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Denver 2019: Proceedings – Open Platform 3.0 Forum

Open Platform 3.0™ Forum Member Meeting

Objective of Meeting

The objective of this meeting was to make a start on developing the O-DEF™ Version 2.0 standard.

Summary

We dedicated the entire working day to the development of the O-DEF standard, and its uplift to Version 2.0. The current text of the O-DEF standard was uploaded into a Google Doc, and then co-edited by the creator of the O-DEF standard Ron Schuldt, the Chair of the Open Platform 3.0 Forum Michael Flores, and the Forum Director Michelle Supper.

Outputs

Discussions early in the day clarified our thoughts around the O-DEF standard, and the direction in which we would like to take it. In principle, we decided the following:

  • That the O-DEF standard should be made as easy to understand as possible, using more familiar and less technical language than had characterized the first version
  • That the O-DEF standard should be made as easy to implement as possible, with examples and suggestions on how to use it practically
  • That the O-DEF Guide (which is in draft) and the O-DEF v2.0 standard will be published together, and made to align with each other
  • That the O-DEF v2.0 standard will incorporate all the earlier O-DEF snapshots that have been published
  • That the O-DEF v2.0 standard will be executable, with an app hosted on the new O-DEF website
  • That all published materials related to the O-DEF standard will be hosted on the O-DEF website to provide an easy reference
  • That the O-DEF standard, which has previously been written in RDF, will in future be written in CSV format

This final decision, which was the result of some discussion, has had the effect of greatly simplifying the standard. RDF format is more complicated, and more difficult to explain than CSV. As a result of making this change, we have been able to remove more than 30 pages from the original 84 page specification document. CSV is also easier to use, being human-readable, and compatible with popular software packages such as Microsoft Excel®.

Next Steps

This is only the first pass; all of the decisions and changes made in this meeting will be presented for comment and approval by the full O-DEF Work Group at the next Webex meeting, and edits will continue until the standard is ready for publication. We will continue this exercise at the next member meeting in Amsterdam in November.

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