Guide to the SIF Certification Program

Copyright © 2003-2007 The Open Group

Version 1.06 - November 14, 2007

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1 Referenced Specifications
1.2 Summary of Web References
1.3 SIF Certification Contacts
1.4 Email Notifications from the SIF Certification Authority

2. How to Achieve SIF Certification

2.1 Understanding the Certification Program
2.2 Confidentiality
2.3 Informal Testing
2.4 Certification
2.5 The SIF Trademark License Agreement (TMLA)
2.6 The SIF Certification Agreement

3. Product Registration

3.1 Registering your Organization within the Web Certification System
3.2 Completing the Trademark License Agreement
3.3 Producing a Conformance Statement
3.4 Subscription Packages
3.5 Registering your Product within the Web Certification System
3.6 Formal Testing for Certification
3.7 Checking your Test Results
3.8 Completion of Certification

4. Renewals and Certified Product Updates

4.1 The Renewals Process
4.2 Certified Product Updates

5. Supporting Processes

5.1 The Appeals Process

6. Certification Checklist

1. Introduction

This document is a guide for suppliers who want to certify products in the SIF Certification Program. It will guide you through all the steps required for certification.

SIF certification is awarded to those products that have been certified by the SIF Certification Authority as having demonstrated their conformance to the applicable conformance requirements. The detailed requirements for conformance are identified in the applicable SIF Product Standards. Only suppliers of a certified product may use the SIF Certification Logo in connection with their product.

The SIF Certification Policy governs the SIF Certification Program. The use of the SIF Certification Logo is governed by the SIF Trademark License Agreement. The SIF Certification Agreement covers the terms and conditions of the certification service. You must agree to the terms and conditions outlined in all three documents prior to certification. For your convenience, significant highlights of the SIF certification process are outlined below, and later sections provide more comprehensive information.

1. The SIF Certification program is administered on behalf of the Schools Interoperability Framework Association (SIFA) by its designated Certification Authority, The Open Group.
2. You will be granted a license to use the SIF Certification Logo in connection with your product when your product has met all the requirements of the program, including passing the applicable test suite(s), and you have formally agreed to all the required terms.
3. The SIF Trademark License Agreement must be fully signed (signatures are required from both you and SIFA) in order to have a product certified.
4. A certified product is subject to renewal of certification on a periodic basis as stated in the SIF Certification Policy.
5. All product information supplied to the Certification Authority will be treated as confidential, as required by the SIF Certification Agreement.
6. The SIF Certification Authority may, from time to time, request proof that your product remains in compliance with the Conformance Requirements outlined in the applicable SIF Product Standard, as required by the SIF Certification Policy.

At the end of this document is a Certification Checklist to help you make sure that your registration is complete.

Note: In the event of any conflicts, this guide defers to the SIF Certification Policy, the SIF Trademark License Agreement, and the SIF Certification Agreement.

1.1 Referenced Specifications

The specifications currently referenced for the SIF certification program are:

• Schools Interoperability Framework Implementation Specification, Version 1.1
• Schools Interoperability Framework Implementation Specification, Version 1.5r1
• Schools Interoperability Framework Implementation Specification, Version 2.0r1

These are referenced by the SIF Product Standards and are located at http://www.sifinfo.org/sif-specification.asp.

1.2 Summary of Web References

A summary of the external web references follows:

1.3 SIF Certification Contacts

You may contact the SIF Certification Authority via email at sif-cert-admin@opengroup.org for questions regarding certification.

If you have questions or problems with using the test suites, please contact the Test Suite Maintenance Authority via email at at sif-tsma@siia.net.

1.4 Email Notifications from the SIF Certification Authority

Email notifications will be sent to your organization's designated certification contacts by the SIF Certification Authority. These notifications will provide information on the actions required by your organization to certify a product or renew or update a product's certification as well as status on your certifications.

Email will be sent from the email address for either the SIF Certification Authority's (sif-cert-admin@opengroup.org) or the web-based certification system (Certification.Web@opengroup.org). Please ensure that if your organization has spam filters in place that your organization's certification contacts will be able to receive email notifications from these two email addresses.

2. How to Achieve SIF Certification

This guide details the steps you are required to take to achieve certification and provides information on how to perform each of these steps.

The process involves:

• Understanding the certification program and process, including the confidentiality policies
• Testing the product informally
• Registering your product for certification
• Formal testing and submission of results

2.1 Understanding the Certification Program

To become familiar with the program, you should read the following program documents:

• The SIF Certification Policy
• The SIF Product Standards

2.1.1 The SIF Certification Policy

It is best to start with the SIF Certification Policy, which is the foundation of the program. It provides information on what can be certified in the program, what it means to be certified, what is required to get a product certified, and how to make sure that a product remains certified.

