Document formats and the value of choice in healthcare
Recently, public policymakers have begun to look at technology issues that impact how government works and serves citizens via improved e-government systems. Policymakers are focused on ensuring the effective use of technology, including creating, using, and archiving government documents.
“An ODF preference or procurement mandate would also drive up governments’ costs and, more broadly, put the brakes on competition and innovation in the IT eco-system.”
Since governments need different technologies to accomplish various tasks (and because they are already faced with the challenges associated with the deployment of legacy systems from multiple vendors), it is important to foster innovation and choice through neutral and competitive procurement policies that do not exclude vendors from the process.
Unfortunately, a minority of voices are arguing that policymakers should lock in a single file format standard, called Open Document Format or ODF. However, there are many choices among file format standards, and limiting the choice to ODF would impede the ability of governments to effectively serve their citizens, to pick the best technology for a specific need, and to manage archived documents. An ODF preference or procurement mandate would also drive up governments’ costs and, more broadly, put the brakes on competition and innovation in the IT eco-system.
The value of choice
While ODF is used by some applications, a more robust open standard called “Office Open XML File Formats (ECMA-376)” is now available. This standard was developed in an Ecma International Technical Committee, a widely respected international open standards organisation, and was approved by Ecma (with an overwhelming vote of 20-1) as an international open standard last year. ECMA-376 is now going through the “Fast-Track” process for additional approval by the International Organisation for Standardisation / International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC); that process should be completed this year.
“Office Open XML is optimised to achieve backward compatibility with billions of existing documents, helping to preserve customers’ investments and meet their archival needs.”
Why support Office Open XML format (ECMA-376)?
Office Open XML is optimised to achieve backward compatibility with billions of existing documents, helping to preserve customers’ investments and meet their archival needs. By contrast, ODF is a narrower file format that was only designed to reflect the information created by one application (OpenOffice) and thus focuses on more limited functionality suitable for simpler applications.
Below are some of the advantages of using Office Open XML:
- Includes financial formulas for spreadsheets, which ODF now lacks;
- Office Open XML delivers interoperability, is platform and application neutral, and is supported by Novell’s OpenOffice and will be supported by Corel’s WordPerfect offerings;
- Enables data to be categorised in a custom way for easier searching;
- Accommodates multiple languages;
- Allows data from other systems e.g., healthcare systems and finance records to be easily incorporated and to be updated in real-time. These functions are not currently supported by ODF;
- Works with file format translators such as the Open XML-ODF Translator to translate documents saved in Office Open XML File Formats to ODF, and vice versa;
- Supports technologies that help computer users with disabilities.
Procurement preferences or mandates for file formats disserve governments and their constituents
“Government would not mandate a single vehicle for all of its diverse needs: heavy trucks, snowploughs, passenger vehicles, buses, and so on all play different necessary roles in government services.”
Should policymakers, then, create a preference for ECMA-376? The answer is no. Government would not mandate a single vehicle for all of its diverse needs: heavy trucks, snowploughs, passenger vehicles, buses, and so on all play different necessary roles in government services.
The same is true when it comes to file formats: the reality is that many file formats exist to satisfy the incredible diversity of needs in software applications. Some document formats are optimised to present a fixed representation of information so that it absolutely cannot be changed. Editable document formats are designed to be to very intuitive to use. Other formats, such as spreadsheets or page layout templates, are designed to suit the specific needs of software applications and systems.
Since each of these features can be required depending on specific project objectives, locking in a single file format standard simply makes no sense.
Having the freedom choose overlapping and even competing file format standards best enables governments to meet their current and future needs, while ensuring the efficient use of government resources.
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