Common Criteria Promote Consistency

The Common Engineering Roadmap, a set of standard engineering criteria that Microsoft plans to use in building Windows Server System products, could result in better levels of integration and operational consistency across these products. Customers may also benefit by using the criteria to improve the consistency and quality of their in-house applications. However, the ability for Microsoft to grant itself exemptions from the roadmap without penalty could dilute the value of the program.

Common Engineering Roadmap

Announced at the May 2004 Tech Ed conference, the Common Engineering Roadmap (CER) defines criteria to improve operational and management consistency across the separate products that make up the Windows Server System—for instance, ensuring that each product uses the Windows Installer for installation, configuration, and patching. Under the direction of Senior Vice President of Server Applications Paul Flessner, senior management representing the various Windows Server System products, including Windows, SQL, Exchange, BizTalk, and SharePoint Portal Servers, will regularly review common engineering criteria each year; the first set of criteria are documented as the Common Engineering Criteria (CEC) 2005. Although the current white paper on the CER focuses on the servers in the Windows Server System, the criteria also apply to selected components of Windows Server 2003, such as Internet Information Services (IIS) and Terminal Services, and selected feature packs, such as Windows Update Services (WUS 2.0).