2.1.2 The SIF Product Standards

The appropriate Product Standard should then be read to understand the detailed conformance requirements against which a product may be certified. Product Standards provide a mapping between certification, the SIF specification, and the test suite(s) needed to demonstrate conformance.

The current Product Standards against which products may be certified are:

• SIF-enabled Application 1.1
• SIF-enabled Application 1.5
• SIF 2-enabled Application
• Zone Integration Server 2.0r1

The SIF-enabled Application Product Standards are for those software products or services that communicate with a SIF Zone Integration Server. A SIF-enabled Application product may be a combination of two distinct components, an application and an agent; in this case, certification must be undertaken by the application supplier. The Zone Integration Server Product Standards are for those software products that manage SIF-enabled Applications within a logical entity known as a Zone.

2.2 Confidentiality

Your organization and product information is absolutely confidential  between you and the SIF Certification Authority. This is effective once you accept the SIF Certification Agreement, which is a prerequisite to registering a product. The Certification Authority does not make any certification information available to any third party, without the written permission of the supplier.

Upon successful completion of the certification process, the certified product will be included in the publicly available Certification Register.

However, to enable you to launch a certified product, you may request that certification remain confidential for up to 120 days from the date of written notification by the Certification Authority that your product or service has achieved certification.. This may be done on the product registration form when you register for certification. See Section 3.5 - Registering your Product within the Web Certification System below for information on requesting a confidential certification and Section 3.8 - Completion of Certification  for information on ending the confidential period.

See Section 11 of the SIF Certification Policy for further information on the confidentiality policy.

2.3 Informal Testing

Normally, testing your product with the appropriate SIF conformance test suite is the first activity. You should read the applicable Product Standard for the product you are considering certifying and refer to the Indicators of Conformance section to identify the required conformance test suite.

Development releases of the test suite are available from the SIF web site at http://compliance.sifinfo.org:8080/sifcompliance and should be used, along with any additional methods you deem appropriate, to make sure that your product meets the applicable conformance requirements and is ready for entry into the certification program. Development releases are made freely available to SIF members, and non-members are given access upon payment of the certification fee.

The test suite is configured using information contained in the Conformance Statement. The information in the Conformance Statement will be used to determine the particular tests to be run.

2.3.1 Authorized Test Suites

For formal testing, only currently authorized versions of the SIF conformance test suites can be used. The Certification Authority maintains a list of the currently authorized conformance test suites at http://certification.sifinfo.org/testsuites.html.

Both the development versions and authorized versions of the conformance test suites are available from the SIF web site. The test suites are hosted on the SIF web server and accessed over the Internet.

2.3.2 Problems and Problem Reporting

If you have problems running the test suites, please first read the section below on configuring your test suite run using the conformance statement questionnaire, and any documentation provided with the test suite itself. If this does not answer your questions, please check the Frequently Asked Questions file at http://certification.sifinfo.org/docs/faq.html. If you still cannot find an answer, please report the problem to the Test Suite Maintenance Authority via email at sif-tsma@siia.net.

If you are using one of the authorized test suites and getting failures but are certain that your product conforms to the specification(s), please check the Problem Report information database held at http://certification.sifinfo.org/PR. The online Problem Report database contains known information on existing bugs and interpretations of the specification. The issue may already be resolved by a SIF specification Interpretation, or by an agreed Test Suite Deficiency. If it is not, please raise a new Problem Report at http://certification.sifinfo.org/PR.

2.4 Certification

Certification is a formal process. You, as a supplier of a certified product, must warrant and represent that your product meets all the conformance requirements applicable to the Product Standard against which it is certified and implements all the features claimed in the Conformance Statement.

The obligations, terms, and conditions of certification are fully set out in the following documents:

• SIF Certification Policy
• SIF Trademark License Agreement
• SIF Certification Agreement

These documents are available via the SIF web certification system at http://certification.sifinfo.org.

It is necessary to read these documents before you start the certification process in order to fully understand the policies and requirements.

2.5 The SIF Trademark License Agreement (TMLA)

The SIF Trademark License Agreement is between you and the Schools Interoperability Framework Association and requires signature by each party. The TMLA defines the terms under which you will license the SIF Certification Logo for use in connection with your certified products.

