D.2. Change Management

342. Applying existing NATO standards or - in those areas where NATO STANAGS do not yet exist - International Standards are key for achieving interoperability in a federated environment. The dynamic nature of ISAF operations results in unforeseen information exchange requirements within and across ISAF. This might require the development and design of new data and metadata exchange formats which are not part of current STANAGs and/or Standards. Those ad-hoc formats shall be developed in-line with existing NATO policies and guidelines so that they can be quickly transformed into standards (e.g. STANAGS) by the appropriate NATO Bodies based on the NATO Bi-SC Data Strategy, the NATO NNEC Data Strategy, and when appropriate, based on the APP-15 process.The AMN Profile is being maintained by the AMN Architecture Working Group; it is a living document and is expected to be updated every six months.

343. ADatP-34 defines four stages within the life-cycle of a standard: emerging, mandatory, fading and retired; in those situations where multiple stages are mentioned the AMN Profile recommends dates by which the transition to the next stage is to be completed by all AMN members. If a nation decides to implement emerging standards it is her responsibility to maintain backwards compatibility to the mandatory standard.

344. Any discrepancies discovered between different elements of this Profile, shall be resolved through a change proposal prepared by the responsible NATO body or an AMN member nation.

345. AMN Profile change requests can only be submitted by NATO civil or military bodies or AMN member nations.

346. The AMN Architecture Working Group will review updates to ADatP-34, the ISAF Baseline Architecture and AMN Profile change proposals and if required will produce a new version of the AMN Profile. The AMN profile of the NISP is reviewed by the AMN Architecture Working Group (AWG) on a quarterly basis and requests for formal adoption by the IP CaT are made by the AWG on a six monthly basis.