ANSI: Improved Standards Access Through National Standards Search Engine

New version of NSSN will cut down on unintentionally duplicating aspects of previously existing standards

Published: Monday, July 30, 2012 - 11:41

(ANSI: Washington, D.C.) -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has released a workshop report on the status of the redevelopment of NSSN, a National Resource for Global Standards, is a search engine for standards-related information from a wide range of developers. The report focuses on efforts to rework NSSN to make it easier for stakeholders and standards-developing organizations to have access to information that may help to avoid creating conflicting or duplicative standards. The institute is undertaking this work with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The report details the purpose, scope, recommendations, and next steps identified during ANSI’s Database Design Verification Workshop, which was held March 21, 2012, in Arlington, Virginia. Representatives from government, industry, standards-developing organizations, conformity assessment bodies, and other stakeholders participating in person and via webinar discussed possible enhancements to NSSN that would increase awareness of standards in various stages of development, including approved American National Standards (ANS) and others. Suggestions included providing a key word search option and initiating a marketing outreach to standards-developing organizations and consortia intended to bolster their data contributions to NSSN. Participants and members of the broader ANSI constituency were asked to help that effort by providing contact information to individuals with access to relevant data.

The workshop built on information gathered at a May 2011 workshop, Standards Wars: Myth or Reality? This workshop examined issues posed by competing and duplicative standards, and included discussion of NSSN as a tool to reduce undesirable duplication. An additional workshop addressing the implementation of a new version of NSSN is expected to be held in the coming months.

When completed, the new version of NSSN is expected to make it easier for stakeholders and standards-developing organizations to effectively obtain information about standards in similar stages of development as well as existing standards, potentially cutting down on new standards that unintentionally duplicate aspects of previously existing standards.

The workshop report and related workshop documents are available here.

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The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system, serving the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).