Standards and Systems Integration Standards

Standards and Systems Integration Standards for systems integration can encompass both de facto and de jure standards. In other words, standards can either be legally mandated by the federal government or encouraged but not legally stipulated by professional or international associations. The International and National Standards Organizations, and the American Standards National Institute, also known as the ISO, NSO and the ASNI, although not regulatory institutions, stress that their members must strive for consensus amongst their manufacturers, distributors and consumers regarding product standards.

Members agree to observe a full disclosure or 'transparency of standards' regarding production methods. Lastly, members of both the NSO and ISO try to create a state of openness to free trade via a voluntary means, by observing fair trade and fair business standards, rather than relying purely upon the guidance of regulations.

More specific industry or professional organizations such as the Society of Mechanical Engineers are equally concerned that members are compliant with government safety standards and do not engage in unfair agreements regarding contracts as they are that their members generally achieve consensus, transparency, and voluntary agreement about best practices. Obedience to both voluntary and non-voluntary standards may necessary to achieve the ideal regulatory climate, and specified standards may need to vary slightly from industry to industry although general aims may be consistent on a values basis.

Some agreed-up standards are fairly industry wide, such as the use of requirement statements. A generic requirement statement will usually include the project's number and title, the product's anticipated date of delivery, the authors of the project and to who it is contracted to, as well a brief abstract of the nature of the project. However, the impact of the law upon standards-based requirements cannot be discounted.

One of the reason it is important for any industry to set standards is that if it does not, the government often steps in, such as it did with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This act affected local and long distance telephone service, cable programming and other video services, broadcast services and services provided to schools.

According to the FCC, the goal of this new law was "to let anyone enter any communications business" and " to let any communications business compete in any market against any other," and its most notable result may be the plethora of competing.