Standards Group Compiling Compliance Info

The Object Management Group (OMG) and the OMG Regulatory Compliance Alliance (ORCA) today issued a call for participation for an open database project focused on global regulations called the Global Regulatory Information Database (Compliance GRID).

The goal of this project is to provide the de facto compliance reference guide for global IT managers. The Compliance GRID will be searchable by vertical market and geography, so a user will be able to determine which rules apply to their firm based on those attributes.

The Compliance GRID will function as a compliance reference guide for global IT and compliance managers and consist of contributed information covering more than 20 different data points for each regulation. It is envisioned that that the guide will help identify the relevant laws for an organization's geographic operating markets and to deal with inconsistencies and conflicts. Once the database is populated, any individual or company will be able search the Compliance GRID free-of-charge after registering.

A team of regulatory compliance experts will vet all submissions. Contributors will be acknowledged in the Compliance GRID and will be invited to attend a networking dinner reception during OMG's Technical Meeting in June 2006 in Boston.

"We will be developing the Compliance GRID in much the same fashion as the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, which continues to gather definitions and usage of words from a global team of volunteers," said Adrian Bowles, Program Director, Regulatory Compliance at OMG. "For firms with significant IT compliance requirements, collaborating with peer organizations via ORCA to develop a world class resource is far less expensive and time consuming than attempting to monitor and manage this information alone."

OMG and ORCA invite any person or organization with knowledge of a compliance rule/regulation to submit their information for inclusion in the database. Contributors are encouraged to fill out an online form available on the ORCA/OMG web site.

In addition to seeking submissions of compliance rules/regulations, ORCA is also seeking contributions to the profiles it is developing on the regulatory climate in its initial country targets.