[stdsreg] Requirements document(s) for 'stdsreg'

[Robin Cover <robin@isogen.com>]

Prompted by Bob Hager's message of 04/22, I had a look at
the ISONET Manual [1] and some similar resources
which formalize (metadata) information about standards
documents and standardization activities.

I found myself a bit disoriented (maybe just "underinformed")
about the OASIS 'stdssreg' effort in terms of *specific*
task-oriented, goal-oriented objectives such as are often
articulated in a requirements document. Does anyone (else)
wonder if we might be well-served by a dedicated
'Requirements Document' that can be read as a companion to
"simple specification for metadata" under construction?
Since it's logically prior, I suppose it would need to be
written in tandem.

My personal bias is that all major deliverables ought to
have something like a requirements document [text may be
incorporated as a dedicated Section in the document] which
explicitly describes the scope and purpose in terms of
specific intended functionality.  Use cases are helpful,
but requirements statements are even more diagnostic since
they typically provide rationale [relative merits can be
discussed, and they can (more) readily be divided into
"in scope" and "out of scope" functional features.

It could be argued that the committee's description of
"Deliverables" [2] adequately articulates the functional
requirements -- but I wonder.  It could also be argued
that the "straw man proposal for a metadata" [3] itself
serves as a requirements statement.  What I have in
mind is something more explicit which justifies the
choice of (e.g.,) the 27 information objects identified
in the current proposal -- from among hundreds of metadata
items which are natural candidates, at least for someone.

One benefit of bringing requirements into focus would
be that the model design is improved in terms of
extensibility.  I envision that group's metadata spec
will intersect more or less with the (meta)data models
used by the world's 1000+ "standards" bodies, but there
will be a desire to extend the 'stdsreg' model as well
as to create crosswalks.

The meeting agenda for today (2002-04-23) looks pretty
full, so if anyone finds this notion of requirements
gathering and requirements document useful, perhaps we
could discuss it in a future meeting.

Robin Cover
XML Cover Pages
http://xml.coverpages.org/

[1] http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/prods-services/otherpubs/pdf/isonetmanual.pdf
[2] http://www.oasis-open.org/stdsreg/
[3] http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/stdsreg/200202/msg00003.html