Designated Cross References

["Mary McRae" <mary.mcrae@oasis-open.org>]

 Here's the actual TC Process language along with the implementation plan as presented to the OASIS Board. The only TC who has actually had to use this so far is XRI – here’s the OS Submission ballots with the noted language:

http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/xri/ballot.php?id=1447  

http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/xri/ballot.php?id=1448  

Cross-references:

"Designated Crossreference Changes

A TC wishing to update the Normative References or Non-Normative References in one of its OASIS specifications to reflect the outcome of a pending status change in another OASIS specification may do so, by adopting a "Designated Crossreference Change" as part of its Specification Approval Motion, which must include:  (a) a list designating each of the other OASIS specifications (including version number) that are referenced by that Specification and whose crossreferences should conditionally be updated;  (b) a reference to this Section 2.18; and  (c) an acknowledgement that approval and publication of the specification may be delayed by the Designated Crossreference Changes.

 

"The text of a proposed Designated Crossreference Change to a specification must include and may only include:  the name, version and revision number;  expected approval status; date;  and URI for each other specification to be crossreferenced. The effectiveness of a proposed Designated Crossreference Change in a specification is conditioned on the resolution of the expected approval action for each crossreferenced specification.  Therefore, if a Specification Approval Motion includes proposed Designated Crossreference Changes, the effectiveness of the subject specification's approval will be delayed until the resolution of all other crossreferenced specification approval actions.  The TC Administrator will withhold announcement and certification of the specification itself until all such crossreferenced resolutions are complete.

 

"If the Specification Approval Motion (which includes Designated Crossreference Changes) passes, then, when the last crossreferenced approval is resolved, the final approved version will be published with all of its conditional descriptions of the crossreferenced specifications updated to reflect their correct status at that time."

 

The original intent of this was to allow a single TC who was advancing multiple specifications simultaneously to be able to update the references to each of the other documents after a vote had passed. However, in reading this language, there doesn't seem to be any barrier to the cross-references spanning multiple TCs.

 

My recommendation for implementation is as follows:

Committee Draft – I have no direct involvement in balloting/approval of Committee Draft status. Until we have a mechanism in place that allows us to validate Committee Drafts (such as the OASIS Library) there will be no checks/balances in place.

 

Public Review Draft – the current practice calls for the chair or secretary to send a request to TC Admin to start a public review. That request must include links to the documents to be published, links to meeting minutes containing the approval motion, and a list of public mailing lists that should be notified of the review. If such motion contains designated cross-references, they will be QC'd along with the other aspects of the document that are checked before announcing the review to membership.

 

Committee Specification – Committee Specification ballots are conducted electronically by the TC Administrator. Should a TC wish to identify Designated Cross-references, the chair or secretary will so indicate in their request to TC Admin, along with the other requisite information (comment resolution log, meeting minutes, links to the documents). The TC Admin would then verify that each specification identified as a Designated Cross-reference is either in queue (I have received notification and am in the process of validating the request) or a ballot is currently underway. The results of the ballot will not be announced until any other ballots for specifications identified as a Designated Cross-reference have completed. Once all ballots have completed, the TC will be notified as to which cross-references can be updated. The date of approval will be the date the last related ballot closed.

 

OASIS Standard – there are two pieces to an OASIS Standard vote. The first is a motion by the TC for the TC Admin to start a ballot to approve the submission of the specification to the OASIS membership. It is that motion that will need to identify any Designated Cross-references, along with the existing requirements. Similar to a CS ballot, the OASIS Standard ballot results will not be announced until any other ballots for specifications identified as a Designated Cross-reference have completed. At that time the TC will be notified as to which cross-references can be updated. The date of approval will be the date the last related ballot closed.