is at http://www.opengroup.org/ssm/cert/.
The first step is to select "Enter", which then gives you an
intermediate screen with various help information, from which you
can then proceed to access the secure web server.
Submitting Initial Certification Information
In order to access the web certification system you need a valid username and password on the Certification Authority's web server.
If you don't yet have an account, you may obtain one from the certification web site by selecting "Enter secure site" to enter the
secure web site (if you have not already done so), then selecting "New User" to create your username and password.
Once you have your username, from the secure web site, select "Login" to
login.
Registering Contacts for a Company
To register a service on behalf of
a company, you must be registered as the designated Authorized, Technical or Alternate contact for that company. Company
registration and that of its designated contacts have a number of steps
that must be completed before you will be able to proceed.
Your login will not offer you the full range of Product Standards until all the following
steps have been successfully completed.
Please take the following steps to register your company and its
contacts:-
You will need a username and password on the Certification Authority's web server for identification purposes. If you don't yet
have an account, you may obtain one from the certification web site by selecting "Enter secure site" to enter the secure web site
(if you have not already done so), then
selecting "New User" to create your username and password.
Next you will need to enter your company name (you can give a part of
the company name and the system will give you available matches in the database .
and accept the terms and conditions of the Certification program, by accepting the
Certification Agreement, for entry into
the system. To do this you need to select "New Company Account".
To register your company, you need to select your company name
and specify the name and contact information for
the following contacts:
The Authorized Signatory who will authorize your company's registration. The Authorized Signatory must be someone who is
authorized to enter into legal commitments on behalf of the company.
The Technical Contact, who will be the primary contact for all certification-related issues.
An optional Alternate Contact, who will be the back-up for the Technical Contact and also have access to the web certification
system to register items
The Financial Contact, who will be the contact for any payment and/or invoicing issues
An optional Marketing Contact, who will be the contact for any marketing-related certification issues
Note: The Authorized Contact, the Technical Contact and the
Alternate Contact, if specified, are the only users who will have the ability to register products or services using the web
certification system.
The web based certification system will then send electronic mail to your designated Authorized Signatory who must respond by
electronic mail to the Certification Authority. The Certification Authority will verify the response and, if the requirements are met, accept your organization for entry into the certification system.
When the above is completed and the Certification Authority has responded to your designated Authorized Signatory with
notification that your application has been accepted, your Technical and Alternate contacts will receive confirmation by electronic
mail from the web certification system that your company account has been activated. At this point, your Technical and Alternate
contacts will be able to progress to the next stage which is accessing the web certification system to commence
registrations.
Accessing the Login Page
When you login you have a number of quick links available
to allow you to start a new registration, view your renewals
due, manage examination papers,
or go to a home page with all certification activity.
You should select "Start a New Registration" from the Quick Links
or your company Home Page in order to proceed with registering for certification.
Registering for Certification
You must select the Product Standard that your organization
is being registered for. The default
product standard available for selection is the S/MIME Secure Messaging Services. If you have
achieved certification for the S/MIME Secure Messaging Services
Product Standard then you will also be able to select the
S/MIME Secure Messaging Training Product Standard.
You are then presented with a screen that allows you to send any notes to the Certification Authority about this registration. Such notes are held confidential
between you and the Certification Authority.
Accepting the Certification Agreement
After you select the "Submit for Registration" button, you are then presented with the Certification Agreement, which must
be accepted in order to proceed with this registration.
You are required to agree to the Certification Agreement for each registration.
The Certification Agreement is between you and the Certification Authority. It defines the certification service and the
legal commitment to the conditions of the service. This is also
where you warrant conformance of a product, service or individual to the relevant Product Standard.
Note: the Certification Agreement is a web based agreement. When you click the "I accept" button you are
indicating that you accept the terms and conditions.
Uploading your Conformance Statement
When registering for the S/MIME Secure Messaging Services or
S/MIME Secure Messaging Training Product Standards
you must upload the Conformance Statement for your organization.
You must complete the relevant questionnaire to create a Conformance Statement for your product. See Sections 1.2,
Section 2 and Section 3.3 of the Certification Policy for further information on the purpose of the
Conformance Statement.
