[conformance] OASIS Conformance TC liaison report

[Lynne Rosenthal <lynne.rosenthal@nist.gov>]

Hello All

The following is liaison report:  

On November 12-13, Lynne Rosenthal, Mark Skall and Lofton Henderson
attended the W3C Quality Assurance first F2F meeting.  Kirill
Gavrylyuk who has participated in our teleconferences (and the XSLT TC)
also attended.  

The objective of the W3C QA Activity 
(http://www.w3.org/QA/) is to improve the quality of W3C specifications and implementations.  The Activity consists of a Working Group and an Interest Group.  The Working Group (QAWG) focuses on solidifying and extending quality practices regarding specification and test suite development.  The Interest Group (QAIG) provides a forum for the discussion of issues related to conformance including, certification and coordination with external organizations. 

Since the work of this QA Activity is similar to the work of our Conformance TC, it makes sense to leverage the synergy of our 2 committees.  Consequently, our draft Conformance Requirements Document was provided to the QAWG for discussion and comment.  Upon agreement from our OASIS Conformance TC, work on this document will progress within both organizations.  The goal will be to produce a document or at least a "core" document that can be used by both organizations.  

Additionally, the W3C QA is developing a Test Framework (editor=Lofton) that will define a common framework for producing conformance test suites and tools.  Much of the information in this document will be derived from common practices - including those from OASIS, in developing test suites for XSLT/XPath, XML, etc.  

Finally, a the W3C QA produced and maintains a Conformance Matrix of W3C Specifications (http://www.w3.org/QA/TheMatrix.html) which includes links to many of the OASIS Test Suites.  

Lofton, Mark, and I plan to continue to participate in both committees (OASIS and W3C) and act as liaisons, ensuring the cooperation and coordination of work between our two organizations.  

ACTION: To continue the development of the Conformance Requirements Document as a joint effort between our Committee and the QA Committee.  Any objections?   
Note: This doesn't mean that the final OASIS Conformance Requirements specification must be identical to the W3C version - although it is hoped that a core part of the document will be identical.  It is recognized that each organization may have organizational specific sections.

respectfully submitted
Lynne