Draft: proposed process for comment handing

[Chet Ensign <chet.ensign@oasis-open.org>]

Chairs, 

I will circulate this to the broader membership after a review with you. 

Last April, I opened a conversation about how to enable the OASIS requirements for handling comments to be met while minimizing the procedural impact on TCs. (The thread started here: https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/chairs/201204/msg00020.html) The observations and insights offered were valuable. This email lays out the next step towards implementing a consistent process. 

Below is my proposal for a procedure that I think meets the consensus from that conversation to (a) keep it simple, (b) provide options while (c ) meeting the TC Process requirements. I have attached a couple of sample templates based on the samples offered that could be used to record comments and their dispositions. Use of these won't be required, they will just be provided for the convenience of the TCs that want something to use as a starting point. 

Please have a look at this over the next few weeks and share your thoughts with me. I will ask for broader feedback in January with a goal of documenting this, announcing it and then putting it into practice on or about February 1st. Note that the procedure will not be retroactive - it will apply to work started from its effective date forward. 

To be clear, this changes nothing about the current requirements documented in the TC Process. This simply provides a consistent means for TCs and TC Admin to work together to meet the requirements - something that has been lacking to date. 


1. TC Obligations With Respect to Comments

The requirements for handling comments are laid out in sections 2.2, 2.8, 3.2 and 3.4 of the OASIS TC Process. Those requirements are:  

- That comments be received only through the TC's <short name>-comment@lists.oasis-open.org mailing list. 

- That comments be received by one or more members of the TC including the chair. 

- That comments be acknowledged.

- That comments be tracked and their resolutions documented: 

a) During a proposed TC call for comment period; 
b) During a public review of a TC work product; 
c) During a public review of a Candidate OASIS Standard. 

- And that at the end of the comment / review period, the TC post to its email list an account of each of the issues raised during the public review  along with its resolution.


2. Proposed Procedure for Meeting These Obligations

Here are the proposed steps for a TC to take to meet the requirements.  

a) The TC Chair, at a minimum, must subscribe to the TC's <tcname>-comment@lists.oasis-open.org mailing list. It will likely make sense for another TC member (e.g. secretary, editor) to be assigned to subscribe to the list and track and report comments and issues back to the TC. 

b) Someone from the TC must acknowledge that the TC has received the comment by sending an email acknowledgement to the provider. A simple "thank you for your comment; the TC will be consider it" message is sufficient. 

c) The TC must track each comment received and how the group decides to resolve it. Per the TC Process, a TC is not required to take any action on the substance of the comment, but the decision not to must be recorded. 

The TC can choose to track comments and resolutions however they wish: in a word processing document, in a spread sheet, in JIRA, in the TC wiki. The TC must at a minimum record: 

+ The date the comment was received; 
+ A link to the email in which a comment was received; 
+ The name of the person or entity providing the comment; 
+ A brief summary of the comment; 
+ A statement of the TC’s decision on how to handle the comment, in as much detail as the TC wishes to provide. 

In the event that a single email provides multiple comments or issues, each must be listed, tracked and resolved separately. 

The list need not be cumulative however keeping a cumulative list is likely to be more convenient when the time comes that you want to submit a Committee Specification as a Candidate OASIS Standard. The TC Process states that, before an OASIS membership ballot can be held on a COS, the TC must provide "a pointer to an account of each of the comments/issues raised during the public review period(s), along with its resolution." Having all the comments and their resolutions stored in one list will make satisfying this requirement easy. 

d) Four weeks after the end of a public review will be deemed "the end of the review period." By this point at the latest, the TC must post to its email list a document containing, at a minimum, the pieces of information listed above. The document can be either a word processing document or a spread sheet but it must be a document that can be opened and read by any interested party.  

If the TC is using JIRA or some other means to track comments, a document must be created by exporting the information from that source. 

If the document is a cumulative list of comments and resolutions, it should also contain, for each comment, identification of the draft to which it applied. 

The posting email can be created by loading the document into the TC's document repository and using the automatically generated email to produce the pointer or by attaching the document directly to the email. 

With that email, the TC obligations will be considered fully met. 


3. What TC Administration Will Do With the Comment Resolution Document 

A key objective here is to ensure that comments and their resolutions can readily be found by other who are interested in the TCs work. Here is what TC Admin will do with the documents. 

a) When the TC is ready to take another action on its work product (e.g. request another public review, request a ballot to approve a Committee Specification), a pointer back to this document will have to be provided as part of the support request. TC Administration will not proceed with a requested action until the comment resolution document is provided. 

b) A link to the comment resolution document will be included in the announcements of subsequent public reviews, document approvals, Special Majority ballots and other communications where it will provide additional, useful information.  

c) The comment resolution documents will also be stored in the OASIS Library along with the public review drafts to which they apply. This will help to ensure transparency and traceability between comments received during a public review and their resolution. 

Thanks very much for your feedback and help putting a process in place. My best wishes to you all for happy holidays. 

Best regards, 

/chet 
----------------
Chet Ensign
Director of Standards Development and TC Administration 
OASIS: Advancing open standards for the information society
http://www.oasis-open.org

Primary: +1 973-996-2298
Mobile: +1 201-341-1393

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