The Case for Formal Methods in Standards

It is argued that applying formal methods to standards making would result in more accurate, more understandable, and more useful standards. The main benefit seen in using formal methods in a standard's development and expression is improving the standard's quality. In the early stages of standards development, formal methods can result in considerable clarification during the development and expression of the underlying conceptual model for a standard or family of related standards. They can also define precisely the relation among the components of both the standard being developed and other standards. Later in the development process, formal methods can improve a standard's quality during its use by letting it be expressed clearly, unambiguously, and concisely in a way that natural language does not allow. Finally, formal methods can aid standards development at the maintenance stage, for example, by allowing the adequacy of a proposed change to be proved. Guidelines for applying formal methods in the standardization process are provided.