Open Source Program Office

About 78% of financial firms derived value from open-source software, growing from 62% last year, according to a survey released last month by the Fintech Open Source Foundation, which the Linux Foundation runs.

Is your company using open sources? 100% sure yes. But how do you manage the open source? Is there a dedicated team? Doesn’t the business application (vendor) or platform have a dedicated team to be managed?

Have you heard about Open Source Program Office? An Open Source Program Office (OSPO) is a department concerned with Free- and Open Software and Open standards care. (Ref: https://fossa.com/blog/building-open-source-program-office-ospo/)

What are the responsibilities of OSPO?

The OSPO establishes policies and procedures for open-source software usage, contribution, and compliance within the organization. They ensure that the company adheres to relevant open-source licenses and manages any associated legal risks. The OSPO team can consist of a program manager’, ‘legal/compliance support’, ‘developer advocate/coordinator’, and ‘executive sponsor’.

Onboarding the open source: When you onboard the open source, your company need to be aware of license and compliance as well as the health of the foundation & community. It is also important to confirm whether or not your company has the whole set of skills required for the open source.

Ongoing support and offboard: While you utilise the open source, there must be careful maintenance to ensure 1) versioning: you don’t always pursue the most recent version, rather, you should evaluate every new version of the open source and onboard to your company properly 2) continuous check: checking the health of open source, so you will need to know the alternatives and right timing to offboard.

The data-driven decision for the open-source selection

Community managers seek metrics and insights about the open source communities. There are many projects to support this with the data and creating visualisation. ref

The open-source GrimoireLab project provides a measure of the health of open-source communities.

Other choices can be LFX Insights platform, Cauldron, and Augur.

Lastly

By establishing an OSPO, organizations can effectively manage their open source activities, build positive relationships with open source communities, and leverage the benefits of open source software while ensuring compliance with relevant licenses and legal requirements.