Overview
ISO/IEC 8571-5:1990 specifies a Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) proforma for the File Transfer, Access and Management (FTAM) family of OSI application-layer standards. Often called the PIGS proforma in the text, this part of ISO/IEC 8571 provides the official template and instructions implementors must complete to declare conformance to ISO/IEC 8571 (FTAM). The proforma is produced in accordance with the conformance-testing guidance of ISO 9646-2, and requires identification details that uniquely tie a protocol implementation to its supplier and system environment.
Key topics and requirements
- Purpose: Provide a formal, structured PICS (Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement) proforma that implementors complete when claiming conformance to FTAM.
- Conformance rules: The proforma must follow ISO/IEC 8571-5 numbering and ordering and comply with guidelines in ISO 9646-2 for testable conformance statements.
- Identification detail: Requires implementor and supplier data, implementation name, platform/OS, contact information and relationship to any system-level conformance statement.
- Proforma structure: Sections cover
- Implementation detail
- General ISO 8571 detail (versions, addenda, defect reports)
- Syntax detail
- Virtual filestore detail
- File protocol detail (PDUs, fields and options)
- Document type detail (abstract syntaxes and file model support)
- Notation and columns: Uses D/I/R columns to indicate defined behavior and implemented support for Defined, Initiator, Responder roles; common entries include Y/N and codes for mandatory/optional/conditional support.
- Completion instructions: Implementors must complete ‘I’ and ‘R’ columns and reference additional supporting documentation where required. Annex A contains the normative PICS proforma for FTAM.
Practical applications and users
Who uses ISO/IEC 8571-5:
- Protocol implementors and vendors - to document exactly which FTAM features and options were implemented.
- Conformance test laboratories and certification bodies - to evaluate and verify FTAM conformance claims against a standardized PICS.
- Procurement teams and system integrators - to compare vendor capabilities and ensure interoperability requirements are met.
- Standards and QA engineers - to produce reproducible, testable evidence of compliance for interoperability testing.
Benefits:
- Ensures clear, testable declarations of FTAM implementation capability.
- Supports interoperability and repeatable conformance testing across vendors and sites.
- Provides a consistent procurement artifact for specifying required FTAM features.
Related standards
- ISO/IEC 8571-1 to -4 (FTAM general introduction, virtual filestore, file service, file protocol)
- ISO 9646-1 / ISO 9646-2 (Conformance testing methodology and abstract test suite guidance)
- ISO 7498 (OSI Basic Reference Model)
- ISO/TR 8509 (OSI service conventions)
Keywords: ISO/IEC 8571-5:1990, FTAM PICS proforma, Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement, PIGS proforma, OSI file transfer access management, ISO 9646-2, conformance testing, interoperability.