It is recommended that you commence the process to complete the  SIF Trademark License Agreement as soon as possible to save delays later in the certification process. A  Trademark License Agreement must be completed before a product can complete the certification process and be entered onto the Certification Register.

The Trademark License Agreement only needs to be entered into once per organization. Once it is in place multiple products can be certified, without the need to execute another agreement with SIFA.

2.6 The SIF Certification Agreement

You are required to agree to the SIF Certification Agreement for each product registration.

The SIF Certification Agreement is between you and the Certification Authority. It defines the certification service and the legal commitment to the conditions of the service. This is also where you warrant conformance of your product to the applicable Product Standard.

Note: The SIF Certification Agreement is a web-based agreement. When you click the "I accept" button you are indicating that you accept the terms and conditions.

3. Product Registration

There are several steps that may be performed in parallel to start the certification process. The SIF Trademark License Agreement and the Conformance Statement Questionnaires are available on the SIF certification web site. These documents may be downloaded before you formally register your organization and/or product with the SIF certification system, as these documents may take some time to review and complete.

3.1 Registering your Organization within the Web Certification System

The SIF Certification Authority provides a web-based certification system through which products can be submitted for certification. The entry point to this is at http://certification.sifinfo.org/.

In order to use the web-based certification system, you will need to obtain an account on the Certification Authority's web server, complete an Organization Registration Form to identify your organization and corporate contact information, and accept the terms and conditions of the SIF certification program. Access to the certification system will be granted only to your organization's designated contacts, upon acceptance by the Certification Authority of your organization's registration.

If this is not your organization's first product registration, you should skip to Section 3.5 - Registering your Product within the Web Certification System.

To register a product, you must already be registered as the designated Authorized, Technical, Alternate, Marketing, or Finance contact for an organization that has applied and been accepted into the program (see below). Please take the following steps to register your organization and its contacts:

1. You will need a username and password on the The Open Group's web server for identification purposes. If you don't yet have an account, you may obtain one from the certification system by selecting "Enter secure site" to enter the secure web site, then selecting "New cert user" to create your username and password. Once you have received a confirmation email indicating that you are a registered user, you may return to the certification system and proceed with the next step. Please note that this username and password is for the certification system and is different than a SIF member login account.
2. Select "Register organization for certification". You may need to "Enter secure site" again in order to see this option. You will need to indicate your acceptance of the terms and conditions of the SIF certification program to gain entry into the system.
3. Your organization must be authorized for SIF certification by SIFA in order for you to proceed with registering your organization for certification. Authorized companies include SIF members in good standing and non-member companies that have made arrangements with SIFA for SIF certification. If your organization is authorized and a certification account has not yet been created, your organization name will appear in the pull-down list. Please select your organization and hit the "Select your organization" button.
4. The next step is to provide some information about your organization and specify the name and contact information for your organization's certification contacts.

   If a third-party organization will be performing the testing for your product, it is acceptable to specify a member of the third-party organization as one of your Alternate Contacts, to enable this person to progress the certification process on your behalf and receive message from the Certification Authority regarding the registration. Note however that this person will see information on all of your organization's registration and have full access to your organization's certification records.
   

   • Formal Name is the legal name of your organization and is required only if it is different than the value in the Organization Name field.
   • A VAT Number is only required for companies in the European Union.
   • The Authorized Signatory, who will authorize your organization's registration. The Authorized Signatory must be someone who is authorized to enter into legal commitments on behalf of the organization.
   • The Technical Contact, who will be the primary contact for all certification-related issues. The Technical Contact and the Alternate Contacts, if specified, are typically the primary users who register products using the SIF web certification system.
   • Optional Alternate Contacts, who will be the back-up for the Technical Contact. You may specify up to two Alternate Contacts.
   • The Financial Contact, who will be the contact for any payment and/or invoicing issues.
   • An optional Marketing Contact, who will be the contact for any marketing-related certification issues.
     
   When you have completed filling out the information on this form, please select the "Complete the registration" button.
   
5. The web-based certification system will then send electronic mail to your designated Authorized Signatory who must respond by electronic mail to the Certification Authority to acknowledge and authorize your organization's registration. The Certification Authority will verify the response and, if the requirements are met, accept your organization for entry into the SIF certification system.

When the above steps are complete and the Certification Authority has responded to your designated Authorized Signatory with notification that your registration has been accepted, all of your organization's specified contacts will receive confirmation by electronic mail from the web certification system that your organization account has been activated. At this point, each of the specified contacts will have the ability to progress to the next stage which is accessing the web certification system to complete Product Registration.

