The UK government on 7 September published recommendations and guidelines on the use and implementation of ODF, the Open Document Format. The compendium is authoritative, from its general introduction to the recommendations on procurement, a guide on integration of ODF with enterprise software, software that allows collaborating on documents and a review of ODF’s change tracking features.

Liam Maxwell, the UK government CIO, calls the collection a “great piece of work”.

“The guidance gives general information on the standard, as well as more detailed information for chief technology officers and government procurement officers”, the government writes in its announcement.

On the website, the UK government explains that ODF (version 1.2) was selected as government standard because it is compatible with a wide range of software and because it is a reliable long-term solution for storing and accessing information. ODF has been an international standard for editable office documents since 2005. The standard has been implemented on nearly all operating systems for desktops, laptops, mobile phones and tablets.

ODF Plugfest

The decision to transition to ODF was announced in July 2014. The compendium will help UK public administrations with the conversion.

In December, the UK government hosted the 10th ODF Plugfest, where ODF developers present their latest innovations and suppliers can test document interoperability. The 11th ODF Plugfest will take on 15 and 16 September in The Hague (The Netherlands). The event is hosted by Logius and Forum Standaardisatie, both part of the country’s ministry of the Interior.

More information:

Open Document Format guidance for UK government