Discontinuing Applicant and Prospective Member roles

["Scott McGrath" <scott.mcgrath@oasis-open.org>]

Chairs,

In response to your feedback, we are simplifying the various states
("roles") that a participant can occupy on the roster of a TC or SC.  This
is happening as part of our ongoing changes to automate roster management
and reduce your need to "micro-manage" roster settings.

Now eligible OASIS member participants will only have one of the following
roles:

Observer -- Has mail list subscription, no posting rights, no duties, no
vote.
Member -- Has mail list subscription, has posting rights, has the duties of
a member, no vote.
Voting Member -- Member, plus has voting rights.
Leave of Absence -- 
TC Chair -- Voting Member, plus some administrative access to the TC's
roster and website database.
Secretary -- Same access rights as TC Chair

When an eligible person requests Member status, they will be added to the
roster automatically--when the request is approved/confirmed by the Primary
(or self-confirmed in the case of Individual and Associate members) This
process eliminates the need for the old roles of "Applicant", and
"Prospective Member"--and the need for you to manually transition members
from those roles.

Please note that, in order to clean up the rosters, we are asking all
participants on your roster in these roles to complete their intended
transition to their desired and approved role. Starting on 31 March 2006, we
will begin to convert all people remaining in the current roles of
"Applicant" and "Prospective Member" to "Observer".  This is the likely
desired result, as most of the "stuck" members have remained so for 3 or
more months.  Their subscription will not be interrupted by our actions. But
in order to become a TC "member", they will need to re-confirm their intent
and permission to join as a member.   

Going forward, TC chairs should not manually add persons to the TC roster,
because this shortcuts the membership qualification process.   Please direct
their inquiries to the self-help "Join" link on members-only web page for
your TC, which will invoke the new automated system and eliminate further
administrative burden on you. 

As always, thank you for your support and patience as we make these
transitions to better serve you and your committee members.

Scott McGrath
Director of Member Services

Tel +1 978-667-5115 x202 
Fax +1 978-667-5114
scott.mcgrath@oasis-open.org

Plan on attending:
OASIS Symposium: The Meaning of Interoperability, 
9-12 May, San Francisco 
http://www.oasis-open.org/events/symposium_2006/