DIG (Dealership Infrastructure Guidelines)

 

Introduction

The STAR organization is comprised of several Work Groups (WG) that address specific points of interest to the automotive retail IT industry. Most of the WGs are chartered with developing or maintaining the existing data formats (DTS) or the newer XML Business Object Documents (BOD), but the Dealership Infrastructure WG is chartered with finding common infrastructure and interoperability among dealerships to provide a guidebook and deployment handbook for IT infrastructure at the Dealership.

What The DIG Covers: The astounding, and continuing, growth in the requirement to deliver data and solutions to Dealerships has caused automotive manufacturers, herein referred to as Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), to evaluate both the current approach and plans to meet that need in the future. This document will identify the overall direction chosen. It will also explain the choices that are available to the Dealer to standardize their Dealership networks. In addition, it provides guidelines and recommendations to help Dealers decide which communication solution best fits the requirements for their business environment.

Who The Document Is Intended For: This document is for network administrators, project leaders, engineers or contractors who are responsible for designing networks and connecting clients to OEMs. For the benefit of non-technical readers, the important elements are presented in both an overview and in detailed form.

Included Tools: The DIG includes several checklists and tips from purchasing hardware/software to making sure you have the proper information in your vendor SLAs.

New Version of the DIG (2016):  In January 2016 the DIG Working Group published a new version of the DIG. These two new documents provide just the right amount of information that Dealers would need to build and maintain their Infrastructure.

New DIG Quick Reference Document: The DIG Working Group has developed a Quick Reference document. This document provides quick access to the dealers infrastructure key areas. If more information is needed on a specific topic, links are provided to the full DIG document. 

New Dealer Data Security Guildelines:    In response to growing concern of dealers regarding cyber security, STAR has developed the Dealer Data Security Guidelines. The guidelines are a free and educational resource, providing automotive retailers with guidance implementing and maintaining practical and effective data security controls that support industry best practices.

 

Specifications and Guidelines

The following specifications are the N-1 to current approved STAR Architecture specifications.

Document	Version	Effective Date	Add/Change	PDF	HTML
2018 Dealer Data Security Guidelnes	2018v1	5/2/18	Add	pdf	N/A
Dealer Data Security Guidelines	2016v1	2/3/17	Add	pdf	N/A
Dealership Infrastructure Guidelines - New!	2016v1	1/15/16	Add	pdf	N/A
DIG Reference Guide - New!	2016v1	1/15/16	Add	pdf	N/A
Dealership Infrastructure Guidelines	2015v1	05/14/15	Change	pdf	html
Dealership Infrastructure Guidelines	N-1	03/29/12	Change	pdf	html
DIG Quick Reference Document	1.0	3/27/15	Change	pdf	html