This document specifies a recommended procedure for the development of specifications for applications of digital postage marks (DPMs) – i.e. applications linked to the use of digital printing and image data capture technologies in the postal industry, most particularly for the evidencing of postage accounting and/or payment. It is not intended to prescribe or to recommend any particular architecture or design for such applications, only to specify the process through which such an architecture or design should be developed.
NOTE 1 For this reason, the standard includes both normative and informative content. Clauses 1 to 5 and Annex A are normative, whilst the remaining annexes are informative. Non-normative (informative) clauses are indicated as such in the heading.
The process described is based on a cyclic model, involving business planning; systems analysis; security analysis and detailed DPM design.
The defined process is a recommended one only and DPM applications designers are not obligated to follow it. However, its use is intended to ensure both that all relevant aspects are taken into account in the design process and that the resulting specifications have a degree of commonality of structure which make them comparable with similar specifications produced by other parties. It is hoped that this will make them more easily intelligible, and less open to ambiguity, for implementers.