[ Specification Process  |  Working Group Procedures ]

Specification Process
This document outlines the process of going from proposal to 1394 Trade Association Specification. The spirit of this process is that Trade Association (hereinafter TA) members will participate in Working Groups if they wish to have input on a Specification.

1. Specification shall be proposed to the Board of Directors, with a proposed Chairman and Editor. A proposal should be distributed to the Board of Directors via email reflector, or postal mail, at least two weeks prior to a scheduled Board of Directors meeting. An informal working group may be formed prior to being officially commissioned by the Board of Directors, so that work may be accomplished as expediently as possible. If the Working Group is already in existence, it may develop new specifications within its charter without the necessity of pre-approval by the Board of Directors.

2. If accepted by the Board of Directors, a Working Group will be commissioned (if not already established) and announced to the TA membership. A Working Group will publish its proposed schedule to the Trade Association via email reflectors and report its progress at quarterly TA meetings. Working Group meetings will be announced at least two weeks in advance of their meeting time. Minutes for WG meetings shall be published to email reflectors after every meeting. The Trade Association Editor will issue a document number for every specification prior to any distribution or availability of draft versions of the specification. If any attribute of the specification requires numeric codes centrally managed by the TA, the WG Editor shall apply for those codes with the TA Editor.

3. A Specification will be developed using IEEE style guide. Specifications shall be posted to the TA ftp server or web site on a regular basis so that they are available for review by the general membership of the TA. Discussion and comments will be conducted via TA/WG email reflectors, as well as in WG meetings

4. A Working Group will determine by majority vote, or as defined in the TA bylaws, when to send a Specification for balloting by the membership. A balloting period of no less than 30 days shall be established, commencing upon notification to the membership of the balloting period. The WG shall also form a Ballot Review Committee at this time (see (5) below.)
   At the start of the balloting period, the Working Group Editor shall provide notice (by electronic mail) to all TA members via the TA membership reflector, which shall include the following information:
   

   1. that the Specification is beginning the balloting process; and

   2. the last date and time to submit votes and comments on the Specification; and

   3. the URL location where the current draft Specification may be found; and

   4. the process for voting, which shall typically be by electronic mail, but which may also include postal mail, fax, or other means if desired. A sample ballot shall be provided. Acceptable votes are: FOR (with optional attached comments), AGAINST (with attached comments), or ABSTAIN (with optional attached comments). Comments, if provided, must be constructive in nature and should include any proposed changes to the Specification. Votes AGAINST the acceptance of a Specification shall not be counted unless accompanied by constructive comments; and

   5. a reminder that all member companies are entitled to vote, regardless of their participation in the working group. However, member companies are not required to vote. Companies are encouraged to vote if they have a particular interest in the specification under review.

5. Prior to the start of the balloting period, the WG Chair shall create a Ballot Review Committee (BRC) consisting of him/herself and at least two other WG members who may be nominated by the Chair. The BRC shall set a date, time, and location to review the ballots. Notification of the ballot review meeting shall be provided to all TA members at least 15 days in advance of said meeting

6. The BRC shall meet as scheduled and review the votes received and their accompanying comments. All comments shall be discussed and a written response attached. Changes recommended by comments received may be implemented by the BRC; if changes requested with an AGAINST vote are implemented fully, that vote may be counted as FOR. If, in the view of the BRC, any changes made represent substantial technical changes to the Specification, a new balloting period must be declared, and this process will resume at step (4). Changes that are merely editorial in nature shall not require a new balloting period.
   The votes will be recorded by company name, and the resulting list of votes, comments, and responses to comments shall be submitted to the Board of Directors when the Specification is submitted for board acceptance.
   In every case, BRC meetings shall be open to attendance by all members.

7. Working Groups votes (if necessary) will be conducted with one vote per member company (Please see WG Voting Procedures). Each company's vote shall be recorded. Minority opinions may be expressed in a WG report to the Board of Directors that shall be prepared by members of the minority group, at their option.
   In the event that multiple votes are received from a single company, they shall be handled as follows: if all votes from that company are FOR, a single corresponding FOR vote shall be recorded, and all comments considered. If all votes from that company are AGAINST, a single corresponding AGAINST vote shall be recorded, and all comments considered. If the multiple votes from a single company differ, a vote from the member company's designated TA representative shall prevail over the others. If none of the company's votes are from the designated representative, then all votes from that member company shall be thrown out, and no vote from that member shall be recorded.

8. After a Specification has been successfully balloted, the Working Group shall present said Specification to the Board of Directors, along with the recorded list of votes (by company) on the specification, and a list of comments (and the Working Group's responses) received during the review period. The Board of Directors will have 14 days to review a submitted Specification. At the next scheduled Board of Directors meeting following the end of the Board review period, the Board will vote to take one of the following actions concerning the proposed Specification:

   1. Accept the specification, which will then become official as soon as officially published by the TA Editor. The Board should attempt to contact the WG chair during their deliberations if there are questions or concerns which the WG chair might be able to quickly resolve to the board's satisfaction, and thereby prevent any delay in board acceptance; or

   2. Return the specification to the Working Group, due to a failure of the Working Group to follow the specification process properly, or due to the Working Group's failure to adequately address any comments received during the review period.

9. In the event that no board meeting is scheduled within 30 days of the date Specification is presented for board review, the board will make best efforts to act on the proposed Specification by electronic mail vote or other means, in the interest of timeliness.

10. After acceptance of the Specification by the Board, the Working Group may dissolve if it has no further work to do.

11. The Trade Association Editor shall publish specifications as a 1394 Trade Association official document.

12. Trade Association published Specifications shall be copyrighted by the Trade Association and shall be freely available for use by members of the TA and the general public. Incorporation or alteration of a TA Specification by any other organization shall require the approval of the TA Board of Directors, who may delegate such approval authority to a Liaison Officer.

13. Working Group efforts-in-process are the property of the 1394 Trade Association membership until such time as publication by the TA Editor to the general public. They may not be released to any non-TA member without approval of the Board of Directors.

Work Group Procedures

Working Group Chairs are an extension of the 1394 Trade Association Board of Directors.

WG Chairs report to the Board of Directors

1. Each WG must develop an document indicating the purpose of their WG, what their objectives are for the year, and what areas they are investigating

2. WG Chairs are required to make a short presentation at the Board of Directors meeting each quarter.

3. All WG presentations must be sent to the Admin, in soft copy, 1 week prior to a working group meeting. They will be published in the members only section of the TA website after the meeting. Hard copies are to be distributed during the meeting. Hard copies of the WG presentation are not to be distributed during the General Session or the Developers' Conference.

4. Minutes from all WG meetings must be published within 2 weeks of meeting unless there are extenuating circumstances involved. The TA administration must be notified of the delay. Publishing will be via working group reflector ant the TA web site.

5. A tentative schedule for closure on action items should be published in the WG meeting minutes. It should also be published via the working group's reflector within 3 weeks of a quarterly meeting.

6. A follow up status on action items should be published again 2 weeks prior to a quarterly meeting; unless the previous WG meeting falls within 2 weeks of a quarterly meeting.

7. Working group chairs are responsible for: insuring that a calendar for their working group is maintained, minutes are taken at meetings and should anticipate reporting attendance at quarterly Board of Directors meetings and General Sessions.

8. If for some reason a working group Chair cannot perform these duties at a given meeting, the Chair will insure that they have coverage. If the duties cannot be performed for a given quarter, the Chair will request a replacement from the Board of Directors in order to insure that their responsibilities are covered.