Massachusetts Open Standards Policy Claudia Boldman Director of Policy and Architecture Information Technology Division, MA

Agenda Overview Enterprise Open Standards Policy Enterprise Information Technology Acquisition Policy Enterprise Technical Reference Model Conclusion

Overview New IT standards announced January 12, 2004 after public comment period Three related documents: – Open Standards policy – IT Acquisition policy – Enterprise Technical Reference Model (ETRM) Intent: – Require adherence to open standards – Require consideration of all possible solutions (proprietary, open source, public sector code sharing) when making best value evaluations – Clarify distinctions between open standards and open source

Enterprise Open Standards Policy Insure interoperability across systems Open Standards definition: – Specifications for systems that are publicly available and are developed by an open community and affirmed by a standards body. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is an example of an open standard. Open standards imply that multiple vendors can compete directly based on the features and performance of their products. It also implies that the existing information technology solution is portable and that it can be removed and replaced with that of another vendor with minimal effort and without major interruption

Enterprise Open Standards Policy Commonwealth’s position: – Responsive government services require system integration and data sharing – IT investments must be made on the basis of TCO and best value; component-based software based on open standards enables reuse – Open systems often less costly and do not result in vendor lock-in

Enterprise Open Standards Policy Policy: – All prospective investments must comply with open standards referenced in ETRM – Existing systems will be reviewed for compatibility and enhanced where appropriate; open standards solutions will be selected when systems are retired or need major enhancements

Enterprise IT Acquisition Policy IT solutions must be selected based on best value after consideration of all possible solutions: – Proprietary – Public Sector Code Sharing – Open Source

Enterprise IT Acquisition Policy Definitions: – Proprietary Software: Software typically subject to a use fee under a license that limits access to and modification of the underlying source code, and restricts redistribution to others. – Public Sector Code Sharing: Software code that is owned by a public entity and is made available to other public entities for use and modification without royalties. – Open Source Software: Refers to software whose underlying code is available for inspection and modification by the licensee, may be available for re-distribution and may be deployed without a license fee.

Enterprise IT Acquisition Policy Commonwealth’s Position: – IT investments should reduce TCO to the Commonwealth while maximizing flexibility and reuse – IT investments should facilitate consolidation of platforms in order to achieve best value and economies of scale while meeting business requirements

Enterprise IT Acquisition Policy Best value evaluation must be conducted for IT investments that considers at a minimum: – TCO over entire period the IT solution is required – fit with identified business requirements – reliability – performance – scalability – security – maintenance requirements – legal risks – ease of customization – ease of migration

Enterprise IT Acquisition Policy Best value evaluations must include all possible solutions including: – Open standards compliant proprietary software – Open standards compliant open source software – Open standards compliant public sector code sharing at the local, state and federal levels

Enterprise Technical Reference Model (ETRM) Provides framework to identify standards, specifications and technologies that support the Commonwealth’s computing environment Goal is to build and support a Service Oriented Architecture Identifies required open standards Future versions will provide more detail on Domains, Disciplines, Technical Areas and Technical Specifications including additional open standards

Conclusion Compliance with open standards is required Open source, proprietary and public sector code sharing software must all be considered as possible solutions IT acquisition decisions continue to be made based on best value evaluations Full text of Policies and ETRM available at