Hi Andreas,

First off, thank you for stepping in to drive the standards work forward. We are looking forward to working with you to get the work launched.

The specifications are all coming along nicely. Paul Knight or I will need to provide you with the page header for EEA Community Projects. It is not significantly different from the current page header. I just need to confirm its final form with Dan and Chaals. Assigned action to me.

This is a long email to give you the big picture but you don't need to read it all now. We'll work through the steps as they come. For now, you can get the gist by skimming down the diagram.

Now, when you all are ready to proceed, here is the sequence of steps. Note that I'll be happy to help with draft language for any of the communications if you'd find that helpful.

First, here is a rough diagram of the process:

  Standards team prep files for submission
  |
  Standards team recommends work to TSC
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  TSC submits package to PGB
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  PGB announces intent to vote on package in 14 days
  |
  PGB votes to approve Project Spec Draft
  |
  OASIS publishes the PSD
  |
  Optional public review & handling of feedback
  |
  TSC requests PGB approve PSD as Project Specification
  |
  PGB announces intent to vote on package in 14 days
  |
  PGB votes to approve Project Specification
  |
  OASIS publishes the PS
  |
  PGB solicits at least 3 Statements of Use
  |
  PGB announces intent to vote in 14 days on making PS a candidate for OASIS Standard
  |
  PGB votes to approve candidate OS
  |
  OASIS announces candidacy, starts 60-day public review
  |
  After pr, team addresses any comments received
  |
  If no changes, OASIS submits PS to membership in 14 day call for consent
  |
  At end of call, if no objections received, OASIS declares PS an OASIS Standard
  |
  OASIS publishes OS, issues press release, etc.
 
In a bit more detail:

- You notify the Baseline TSC that the work, in the opinion of the standards team, is ready for submission to the Project Governing Board for approval. Put all the documentation and any associated code or schemas on a branch so that we have one 'thing' to point at going forward. Send this notification in an email to baseline-tsc@..., the list of record. (Certainly OK to also cc everyone involved if you like.)

- The TSC should then review the completed work, discuss as they see fit, then decide whether or not to send it to the EEA PGB with a recommendation that it be approved as a Project Specification Draft. This can be done in a TSC meeting or it can be done via email on the list. The approval can be done by approving a motion in a meeting or by using the ballot tool in groups.io.

- Once the PGB has the recommendation, they likewise review the submission. They can, of course, send it back with comments and suggestions but let's assume they agree. Dan, as PGB chair, then sends notice to the eea-community-projects@ and the eea-community-projects-pgb@ lists that in 14 days, the PGB intends to hold a vote on approving XXX as a Project Specification Draft. (The 14 day notice period is to give the news time to get around.) At the end of the notice period, the PGB votes, either in a meeting or via a ballot, to approve the PSD. Once approved, we will publish a final package to docs.oasis-open-projects.org as the official version. (You can see PSDs and such from the OSLC Open Project there now.)

- Once the PSD is published, you can, if you all would like, ask OASIS to hold a public review. This is not required in the Open Project process. I mention it just to let you know that if you all would find that a helpful step, I'm happy to support it.

- At whatever point you all feel the work is ready, the TSC can request the PGB to (or the PGB can decide to) to approve the PSD as a Project Specification. Same rules apply - 14 day notice then a vote in a meeting or a ballot. Because this approval commits everyone to the IPR promises, I recommend a ballot but so long as there is a clear artifact I can point to after the fact, I'm happy. Again, we publish the PS, announce it, and add it to the standards list at https://www.oasis-open.org/standards/

- Let's assume that your plan is to continue on to OASIS Standard. Now, the project has to collect at least 3 statements of use (https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/oasis-defined-terms-2018-05-22/#dStatementUse) - minimal confirmations that an entity has implemented some or all of the spec in running code. Once those are collected, the PGB sends notice that in 14 days, it intends to vote on approving submitting the PS to the members of OASIS as a candidate for OASIS Standard. Once that vote is approved, we will announce the results and start a 60-day public review for the Project Specification.

There are procedures in place for handling comments you receive but we don't need to go over those now. The key thing is that after the review, if no changes are needed to the PS, it goes to the membership in the call for consent. Assent from the members is assumed unless someone votes against it and documents some objection. (This, by the way, has yet to happen.) Assuming no objections are heard, we declare the PS to be an OASIS Standard, publish it and then all the hoopla can begin.

Whew! That is a lot to wade through. The work itself is easier than describing it. Take it all in and then we can discuss or whatever works best for you.

Best regards,

/chet