LIMSWiki:Vendor page

Like Wikipedia, vendor pages are going to be allowed on LIMSwiki.org. Also like Wikipedia, certain standards are expected of a vendor page:

• A vendor page shouldn't be created unless it meets notability guidelines. As Wikipedia defines it, "notability is an attempt to assess whether the topic has 'enduring notability,' as evidenced by significant coverage in reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic."

• As mentioned above, a vendor page should be predominately based on reliable independent sources. While a vendor page can certainly contain self-supported, non-independent sources to back up company claims, these should not make up the majority of the sources.

• A vendor page should be neutral and not contain marketing speak.

• A vendor page should not read like an advertisement.

Vendor page format

A vendor page can have many different formats, based upon available information (or lack thereof) about the vendor. However, there are a few defining elements of a vendor page that need to be included::

1. A company info box: Template:Infobox company is used to insert a company-based info box into a vendor page. The code for a vendor box (with all the available attributes) looks like this:

{{Infobox company
|company_name      =  MedToxSoft 
|company_logo      =  
|company_type      =  
|traded_as         = 
|industry          = Medical, Medical Examiner/coroners, Law Enforcement and Environment
|genre             =
|fate              =
|predecessor       =
|successor         = 
|company_slogan    =  
|foundation        =  
|founder           =  
|defunct           =
|location_city     =  Pittsburgh
|location_country  =  USA
|locations         =
|area_served       =  USA
|key_people        =   
|products          =  LIMS, HL7 Connect and Forensics LIMS
|production        =
|service           =  LIMS implementation and custom software development
|revenue           = 
|operating_income  =  
|net_income        =  
|aum               =
|assets            =  
|equity            = 
|owner             =
|num_employees     =  
|parent            =
|divisions         =
|subsid            =
|homepage          =  www.medtoxsoft.com
|footnotes         =
|intl              =  
}}

Obviously not all of these attributes will be needed for a company. Those attributes not used can either be removed from the code inserted into a new vendor page or left intact for future use. (See below for an example.)

2. An introductory paragraph or two that introduces what the vendor does

3. A history of the vendor

4. A very brief description of the vendor's technology and/or products (save a longer description for a specific product page)

Additional sections that may appear in a vendor profile include "partnership," "culture," and "criticism." Header tags for these aspect should be pasted directly after the info box code. Here's example code a vendor article stub may start out with:

{{Infobox company
|company_name      = '''ABCXYZ, Inc.'''
|company_logo      =  
|company_type      = Public
|traded_as         = 
|industry          = Bioinformatics
|genre             =
|fate              =
|predecessor       =
|successor         = 
|company_slogan    =  
|foundation        =  
|founder           =  
|defunct           =
|location_city     = AnyAddress, AnyCity, AnyState
|location_country  = AnyCountry
|locations         = 2
|area_served       =  
|key_people        =   
|products          =  [[ABCXYZ LIMS]]
|production        =
|service           =
|revenue           = 
|operating_income  =  
|net_income        =  
|aum               =
|assets            =  
|equity            = 
|owner             =
|num_employees     =  
|parent            =
|divisions         =
|subsid            =
|homepage          =  [http://www.abcxyz.com ABCXYZ.com]
|footnotes         =
|intl              =  
}}

This is an intro paragraph about the company.

==History==

This is the history of the company.

==Technology and products==

This is a brief description of the vendor's products.

==Criticism==

This is a section about criticism of a vendor's past actions in the press.

==References==
<references/>

<!---Place all category tags here-->
[[Category:Vendors]]

Obviously pages can be much more dynamic and contain much more content, as long that content is able to be supported with a fair mix of independent and non-independent sources.

About company_type

Sometimes the company type will be a term in a different language. If it is, the editor should also include a link to a Wikipedia article (in English or the target language) that explains it.

Examples of companies with types in a foreign language on LIMSwiki include:

Asystance V.O.F. (Type links to the Netherlands wiki.)
AJ Blomesystem GmbH (Type links to the English wiki.)
ASM Soft SL (Type links to a sub-category of a related article in the English wiki.)

This page will be extremely valuable to you in determining the official term used for a company type: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_companies

Sometimes there's a direct article about the topic, but other times (see ASM Soft above), the topic is buried in a section of a related article.

Using the first example of Asystance V.O.F., a lookup on the previously-mentioned Wikipedia company types page shows a "V.O.F." is a "Vennootschap Onder Firma," and the associated Wikipedia article is located at http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vennootschap_onder_firma (the Netherlands wiki; this was found using a Google search). The corresponding web code for this entry is then...

[http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vennootschap_onder_firma Vennootschap Onder Firma]

Example pages

Example of a vendor article stub: 2nd Sight Solutions