Standards Cloud FAQ

General

How does Standards Cloud change standard adoption publishing?

There are many ways to put together an ISO standard adoption manually, most of which involve wrapping ISO’s existing content with national front and back matter.

Manually rekeying (or copying/pasting) the text of an ISO standard for use as a national adoption is time-consuming and error-prone. Wrapping an ISO PDF with your national content to create a new PDF can result in myriad issues, including inconsistent formatting, incorrect page numbering, and loss of metadata.

With the click of a button, Standards Cloud wraps ISO XML with your organisation’s custom front and back matter to create a seamless national standard ready for distribution in under an hour!

Standards Cloud is the quickest and easiest way to create consistent, professional-looking ISO adoptions that your customers will be happy to pay for.

Is this the same system that ISO uses to publish standards?

Standards Cloud is powered by Typefi, the world’s leading automated standards publishing platform. The ISO has been using Typefi to produce global standards since 2010.

Standards Cloud is a greatly simplified, web-based version of Typefi designed specifically for adopting existing standards.

For more information on Typefi’s full-featured standards publishing solutions, visit the Typefi website.

Eligibility and pricing

Who can use Standards Cloud? 

Standards Cloud is currently available to all ISO member organisations.

How much does it cost?

Creating your first 50 ISO adoptions with Standards Cloud is completely free of charge. There is no expiry on the free package, which includes:

• A custom template for your standards adoptions, created by Typefi’s Professional Services team based on samples you provide;
• Up to 10 custom front and back matter sections, including covers;
• Training for your organisation’s Standards Cloud administrator;
• Direct access to the core technology and source XML that ISO uses to publish its international standards;
• Comprehensive user documentation and forum-based support.

How many standard adoptions can I produce with Standards Cloud?

As many as you like!

If you exceed 50 adoptions, you may wish to upgrade to a paid Standards Cloud plan, or talk to us about moving to a full-featured Typefi solution for standards publishing.

How do I register for Standards Cloud?

Visit typefi.com/standards-cloud to register.

How long will it take to produce our first adoption after we sign up?

Once you’ve registered for Standards Cloud, we’ll set up your organisation’s administrator and request a sample ISO adoption that we will use to create your custom adoption template.

We’ll train your administrator on setting up the adoption process, creating and managing regular users, customising the user interface (UI), and defining national metadata fields.

The transition period while our team is automating every aspect of your standard adoption workflow is usually 3-4 weeks.

Once your template is finalised, publishing is direct and effortless, allowing you to create high quality, consistent standard adoptions in as little as a few minutes.

Is Standards Cloud right for my organisation?

Talk to us if you’re not sure! We’ll work with you to understand your publishing needs and determine if Standards Cloud is the right fit. 

How Standards Cloud works

Which inputs does Standards Cloud support?

Standards Cloud uses the following input to create your standard adoptions:

• ISO ZIP file (including XML and images) that you upload to Standards Cloud;
• National body metadata that you enter via pre-defined fields in Standards Cloud’s web-based interface;
• Custom content that you enter via pre-defined template sections in Standards Cloud’s web-based interface. 

What is national body metadata?

In simple terms, metadata is data that describes other data.

ISO standards are created using the ISO Standards Tag Set (ISOSTS), an XML schema that defines the metadata structure for all ISO standards.

Metadata often includes information which is used more than once within a publication, such as the title, organisation name, or the ISO standard number. Metadata is also an important component in aiding discoverability and creating accessible publications.

The ISOSTS contains a list of national body metadata that ISO members may wish to include in an ISO standard adoption. Standards Cloud contains these metadata fields by default; however, your organisation’s administrator can customise this list via the metadata master page.

Which output formats can I produce with Standards Cloud?

PDF is the default output for Standards Cloud. We can customise your output options to produce multiple PDFs tailored specifically to web and/or print publishing.

I don’t know anything about XML. Can I still use Standards Cloud?

Yes! All you need to do is upload the ISO ZIP file for the standard you wish to adopt, enter any custom content into pre-defined fields in Standards Cloud, and click Publish. Standards Cloud will do the rest.

I don’t know anything about design and layout. Can I still use Standards Cloud?

Yes! Standards Cloud uses Adobe InDesign to automatically lay out your standard adoptions, but it all happens behind the scenes.

We’ll work with you to develop a custom template. Every time you click Publish, Standards Cloud will use the template to rapidly lay out your standard adoption and return a completed PDF to you.

Can I customise how my standard adoptions look and what information is included?

The free Standards Cloud package includes one custom template for your standard adoptions, created by Typefi’s Professional Services team based on samples you provide.

The template can contain up to 10 custom front and back matter sections. This includes front and back covers, and any other sections you may wish to incorporate into your adoptions, such as a foreword, preface, copyright information, disclaimers, and so on⁠.

If you require greater customisation options, please contact us to discuss your needs.

Does Standards Cloud support MathML?

Currently, mathematical equations in ISO standards are rendered graphically, so Standards Cloud will render any math in the ISO XML package the same way. This will change when ISO introduces MathML to its workflow. 

Some basic formatting functions are available for content entered into custom template sections, including bold, italic, Heading 1, numbered lists, bulleted lists, and hyperlinks.

All national metadata fields in the Standards Cloud user interface accept plain text only. 

Is Standards Cloud available in languages other than English?

Your administrator can choose to display Standards Cloud's user interface in English, Spanish, or French.

The languages in which you can publish ISO content are defined by the XML provided by ISO in their ZIP files.

Can I use Standards Cloud to publish adoptions from other standards development bodies?

Currently, Standards Cloud only supports ISO adoptions.

Please let us know if you’re adopting standards from organisations other than ISO, as your input will inform our plans for future Standards Cloud development.

Support

How does Standards Cloud support work?

Each organisation will nominate an administrator, who will be the primary point of contact for all queries related to Standards Cloud. The organisation administrator will have:

• Access to a range of administrative functions within Standards Cloud, including managing user permissions, customising the user interface (UI), and setting up national metadata fields;
• Access to the Typefi FTP for provision of sample files and templates;
• The ability to sign in to Typefi Support to comment on support articles and community forums, and to submit support tickets.

The Standards Cloud support documentation at Typefi Support is available to everyone, but any support requests must come from your organisation's Standards Cloud administrator. 

If you need to transfer the Standards Cloud administrator function to a different person within your organisation, please let us know.