This burden costs the recipients both the time needed to convert non-standard documents and the money necessary to buy what otherwise would be unnecessary conversion software licenses. In the future, please ensure that all documents prepared by your office for dissemination within NOAA comply with the Word Perfect 6.1 format standard. Please note that the new computers that were installed about a year ago in the Staff Offices came with the Microsoft Office95 suite. There are no plans to either maintain or upgrade this software. Standards Andrew Moxam directed me to ensure that staff throughout OFA are aware of OFA's IT standards.
Standards only have value when they are effectively implemented throughout an organization.
NOAA and OFA have been able to reach consensus in certain areas and NOAA-wide standards have been established. In other cases, OFA-specific standards have been established. Standards have not been established for everything. Valid reasons often exist for not having a standard. A list of existing IT standards which should be in use throughout OFA is attached.