There are three categories of products (descriptions below):

1. Products that have never been tested by DGI undergo testing in the following order:
   1. AS2 In-the-Queue (ITQ)
   2. InSitu® Enable follows.
   3. Finally, the participant enters AS2 Interoperability Testing.
2. Products that have completed AS2 Interoperability Testing in the past but have not participated in the most recent round undergo testing in the following order:
   1. AS2 In-the-Queue (ITQ)
   2. AS2 Interoperability Testing. (note: must be InSitu® enabled)
3. Products that participated in the most recent AS2 Interop test:
   1. May directly join the upcoming AS2 Interoperability round. This assumes that there were no major code upgrades implemented between tests.
   2. If there were major code changes, DGI recommends joining AS2 In-the-Queue (ITQ).

AS2 Interoperability Test. The AS2 standard continues to be one of the most widely adopted messaging standards in the world. With retailers, consumer products goods, hard-lines, insurance, financial services, petroleum and government industries (to name a few) adopting AS2, the critical financial information that flows over AS2 messaging represents billions of dollars each year. To ensure that important transactional information is received securely, Drummond Certified full matrix interoperability certification is mission critical. There are typically some 20-30 products from around the globe participating in each round of testing, with some 40,000 test cases performed. The test is run twice per year. Participation in the testing is voluntary.

AS2 In-The-Queue (ITQ) Self-Paced is a required debug and preparation round in which participant will be testing against two products hosted in the Drummond Group Inc. (DGI) test lab. These products have passed the most recent AS2 Interoperability round. This test prepares the participant for the upcoming Interop and, once completed, can inform customers that ITQ testing is completed and "In-the-Queue for the AS2 Interop" by being listed on the Drummond Group website. These two test lab products serve as reference products administered by DGI to help debug your product. The participant will run through the entire test plan which is used in the upcoming Interoperability test round and must successfully send and receive messages with those two products in order to pass.

InSitu®-Enable. Drummond Group's AS2 test runs some 40,000 test cases per test. Because this test load greatly impacts the tester, we developed a patented test automation tool in 2002 called InSitu®. InSitu automation greatly reduces the effort and staffing time for participants. InSitu is utilized in the AS2 Self paced program and also during the Interop. It is mandatory that your product become InSitu enabled prior to entering the AS2 Interop.

2. My company has completed an Interop before, but not in the last round. How do I re-enter the testing?

Your product will have to undergo In-the-Queue (ITQ) Return testing before it can re-enter the AS2 Interop Certification and it must also be InSitu® enabled (described in #1). Drummond Group has learned over the years that products that have not consistently tested generally have a higher likelihood of failure without pre-testing when re-entering the AS2 Interop. Consistent testing ensures your product's success, allows the AS2 Interop to stay on schedule, and gives your testers time to catch up on the lessons learned from the last AS2 Interop before entering the new AS2 Interop.

3. What are optional profiles and what is the process for getting involved?

Optional Test Profiles are value added functionality built upon an existing technical standard because certain industries have additional requirements they need added to the AS2 standard and, therefore, to the AS2 Interoperability Test. The AS2 Optional Test Profiles are being added in stages to the AS2 standard or listed as "Informational Status" to the standard within IETF. Participation in these test profiles is optional. For complete info on each AS2 optional profile, please click here. To start involvement in Optional Profiles, the participant will have to undergo the In the Queue (ITQ) testing for the selected profile which takes place in the summer each year. The deadline to register for new profiles and related ITQ testing is May 29th each year. Participants will then test and be certified for the profile in the 3Q AS2 Interoperability test and be listed for that profile on the AS2 test results page.

4. What is QA testing?

The purpose of AS2-QA is to provide participants with additional testing time prior to the start of the AS2-Interop. The AS2-QA testing is exactly the same as the AS2 Interop testing and uses InSitu® to manage the test execution. AS2 QA lasts about three weeks and precedes each AS2 Interop. AS2-QA is highly recommended for participants who are returning with an updated version of the product previously certified, or for participants that are completely new to AS2 Interop certification. Each AS2-QA test typically has 80% to 90% of the participants that will be involved in subsequent AS2 Interop. Therefore, participants signed up for AS2-QA have an additional three weeks to debug and troubleshoot their products and resolve their AS2 Interop issues before entering AS2 Interop. Issues which are not resolved during AS2 QA are resolved during AS2 Interop once it begins. Participating in AS2-QA gives the participant the best chance of completing AS2 Interop successfully.

5. Why is it important to bring a previous or backward version to testing? What are the rules for doing this?

Drummond Group Inc. is committed to achieving the highest level of interoperability through its certification programs and having as many deployed products as possible in the field interop testing together helps us achieve that goal. Certifying backward versions also helps the users with their interoperability issues. At this writing, certifying all previously certified versions of your AS2 product with your current version registration is free. There are some restrictions that apply, so please speak with the DGI Testing Coordinator for more info. We encourage all participants to take advantage of this extremely valuable opportunity to create an interoperability testing environment