SAB P&P Standing Committee

SAB P&P Standing Committee 04 February 2014 • AGENDA • Premises • Status review • Draft recommendations • Discussion P&P Standing Committee Report

Premises Assumptions underlying analysis of P&P’s and draft recommendations. Comments and discussion welcomed. • Major Premise: The SAB is a single committee with two roles: • SAB: Administer and promote standards development and related products for the Computer Society. • CSSC (Computer Society Standards Committee): Same members, but serves as a sponsor when no existing sponsor fits. P&P Standing Committee Report

Requirements for P&P’s • SAB P&P’s (SAB as a CS Board) • Reflect agreed-upon roles for SAB (To be discussed!) • Ensure support for sponsors • Enable SAB and the chair (VP of standards) to • Administer and promote standards development for the Computer Society. • Administer and Promote standards-related products for the Computer Society. • Ensure balance of interests • Be efficient, accurate and clear • CSSCP&P’s (SAB as a sponsor) • Conform to IEEE-SA requirements (baseline procedures) • Enable SAB to act as sponsor (with same membership) • Be consistent with SAB P&P’s • CSSC WG P&P’s • Conform to IEEE-SA requirements (baseline procedures) • Support growth and maturation of WG’s and transition to an SC P&P Standing Committee Report

The P&P Standing Committee • Responsibilities (As stated in PPM Section 10) • SAB interface & SAB advocate to SA AudCom and ProCom(lobbying role) • Maintain a list of the status of SAB sponsor P&P’s (conformance oversight) • Maintain the IEEE Computer Society Standards Handbook. (could include • Process only (Policies and procedures for standards development with references to how the various steps are accomplished within the IEEE-SA framework) • Best practices for sponsors (educational and informational content that goes beyond the process). • Not currently in P&P Standing Committee roles: • Maintain P&P’s for SAB, CSSC, and CSSC WG’s. P&P Standing Committee Report

Potential SAB Roles • A community where sponsors discuss shared problems. • A cheerleader for standards (with limited powers). • An action committee that sets a CS agenda and lobbies the IEEE-SA. • A producer of content and education about CS standards. • A compliance oversight body for the sponsors. • An oversight body responsible for the vitality and productivity of sponsors. Our P&P’s should reflect the chosen roles! P&P Standing Committee Report

Current Status As reviewed by P&P standards committee chair. Please jump in with comments. P&P Standing Committee Report

Status: SAB Handbook • Table of contents was revised in 2013. • No further work done. • Current version is inaccurate (examples): • The Standards Activities Board (SAB) …is made up of standards sponsors, also called Committee Chairs. • The IEEE Computer Society (CS) is a member society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and operates under the umbrella of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as one of several accredited standards developing organizations. • Sets out duties of WG chairs (not consistent with Baseline WG P&P’s) • International Program Fee • Needs to be updated and published. P&P Standing Committee Report

Status: SAB P&P’s (Section 10) • Approved, so SAB is operating under it. • However • Several issues are unaddressed • There are inconsistencies with other documents • The role of the SAB may need narrower definition P&P Standing Committee Report

Issues involving Sponsors • The Society accomplishes standards development via the Computer Society Standards Activities Board (SAB) and the Standards Committees commissioned by the SAB. • No mechanism for commissioning or de-commissioning • Nothing allows the SAB or VP of standards to appoint a Sponsor Chair (e.g. if there is a vacancy or for some other issue). Moreover: • Six sponsors have an election procedure in their P&P’s • Five sponsors refer to election procedures of the SAB, which in fact do not exist. Their P&P’s then say that if the procedure does not exist, a default election procedure shall be followed. • One sponsor chair is appointed by the VP of Standards P&P Standing Committee Report

Issues involving membership • The Standards Activities Board (SAB) shall be chaired by the vice president for standards activities as provided in the bylaws and shall consist of the Society Representatives to other standards developing organizations (see Section 23.4) and the following members appointed annually as of 1 January by the vice president: the vice chair, secretary, chairs of standing committees; and chairs of the standards committees ("Sponsors'‘) • The SAB may include voting members appointed by the vice president for standards activities annually to serve as External liaisons to other standards developing organizations (SDO) external to the IEEE. (See Section 23) Other organizations, internal and external to the IEEE Computer Society, may be invited to designate liaison representatives to serve as ex officio non-voting members of the SAB. • Why must appointments be made by January 1? What is the intent of this restriction? • What if there is a vacancy? CSSC P&P’s allow for officers to be removed, the chair to fill vacancies, and a treasurer, who may or may not be the same as an existing officer. (inconsistent with SAB P&P’s) • The terms “voting member” and “member” and “ex-officio non-voting members” are all used. These are intended to add clarity, but may actually introduce ambiguity. • Internal liaisons do not vote. (The intent is to prevent other CS boards and committees from inundating the SAB with voting members, but this can be prevented in other ways.) P&P Standing Committee Report

