Open Protocols: OCRS & OAP
OCRS (Open Completion and Readiness Standard) and OAP (Outcome Assurance Protocol) — published by ICxA so software vendors can build to one shared, industry-wide definition of readiness and outcome assurance, the same standard for “good,” on every project.
A Common Standard for What “Good” Looks Like
Every commissioning, readiness, and assurance software vendor tends to define “ready” or “complete” differently. That makes it hard to compare results across vendors, across projects, or across a portfolio — even when everyone is doing good work.
OCRS and OAP give vendors a shared, ICxA-authored contract to build against instead of a proprietary one. Software that implements these protocols is structured around the same requirements, evidence, dependencies, and controlled gates as every other implementation — so results are consistent and comparable, project to project.
Both protocols are Open-SourceOpen-source for developers to read, test, and experiment with freely. Commercial use of the protocols in a product requires ICxA Corporate Membership (Strategic tier or higher, from US$2,500/year). See membership options · Join Strategic Membership and published in full: specifications, JSON Schemas, reference implementations, and conformance suites are on GitHub today for any vendor or project team to download, run, and experiment with.
How OCRS and OAP Connect
A readiness output from OCRS may be referenced as evidence within OAP — it is never, by itself, an authorization.
Why a Shared Protocol Matters
Standardization is the point: a single, ICxA-defined contract for readiness and outcome assurance that any vendor can build to.
- Every vendor defines “ready” or “complete” on its own terms
- Readiness and outcome data locked in proprietary formats
- Results aren't comparable across vendors, projects, or portfolios
- Owners re-validate each vendor's evidence from scratch
- One ICxA-authored schema defines what “good” means
- Machine-readable JSON packages any toolchain can read
- Consistent, auditable results across every implementation
- Evidence structured the same way, project to project
The Protocols
Both protocols are versioned, openly published, and independent of any single vendor’s tooling.
OCRS
v0.1 · Published Open-SourceOpen-source for developers to read, test, and experiment with freely. Commercial use of the protocols in a product requires ICxA Corporate Membership (Strategic tier or higher, from US$2,500/year). See membership options · Join Strategic MembershipA machine-readable protocol linking readiness assertions to requirements, evidence, dependencies, deficiencies, and controlled gates — not a percentage-complete score.
What it provides
- Package manifest with profiles, inventory, and qualifications
- SHA-256 content integrity verification
- Semantic validation of references, versions, and dependencies
- Inspectable, explanation-tree evaluator
- Reference CW-101 package with ready / not-ready scenarios
OAP
v0.1 · Published Open-SourceOpen-source for developers to read, test, and experiment with freely. Commercial use of the protocols in a product requires ICxA Corporate Membership (Strategic tier or higher, from US$2,500/year). See membership options · Join Strategic MembershipAn independently implementable protocol for recording evidence submission, independent audit, director determination, and human authorization — without automating human judgment.
What it provides
- Structured evidence-package submission
- Independent Outcome Auditor evaluation record
- Outcome Director determination & residual-risk acceptance
- Structure, integrity, authority & sequencing validation
- Human Outcome Authorization — by design, never automated
Both protocols are published in full and open for anyone to download, test, and experiment with today. Publicly stating that your software is built to, or aligned with, the ICxA OCRS / OAP protocols is reserved for ICxA Corporate Members (Strategic tier or higher, from US$2,500/year).
How Projects and Software Benefit
Teams building commissioning, readiness, or assurance tooling can adopt OCRS and OAP as a shared, reviewable contract rather than building a proprietary one from scratch.
Building Commissioning, Readiness, or Assurance Software?
Download the specifications and start testing against OCRS and OAP today — no membership required. When you're ready to publicly state that your software is built to the ICxA standard, that claim is reserved for ICxA Corporate Members (Strategic tier or higher, from US$2,500/year).