3.2 Completing the Trademark License Agreement

The SIF Trademark License Agreement must be signed by both your organization and SIFA. The Trademark License Agreement signature process may be completed in parallel with your product registration and testing. The signature process is as follows:

• Fax the signature page of the TMLA to SIFA at the fax number specified in the TMLA and/or send 2 signed hardcopies via postal mail to SIFA
• In the SIF certification web system, enter the date on which your organization sent the signed TMLA to SIFA. This provides an indication to the Certification Authority that the signature process has started and the Certification Authority should expect confirmation of signature from SIFA shortly.
• SIF countersigns first version received, then sends an email to the Certification Authority upon countersignature indicating that your organization has signed the TMLA
• SIFA sends 1 countersigned hardcopy back to your organization via postal mail at the address specified on the signature page

A fully signed Trademark License Agreement must be in place before the Certification Authority will complete your product registration.

3.3 Producing a Conformance Statement

You will need to produce a Conformance Statement to describe your product and how it meets the conformance requirements. Your Conformance Statement will be linked into the Certification Register entry for the product once it is certified. It also contains information that will be used to configure the test suite for testing.

It is acceptable for a third-party organization to complete the Conformance Statement on behalf of the organization that has registered the product for certification. In this case, the third-party organization  is to be specified in the Submitter Information section, as indicated below.

A Conformance Statement Questionnaire (CSQ) for each Product Standard is available on the SIF certification web site. You must complete the relevant questionnaire to create a Conformance Statement for your product, providing a response for each question. See Section 2 step #2, Section 3.2, and Section 3.3 of the SIF Certification Policy for further information on the purpose of the Conformance Statement.

You complete the Conformance Statement Questionnaires using the CSQ Editor provided with the test suite. The CSQ Editor is a web-based tool that will allow you to complete a new CSQ using a web-based form and save the completed CSQ (i.e., the Conformance Statement). The CSQ Editor also provides a means to input an existing CSQ and make modifications to it or to create a new CSQ with data imported from an existing Conformance Statement.

A description of the content of the CSQ along with assistance on how to respond follows.

Conformance Statement Questionnaires have common front matter, which asks for the following information about your organization, the product to be certified, and the environments in which conformance is validated and warranted:

• Submitter Information - the name of the organization completing the conformance statement and the name of the individual author. If the author is not a member of the organization that has registered the product for certification, then the author's organization should be included along with the certifying organization's name, in the format noted in the instructional text on the conformance statement.
• Product  Information - the name of your product, as it is known in the market, and its unique version/release identifier. For SIF-enabled Applications, you must also specify the name of the supplier of the application, and, if the application and agent are distinct, then each should be specified here. Note that the Product Information section must contain the exact same name and version number for both the product and agent (if applicable) as is specified on the product registration form in the certification system. See Section 3.5 - Registering your Product within the Web Certification System below and Section 3.4 of the SIF Certification Policy for further information.
• Testing Environment - the name and version of the test suite, version of the product that was tested, and the hardware platform and software environment on which your product's conformance has been demonstrated.
• Operational Environment - the environment in which your product's conformance is warranted.

The Conformance Statement Questionnaire also contains SIF-specific questions intended to characterize how your product meets the conformance requirements, including how the product handles implementation-specific areas of the specification, and questions that solicit the information required to configure the test suite. Below are instructions for completing the remaining sections of the CSQ, based on the type of product standard against which you are certifying.

3.3.1 Conformance Statement for a SIF-enabled Application or Zone Integration Server

I. Characterizing your product's implementation-dependent behavior

This section identifies several areas of the SIF specification in which behavior is implementation-dependent. Each question in this section allows a response of "Yes / No" or "Yes / No / NA".

In the CSQ Editor, the response for each question defaults to "No", or "NA" (Not Applicable) where it exists. You must select "Yes" to indicate which features your product supports.

II. Object Matrix

For each SIF data object listed in the matrix, indicate whether the product performs the various actions specified by selecting the appropriate check boxes.

III. Element/Attribute Matrix

This table contains a list of optional elements/attributes associated with SIF data objects and is used to identify how your product supports various elements/attributes within the SIF data model. Each element contains several columns which each require a response of  "Yes / No". Completion of this section is as described above in item I.

IV. Extra Information for Testing

The test suite will use the information in the sections above, along with the additional information in the Extra Information for Testing section, to configure the test suite and select the set of tests to be run. This section solicits information required by the test suite that is not captured elsewhere in the CSQ.

