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Industrial Interoperability Compliance Institute - IICI

Membership Prospectus - PDF Download

Providing Interoperability Compliance across Industrial Operations Management and Business Systems

Program Overview

Leaders major manufacturing companies, industrial systems vendors, and integrators have formed an organization to perform compliance testing that enables interoperability between enterprise, supply chain, and plant operations systems such ERP, SCM, MOM, LIMS, PLM, CMMS, WMS, APS, SCADA, process control systems, and other manufacturing/production applications, using the ISA 95 Standards and the WBF B2MML Data Exchange Schemas.

Industrial Interoperability Compliance Institute (IICI) Mission:

1. Dramatically reduce total life cycle cost of integrating Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) systems through compliance to widely accepted industrial operability standards.
2. Improve production and supply chain productivity by assuring the ability of manufacturing IT applications to inter-operate through standard XML schemas and services.
3. Use existing industry standards, facilitate the development of standards where they don’t current exist, and adopt new standards as they become available.
4. Facilitate the independent testing, training and certification of MOM interoperability and systems to a defined set of international manufacturing IT standards.
5. Accelerate development of industry standards for MOM interoperability through sponsored projects for closing critical gaps.
6. Provide a feedback process and recommendations to standards bodies for improving their standards based on specific compliance certification requirements and actual field experience accrued through certification audits.

The IICI believes industrial interoperability standards allow manufacturers to build lean IT systems through common definitions of data and processes.

Current industrial standards organizations have been defining interoperability and data exchange for 15 years, but there are only limited agencies to definitively confirm vendor claims of compatibility or degree of compliance of end user applications and interfaces. With no independent agency manufacturing operations management to validate vendor’s software or end user systems claims, vendors and end users alike are confused on what an actual level of system interoperability is in terms of performance and integration cost and time. IICI is in a unique position to be the independent agency due to vendor independence, association with a recognized nonprofit industry association, experience in industrial interface development, an established international network of experts, and a deep understanding of industrial interoperability standards.

Standards Addressed

The IICI will initially focus on compliance services for:

• Integration of business and manufacturing system following the ISA-95 data exchange and transaction definitions using the WBF’s B2MML Data Exchange Schema standard (Business to Manufacturing Markup Language).
• The initial focus will be on the B2MML schemas for Production Schedules, Production Performance, Production Definition, Process Segment, Material Information, and Equipment Information.
• The services will support B2MML exchanges in both a non-transactional mode (ISA 95 Part 2) and in a transactional mode (ISA 95 Part 5).
• The testing environment will be based on web services to be provided by IICI.

Future compliance services may include the WBF BatchML Data Exchange Schema Standard, planned ISA 95 Part 4 schemas, and certificates of training for ISA 95 and WBF Data Exchange implementation programs, among others.

Compliance Services

1. Certification services for software or applications to certify that they have passed specific criteria and tests to a defined compliance levels and are aligned with industrial schemas and associated standards.
   
   Members run tests of their applications against predefined standardized XML files to ensure that they can read, write, and support the defined transactions. Certification testing will be performed via web services available over the Internet, eliminating expensive travel or distribution of software to run the tests. A Web enabled testing environment for support of application testing will be provided. Using web services, each member will be able to define and interact with a virtual company to configure their product testing activities. The web service will provide a variety of standard XML files and transactions to ensure that developed applications are IICI compatible.
2. Training on the certification process for vendors, end users, and other users.
3. An IICI certified logo that end users or vendors can apply to their systems and products to document that vendor products are verified to a specified compliance level.
4. Training and testing on how to achieve compliance with and how to apply the tested standards.

Compliance Program Benefits

For end users, key benefits include:

• A public list of certified products and system integrator companies.
• A single unbiased point of compliance testing and certification.
• IICI certified products will save lifecycle system integration time and costs.
• Reduced costs and time in product selection and deployment.
• Improved system reliability and responsiveness by assuring software products are interoperable "out of the box" to a high degree.
• Providing a "Voice of the Customer" (VOC) and "Voice of the Market" (VOM) to the certification process.

