Profile design is key to the success of any deployment.  Whilst this can be a simple task, it can also become a development project in its own right for more sophisticated profiles.

At the heart of the netBiog platform is a powerful XML profile description language.  This allows organisation specific profiles to be created quickly and deployed in a common user environment.  Flexible profile design is core to the netBiog site.

A profile consists of one or more input forms that will be completed by the subject and optionally, a specified set of contributors.  The form also contains a specification for when these should be completed and by whom (roles, responsibilities etc).    One profile could require exactly five contributions from other people while another could require five or more contributions before it is complete.  Once the data is gathered it may need to be manipulated before being presented in one or more views.  This may be a set of scores that simply need averaging or a  much more complex transformation.  It is also possible to specify that profiles gather information once and are then immutable, or that they can be continuously updated as more information becomes available.

Profiles generate data which is invaluable to many organisations.  The terms under which this data can be used need to be specific to the profile and accepted by the user.  Part of the profile design is to determine how summary data can be provided to the sponsoring organisation.