Standards Approval Criteria

There are three types of proposal that can be submitted for approval by the SSRB:

		Addition of a Standard or Convention;
		Deletion of a Standard or Convention; or
		Modification of a Standard or Convention.

In order for a Standard or Convention proposal to qualify for inclusion in the Best Practice Spreadsheet Modelling Standards, the Spreadsheet Standards Review Board ("SSRB") focuses on eight fundamental criteria. In order to be approved by the SSRB the Standard or Convention proposal must:

1. be a methodology or approach for developing, maintaining or using spreadsheets;
• In order to be a Standard or Convention, the proposal under consideration must be a "methodology or approach", and it must be such for the purposes of "developing, maintaining or using spreadsheets". This ensures that proposals that are unrelated to best practice spreadsheet modelling are not included in the Standards.
2. have universal applicability;
   • When it is relevant, a Standard or Convention must be capable of being applied to every Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (i.e. universally applicable)
3. address how to model (not what to model);
   • All Standards and Conventions must be universally applicable methodologies or approaches to spreadsheet development, maintenance and use. Hence, the methodologies or approaches that are adopted to develop, maintain or use specific spreadsheet content will not be considered to be Standards or Conventions.
4. be in the interests of improving communication between model developers and model
   users;
   • This criteria is directed at ensuring that the Standards are developed in the interest of improving communication, rather than reducing spreadsheet development time. This is due to the imperative that the Standards articulate best practices in order to encourage the spreadsheet market to develop the appropriate tools to assist them with implementing the Standards.
5. reduce the likelihood of errors or mistakes in spreadsheets;
   • One of the primary objectives of the Standards is to encourage practices that reduce the likelihood of errors occurring in the development, maintenance or use of spreadsheets. As such, it is important that new Standards seek to reduce or at least not increase the likelihood of errors in spreadsheets.
6. increase spreadsheet transparency and user-friendliness for model users;
   • By increasing transparency and user-friendliness, the ultimate end-users of spreadsheets can achieve their goals in a more efficient, clear and logical manner.
7. be consistent with the definitions of words and terms contained in the Standards; and
   • There is an extensive list of definitions for words and terms used within the Standards and Conventions that must be read in conjunction with the Standards and Conventions. As such, any new Standard must be written such that it is consistent with the definitions contained within the existing Standards.
8. be the best practice that is known, where "best practice" is defined as "a set of operations achieving world class results in quality, flexibility, timeliness, cost and competitiveness, especially from the cooperation of model developers and model users";
   • The methodology or approach must be generally accepted as being the best practice that is available or known at any point in time. In certain circumstances, particularly where a methodology or approach involves the inclusion of aesthetics, there may be more than one "best practice". In these circumstances a Convention may be established.