- How do I review the list of certified interoperable products?
- How do I buy certified software?
- Why is the product I am interested in buying not on the current list?
- Why does a product need to repeat a certification test?
- What is the benefit to my company in our chosen product maintaining its interoperability certification?
- How can I ensure that the products I'm using continue to be Drummond Certified to maintain interoperability?
- Why is it important to look for the Drummond Certified or Drummond Tested marks?
- Need assistance in resolving a problem with a certified product?
- What is in the final report for each test and how do I use it?
- What technical standards do you test?
- Wal-Mart told me to come here for AS2 software - what do I do?
1. How do I review the list of certified interoperable products?
Here are the steps to finding and reviewing certified product listings:
- The Drummond Certified Product Listings are divided into which standard is being tested. Go to the Product Listings page.
- Drummond Group certifies products for Drummond Certified, GDSN and Liberty Alliance. Drummond Certified products are listed by the standard tested. Also listed are links to In the Queue products. In the Queue certified products are products that have not yet been certified for interoperability but have completed the mandatory pre-test which is required to enter the next Interoperability test. They are "In the Queue" to enter the next Interoperability test round.
- Click on the chosen standard or organization. For purposes of example, click on AS2.
- What information is important on this test results page?
- This list of products shows the products from this particular test round which exchanged test messages and have been certified interoperable as a group. For example, the "AS2-1Q08" test round means "AS2 Interoperability Test 1st Quarter of 2008".
- Note that each product name is listed as a product with version. That information is important to you when buying your Drummond Certified product.
- Each product also has a company name with a link to the company web address for more buying information.
- Each product may also have tested additional industry test profiles that are described at the bottom of the list. Check to see if this applies to your industry.
- At the top of the page is the Drummond Certified Seal that should be displayed by the software company selling the product. The seal contains the date certified and the standard. Interoperability lists age over time, so this date certified is also important for your buying decision. The more recent the certification, the more likely the software is to be interoperable with products in the field today. Please also note that Drummond Group makes no assurances of interoperability between software product versions which were tested in different test rounds.
- At the bottom of the page, there is a listing of the Final Report. The Final report gives you the full disclosure on what tests were performed and any consensus items that were discovered. For more information, on the final report, please go to....>>>>
- Also, at the bottom of the page is a link to the archives or previous tests and a FAQ listing for certification.
2. How do I buy certified software?
Drummond Group does not sell software products but does provide a list of software products certified for interoperability. You must contact the respective software vendor directly for pricing and product specific questions. Review the steps outlined in FAQ#1 "How do I review the list of certified interoperable products" for tips on how to interpret the product listings.
3. Why is the product I am interested in buying not on the current list?
Participating in Drummond testing by software companies is entirely voluntary. Software companies must voluntarily sign up. If they are not listed, they chose not to participate.
4. Why does a product need to repeat a certification test?
Interop rounds must be repeated to allow new versions of products or new products to be tested with a group of products to prove interoperability to "specific test cases and consensus items of the test plan." Passing an interoperability test round does not guarantee perpetual interoperability. New products and updated versions can break the interoperability among your trading partners.
5. What is the benefit to my company in our chosen product maintaining its interoperability certification?
Given the high costs and hassles of managing interoperability issues with your trading partners, there is great value in your chosen vendor and the vendors of your trading partners maintaining certification through participating in the latest certification event. Interoperability problems are resolved prior to deployment into your systems to allow your company to focus on its core businesses and not debugging interoperability issues.
6. How can I ensure that the products I'm using continue to be Drummond Certified to maintain interoperability?
Some companies require their chosen software vendor to participate in on-going Drummond Certified rounds. It is important to continue to review the status of your chosen vendors' certification as well as communicating with your trading partners on their vendor's certification status. Check the results of the most recent test round and also check the archives which provides past test round results to see how consistently a software company enters their product for certification.
7. Why is it important to look for the Drummond Certified or Drummond Tested marks?
Smart software buyers understand the challenges in selecting software for business to business communication. Will it work when I install it? How will it interface with other software? How difficult is it to set up?
Drummond Group works diligently to assist software buyers in making better decisions. By looking for the Drummond Certified logo or the Drummond Tested logo,
the buyer knows that the software has been certified interoperable with other products.
The Drummond Certified logo is one of the most trusted logos for business to business interoperability in the world.
Having tested hundreds of products from around the globe, Drummond Group is an independent third party software certification company that works to ensure that products are interoperable and conformant to technical standards- a critical piece to ensue that business transactions are safe, secure and working. As a vendor neutral entity, Drummond Group does not sell software that would compete with the products listed; nor do we make recommendations of products from any particular vendor. It is the mission of Drummond Group to build product global interoperability for Internet transactions.
Certification offers you:
- Assurance that the product complies with the standard and is also interoperable with other products in that test round
- The flexibility of choosing among a diverse group of products with varying functionality and price rather than standardizing on one software application
- The ability for large and small businesses to purchase software applications which best suits their needs- everyone does not have to install the same software (and be limited by their price and functions)
- Greatly reduced implementation costs and effort
- Industry profile testing which are additional tests on specific needs for designated industries. Check to see if your industry profile is being tested.
8. Need assistance in resolving a problem with a certified product?
Drummond Group offers assistance in mediating problems with certified products. Drummond Group keeps an extensive audit trail during the interoperability tests of issues and their resolutions with participating vendors. If a problem happens in the field between two certified products from the same test round, please contact us at info@drummondgroup.com. We will do our best to research and find resolution between the products and their respective companies.
*Note, DGI makes no assurances of interoperability between software products-with-version NOT tested in the same test round.
9. What is in the final report for each test and how do I use it?
Each Interoperability certification event completes with a published Final Report. The Final Report is prepared by Drummond Group to communicate more than just the products that were certified. This Final Report provides a list of the interoperability issues which were resolved during interoperability testing. In addition, all previous interoperability issues and consensus items are also compiled and included. These Final Reports are a valuable resource to you if you are encountering problems as they may point you to a resolution or provide you with some guidelines to help you resolve potential setup or connectivity problems. For instance in AS2, you will notice that certificates have been found to cause initial connectivity setup issues. The Final Reports provide descriptive details of what tests were executed during the interoperability test so that you can reference what functionality was or was not tested for interoperability.
10. What technical standards do you test?
For a complete listing of the technical standards tested, please click on the Standards button on the toolbar on the home page. There is a complete listing of certified standards and their related industry test profiles. Each standard has a description with related links to industry organizations.
11. Wal-Mart told me to come here for AS2 software - what do I do?
Drummond Group does not sell software - see FAQ#1 "How do I review the list of certified interoperable products?" for instructions on how to interpret the products listing page. We certify that software products are interoperable. This is critical to Wal-Mart stores and other companies to ensure that products will work together when implemented. Wal-Mart directed you here to review the product listings of certified products.
12. FAQ's about certifications >
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