3.4 Subscription Packages

There are two models available for payment of certification fees. The first is to pay for individual certification transactions at the time the organization registers a product for certification, updates a certification, or renews a certification. The second is to purchase a subscription package containing a number of "credits" that may be used for future certification transactions. Credits are valid for 12 months from purchase and may be used for any type of certification transaction. Credits unused at the end of 12 months are forfeited. If an organization purchases a subscription package, then all new certifications, updates, or renewals will use "credits" from the subscription package, until such time as the credits are used up or expire. If there is no subscription package in place, an organization may either pay for an individual certification transaction or purchase a subscription package.

An organization may purchase a subscription package prior to or concurrent with executing a certification transaction. To purchase a subscription package in advance of a certification transaction, go to your organization's home page and under "Available Options", select "Purchase a Subscription Package or View Credits". From the pull-down list, select the size of the subscription package you wish to purchase, then select your payment method.

From the "Purchase a Subscription Package or View Credits" page, you may also view the status of your current subscription package as well as prior subscription packages. For your current subscription package, you will see when the package was purchased, the number of credits in the package, and how many credits are still available for use. For prior packages, you may also see the certification registrations on which the credits were used.

See Section 3.5.1 - Payment for details on the payment methods available for purchasing a subscription package and on purchasing a subscription package during registration of a product.

3.5 Registering your Product within the Web Certification System

To register a product to be certified, you must first enter the secure web server and "Login" to the SIF certification web site using your username and password on the certification server. The next step is to click on the Registration Wizard to go to your organization's home page and select "Start a New Registration".

When you register your product, you are required to provide the following information on your product.

For SIF-enabled Applications:

• Product Standard - the product standard against which you want to certify your product.
• Product Name - the name by which the product is known in the market, and as you would like it to appear publicly in the certification register
• Product Version - the product version for which conformance is claimed and warranted. The version may be a single version (e.g., 1.2), or a set of releases (e.g., 1.x, where x is a variable and this represents 1.1 through 1.9). The version should be specified such that it corresponds to the convention you use to differentiate releases of your product, and reflects the scope of releases that you "warrant and represent" as meeting the conformance requirements.
• Application Vendor Name - this field defaults to the name of the organization registering the product for certification, as SIF-enabled Applications must be certified by the application vendor.
• Agent Name and Agent Version (optional) -  For SIF-enabled Application certification, if the agent is discrete from the application and/or produced by a different supplier, please provide information on the application under "Product Name" and "Product  Version" and information on the agent in the Agent Name and Agent Version fields. If an Agent Name is specified, then the version of the agent must be specified as well.
• Agent Vendor Name (required if Agent is specified) - the name of the supplier of the agent. If this is the application vendor, you may select the checkbox to automatically fill-in the organization name..
• Product Description (optional) - textual overview or description of your product
• Product URL (optional) - web address for your product. If specified, this URL will be included in the Certification Register.
• Product Categories (optional) - You may select one or more categories that describe your product. Place your cursor over a category name to see a description of the category.

Please note that the values specified for the Product Name, Product Version, Agent Name (if applicable), Agent Version (if applicable), and Agent Vendor Name (if applicable)  fields must be exactly the same as the values provided for the corresponding fields on the Conformance Statement.

For Zone Integration Servers:

• Product Standard - the product standard against which you want to certify your product.
• Product Name - the name by which the product is known in the market, and as you would like it to appear publicly in the certification register
• Product Version - the product version for which conformance is claimed and warranted. The version may be a single version (e.g., 1.2), or a set of releases (e.g., 1.x, where x is a variable and this represents 1.1 through 1.9). The version should be specified such that it corresponds to the convention you use to differentiate releases of your product, and reflects the scope of releases that you "warrant and represent" as meeting the conformance requirements.
• Product Description (optional) - textual overview or description of your product
• Product URL (optional) - web address for your product. If specified, this URL will be included in the Certification Register.
• Product Categories (optional) - The "SIF Zone Integration Servers and Agent Development" category will be pre-selected for you.

Please note that the values specified for the Product Name and Product Version fields must be exactly the same as the values provided for the corresponding fields on the Conformance Statement.

For all registrations, you will also be asked to specify the following:

• Confidentiality (optional) - if you would like to keep your certification confidential prior to a product launch, you may indicate that here.
• General Notes (optional) - this is an area for you to provide any notes to the Certification Authority about this registration. Anything included in this area will be confidential between you and the Certification Authority.

Once you have completed all fields, select the "View and accept the Terms and Conditions" button. You will then be presented with the SIF Certification Agreement, which you must accept in order to proceed with this product registration. The final step in the registration phase is providing payment information, as detailed in Section 3.5.1 - Payment below.

