Version history:

Draft 1 26 September 96, for comment by D Adams & D van Langen
Draft 1.1 4 October 96, reflecting DA & DvL comments
Draft 2 14 October 96, for comment by OGCC Steering Committee, Program Group Chairs & The Open Group Product Managers.
Draft 2.1 24 October 96, for presentation at The Open Group Planning Meeting on 31 October.
Draft 3 7 November 96, for sign-off by OGCC Steering Committee
Draft 3.1 15 November, as Draft 3, in html.
Draft 3.2 22 November 96. As draft 3.1 with the addition of 'Organization' in Section 6.

1. Purpose

A Program Plan is produced for each Program Group. It provides a high level view of a Program Group's focus area, the business issues driving changes within it and the need for standards and/or enabling technologies. It considers what is being done by suppliers, by other consortia and standards bodies, and identifies where products should be brought to market and standards adopted that would be of high value in the market-place as demonstrated by a willingness of suppliers to build and users to purchase the resulting conformant products.

2. Responsibility

The Program Plan is the responsibility of the Program Group for an area.

The Open Group Product Manager appointed to each Program Group, in coordination with the Program Group Chair, is responsible for producing iterations of the Program Plan, commencing with a strawman, and basing subsequent versions on group and market feedback.

3. Developing the Program Plan

1. Inputs to the Program Plan include the following:
2. the views of members of the Program Group:
   - customer needs, related to enterprise business and technical drivers, together with an assessment of purchasing intentions;
   - suppliers' views on the market viability of products designed to meet customers' needs.
3. external market intelligence:
   - derived from sources such as Gartner, Giga Group, Forester, IDC.
4. where necessary, market research among customers both inside and outside The Open Group.
5. meetings with the business planners and product managers of suppliers of relevant product. This may often involve the development of a Business Plan showing the benefits to the supplier of making products available in this area. The benefits to the Program Group would be either confirmation that the suppliers understand the market potential of delivering products that meet the requirements or that they do not. Either case will be of value to delivering standards to market quickly. In the event of the former, then there is every reason to press ahead and to do so in step with suppliers' product roll-out schedules. In the event of the latter, the Program Group will either decide to focus attention on another priority or help to develop a stronger case for the suppliers.

4. Agreeing the Program Plan

To be effective the Program Plan will need to have the explicit buy-in of all The Open Group stakeholders. To achieve this, the following steps must be followed:

1. Draft(s) for Program Group review:
   - the first and any subsequent drafts are reviewed by the Program Group until there is consensus that the Plan is complete. At this point it is signed-off by the Program Group Chair and the Product Manager.
   - in this context, consensus means general agreement among those participating in the Program Group. The Product Manager and Program Group Chair should use their discretion about whether consensus has been reached. In doubtful cases, a ballot of all Program Group members should be conducted. (Each member organization is entitled to one vote.) The draft Program Plan will be declared complete if at least 75% of votes cast are in favour of acceptance.
   
2. Draft for OGCC-SC and TMG review:
   
   - the Plan is submitted for review by the OGCC Steering Committee and the Technical Managers Group. After any comments have been dealt with, the Plan is ready for submission to The Open Group Advisory Board.
   
3. The Open Group Advisory Board review
   - the Plan is reviewed and, subject to any changes they may suggest, approved by The Open Group Advisory Board.

Once approved by The Open Group Advisory Board the Program Plan can be used as the basis for TOG resource allocation in the subsequent year's Operating Plan for Business Operations. This includes the establishment of the necessary Specification Working Groups and the stimulation of PST, RFT, ATO or Test development activity.

Program Plan approval will not prevent PSTs, RFTs, ATOs or sponsorship of Test suites being submitted by suppliers for areas not covered by the Program Plan.

6. Format of the Program Plan

In order to ensure that Program Plans contain all the required information and to help reviewers to follow the content in a logical fashion, they should be constructed using the following format.

1. Title page
- name of Program Group
- version history:
Date
Version number (using 1.n for drafts for Program Group review, 2.n for drafts for Company review, 3.n for Board review)

2. Executive Summary

3. Program Group description
3.1. Designatory information:
- name of Program Group
- name of Program Group Chair
- name of Product Manager

3.2. Scope:
- a brief description of the scope of the Program Group

3.3. Goals:
- what in global terms the Program Group seeks to achieve

3.4. Expected benefits:
- contribution to the Open Systems community

3.5. Organization
- note any special arrangements covering Program and/or Task Group membership - for example to make it clear that the Program Group (or a related Task Group) may include representatives of a non-member organization that has a specialist contribution to make. The absence of any comment will imply that PG/TG membership is subject to the normal rules.

4. Industry and Technology analysis
4.1. Size and Growth trends
- the rationale for the Program Group's goals

4.2. Market assessment:
- the current state of the market and changes that are likely to take place;
- market "drivers" establishing the need for the Program Group (e.g. social changes, regulatory acts, market innovations)

4.3. Technology assessment:
- emerging technologies;
existing technological opportunities;
new, desired products

4.4. Suppliers' Product Managers input:
- go/no-go product build factors;
- timing issues

4.5. Customer Procurement input:
- what is wanted versus what will be accepted when buying;
- cost issues (eg is purchaser willing to pay a premium?)
- other factors affecting commitment to procurement

4.6. Media interest

5. Competitive activities
5.1. What other organizations are doing
- vendors, consortia, other standards bodies

5.2. Open Group market influence
- current;
- potential

6. Objectives and Plans
6.1. Priority Product areas
- identification of the 2 - 4 priority work items (specific to the realization of the Program Group's goals and taking 4 & 5 into account) for which there is agreement within the Program Group and the commitment of customers and suppliers to progress work in Task Groups.

6.2. Priorities:
- which activities are of the highest priority and should therefore be tackled first.

6.3. Outline Action Plan:
- an outline of the activities and related timeline designed to meet the objectives and priorities stated in 6.1 and 6.2;

technology development and standardization work by The Open Group, based on the agreed priorities of customers with advice and guidance from suppliers, and recognizing where The Open Group can add value;

work that is appropriate to organizations outside The Open Group, together with an indication of how The Open Group will monitor that work.