DDI Foundation Tools Program: Overview

The DDI Foundation Tools Program (DDI-FTP) is an initiative aiming at the development of a Foundation Framework and a Toolkit to support the implementation of DDI applications and utilities. The Program consists in a collection of coordinated projects whose outputs will be designed to interoperate. The resulting products will be implemented in accordance with the DDI-FTP Road Map and best practices, and based on the core components to be made available by the DDI-FTP Framework. The FTP Program was initiated in September 2007 for a duration of 2-years with option to on a yearly basis afterwards. Membership is open to any agency interested in contributing towards the development of the framework.

Rationale

The program was initiated based on the following:

  • Members of the DDI Alliance and other organizations using DDI recognize a need for tools which will help them and other users work with the DDI standard
  • Coordinated development of a foundation framework and utility toolkit to serve as a basis for tools development will assist organizations in their implementation of the DDI standard
  • Sharing of resources in this development is in the interest of many organizations, including the DDI Alliance and organizations using the DDI standard
  • Widespread adoption of the DDI standard maximizes the utility of applications which support it, working to the benefit of all organizations sharing DDI metadata, and ultimately of all users of the data thus documented
  • Software implementation can contribute to the finalization of Version 3.0 of the DDI standard during the candidate release period, and thereafter

Products

The products of the DDI-FTP are not intended to be full-featured applications but rather to act as re-usable components within a generic Framework. The components ware targeted towards those who are developing specialized applications in support particular processes within the DDI data lifecycle. The tools will focus on Version 3.0 of the DDI standard, but will also encompass migration functionality to and from preceding versions as well as related utility libraries.

The Members agree that all products of the Program will be made freely and publicly available, including source code, under an open-source license such as the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) or similar. Given the license model, vendors of commercial products may use the Framework and utilities but must acknowledge these sources.

Governance

The Members shall appoint one representative to act on their behalf in all decisions made regarding the governance of the Program. These representatives will constitute the Program governance committee, meeting virtually as needed to provide direction to the program and projects teams. All decisions will be made by consensus, defined as the absence of sustained opposition to any proposal under discussion by the governing committee.

Contacts

For further information on the DDI-FTP, please contact

References