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The IMS GLC recommended application profiling approach
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The IMS GLC recommended application profiling approach

In order to facilitate true interoperability, IMS/GLC is designating a specific approach to developing profiles that will ensure the highest degree of usability across communities. Profiles developed using this approach will be designated as "IMS/GLC Validated". IMS/GLC Validated signifies that this profile has followed the process designated by IMS/GLC, has been validated by IMS/GLC as a valid profile, and therefore should be readily usable by other IMS community members. For profiles submitted by IMS/GLC Members, there will be a set of review steps, approved by the IMS/GLC Technical Advisory Board, that if achieved will earn the designation of "IMS/GLC Accredited". IMS/GLC Accredited designates that adherence to this profile should enable successful interoperability within a designated community.

It is important to note that the IMS/GLC Accredited designation does not address certification of conformance. Development of conformance programs is costly and generally reserved for IMS/GLC profiles that will serve the needs across communities, such as the profiles that make up the IMS/GLC Common Cartridge standard. Certification of conformance by IMS/GLC is reserved for these, high volume, cross-community standards. IMS/GLC Accredited is the next best designation, and, if an IMS/GLC Accredited profile becomes very successful and widely used it may become a candidate for development of a conformance certification.

Steps in Creating the Profile
IMS/GLC has published its Application Profiling Guidelines [APG, 05a], [APG, 05b] and these are available at: http://www.imsglobal.org/ap/index.html (an overview of these documents is given in Appendix A). All authors of a Profile should read these documents. The steps in creating a Profile are (these are shown schematically in Figure 2.2):

1. Identify the base XML Schema Definition (XSD);
2. Download the IMS Approved versions of the SchemaProf Tool ;
3. Read the IMS GLC Specification Adoption Note about Profiles;
4. Use the SchemaProf tool to create the Application Profile (this is an XML file), and;
5. Use the Schema Transform Tool in the SchemaProf tool to combine the Application Profile with the Base XSD to create the new Profiled XSD;
6. A meta-data description of the Profiled XSD is now created. This is an instance of the IEEE Learning Object Meta-data standard [LOM, 02], [LOM, 05];
7. The Profile files should now submitted to IMS GLC via the IMS Profile Registry web-site. The set of files that must be supplied are:
   1. The Application Profile XML file (in Figure 2.2 this is the file APP_Profile.xml)
   2. The Profiled XSD (in Figure 2.2 this is the file Profile.xsd)
   3. The Profile Meta-data instance file (in Figure 2.2 this is the file ProfileMetadata.xml).
   4. * IMS GLC Contributing Members may submit a zip file.