Issues involving Standing Committees • There is only one standing committee • No procedure for creating others • No prohibition against creating others • The Policies and Procedures Committee shall consist of the Chair, and two members appointed annually by the Chair of the Policies and Procedures Committee from nominations by Standards Committee Chairs. • Must there be a call for nominations? • Why exactly three members? P&P Standing Committee Report

Issues involving role of the SAB As included in Section 10: • A major role, but not the only role, of the SAB Standards Committees is to act as Sponsors of standards development and revision efforts. (What are other roles for Sponsors?) • The SAB shall assure that each of its Standards Committee maintains and operates under IEEE standards operating procedures approved by the IEEE-SASB. (SAB = conformance oversight) The SAB shall: (To be discussed – some of these are very broad) • Recommend to the IEEE CS BoG policies and practices with respect to CS sponsored standards • Establish (or dissolve when appropriate) IEEE CS SC’s to act as standards sponsors, approving the scope of each sponsor's charter, • Monitor all IEEE CS standards activities to assure conformance to IEEE and CS policies and procedures, • Where appropriate, encourage standards sponsors to pursue adoption of their work by other international standards bodies, or regional or national standards bodies, and to oversee these efforts, • Serve as interim standards sponsor as appropriate, until establishing a separate Standards Committee, • Increase the use and understanding of the value of Computer Society sponsored standards in industry and education, • Identify (in coordination with the CS program boards) the needs of members and nonmembers for computing standards, and determine ways that the IEEE might meet those needs, potentially including existing standards created by external bodies, and • Maintain and publish the IEEE Computer Society Standards Handbook as a guide for the SAB, the Computer Society Standards Committees, which sponsor standards, and Working Group chairs and members who develop standards. P&P Standing Committee Report

Status: CSSC P&P’s (SAB as a sponsor) Approved March 2013. A few things require attention: • Membership: Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer (can be same as other officer other than chair), Secretary. Chair = VP of Standards. • The voting members shall consist of the voting members of the SAB as defined in the Computer Society Policies and Procedures Manual (PPM). Is this really what is wanted? Could the membership be different? A Treasurer cannot vote? • Inconsistent rules for selecting officers: • Officers shall be elected in accordance with the procedures of IEEE Computer Society Standards Activities Board (SAB) • In the absence of such procedures, the following process shall be followed. (elections officer, nominations, etc.) • After appointment of the SAB Chair by the IEEE Computer Society, the Chair shall appoint a Vice Chair, Treasurer (if needed), and Secretary. • Officers may be removed in the CSSC P&P, not in SAB P&P • Each voting member is expected to attend meetings 2/3 of meetings in each calendar year unless excused by the Chair. Does this apply to voting members as members of the SAB too? • Working Groups require P&P’s • Meetings are open (except Executive Sessions). Does this imply that all SAB meetings are open? • Typo – repeated “The Sponsor Chair shall appoint an appeals pool …” P&P Standing Committee Report

Status: WG P&P’s • Not done but in progress. • (Added: In the absence of a WG P&P the sponsor P&P can be used.) P&P Standing Committee Report

Draft Recommendations To be discussed P&P Standing Committee Report

Priority and Recommendations • WG P&P – Develop and get approved. • Baseline WG P&P’s do not have many choices, so this should be easy. • SAB P&P – Fix and get re-approved. (next slide) • Lots of issues found • Concerned with issues such as commissioning sponsors, voting membership, conflicts with Sponsor P&P’s • Handbook – Write. (Authors should get credit!) • A mess – needs a complete rewrite • May have the largest impact on newcomers to standardization • CSSC P&P – File issues as errata if possible. • Problems are mostly in consistency with SAB P&P • Section on election of officers has extraneous stuff • Assuming that appeals process is acceptable P&P Standing Committee Report

SAB P&P Recommendations • Add vitality standing committee • Enable Chair to establish new standing committees with majority approval of voting members. • Enable removal of officers consistent with CSSC P&P • Create a procedure for commissioning and de-commissioning • State that VP of Standards will appoint sponsor chairs only if sponsors have no means to elect. Alternative is for SAB to run elections so that Sponsor P&P’s make sense. • Instigate approval process for internal liaisonsand possibly make them voting. P&P Standing Committee Report

Further Discussion P&P Standing Committee Report

SAB P&P Standing Committee