Once you have completed your product registration, you will be presented with a status page on your product indicating the next steps for certification. Throughout the certification process, the certification system will guide you through the steps that you need to follow to certify a product, via the "Next" link.

This page will contain a Certification Identifier (CID) that you will need when you perform formal testing of your product.

3.5.1 Payment

Please note that if you use a payment method other than credit card or a credit from a pre-paid subscription package and payment has not been made in advance, your registration or subscription purchase will be placed on hold until payment is received by the Certification Authority. However you will still be able to use your Certification Identifier (CID) to perform testing and submit your results to the Certification Authority, but your product will not be certified until the hold status is released.

See http://certification.sifinfo.org/docs/SIF_Fee_Schedule.html  for the fee schedule.

To pay for a single transaction, select "Purchase individual certification transaction" and select the "Continue" button, then complete the payment information on the subsequent page. To purchase a subscription package, select the size of the subscription package you wish to purchase and select the "Continue" button. The system will provide you with a page for specifying payment information then take you to your organization home page, where the registration will be shown with a "Temporary" status. Selecting the "Next" button for the registration will allow you to continue with the registration using one credit from the package you just bought.

To pay by credit card, please complete the requested information regarding the credit card account you would like to use. A receipt for the payment will be sent to the cardholder and any other individual whose email address is specified on the credit card payment page.

If payment is made via check or wire transfer, the Certification Authority will send a receipt to your Finance Contact when payment is received. This receipt contains all the same information as is typically provided in an invoice. If you require an invoice to be sent prior to your organization making payment, please indicate such on the registration page and specify the contact to which the invoice should be sent. By default, invoices are sent to the Finance Contact, but you may select a different contact if desired, and you will be required to confirm the billing address for the specified contact. The Technical Contact will also receive a copy of the invoice.

3.6 Formal Testing for Certification

Formal testing is a self-test activity with results submitted to the Certification Authority for audit. Formal testing is performed over the Internet using a currently authorized version of the test suite, which is hosted on the SIF web site. The Certification Authority maintains a list of the test suites authorized for use in formal testing.

You will need the following in order to perform formal testing:

• A Conformance Statement - you must complete the Conformance Statement Questionnaire and respond to all questions
• The Certification Identifier (CID) - received from the Certification Authority as a result of your product registration

The first step is to access the applicable test suite on the SIF web site. You will need to specify your CID and provide your Conformance Statement as input to the test suite. The CID will be used by the Certification Authority to associate your submitted test results and Conformance Statement with the correct product registration information. Information in the Conformance Statement will be used to configure the test suite and the test suite will also perform some validation on the Conformance Statement in order to catch errors early in the process, prior to submission to the Certification Authority. Once you have run the test suite and are satisfied with your results, select the option to submit test results, which will automatically send your test results and Conformance Statement to the Certification Authority.

You can obtain help and information on the test suite(s) as described in Section 2.3 - Informal Testing.

Test results submitted to the Certification Authority for formal testing should include only "pass" results.

If there are any "non-pass" results, such as an incomplete or fail result, you will only be able to submit the test results if each non-passing result may be resolved via reference to an approved Problem Report. An approved Problem Report is one which has resulted in an agreed Interpretation of the specification, a Test Suite Deficiency, or a Certification System Deficiency. These apply to specific releases of the specification, test suite, or certification system.

If you have not already done so, you must raise a Problem Report for each "non-pass" result that you believe is not due to a problem with your application. You will need to wait for a Problem Report resolution from the Certification Authority before proceeding further. Refer to  Section 9.2 - Problem Report Resolution Process of the SIF Certification Policy for the expected time frames for problem report resolution.

3.7 Checking your Test Results

Once the test results and Conformance Statement have been submitted from the test harness,  the certification system will perform a preliminary check of the test results to determine if all results are "pass" results. If yes, the next step in the process is for the Certification Authority to review and accept the test results and Conformance Statement.

If any of the test results are not "pass" results, an email will be sent to your certification contacts indicating that you must return to the certification system to resolve any problems with the test results. The certification system will guide you through the process of reviewing and resolving issues with your test results.

You will have the option to view the test results file, summarize the results, or view the messages that were tested. You will also be presented with a list of tests that were non-pass and that need to be resolved. The "non-pass" test results in the test output that require resolution are those with a status of incomplete or failed. The resolution process requires you to enter a valid reference to an approved problem report from the Problem Reporting database for each test that did not pass. An approved problem report is one which has resulted in an agreed Interpretation of the specification, a Test Suite Deficiency, or a Certification System Deficiency. These apply to specific releases of the specification, test suite or certification system.

