an open color management system allows any of a plurality of input color devices to share data with any of a plurality of output color devices . the color management system includes a networked connection space for input and output device communication , an input color profile for each input device , an output color profile for each output device , and an open color manager which links a given input device with a selected output device . when linking devices , an input color space dataset having black plus multiple color channels is parsed with the input and output color profiles at a job time to create an output color space dataset having black plus multiple color channels for imaging by the output device without degrading color accuracy while preserving black channel information . a method for open color management and an open color manager for use in an open color management system are also provided .