Seeking Out Quality in the Best Practice Marketplace

Since they were first created by the UK government, ITIL and PRINCE2 have grown significantly in appeal and value. Such success was not anticipated – this was simply guidance aimed at helping the public sector deliver their projects and IT service management activities more effectively and efficiently. However, seeing the potential for achieving significant business benefits, the private sector quickly began to adopt the guidance too.

Demand for products and services that support OGC's Best Practice has driven the development of a global commercial marketplace. For consumers, this brings the benefit of choice - but with a sting in its tail. How do you know that you are investing in quality?

For OGC, as owners of the guidance, it brings the responsibility to protect both its products and its customers from poor quality substitutes.

Guardians of quality

OGC draws upon the valuable resources available through its official partnership arrangements. TSO (The Stationery Office) is OGC's official publisher and The APM Group Ltd (APMG) provides official accreditation services.

Together they have created Best Management Practice, as the official home of OGC's Best Practice guidance. The partners are committed to supporting the very best products and services in the marketplace. Innovation by third parties is encouraged and promoted through the provision of endorsement marks and initiatives such as APMG's software tools accreditation service.

This gives users the greatest opportunity to successfully introduce OGC's guidance into their own organisations.

What to look for

OGC has introduced this swirl symbol as a mark of quality. It can only be used by OGC's official partners (TSO and APMG) and it is used to identify official publications, accredited training providers and examination institutes, which have all been through a rigorous review process. The swirl symbol is also used by the partners when working in association with recognised user groups and forums.

You should also look for this endorsement mark, which denotes a quality non-official product or service. OGC and its partners have introduced this scheme to encourage the development of innovative, high quality products by third parties. This provides customers and users of Best Practice with a wide choice of easily identified, quality products.

For suppliers of products and services that support OGC's Best Practice, a simple route to achieving this quality mark has been created. This link will take you to details of how to apply for the mark so that you can soon enjoy the benefits of providing an officially endorsed product.

Poor quality?

Reducing the number of poor quality, unauthorised products remains a priority for OGC and its partners. The Best Practice products are protected by Crown Copyright and Trade Mark regulations, and as such require licences for their re-use. The licence application process provides an opportunity to monitor and control the quality of many products.

But what about the suppliers who don't even apply?

Legal action will be taken! As one company in Netherlands found out to its cost earlier this year. A court found that they had abused OGC's Trade Marks in attempting to benefit from their successful reputation by using improper means.

Let that be a lesson to all!