Conformance Statement Questionnaires are provided as html templates. You should download the template and
edit the html, retaining the existing layout. You must submit the completed Conformance Statement in html format.
Conversion to other formats besides html, or changes to the template in sections other than those allocated for Responses
are not acceptable and will result in the Certification Authority rejecting your submission.
If you are certifying against the S/MIME Secure Messaging Services
Product Standard you can
also declare your S/MIME Secure Messaging Certified practitioners who must be selected
from the S/MIME Secure Messaging Certified register. You may have zero practioners
selected. After certification you can also come into the system
and maintain this list, and are required to keep it current.
At this point if you select "Next", the screen will inform you
that you have completed all the necessary steps and can proceed
to the final registration stage. It is also possible to select
the "Conformance Statement" link if you wish to change the
file that you uploaded.
Re-branding an already Certified Training Product
The S/MIME Secure Messaging Certification Policy includes the concept of Re-branding an already certified S/MIME Secure Messaging Training
product. This allows for technically identical products to be delivered
by multiple suppliers.
This can be useful if your organization wishes to
deliver a certified Training course but does not want to develop
the course or undergo the full process of having
original course materials certified. In this instance re-branding
allows you to simply state that what you are submitting is identical to an already
certified Training product and that you accept the obligations
for an organization with a certified Training product.
The Final Step - Confirming your Submission & Payment
Once you have completed input of all the required information, the web
based certification system allows you to confirm your submission details
and then proceed with the payment.
The certification system will display a
form into which you
enter the final details that are required to submit the registration
for certification. This is done in three stages:
Stage 1:This form allows you to check all the information relating to your
company and the registration. It is divided
into sections; each one needs confirmation from you that it is correct.
You can also signify that
you wish the registration to be kept confidential prior. If any of the information needs correcting you can, at
this point, update it.
You will need to consult the fee schedule and enter the
amount of the certification fee due, and also indicate the credit card type you intend to pay with or that you wish to pay by an
alternate method.
If you intend to pay by an alternate method other than credit card,
select unspecified for the card type.
If you need to update any information (such as company details) you can select an update link which will cause a separate browser
window to appear for the update. Once you have made the update you should close that window and refresh the page.
Stage 2:The next screen is the payment screen. Depending on your choice
of credit card and the fee amount you may be switched
directly to our credit card processor or asked to give card details
directly to The Open Group. If you wish to pay by an alternative method
you will be asked to state whether that is by wire transfer or check.
Stage 3:The third and final part is to affirm your commitment to the terms and conditions of the program as stated in the
Certification Agreement and the committments
as required by the Product Standard.
Certification fees are due at this stage.
Payment
Payment is required to complete a full submission for
registration. Payment may be either by credit card at the time of
registration, or by purchase order, check or wire transfer received by the
Certification Authority in advance of registration.
Note: The Certification Authority will not process the registration
until payment has been received.
See http://www.opengroup.org/ssm/cert/docs/Fee_Schedule.html for the
fee schedule.
Please note that if you use a payment method other than by credit card, your submission cannot be processed until the
payment is received by the Certification Authority.
Completion of Certification
You will be notified of the status of your request for
certification within 10 business days.
If for any reason the submission was not complete, you will be notified so that
any corrections can be made and resubmitted. Such a resubmission needs to be done within one month unless an extension has been
granted by the Certification Authority. The initial fee covers one set of corrective actions.
The details of the certification will then be put on the Certification Register, which is a public document, unless you have
requested that it remains confidential. To keep the certification confidential, this option must be selected in the web
certification system at the time the registration is submitted.
When a certification has been made public, you will be sent
a URL from where you can download a certificate.
You should note that certification is valid for a defined period as stated in Section 9.1, Duration of Certification of
the Certification Policy. At the end of that period, if applicable, if you wish the service to remain certified you will need to renew
the certification. You will receive email notifying you of the process at the due time.
Appeals Process
You may appeal decisions made by The Open Group Certification Authority as stated in Section 11, Appeals Process of the
Certification Policy. Any request for appeal should be sent by electronic mail to ssm-cert@opengroup.org . Receipt of such
a request will be acknowledged within 6 working days by the Certification Authority and the appeals process invoked.
