SSTC/Focus 12 June 2001 telecon - Conformance Group Status

Hi,

	Here is a very preliminary cut at the conformance clause. Would like to get
a sanity check feedback.

	I really think the conformance clause and the conformance nomenclature
should be very simple as the readers of those would be business and other
non-technical users. So the clause would not have the dazzle of the other
sections :-(

	In addition to the conformance clause (which would be part of the
specification) we would have a SAML conformance program document and
possibly a SAML certification document. Bob Griffin is working on both -
Bob, please feel free to add your comments on the state of those docs.

	Due to legal responsibilities, the certification is an issue. From our con
calls and my (e-mail) talks with Karl, we could provide conformance
guidelines, develop documents describing the tests and even write test code.
But we might not be able to do the actual certification. A related issue is
the interoperability - conformance even though necessary, is not a
sufficient condition for interoperability. Naturally these issues would be
dealt with in the (separate) conformance program document while keeping the
conformance clause (in the specification) as simple as possible.

	I would like to get ideas, comments, wisdom, ... on these issues.

	cheers