About Us - Information and Technology Standards

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General

This section encompasses all information and technology standards and applies to federal participation in all national and international information technology standards activities.

A Treasury Board information or technology standard is one that has been approved by the Treasury Board for mandatory use throughout the federal government. Treasury Board approval will usually be based on the following grounds:

• the standard represents a strategic direction that is in line with national and international trends and government policies and objectives, such as industrial development; or
• implementation of the standard will result in a significant benefit to the government by promoting compatibility, competition and optimization in its information technology.

The Treasury Board Secretariat is authorized to revise the technical content of a Treasury Board information or technology standard, provided the revisions are endorsed by the Advisory Committee on Information Management prior to their reissue, and there is no change to its overall intent.

Objectives of the Government Information and Technology Standards Program

The objectives of the Government Information and Technology Standards Program are:

-to increase effectiveness and economy in acquiring and administering information technology resources throughout government by promoting compatibility and interchangeability of equipment, programs, data and the characteristics of data. This, in turn, will extend the efficiency, usefulness, and life of systems; minimize duplication of data; optimize investments; facilitate information interchange; ensure proper security safeguards including business resumption planning; and allow the orderly replacement or upgrading of components;

-to establish a single process for developing, approving, implementing and maintaining information and technology standards throughout government, which includes a procedure to identify the need for and establish the priorities of standards proposed for government use, a process that ensures full institutional participation, and a mechanism to assign resources to government standards projects;

• to reduce duplication of effort and optimization of resources in government standards work;
• to increase the influence of the federal government, both as a user of information technology and as a policy-maker, in national and international standards organizations;
• to coordinate government participation in national and international standards activities;
• to share information with all interested parties on current activities in the field; and
• to improve and better coordinate strategies, based on common standards, among government institutions, common-service organizations and industrial development programs and policies.

The components of the Government Information and Technology Standards Program are:

• developing, approving, implementing and maintaining federal government information and technology standards;
• as a user of information technology developing and presenting the federal government's position on a proposed new standard;
• coordinating the participation of federal officers in national and international standards work and the sharing of the resultant information; and
• providing ongoing liaison with other governments and the private sector where there is a common interest in standards issues.

The development, approval, implementation and maintenance of Treasury Board Information and Technology Standards

Government policy promotes developing, distributing and using information and technology standards to acquire, manage and use information technology effectively and to protect investments.

Standards are implemented when they meet a government strategic direction or result in a significant benefit. Whenever appropriate, Treasury Board Information and Technology Standards (TBITS) are national or international standards. The government develops new standards only when a need is specific to the federal government or when the accredited standards writing agency cannot assign sufficient priority to the proposal. When the decision is made to develop a new standard independently of an accredited standards writing organization, the standards developed by institutions such as other governments, NATO, and private sector organizations are reviewed for relevance and, if appropriate, adapted or adopted. As standards are approved for the government, institutions should make this information available to their responsibility centers, as appropriate.

The development of standards is voluntary, and technical content is based on the consensus of all the involved parties. In standardization practice, consensus is achieved when substantial agreement is reached by concerned parties involved in preparing a standard. Consensus includes an attempt to resolve all objections; it implies much more than the concept of a simple majority, but it does not necessarily mean there is unanimity.

This section describes a process that is based on consensus. This process provides not only for developing and approving standards, but also for implementing them throughout government, for the ongoing maintenance of existing standards and for evaluating institutional compliance. Institutions participate in the development of standards by identifying and reporting to the Treasury Board Secretariat opportunities for standardization and by reviewing and voting on proposed standards prior to Treasury Board approval.

Institutions are expected to develop plans to achieve full compliance with Treasury Board standards once they have been approved. Each standard includes an introductory section which, among other things, defines the application of the standard and the anticipated length of time for full compliance to be reached across government. These are based on institutional comments during the approval process and the advice of the Advisory Committee on Information Management and other advisory committees.

The federal government's participation in information and technology standards activities as a user of information technology

The federal government maintains contact with standards user groups in other governments and in the private sector to share information and, when appropriate, to develop common positions on standards and their implementation.

Government policy requires that the activities of officers who represent the government as a user when participating in information technology standards activities be planned and coordinated. This will optimize the use of valuable resources and ensure that information is shared among government information technology managers.

Institutions should encourage their qualified officials to participate in developing, implementing and evaluating standards important to them. Institutions should also advise the Treasury Board Secretariat of personnel with relevant expertise to participate in government, national or international standards activities. In addition, institutions whose officers participate in national or international standards work as representatives of the federal government are responsible for ensuring that the federal government's position is developed, coordinated and presented to the standards body according to directives issued by the Treasury Board.

