OFDA TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE SCHEDULES STANDARDS MEETINGS
ALEXANDRIA,
VA - August 15, 2002 - The
OFDA Technology Committee has scheduled public forums at
IIDEX/NeoCon Canada on Sept. 20 and at the OFDA Dealer
Strategies Conference on Oct. 2. The meetings will update
the industry on the Committee’s progress in replacing the
current SIF text standard with a new, open XML (extensible
markup language) standard for the office furniture industry,
OFDAxml. The Committee will also be discussing its first
OFDAxml release, the Working Draft of the OFDAxml Purchase
Order schema.
"The
OFDA Technology Committee is actively seeking industry input
and we invite interested office furniture dealers,
manufacturers and software developers to get involved in the
standards initiative by commenting on the schema at www.ofdaxml.org
or attending one of our meetings," said Mark Duros,
OFDA Director of Technology and Research. "We’ve all
experienced the shortcomings of SIF and know that XML
standards development can result in dramatic productivity
gains and cost-savings for all segments of the industry. Now
is the time to get involved and help make OFDAxml a
reality."
On September
20, from 8 to 9:00 a.m., the OFDA Technology Committee will
host a breakfast forum at IIDEX/NeoCon Canada in Toronto.
"OFDAxml First Look: An Introduction to the Office
Furniture Industry’s New Data Standard" will provide
attendees with an overview of the Committee’s work and the
opportunity to offer comments.
On October 2,
from 10 a.m. to noon, the OFDA Technology Committee will
host an OFDAxml Standards Meeting at the OFDA Dealer
Strategies Conference & Expo in New Orleans. During this
meeting, the Committee will address comments from in
anticipation of advancing the Working Draft of the OFDAxml
Purchase Order schema to Last Call status.
Both sessions
will be moderated by Mark Duros and feature OFDA Technology
Committee members. All office furniture manufacturers,
software providers, dealers and interested parties are
encouraged to attend. For more information, visit www.ofdaxml.org
or call 800.542.6672, ext. 125.
About the
OFDA Technology Committee
Spearheaded
by the Office Furniture Dealers Alliance (OFDA), the OFDA
Technology Committee is comprised of leading office
furniture manufacturers and software developers. The
Committee was formed in December of 1999 with a goal of
creating industry standards to simplify the process of
transmitting both graphical and non-graphical data across
different computer platforms and software programs.
Committee
member companies include: Allsteel Inc.; Asset Systems Inc.;
CAP; Data One, Inc.; DDMS; The Global Group; Haworth; Herman
Miller, Inc.; The HON Company; Kimball Office Group; Knoll;
Midnight Oil; ProjectMatrix; Steelcase, Inc.; Team Systems,
LLC; and 20-20 GIZA, Inc.
The OFDA
Technology Committee has four working subcommittees: Catalog
Data, Project Data, Graphics and Research. In addition to
the Purchase Order Schema, the committee is currently
developing a Catalog Data Schema for future release.
For more
information on the OFDA Technology Committee, please visit www.ofdaxml.org
or contact Mark Duros, OFDA Director of Technology and
Research, at mduros@ofdanet.org.
The OFDA is a division of the Independent Office Products
& Furniture Dealers Association. |
