FW: [members] Changes to OASIS TC Process Policy

FYI, 
Item #3 and the section it refers to seems to have some bearing on conformance 
issues we've been discussing or commenting on in our edits.

 

In 
particular, there seems to be a requirement to repeat every single conformance 
statement that occurs in the spec in a separate section where they can be more 
easily reviewed ensemble:

  
A 
  specification that is approved by the TC at the Public Review Draft, Committee 
  Specification or OASIS Standard level must include a separate section, listing 
  a set of numbered conformance clauses, to which any implementation of the 
  specification must adhere in order to claim conformance to the specification 
  (or any optional portion thereof).

Also it appears that we can now consider the DTD we supply in 
separate plain-text files to be normative, and to override whatever we actually 
say in the specification itself.

 

OTOH, it seems the same can be said about the schema files - and it's 
unclear how discrepancies between the two could be handled.

 

--Dana

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mary McRae 
[mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 
12:25 PM
To: ; 

Cc: OASIS TAB; 
; OASIS Staff
Subject: [members] 
Changes to OASIS TC Process Policy

On 31 July 2009 the OASIS Board of Directors approved a set of revisions to 
the TC Process. The effective date of the new Policy is 1 September 2009 and can 
be seen here: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/process-2009-07-30.php. 
A change-marked PDF copy is available upon request and will be available on the 
TC Process Policy web page on or before the effective date.

The major changes are as follows:

1. Persistent Non-Voting Member. A new role has been defined, allowing a TC 
Member to declare their non-voting status. The process by which a Member makes 
such declaration as well as revoking it is established. (See Definitions: x. as 
well as 
Section 2.4.3)

2. Charter submissions. Charter submissions must now include statements of 
support from the Primary Representatives of Organizational Members listed as 
co-proposers. They will also be notified if the Charter submission is amended in 
any way. (See Section 
2.2)

3. Schemas, XML instances, etc. associated with a specification. The 
Process now explicitly states that if a discrepancy occurs between the plain 
text file and the specification document, the definition in the separate 
file prevails. (See 
Section 2.18)

In addition, some smaller changes were made in an attempt to clarify some 
potentially confusing language:

4. Explicitly state that all notifications to the OASIS TC Administrator 
must be sent to  rather than 
any one individual. (See Definitions: v.)

5. Remove language that was inadvertently left in the Process and obsolete 
(references to Joint Committees and the need to notify the Chair if you have 
signed up for a new TC but are unable to attend the first meeting).

6. Leaves of Absence - proper procedure for submitting requests. 
(See Section 
2.6)

7. Standing Rules - allowing for amendments and recisions, as well as 
explicitly stating that they must be posted on the TC web page in order to be 
enforceable. (See Section 
2.9)

8. Clarification with regard to what can and cannot be changed after 
approval of a Committee Draft, Committee Specification, or OASIS Standard. 
(See Section 
2.18)

9. Clarification of the Designated Cross References language. (See Section 
2.19)

10. Clarification of the Appeals process. (See Section 
4.2)

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Mary

Mary P McRae

Director, Standards Development

Technical Committee Administrator

OASIS: Advancing open standards for the information society

email:  

web: www.oasis-open.org

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Standards are like parachutes: they work best when they're 
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