Adopting PSP

Partners Standard Protocol (PSP) is an open set of specifications developed and maintained with a vendor-neutral approach for suppliers and dealer service providers (DSPs).

The PSP Overview and the PSP specifications can be downloaded by registering, free of charge. Click on the Specifications page and login. If you do not have a User ID yet, click on the user registration link.

To facilitate adoption, the following steps and considerations were summarized by the PSP development team. Being a PSP Subscriber and/or participating with us in continued development of the PSP Standard allows you to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of the PSP technical team to help with implementation feedback, testing and certification.

The essential technical requirements in terms of hardware and systems are reasonable and customary. However, the specifics on meeting those requirements will depend on each adopter's IT resources. Implementing PSP requires IT professional support. This support may exist in your company, you may choose outside IT assistance and/or you may elect to become a supported PSP Subscriber. This allows you to take advantage of the knowledge and firsthand experience of the PSP technical team to help with implementation feedback, testing and certification.

Steps and Considerations for Adopting PSP

1. Download the PSP Overview document and the PSP Specifications free of charge by registering at the User Registration page
2. Review the specifications with your IT team, including both developers and data architects very familiar with your business data and processes.
3. Perform a data mapping and gap analysis on the Business Object Documents (BODs) your company is interested in implementing. During this process, it is important to clearly understand your business systems, processes, and data; and how the BODs are designed; how the PSP collaborations between dealer and supplier are designed. The result of this analysis will determine the gaps, if any, to meet or exceed the compulsory requirements of collaborating with trading partners compliant to PSP. These results will also assist in the design of your implementation architecture.
4. In the development effort, data mappings performed earlier will be used for message translation rules. If you have subscribed to the PSP Testing Service, your developers can use the service throughout the development lifecycle to obtain immediate feedback on the application's compliance to PSP specifications. This can start with simple verification of communications all the way through PSP Certification. Constant feedback throughout the development stages greatly reduces overall development costs.
5. Perform all internal required testing.
6. Perform PSP testing and obtain PSP Certification.
7. Implement your production implementation plan and maintenance plans.