Custom ODF integration development
ODF, the Open Document Format, is the open standard for text documents, spreadsheets and presentations, defined as ISO/IEC 26300. For the Dutch government, ODF is on the Forum Standaardisatie comply-or-explain list. Appfront builds integrations that create documents in ODF straight from your systems, read in and convert ODF files, and deliver them to your archive or case management system.
What is an ODF integration?
ODF, the Open Document Format, is an open standard for office documents: text documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The standard was developed at OASIS and defined as ISO/IEC 26300. Files with extensions such as .odt and .ods can be opened and edited with a range of programs, without anyone depending on a single vendor.
For the Dutch government, ODF is on the Forum Standaardisatie list of open standards, to which the comply-or-explain principle applies. Yet many documents from systems are still created in a closed format, pasted into a template by hand, or stored as loose files without the archive knowing what they contain.
We build custom solutions because organisations and systems differ. The integration creates documents in ODF straight from your case management system, CRM or in-house application, with data in the right place in a template, and can read in and convert ODF files. We look at which documents, templates and systems are involved in the first step.
Open standard
Documents according to ISO/IEC 26300.
From your systems
Data straight into the template.
Ready for the archive
Delivered with the right data.
How we build your ODF integration
We start with your documents: which documents are created from systems, in which format, with which templates, and where they end up. Then we define which data belongs in which template, and which documents need to be read in or converted. We often start with one widely used document, such as a standard letter or decision, because the approach can be tested fastest there. Other documents, reading in and delivery to the archive follow after that. For each document, we check that the generated file meets the structure of the standard and opens correctly in the programs your organisation and your recipients use. After that, we maintain the integration as templates or systems change.
Types, templates and destination.
Data in the right place.
Generating, reading in, converting.
Go-live, archive and maintenance.
What an ODF integration actually does
The components below appear in almost every ODF integration. Which ones you need depends on your documents.
Generating
From your systems.
Templates
With fixed formatting.
Spreadsheets
Overviews in ODS.
Import
Data from ODF.
Conversion
To and from formats.
Archive
Delivery with metadata.
Who we build an ODF integration for
The integration is intended for organisations that want to create, exchange or archive documents in an open standard. The more documents come from systems, the more it delivers.
Municipalities
Letters and decisions. Comply or explain matters.
Provinces and central government
Many systems. One standard matters.
Software suppliers
For government. Connecting matters.
Education
Documents for many. Open format matters.
Technology and integrations
This page is about ODF. For document generation in general, see our page on a document configurator; for archiving, our page on Archive Act software; and for case-based working, our page on a custom case management system. You can read about our approach on building software.
Why Appfront for your ODF integration?
Documents pasted into a template by hand, and files in a closed format that nobody will be able to open in ten years, cost an organisation time and control over its own information. That is what we build on: documents generated from your systems, in an open standard, ready for the archive.
No copy-and-paste
Data from your systems.
Open
Not dependent on a single supplier.
Durable
Readable in the future.
Security and privacy in an ODF integration
The integration processes the data contained in your documents, which may include personal data, such as in letters and decisions. We only use the data that is needed, access is set up per role, and every document generated or imported is logged.
The integration runs in a European data centre or in your own environment, with encrypted storage and daily backups. We record the processing in a data processing agreement.
Frequently asked questions about an ODF integration
Questions that government organisations and software suppliers ask before getting started.
ODF, the Open Document Format, is an open standard for office documents such as text documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The standard was developed at OASIS and published as ISO/IEC 26300. Files can be opened and edited with a variety of programs.
ODF is on the Dutch Standardisation Forum's list of open standards, to which the "comply or explain" principle applies. Government organisations must apply the standard in the situations for which it is listed, or explain why they do not. Which version and scope apply is stated on the list itself.
Yes. The integration retrieves the data from your case management system, CRM or custom application and places it in the right spot in an ODF template. That produces a letter, decision or overview without anyone pasting in data.
Yes. An ODF file is structured, so data can be extracted from it, for example from a completed form or a spreadsheet. What needs to be imported and where it goes, we look at in the first step.
Yes, as far as the formats allow. The integration can convert documents to ODF, or from ODF to, say, PDF for publication. When converting, we check that layout and content come across correctly.
The integration submits the document to your archive or case management system together with the associated data, such as case, document type and date. How your archive expects this, we take into account in the first step.
Government organisations that generate documents from systems and want to apply the open standard, software suppliers who want their product to support ODF for government clients, and organisations that want to archive documents for the long term.
Documents from your systems in an open standard?
Tell us which documents come from your systems, using which templates, and where they end up. We will show you what the integration looks like.