[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]
Subject: OASIS TC process rule changes 1 March 2007 (and some later)
Our Board of Directors, working through its Process Committee, reviews and examines our OASIS TC Process rules periodically, to optimize the working environment for our members & TCs. As you know, we've been reviewing changes over the past year. Our Board has approved one set of revisions, marked in the attached PDF file, to be effective as of 1 March 2007 (except as noted below). The revised rules will be posted shortly to our official web rules location [1] as well. Other changes are still under discussion, as noted below. Mary and I do not expect this current set of enacted changes to significantly alter the practices of most TCs. Of course, TCs and members should review them to confirm their application to specific plans for spec production and approval. The following principal changes have been made, and are marked in the attached document: 1. Defined terms referring to OASIS members (often organizations) and TC members (the individual persons participating) have been cleaned up and harmonized throughout. Many of the edits shown in the attached document implement the clarified definitions, without changing the substantive rules. 2. We have added a requirement in Section 2.18, the spec quality rule, that TC specifications at the Public Review Draft stage or above must include a set of numbered conformance clauses. (Line 567-571.) We are excited about this improvement to the usability and quality of our specs, though of course many TCs already comply electively. For those that do not, please *note* that we're likely to postpone the effectiveness of this rule for several months, so as not to thwart current work in mid-approval. The Board's process committee has unanimously recommended to our Board that the conformance clauses requirements will be applied only after 1 June 2007, and only to specs not approved as a Committee Specification by that time. I will report further on this to you when the Board acts. 3. The required contents of a "statement of use", to be provided by 3 or more OASIS organizational members in support of a proposed OASIS Standard, have been defined in more detail. (Lines 90-94.) The aspects of this change that relate to conformance clauses also are likely to be phased in over several months, as noted above. 4. The minimum notice period for members to notify us that they plan to join a new TC has been shortened in some cases. (Lines 214-217.) 5. Failure to elect a chair for 120 days has been added to the list of mandatory TC closure triggers. (Lines 323-325, 479-480.) 6. The obligation of TCs to administer meetings so as to optimize logisitical and schedule accessibility for observers, as well as members, has been made explicit. TCs, which have the power to set their meeting schedules and venues by formal action, already are expected to do so in a way that optimally addresses the needs of all TC members. (Lines 401-403.) 7. The manner in which TCs and their editors are obliged to use the OASIS document templates in spec production has been clarified, using language suggested by our Technical Advisory Board (TAB). (Lines 563-565.) The posted templates [2] should be used in the *creation* of specification drafts on track for submission to our TC Administrator, because last-minute retrofitting often fails and unfortunately can result in rejected submissions. 8. Several improvements in notice and response metods have been addde to our public review process. (Lines 610-620.) TCs will be obliged to wait at least 7 days to re-approve a spec after public review, after the last day of that review, as a cooling off period for consideration of any public feedback, if received. (Lines 639-641.) 9. We also adopted the TAB's suggestion that, in an OASIS Standard submission, the minimum number of required statements of use should be presented before the TC vote. (Lines 646-648.) Previously, the vote to submit as an OS could precede the acquisition of the statements. A number of other suggestions from our TCs and members still are being reviewed and evaluated for a next round of proposed revisions, likely during 2007. Among the significant changes still being considered: * A possible change to the voting structure of TCs, discussed with OASIS members in a member review cycle last October [3]. Our Board continues to discuss this "1-org-1-vote" proposal. * More detail regarding the use of XHTML, PDF, etc. as file formats for uploading the official forms of approved specifications. Thanks for your attention, and your assistance in leading the open standards community. Feedback always is welcome. Regards JBC ~ James Bryce Clark ~ Director of Standards Development, OASIS ~ jamie.clark@oasis-open.org [1] Official location: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/process.php [2] Posted templates: http://docs.oasis-open.org/templates/ [3] October 1-org-1-vote proposal, see: http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/oasis-member-discuss/email/ archives/200610/msg00000.html
TC-Process-25Jan07final-marked.pdf
[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]