The problem report identifier you specify must be the "Resolution Id" of the problem report. If the problem report does not have a "Resolution Id", then it is not a valid reference. Resolution Ids have the format of TYPE.NUMBER where TYPE has the value INT, TSD, or CSD (Interpretation, Test Suite Deficiency, or Certification System Deficiency) and NUMBER is a four digit decimal number. You must also check that the test suite version is valid for the Product Standard for all Problem Reports referenced.

In the event that you discover a problem with your test results that requires you to re-run the test harness, please contact the Certification Authority so they may delete your test results from the certification system in order to enable you to submit new results.

3.8 Completion of Certification

Within 6 business days of receipt of of a complete registration submission, including a correct Conformance Statement, passing test results your submission is complete and a signed SIF Trademark License Agreement, you will be notified of successful certification. If for any reason the submission was not complete, you will be notified so that any corrections can be made and resubmitted. Such a resubmission needs to be done within 30 calendar days, unless an extension has been granted by the Certification Authority. The certification fee covers one set of corrective actions.

Once you have been notified of a successful certification, your product will be put on the public Certification Register, unless you requested that it remains confidential. In this case, your product will not be added to the Certification Register until the earlier of your notification to the Certification Authority that you would like to end the confidential period, or the expiration of the confidential period, which occurs 120 days from notification of a successful certification.

When your product certification has been made public, you will be sent a certificate by electronic mail.

You should note that certification is valid for a defined period as stated in Section 8.1 - Duration of Certification of the SIF Certification Policy. At the end of that period, if you wish your product to remain certified you will need to renew your product's certification as defined in Section 4 - Renewals and Certified Product Updates below.

4. Renewals and Certified Product Updates

4.1 The Renewals Process

When your product is certified, the certification is valid for 12 months, after which it must be renewed or the product will no longer be certified. Certification expires on the renewal date, which may be found on the certification register. If the product is not renewed by the renewal date, it will be removed from the register.

The Certification Authority will provide renewal reminders via email to all of your organization's designated certification contacts at three points in time (provided that your organization has not yet renewed the product certification): 2 months, 1 month, and 1 week prior to the renewal date. It is important that your organization keep information on the designated certification contacts up-to-date so you are ensured of receiving the renewal notices.

Your organization must complete the renewal process by the renewal date in order for the product to remain on the certification register. Completion of renewal includes:

• Registering for renewal in the certification system
• Providing payment
• Submitting a Conformance Statement and test results, if applicable

A product that is in the process of being renewed on the renewal date will be removed from the certification register until the renewal process is complete, at which time the product will be restored to the register with the renewal date extended by 12 months. Once restored, the certification will appear continuous in that the First Certified date shown on the certification register will reflect the date the product was originally certified and there will be no record of the product having dropped off the register. If the renewal process for a product has not commenced in the certification system by the renewal date, the product is no longer certified against the specified product standard and will be removed from the register; a new certification will be required to restore the product to the register.

Renewal is performed using the certification system. From your organization's home page, select "Renew a Certified Product or see your Renewal Summary" under "Available Options". When your product is eligible for renewal (i.e., is within 60 calendar days of the Renewal Date), it will appear under "Products Eligible for Renewal". Select the "Renew" link and complete the questions on the renewal form to start the renewal process.

Renewal implies that your product continues to conform. To renew, you may be required to re-test your product, depending upon whether any of the changes that trigger a renewal have occurred. Please see Section 8.2 - Renewal of the SIF Certification Policy for information on the types of changes that will necessitate re-testing.

4.2 Certified Product Updates

If you make any changes to your certified product, you may be required to re-test or update your certification information as required by Section 7 - Certification Requirements for Modifications of a Certified Product  of the SIF Certification Policy. You should read that section thoroughly since it describes multiple scenarios related to product changes, some of which require a certification-related activity. In some cases, a new certification is required since the update is equivalent to a new product as far as certification is concerned.

To update a certified product, go to your organization's home page in the certification system and select the "Modify a Certified Product" link under "Available Options". This will display the Certified Product Updates page that will allow you to select the type of update you would like to make and will guide you through the process.

4.2.1 Product Updates

If you make changes to your certified product that do not affect the scope of your certification, as defined in the Conformance Statement, you are not required to contact the Certification Authority. However, please remember that signing the Trademark License Agreement commits your organization to provide a warranty of continued conformance. So we strongly recommend that you run the conformance test suite regularly as a quality-assurance tool every time you make a change.

