British Standards Online

The JIBS BSOL enhancement group met with BSI in June. At that meeting BSI indicated that it was working with a new software company to develop and enhance BSOL and that it hoped that from September it would be able to start a series of releases to enhance the service, especially in the usability area. It was hoped that the enhancements suggested by the JIBS group and others would gradually be rolled out in an iterative manner, with users seeing frequent smaller releases rather than fewer larger releases.
Unfortunately a review of the fundamental architecture of the current database suggests that it may be more difficult than was envisaged to make frequent changes to the system without risking service interruptions. BSI is now reviewing technical options for the delivery of a series of regular releases and in particular is looking at ways that the enhancements to usability can be made.

BSI has promised to keep the group informed of development and consult with us. We are planning to have another formal meeting in January 2009, when we hope there will have been some progress, and we will have a clearer idea of the way that the database interface can be improved.