D.5. User Facing Capabilities

344. Definition: User-Facing Capabilities express the requirements for the interaction between end users and all CIS Capabilities, in order to process Information Products in support of Business Processes. User-Facing Capabilities incorporate the User Appliances, as well as the User Applications that run on those appliances.

345. For the purposes of this Volume, only the standards for User Applications need to be cited.

D.5.1. User Applications

346. Definition: User Applications, also known as application software, software applications, applications or apps, are computer software components designed to help a user perform singular or multiple related tasks and provide the logical interface between human and automated activities.

D.5.1.1. Standards

347. To provide federated services the standards listed in Table D.15 should be adhered to.

Table D.15. User Application Standards
ID: Service/Purpose Standards Implementation Guidance
1: Displaying content within web browsers.

  • Mandatory (for legacy): HyperText Markup Language (HTML) 4.01 Specification. W3C Recommendation 24 December 1999.

  • Mandatory (for legacy): Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (Second Edition) XHTML 1.0. A Reformulation of HTML 4 in XML 1.0. W3C Recommendation 26 January 2000, revised 1 August 2002

  • Fading (for legacy): Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 2 (CSS 2.0), W3C Recommendation, May 1998

  • Mandatory (for legacy): Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 2 revision 1 (CSS 2.1), W3C Recommendation, September 2009.

  • Emerging (2014): HyperText Markup Language, Version 5 (HTML 5), W3C Candidate Recommendation, Dec 2012.

  • Emerging (2014): Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Level 3:

    • Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Level 2 revision 1 (including errata) (CSS 2.1), W3C Recommendation, June 2011.

    • CSS Style Attributes, W3C Candidate Recommendation, 12 October 2010

    • Media Queries, W3C Recommendation, 19 June 2012.

    • CSS Namespaces Module, W3C Recommendation, 29 September 2011.

    • Selectors Level 3, W3C Recommendation, 29 September 2011.

    • CSS Color Module Level 3, W3C Recommendation, 07 June 2011.

Browser plug-ins are not covered by a single specification.

Applications must support the following browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer v9.0 and newer, and Mozilla Firefox 12.0 and newer[a]. When a supported browser is not true to the standard, choose to support the browser that is closest to the standard[b].

Some organizations or end-user devices do not allow the use of proprietary extensions such as Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight. Those technologies shall be avoided. Implementers should use open standard based solutions instead (e.g. move to HTML5 / CSS3).

Some AMN members do not allow the use of ActiveX controls in the browser. Browser plug-ins will need to be approved by AMN Change Advisory Board (CAB).

2: Visualize common operational symbology within C4ISR systems in order to convey information about objects in the battlespace.

  • Mandatory: STANAG 2019, Ed.5:2008, Joint SmbologyAPP-6(B)[c]

  • Mandatory: MIL-STD-2525B (w/Change 2), Common Warfighting Symbology, Mar 2007[d]

  • Mandatory: TIDE Transformational Baseline Vers. 3.0, Annex A: NATO Vector Graphics (NVG) v1.5, Allied Command Transformation Specification, December 2009.[e]

  • Fading: NVG 1.4

  • Retired: NVG 0.3

All presentation service shall render tracks, tactical graphics, and MOOTW objects using this standard except in the case where the object being rendered is not covered in the standard. In these exceptional cases, additional symbols shall be defined as extensions of existing symbol standards and must be backwards compatible. These extensions shall be submitted as a request for change within the configuration management process to be considered for inclusion in the next version of the specification.

3: Reliable messaging over XMPP XMPP Clients must implement the following XMPP Extension Protocols (XEP):

  • Mandatory: XEP-0184 - Message Delivery Receipts, March 2011 (whereby the sender of a message can request notification that it has been received by the intended recipient).

  • XEP 0202 - Entity Time, September 2009 (for communicating the local time of an entity)

All XMPP Chat Clients used on the AMN shall implement these two protocol extensions {this section will be enhanced in the next version based on a detailed recently conducted requirements analyzis}.