If modifications to your certified product affect anything in your product's Conformance Statement, such that the Conformance Statement needs to be updated in order to accurately characterize your modified product, you will be required to re-test your product and update the Conformance Statement. As a reminder, your conformance statement identifies:

• the product version(s) for which conformance is claimed and guaranteed
• the optional features supported and the implementation-dependent behavior
• the objects and corresponding elements supported, including the type of support provided
• the software environment in which conformance is guaranteed
• the reference test environment

If you have retained the Conformance Statement Questionnaire (CSQ) that you completed when you originally certified your product, you may update that file to accurately characterize your modified product, provided that the CSQ template has not been updated. Please check the version number of your CSQ against the latest version on the SIF certification web site to determine if they are the same. If the CSQ has been updated, or if you do not have your original CSQ, you will need to complete a new CSQ, as described earlier in Section 3.2 - Producing a Conformance Statement.

You will need to register for a Product Update on the certification system and get a new CID for your updated product. Once you have a completed CSQ, you should re-run the test suite using the new CID, submit the new results, as described above for initial product registration in Section 3.5. Once the Certification Authority has audited and accepted your submission, it will update your certification record to reflect the updated product. As the duration of a certification is for one year, your product's certification renewal date will be extended to be one year from certification of a product update.

4.2.2 Reduced Feature Versions

A reduced feature version of a certified product is considered a new product for the purpose of certification and is subject to the full testing and certification process described above in Section 3 - Product Registration.

4.2.3 Renaming a Product

If you decide you would like to rename your certified product (as defined in  Section 7.3 - Renamed Products of the SIF Certification Policy), then please contact the Certification Authority including the details of the required change and a written statement to the Certification Authority indicating that there have been no material changes to the certified product. The Certification Authority will change the product name on the Conformance Statement and in the Certification Register and issue a new certificate.

If your product is a submission in progress and has not been submitted for audit to the Certification Authority, then renaming the product can be done using the web-based certification system. Select the product that you wish to rename and the form with the product details including name and version will then presented for you to update. If you have already submitted your Conformance Statement and test results,  please contact the Certification Authority.

4.2.4 Re-badging or OEMing a Certified Product

If you would like to certify a product that is technically identical to a product that has already been certified, select "Re-branded Product" from  the Certified Products Update web page to guide you through this process.

The main difference between a "re-branded" product registration and a new product registration is that no test results are required to be submitted. You will however need to complete all steps described in Section 3 - Product Registration above, except for performing formal testing and checking test results. Also, when you produce your Conformance Statement, you do not need to complete the last section, Extra Information for Testing. Your Conformance Statement must be technically identical to the one for the certified product apart from the supplier and application/agent information.

You are not required to perform formal testing, instead, you will be allowed to reference the test results of the previously certified product. To do this, you will be required to assert that your product is technically identically and you have the product supplier's authorization to use these test results. Upon submission, the Certification Authority will verify that you have this authorization.

If you would prefer to perform testing of your product rather than reference existing test results, you should proceed as with a new product registration.

4.2.5 Product Suites

A product suite is a collection of software products and/or services combined into a single offering, in order to deliver an integrated solution to buyers. The steps required to certify a product suite depend upon whether the individual products within the product suite have been independently certified.

If each product in the product suite is a certified product, and the certification is currently valid, then you will need to register the product suite in order to include it in the Certification Register, though will not need to perform any testing. You may reference the existing test results from the existing certifications. You will need to produce a Conformance Statement that characterizes the capabilities of the product suite. This process is not automated in the certification system, so please contact the Certification Authority to certify a product suite.

If any product in the product suite is not currently a certified product, then you will need to perform formal testing for each product that is not currently certified. In order to perform testing, you will need to complete a CSQ with all the information required to run the test suite (as described above in Section 2.3 - Informal Testing). You will also need to complete a Conformance Statement that characterizes the capabilities of the product suite.

4.2.6 Other Scenarios

In all other scenarios, a product is considered a new product for the purpose of certification and is subject to the full testing and certification process described above in Section 3 - Product Registration.

5. Supporting Processes

5.1 Appeals Process

You may appeal decisions made by SIF or the Certification Authority as stated in Section 10 - Appeals Process of the SIF Certification Policy. Any request for appeal should be sent by electronic mail to sif-cert@opengroup.org . Receipt of such a request will be acknowledged within six business days by the Certification Authority and the appeals process invoked.

6. Certification Checklist

The following checklist is provided to assist with completion of your product registration:

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