Business Principles

This section contains principles covering the business objectives for a consistent set of digital standards.

Name	Consistency in Practice
Statement	Digital standards of The Open Group present consistent and self-supporting guidance to the market.
Rationale	While each standard of The Open Group should stand alone, consumers of The Open Group digital standards will get the greatest value if they can easily employ such standards together. This synergy among standards should not only be at the level of consistency of content and concepts, but also at the point of actual use – there should be as little friction as possible in following a subject from one standard to another.
Implications	There needs to be a consistent and durable mechanism for discovery and navigation of our digital content; downloading individual PDFs as a delivery mechanism will undercut the objective of being seen to be consistent Standards and guidance should adhere to the quality principles; consideration of these should become part of The Open Group quality processes such as the Pre-Review Approval Process (see Section 3.3.8 of the Standards Process)

Name

Consistency in Practice

Statement

Digital standards of The Open Group present consistent and self-supporting guidance to the market.

Rationale

While each standard of The Open Group should stand alone, consumers of The Open Group digital standards will get the greatest value if they can easily employ such standards together. This synergy among standards should not only be at the level of consistency of content and concepts, but also at the point of actual use – there should be as little friction as possible in following a subject from one standard to another.

Implications

There needs to be a consistent and durable mechanism for discovery and navigation of our digital content; downloading individual PDFs as a delivery mechanism will undercut the objective of being seen to be consistent
Standards and guidance should adhere to the quality principles; consideration of these should become part of The Open Group quality processes such as the Pre-Review Approval Process (see Section 3.3.8 of the Standards Process)

Name	Consistency in Perception
Statement	Digital standards are seen to be coherent in the market.
Rationale	We must not only have a consistent set of standards, but we must also be seen to have a consistent set of standards by people seeking such standards in the market. Delivery of the standards must therefore adhere to digital principles in standards delivery – the "digital moment of truth" for users of digital standards must not be undercut by discovery, delivery, or navigation issues.
Implications	The Open Group must develop an overarching set of strategic messaging showing both the relationships of the individual digital standards, and also the value gained by using them together Similar overarching positioning must be developed to show the relationship of certification programs for related standards, and the relevance of getting multiple certifications for various roles/career paths The Open Group must develop delivery methods that allow the easy discovery of content of digital standards (e.g., searchability) and navigation through cross-references between standards

Name

Consistency in Perception

Statement

Digital standards are seen to be coherent in the market.

Rationale

We must not only have a consistent set of standards, but we must also be seen to have a consistent set of standards by people seeking such standards in the market. Delivery of the standards must therefore adhere to digital principles in standards delivery – the "digital moment of truth" for users of digital standards must not be undercut by discovery, delivery, or navigation issues.

Implications

The Open Group must develop an overarching set of strategic messaging showing both the relationships of the individual digital standards, and also the value gained by using them together
Similar overarching positioning must be developed to show the relationship of certification programs for related standards, and the relevance of getting multiple certifications for various roles/career paths
The Open Group must develop delivery methods that allow the easy discovery of content of digital standards (e.g., searchability) and navigation through cross-references between standards

Name	Continuum of Career Paths
Statement	Provide a continuum of digital certifications based on stakeholder roles.
Rationale	Per the consistency principles above, the market should also see an accompanying set of certification programs for relevant career paths. These should also adopt the principle of emergence; digital standards and guidance should provide value for people at all stages in their career or role in the digital enterprise.
Implications	Forums creating digital standards should establish modular certification programs for their digital standards and mappings to recognized roles/career progressions There may be significant value in having some number of role-based knowledge certifications that cut across standards and leverage Body of Knowledge content from the entire digital portfolio

Name

Continuum of Career Paths

Statement

Provide a continuum of digital certifications based on stakeholder roles.

Rationale

Per the consistency principles above, the market should also see an accompanying set of certification programs for relevant career paths. These should also adopt the principle of emergence; digital standards and guidance should provide value for people at all stages in their career or role in the digital enterprise.

Implications

Forums creating digital standards should establish modular certification programs for their digital standards and mappings to recognized roles/career progressions
There may be significant value in having some number of role-based knowledge certifications that cut across standards and leverage Body of Knowledge content from the entire digital portfolio

Name	No Practitioner Left Behind
Statement	Digital standards provide a path for existing practitioners.
Rationale	Many people in the workforce face the need to re-skill due to changes resulting from a re-orientation towards digital. Therefore, The Open Group must provide a skills upgrade path for existing practitioners requiring a mid-career skills refresh. Digital standards and guides, along with their related certification programs, provide a skills upgrade path for professionals upskilling themselves to understand the impact of "digital-first" for their business. This approach maximizes business value to The Open Group as it leverages our existing base of certified practitioners who have already benefited from, and are familiar with, IT certification programs.
Implications	Digital standards programs should create bridge material or supplementary guidance targeting the existing base of certified people, with the objective of building on existing certification evidence to obtain new certifications Guidance targeting specific stakeholder roles may be needed Certification programs and certification paths may need to cross standards boundaries; with such certification paths mapped to well-established industry role descriptions where possible Related to above, certification programs should be designed for cross-functional roles (e.g., full-stack engineer) participants in cross-functional teams, and “T-shaped people”

Name

No Practitioner Left Behind

Statement

Digital standards provide a path for existing practitioners.

Rationale

Many people in the workforce face the need to re-skill due to changes resulting from a re-orientation towards digital. Therefore, The Open Group must provide a skills upgrade path for existing practitioners requiring a mid-career skills refresh. Digital standards and guides, along with their related certification programs, provide a skills upgrade path for professionals upskilling themselves to understand the impact of "digital-first" for their business. This approach maximizes business value to The Open Group as it leverages our existing base of certified practitioners who have already benefited from, and are familiar with, IT certification programs.

Implications

Digital standards programs should create bridge material or supplementary guidance targeting the existing base of certified people, with the objective of building on existing certification evidence to obtain new certifications
Guidance targeting specific stakeholder roles may be needed
Certification programs and certification paths may need to cross standards boundaries; with such certification paths mapped to well-established industry role descriptions where possible
Related to above, certification programs should be designed for cross-functional roles (e.g., full-stack engineer) participants in cross-functional teams, and “T-shaped people”