For suppliers and integrators, key benefits include:

• Suppliers can substantiate compliance claims to industry standards.
• Participating in a shared interoperability vision executed through a consortium of end users, vendors, and system integrators.
• Provides the VOC requirements directly to suppliers for faster time-to-market and focused product development and integration costs.
• Equal level playing field for all types of suppliers.
• Opportunity to have a voice in IICI.

Milestones

IICI Development

Membership Levels and Fees

Membership levels apply to suppliers and non-suppliers.

The membership fee structure is designed to fund the work necessary to develop the IICI’s certification processes and materials, and to continue the IICI’s strategic objectives, such as broadening coverage of standards in the compliance certification program.

The following membership types and costs follow the typical membership and cost structure for similar compliance agencies. A company can be a member at any level; company size is only a recommendation.

• Class A Membership: $25,000 per year
  Recommended for companies with manufacturing related sales greater than $100 Million per year. Includes:
  • Voting membership on the Governance Board
  • Voting membership on the Technical Steering Committee
  • Services at a discount rate from non-member rates.
  • Access to on-line web based certification services (starting 2009)
• Class B Membership: $12,500 per year
  Recommended for companies with manufacturing related sales between $25 Million and $100 Million per year. Includes:
  • Voting membership on the Technical Steering Committee
  • Eligible for membership for one of the two rotating Class B seats on the Governance Board
  • Services at a discount rate from non-member rates
  • Access to on-line web based certification services (starting 2009)
• Class C Membership: $7,000 per year
  Recommended for companies with manufacturing related sales between $2 Million and $25 Million per year. Includes:
  • Voting membership on the Technical Steering Committee
  • Services at a discount rate from non-member rates
  • Fee based access to web based certification services (starting 2009) at a reduced rate from the non-member rate
• Class D Membership: $1,000 per year
  For universities, individuals, and non-profit organizations. Includes:
  • Access to Technical Steering Committee information
  • Fee based access to web based certification services (starting 2009) at a reduced rate from the non-member rate.

Non-members or members may pay for additional compatibility services and certification tests on an a la carte services or test-by-test basis.

Membership Entitlements

1. IICI Certified Logo Usage – Members are entitled to use the IICI certified logo on products and systems that meet the IICI compliance specifications. Logo style guides will be available to members for guidance in using the logo on product, literature, displays, and other customer facing communications.
2. Certified Product Directory – Compliant products will be listed in the IICI website. The listing will include descriptions of your products and services. Your company will be recognized for contributions to the IICI programs and objectives.
3. Boards and committees – Depending upon your membership level, members will have to opportunity to provide leadership and direction to IICI by participating in the Governance Board and the Technical Steering Committee. You will have the opportunity to influence the strategic direction of the institute and gain advance notification of changes and enhancements to compliance tests, programs, and processes.
4. Voting – Class A members have voting rights on the Governance Board and the Technical Steering Committee. Class B qualify for one of two yearly rotating positions on the Governance Board and have voting rights on the Technical Steering Committee. Class C members have voting rights on the Technical Steering Committee.
5. Member Discounts – Members are entitled to discounts on compliance tests, compliance services, and training offered by IICI.
6. Intellectual Property Rights – Voting members may use the Intellectual Property Rights of IICI for design, deployment, manufacturing, and integration engineering of products using IICI technology. Members will receive prompt notice of updates to IICI technical specifications.
7. Public Awareness – Members will be offered the opportunity to promote their companies and products through sponsorships, joint marketing and advertising, seminars, publishing, technology expositions, and an email newsletter.

Contact Information

Andre Ristaino
Managing Director, Automation Standards Compliance Institute
ISA
67 Alexander Drive
PO Box 12277
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Direct: (919) 990-9222
Fax: (919) 549-8288
Email: aristaino@isa.org

More Information

• IICI Prospectus - (PDF - 2MB)
• IICI Business Plan - IICI Business Plan Final for Vote 1.2 20080302.doc