The Online Standards Development (OSD) platform (formerly known as Online Collaborative Authoring/OCA) is a Word-like tool based on a product called FontoXML that technical bodies can use to draft their project deliverables. It will then flow through to following steps of the production chain.
❤ Benefits
The platform has many advantages for authors compared to traditional tools like Word, such as:
Features
Normative referencing
Guided structure, automatic numbering and quality checks according to the Internal Regulations
Concurrent editing with clause locking & unlocking
Tagging & filtering comments
And many more...
Structure & quality
Because of the structure, it improves quality, and that makes life easier for everyone: experts, TC secretaries, the CCMC editing team and standards users.
Transparency & inclusivity
The access roles make it easier for working group leadership to accept and manage input from a large number of people. This means everyone on the team can see what's happening at all times and can easily make their voice heard.
Safety in the cloud
Working groups no longer need to save offline copies of documents, work on them separately, email them to each other, and struggle with merging changes. Now, all changes are made securely online, with features for locking and unlocking clauses so nobody overwrites anyone else's work, and nothing gets misplaced.
Opportunity for pilot groups to shape the future
Pilot groups have the opportunity to provide feedback on the tool so we can make sure it's really what you want and need.
🔒 Access roles
The working group leadership team can choose who has which role depending on the team's preferred way of working, and this can be changed at anytime. The available roles are:
Leader
Author
Contributor
Reader
View content
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Add content
✔
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Accept/reject tracked changes
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Unlock own clauses
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Unlock others' clauses
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Add/delete/move clauses
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Add/delete own comments
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Reply to others' comments
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Resolve comments
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Export
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Manage author, contributor & reader roles
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People in the drafting body who receive this role
WG Drafting Bodies
Convenor
Convenor/Sec support team
Twinned convenor
WG Secretary
TC/SC Drafting Bodies
Secretary
Twinned Secretary
Secretary support team
Chairperson
Chairperson support team
WG Drafting Bodies
Committee Member
TC/SC Drafting Bodies
Committee Member
Commenter
WG Drafting Bodies
Liaison representative
Document monitor
Technical programme manager
TC/SC Drafting Bodies
Vice Chairperson
Liaison Representative
Committee Observer
Document monitor
Technical programme manager
CEN Consultant
Sector rapporteur
👩🔬 Impact on experts
Experts in participating Working Groups will develop their deliverables in the new Online Standards Development platform instead of other tools like Word.
New or a revision (not an amendment or corrigendum)?
Homegrown (not under the Vienna Agreement)?
Preferably in stage 00.60 or 10.99?
Ready for drafting to start?
If your project ticks these boxes, join the digital transformation! Fill-in this evaluation form to start drafting in the OSD tool.
If your project doesn't tick the boxes (e.g. CENELEC projects, amendments), then don't worry - we're working on getting the tool ready for you to use in the future. Please register for an info session or get in touch to learn more.
Please note that we are keeping number of projects at low volume as manual work is required. We keep the possibility to accept or not request.
Technical Committee secretaries and others are encouraged to use this short Digital Transformation slide deck to present to their groups. The "notes" on each slide will help guide you when presenting.
Videos: Demo OSD tool
ISO has created a Youtube Channel with short videos demonstrating OSD features.
💬 Info sessions
Authoring (drafting stage):
Agenda: Project overview and timeline, Tool demo (Authoring and workgroup commenting only) and Q&A
Target audience: Existing or prospective projects (TCs members), other interested people
First scope: CEN EN, TR, TS and CWA in collaboration with ISO
Description
Status
1
Working group Authoring (drafting stage)
The WG creates drafts their document in the new tool instead of in Word. Includes features for concurrent editing, tagging & filtering comments, etc.
Went live with pilot groups in October 2020; see pilot list in the FAQs below.
2
Member commenting
Members can add comments to the document, eg: from the public enquiry phase, for the WG to consider and incorporate. Will include appropriate permissions so that only the relevant people can see the comments. (NOT public enquiry!)
Feature ready to use and first projects to start in Q2 2024. Will be made available for selected projects mid 2024.
3
Internal editing
The CCMC editing team will edit the deliverable in the new tool instead of Word.
Feature ready to uses and first projects to start in Q2 2024.
4
Production chain integration
Integration with the CCMC production chain.
Analysis completed in 2023.
Full integration finalized scheduled for Q1 2025.
Second scope: CENELEC deliverables in collaboration with IEC and CEN remaining deliverables in collaboration with ISO
Description
Status
1
Working group Authoring (drafting stage)
The WG creates drafts their document in the new tool instead of in Word. Includes features for concurrent editing, tagging & filtering comments, etc.
Feature ready to uses and first projects to start in Q3 2024.
2
Member commenting
Members can add comments to the document, eg: from the public enquiry phase, for the WG to consider and incorporate. Will include appropriate permissions so that only the relevant people can see the comments. (NOT public enquiry!)
Feature ready to uses and first projects to start in Q2 2025.
3
Internal editing
The CCMC editing team will edit the deliverable in the new tool instead of Word.
Feature ready to uses and first projects to start in Q3 2024.
4
Production chain integration
Integration with the CCMC production chain.
Analysis to be performed in 2024.
Full integration finalized scheduled for Q1 2026.
ISO & IEC collaboration
The project is being led by ISO & IEC, and we are making sure that CEN and CENELEC requirements are incorporated (eg: EU Directives Annexes ZZ and ZA). You can also take a look at the counterpart ISO project page and IEC project page.
No, not really. You would need to copy and paste one clause or one table at a time.
Currently the tool is mostly intended to be used for documents that are started from scratch. In the future we need to think about how to handle revisions and other cases where some content already exists.
It's the same customized software platform built on FontoXML, but there are a couple of differences:
Templates - eg: coverpages, annexes for EU directives, etc
Integrations - eg: ISO's instance (which currently hosts both CEN and CENELEC pilot documents) is integrated with XML-to-HTML and XML-to-Word conversion tools, whereas IEC's is integrated with an XML-to-PDF tool, so this affects the export options available