Do semantic standards lack quality? A survey among 34 semantic standards

Abstract

The adoption of standards to improve interoperability in the automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding and other sectors could save billions. While interoperability standards have been created for a number of industries, problems persist, suggesting a lack of quality of the standards themselves. The issue of semantic standard quality is not often addressed. In this research we take a closer look at the quality of semantics standards, development processes, and survey the current state of the quality of semantic standards by means of a questionnaire that was sent to standards developers. This survey looked at 34 semantic standards, and it shows that the quality of semantic standards for inter-organizational interoperability can be improved. Improved standards may advance interoperability in networked business. Improvement of semantic standards requires transparency of their quality. Although many semantic standard development organisations already have quality assurance in place, this research shows that they could benefit from a quality measuring instrument.

Semantic Standards Quality Measured for Achieving Enterprise Interoperability: The Case of the SETU Standard for Flexible Staffing

“…In this specific case we will identify improvement suggestions for the SETU standard. In other words, can our approach be used as quality assessment instruments requested by standard developers (Folmer et al 2011)?…”

“…A survey among semantic standards organizations shows that the vast majority believe that their standards can be improved, and that improvements will lead to more interoperable systems. However, standard developers need statistical support to find the needed improvements (Folmer et al 2011). …”

A characteristics framework for Semantic Information Systems Standards

“…One of the few contributions available today is the study by Folmer et al (2011) analyzing the quality of Semantic IS Standards including their development processes.…”

Towards a quality model for semantic IS standards

“…If standards are being developed to increase interoperability, the degree in which interoperability can be achieved will most likely be influenced by the quality of the standard. A research among 34 SDOs (standard developing organizations), including international standards like XBRL, HR-XML, ACORD, HL7 and national standards like SETU, StUF, Aquo, shows that more than 90 percent of these organizations think that the quality can be improved [13]. A large majority thinks an improvement of their standard will contribute to better interoperability.…”