The Ingest Guide builds on the work of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, particularly its 2004 Producer-Archive Interface Methodology Abstract Standard,¹² which consists of four phases: Preliminary, Formal, Transfer, and Validation. In its Preliminary and Formal phases, the Producer-Archive Interface proposes a detailed description of the steps needed to produce a submission agreement between a Producer and an Archive. These steps form a foundation for the development of Section A of the Ingest Guide, Negotiate Submission Agreement. While the PAI separates the submission agreement process into separate Preliminary and Formal phases, the Ingest Guide does not make such a distinction. The PAI's Transfer, and Validation phases are much less detailed than its Preliminary and Formal phases and only guided in a general way the development of Section B of the Ingest Guide, Transfer and Validation.

The crosswalks from the Ingest Guide to the PAI and the PAI to the Ingest Guide should help users understand how these two documents relate to each other.

¹² Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, Producer-Archive Interface Methodology Abstract Standard, CCSDS 651.0-B-1, Blue Book, May 2004. <http://www.ccsds.org/CCSDS/documents/651x0b1.pdf>.