This chapter

• collects together many of the issues and "style" decisions mentioned elsewhere in the text,

• identifies some global issues for management decisions,

• identifies matters that specifiers need to consider, and

• identifies matters that implementors need to consider.

The section on management decisions should be understandable to anyone who has read Section I. The remaining sections will require a knowledge of material covered in Section II, assume a quite detailed knowledge of ASN.1, and cover some fairly abstruse areas.

A word of caution: I am not a believer in management gurus and elaborate "methodologies". Most of the headings below have the word "issues" in them. The following text is designed to give the reader some idea of the options, and things they should consider. At the end of the day you make the decisions, not me! I try as much as possible to suggest areas you should think about, rather than to tell you what I think you should do. If occasionally I move toward the latter, I apologize and please feel free to ignore my advice!

Much of what is being said in this chapter is opinion (Figure 999 again!), not fact, and there are others who may well have different and perhaps opposite views to some of the suggestions made here.

7.1.1 Specification