The certification scheme is primarily aimed at UK-based public authorities, although it is hoped that it could be ported to the commercial sector and other European Union countries, according to the OSA, which is partly funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and brings together open source projects at numerous local authorities across the UK.
The program includes two key initiatives: Certified Open Products and Services, COPS, which enables businesses to assess their products’ openness against an agreed framework, and Open Source Community of Practice, OSCoP, which enables individuals to assess their skills competency against an agreed framework.
The branding and frameworks are being put together by Certified Open Ltd, a not-for-profit joint venture of OpenForum Europe and the Institute of IT Training, which are also part of the OSA alongside Birmingham City Council, Bristol City Council, the University of Kent, and the Society of IT Management.
The Certified Open program is a self-assessment process by which products and services can be assessed based on a number of criteria including client, application, database, and cross-level interoperability, as well as the vendor’s business model.
