The SaaP Standards Committee

The committee maintains Software as a Partner as an open reference: the definition, the SaaP Test and the SaaP levels. Its job is to keep the term precise enough to be useful, so that “partner” means something a product can be measured against.

What we publish

• The definition, versioned. Every change gets a new version number and date.
• The SaaP Test: five questions that decide whether a product is a partner or a tool.
• The SaaP levels, from Level 0 (tool) to Level 4 (trusted partner).
• SaaP Certified: products that pass the Test, each with a public record of when, at what level and on what evidence.

Principles

• Judge the product, not the brand. Products are measured against the published test, the same way every time.
• Augment, don’t replace. SaaP describes software that adds capacity to people. A product that removes the human from authority does not meet the standard.
• Open to reuse. The text of the definition and the test is licensed CC BY 4.0. Quote it, teach it, build on it, with a link back.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Software as a Partner was first described by CoFounder.AI, and the SaaP Standards Committee’s founding members are affiliated with it. CoFounder.AI is held to the same SaaP Test as every other product, and wherever it is named, that connection applies.

Because of that connection:

• Anywhere this site names, scores or recommends CoFounder.AI, it says so next to the mention.
• CoFounder.AI is held to the same SaaP Test as every other product, with the same evidence standard.
• The definition and the test describe the relationship between people and software, not any company’s features. If a criterion only one company could meet ever appears, it is a mistake and will be corrected.