4: Collaborative generation of spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents Office Open XML:

  • Mandatory: Standard ECMA-376, Ed. 1: December 2006, Office Open XML File Formats.

  • Emerging (2013): ISO/IEC 29500:2012, Information technology -- Document description and processing languages -- Office Open XML File Formats

    • Part 1: Fundamentals and Markup Language Reference.

    • Part 2: Open Packaging Conventions.

    • Part 3: Markup Compatibility and Extensibility.

    • Part 4: Transitional Migration Features.

Open Document Format:

  • Recommended: ISO/IEC 26300:2006, Information technology -- Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) v1.0.

  • Recommended: ISO/IEC 26300:2006/Cor 1:2010.

  • Recommended: ISO/IEC 26300:2006/Cor 2:2011.

  • Recommended: ISO/IEC 26300:2006/Amd 1:2012, Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) v1.1

OASIS Open Document Format ODF 1.0 (ISO/IEC 26300) and Office Open XML (ISO/IEC 29500) are both open document formats for saving and exchanging word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Both formats are XML based but differ in design and scope.

ISO/IEC TR 29166:2011, Information technology -- Document description and processing languages -- Guidelines for translation between ISO/IEC 26300 and ISO/IEC 29500 document formats.

5: Document exchange, storage and archiving

  • Mandatory: ISO 19005-1:2005, Document management -Electronic document file format for long-term preservation –Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1)

  • Emerging (2014): ISO 19005-2:2011, Document management -- Electronic document file format for long-term preservation -- Part 2: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/A-2)

See Operational Record Retention Schedule and AMN JMEI Exit Instructions (Vol3) for further details.
6: Representation of Dates and Times

  • Mandatory: W3C profile of ISO 8601 defined in:

    • Date and Time Formats, W3C Note, 15 September 1997

  • Recommended: Working with Time Zones, W3C Working Group Note, July 2011.

  • Conditional (for military command and control systems):

    • AAP-6:2013, NATO glossary of terms and definitions. Part 2-D-1, date-time group (DTG) format.

See also Table D.6 (ID 1 and 4) for time synchronization within and between systems

When a DTG is expressed in local time, this must use the military time zone designator. For AFG this is D30[f].

7: Internationalization designing, developing content and (web) applications, in a way that ensures it will work well for, or can be easily adapted for, users from any culture, region, or language.

  • Recommended: Internationalization of Web Design and Applications Current Status, http://www.w3.org/standards/ techs/i18nauthoring

  • Recommended: Internationalization of Web Architecture Current Status, http://www.w3.org/standards/ techs/i18nwebarch#w3c_all

  • Recommended: Internationalization of XML Current Status, http://www.w3.org/ standards/techs/i18nxml

  • Recommended: Internationalization of Web Services Current Status, http://www.w3.org/standards /techs/i18nwebofservices

Best practices and tutorials on internationalization can be found at: http://www.w3.org /International/articlelist

[a] FMN: Has raised the minimum support for Mozilla Firefox to v16.0 and newer.

[b] E.g. using http://html5test.com to compare features for HTML5.

[c] FMN: Mandatory: STANAG 2019, Ed.6:2011, Joint SmbologyAPP-6(C)

[d] FMN: Mandatory: MIL-STD-2525C, Common Warfighting Symbology, Nov 2008

[e] FMN: Emerging (2014): TIDE Transformational Baseline Vers. 4.0 - Annex N: NATO Vector Graphics (NVG) v2.0, Allied Command Transformation Specification, February 2013

[f] A mapping of UTC offsets to military time zone designators can be found in the FMN Profile Table 12, which is based one in JC3IEDM V3.1.4/ADatP-3 BL13.1 FFIRN/FUD 1003/1. For notes on implementing timezone designators in military command and control systems please see ID 6 of Table D.10 (User Application Standards) of the FMN Profile.