Coordination and monitoring of all federal government information technology standards activities

Government policy requires that the participation and activities of officers who represent institutions that are responsible for national programs or policies involving information technology be coordinated. This will ensure that all institutions with an interest in this work are involved and will keep government users aware of these activities.

Federal institutions also participate in national and international standards work within their mandates for national programs or policies. In this role, they represent a constituency wider than federal government users. An institution with such a mandate is responsible for selecting its participants and for developing a position on a standard that is in line with government policy. Such institutions should advise the Treasury Board Secretariat of their activities so that government users can be kept up-to-date and provide feedback in return. They may request the help of the Treasury Board Secretariat in identifying suitable government experts to participate in standards work. These participating institutions should inform all other institutions with relevant national program or policy responsibilities of their activities. In this way, these other institutions can become involved in the project if their interests require them to do so.

The information and technology standards development process

Standards development should be voluntary and cooperative in nature. The technical content should represent a consensus of the parties involved. This principle of consensus should apply to government standards as well as to national and international standards. This imposes a responsibility upon the organizations that initiate, develop and approve standards. The process within the federal government for developing, approving, implementing and maintaining information and technology standards is as follows (see Figure 1).

The main objectives of the process are the approval of government standards and confirmation that consensus has been reached. This process provides:

• a system to ensure that all interested parties are informed;
• balanced representation in working groups of those interested in the subject;
• review cycles long enough to permit response; and
• appropriate coordination among the various disciplines within government.

The process consists of five phases.

Initiation

As stated earlier, standards are implemented when they meet a recognized government strategic direction or will result in a significant benefit. Standards projects can, therefore, be initiated either as a result of monitoring national or international work or on the recommendation of any user institution or common-service organization.

From information received from institutions, from consultation with industry and from international standardization work, the Treasury Board Secretariat maintains a government standardization work plan. Wherever feasible, existing national or international standards are adopted or endorsed as federal government standards. It may occasionally be necessary to develop standards independently of accredited agencies, but normally this should happen only when the need is specific to the federal government, or when an accredited agency cannot give sufficient priority to the proposal.

Development

The Treasury Board Secretariat normally convenes working groups from institutions and members of appropriate advisory committees to undertake specific tasks, such as defining requirements for government standards, assessing the applicability of standards produced by other standards bodies, and developing new standards. When deemed appropriate, working groups should include industry representatives or other members from outside government. Working groups should be dissolved when they have completed their assigned tasks.

To reach consensus, a working group may circulate several versions of a draft standard to voting institutions for review. The reasons for which institution have not accepted a draft are then used to develop the next one. After the merits of the standard have been verified and consensus is reached, the working group recommends the proposed standard and a general implementation schedule to the Treasury Board Secretariat for formal approval.

Approval

If necessary, the Treasury Board Secretariat refers the proposed standard to appropriate government advisory committees. Before Treasury Board approval, the Advisory Committee on Information Management is asked to review the validity of the development process and to comment on the impact of the standard and on the proposed implementation schedule. After this review, the proposed standard is submitted to the Treasury Board for approval.

Implementation

After the standard and its implementation plan have been approved, the Treasury Board Secretariat is responsible for overseeing the implementation plan. Typically, this requires institutions to develop timetables to comply with the new standard in all of their activities. In some cases, several years may elapse before equipment is replaced or large systems are converted as part of the normal maintenance or refurbishing cycle. Institutions are expected to report their progress towards compliance in their Information Management plans. Periodically, internal audit groups review their institution's conformity with Treasury Board standards.

Maintenance

Changes in technology or patterns of use may require changes to an existing Treasury Board standard. All Treasury Board Information and Technology Standards are reviewed when necessary, but at least once every five years. The action taken following this review depends on the use being made of the standard and the extent of technological change. Generally, the process for changing a standard is the same as that for developing it. Similarly, standards are cancelled when they are no longer relevant. When a Treasury Board standard is changed, it is reissued as an amended Treasury Board information or technology standard.

Approved information and technology standards

Chapter 2-1, Appendix C contains a list of the information and technology standards approved for government use by the Treasury Board. For specific details concerning these standards and their approved implementation and application criteria, refer to the Treasury Board Information and Technology Standard (TBITS) documents contained in the Information Technology Standards volume of the Treasury Board Manual.