| NKN:
interests, knowledge and experience Normalisatie
Kringen Nederland (NKN) is the association for the developers and users of standards in
the Netherlands. NKN's aim is to facilitate the exchange of experiences between standards
engineers and users of standards and to keep members informed about developments in their
respective fields and in the field of IT resources. In addition, NKN promotes
standardization in general and the profession of company standards engineers in
particular.
NKN devotes a lot of attention to the standardization process:
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Obtaining information (via
e.g. ISO, CEN, NEN, DIN) |
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Production, maintenance and
management of standards or other normative documents |
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Distribution of standards |
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Interdepartmental relations
within companies (suppliers of information and buyers of standards) |
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Standardization models |
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New developments |
New developments
In today's world fast access to high-quality technical
information is becoming extremely important. This information can be provided in the form
of technical documents such as (company) standards, manuals, instructions and
specifications. Information is also increasingly stored in knowledge bases. In all cases,
the information should be consistent in terms of terminology used and both text and
graphics should be easy to enter and reproduce. Distribution and version management should
be organized in such a way that users always have the correct version at their disposal.
This implies a changing role for departments where technical information is managed, such
as standardization departments. The role of these departments is gradually shifting
towards the compilation and dissemination of technical information. Consequently, these
departments are increasingly embedded in the functional (line) organization.
Their changing role also means that these departments must modernize their work practices.
Increasingly, use is made of (new) IT-based resources to ensure that the information
complies with the requirements. For this reason, NKN devotes a lot of attention to
technological developments that influence the work of standards engineers:
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Product Data Management and
Workflow Management |
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Virtual documents |
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SGML |
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Internet/Intranet
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NKN Activities
member meetings
NKN organizes member meetings where topical issues are discussed.
Examples of such issues are: standardization models (standardizing, when and what),
availability of standards in digital form, the services of NEN (the Netherlands
Standardization Institute), virtual documents, data management etc. At each meeting some
time is devoted to discussing questions and problems relating to the day-to-day work of
our members. Members can learn from one another's experiences and gain practical insights.
Such exchanges can help shorten members' individual learning curves and implementation
routes.
Normalization 2000+
NKN organizes the annual conference Normalization
2000+. The conference focuses on topical themes such as the growing importance of
standardization in companies (because of their contribution to quality management), new
developments in the field of Information Technology, etc. During Normalization 2000+,
there is also an information market where visitors can familiarize themselves with
products related to the conference themes.
NKN Members
Members of NKN are employees of large as well as medium-sized and small companies. Thanks
to their membership of NKN, they remain up-to-date about developments in the field of
standardization and Information Technology.
Members of NKN are employed in the following departments:
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(in-house)standardization |
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quality management |
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information supply/automation |
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technical
documentation/handbooks |
NKN maintains close contacts with NEN, DIN and the Dutch
Ministry of Economic Affairs. In this way it can promote the interests of users of
standards. NKN is also a member of IFAN, the International Federation of Standards Users. |
