Product Development Group Kickoff Meeting

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Product Development GroupKickoff Meeting 23
March 2009Simulation Interoperability Standards
OrganizationStandards Activity Committee (SAC)
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SISO Product Types

• Balloted Products
• Standards
• Guidance
• Non-balloted Products
• Reference
• Administrative

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SISO Operating Principles

• Responsiveness and Responsibility
• SISO shall be responsive to the communities it
  serves. SISO shall be responsible for providing
  products and services that promote
  interoperability and reuse with the least
  possible impact on existing applications.
• Quality
• SISO activities and resulting products shall
  reflect technical excellence and the highest
  quality work.
• Discipline
• SISO shall exercise due process in all
  activities. Policies and procedures shall be
  publicly available and shall serve as the basis
  for governing the organization and its
  activities. SISO standards development processes
  shall have a balance of interests and shall not
  be dominated by any single interest category
• Fairness
• SISO activities shall provide the right of appeal
  at all levels.
• Openness
• SISO activities shall be carried out in an open
  forum where any person has access to the process.
• Consensus
• SISO decisions shall be based on simple majority
  agreement unless explicitly stated otherwise.
  Votes and ballots can be conducted in person, by
  teleconference, or by electronic balloting, as
  appropriate.

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SISO Technical Acceptance Principles

• Relevant
• SISO Products will be relevant to the Modeling
  and Simulation Community.
• Substantive
• SISO Products shall provide meaningful
  information and/or results.
• Timely
• SISO Products will be produced in an efficient
  manner to ensure that the product is useful to
  the community.
• Community Review Acceptance
• SISO Products will be reviewed by the technical
  community to which the product applies. This may
  be a narrow niche or the community broadly
  defined.

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SISO Balloted Product Principles

• Generality
• Standards Products shall be as general as
  possible, while still maintaining usefulness, to
  support the broadest community of current and
  future users.
• Stability
• Standards Products shall be established and
  changed only as necessary. They shall be
  prototyped and tested before being proposed for
  adoption to demonstrate their maturity.
• Supportability
• Standards Products shall maintain the integrity
  of the existing product suite and the needs of
  the user.

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Balloted Products Development and Support
Process (BPDSP)

• BPDSP provides direction on the development of
  SISO balloted products does not cover
  non-balloted products
• Builds on SISO Policies Procedures
• Provides specific SAC guidance
• Is a comprehensive document
• Input from a broad range of experts
• Current past SAC members
• HLA developers
• RPR FOM PDG
• FEDEP PDG
• SEDRIS PDGs
• BPDSP is currently drafted and under review by SAC

Every PDG does not have to reinvent the process
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Six Step Process
You Are Here
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Step 1 Activity Approval Done

• Complete SISO Product Nomination (PN)
• Review PN to assess impact on SISO
• Approve Product Nomination
• SAC appoints
• Interim Chair ltTAD fill ingt
• Technical Area Director(s) ltTAD fill ingt

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Product Nomination Summary

• ltTAD to insert summary from PNgt
• ltDocuments to be developedgt
• ltSchedulegt

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Step 2 Product Development

• Launch development activity
• PDG elects Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary
• Establish Drafting Group
• Establish development schedule
• Produce the product or product component
• Monitor PDG activities
• Submit draft product to SAC and EXCOM for
  'Approval to Ballot'

This meeting
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Step 3 Product Balloting

• Forming a Balloting Group
• Conducting the Initial Ballot
• Resolving Ballot Group Member Comments
• Conducting a Re-Circulation Ballot
• Closure

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Step 4 Product Approval

• Submit balloted product(s) and supporting
  material to the SAC for review
• SAC will review balloted product(s) and
  supporting material for compliance with PDG
  charter and SISO Product development procedures
• SAC approves product(s) and recommend disposition
• SAC forwards package to the EXCOM for approval
• EXCOM accepts product(s) as a SISO Product
• EXCOM notifies SAC that product is ready for
  distribution
• SAC posts announcement to the SISO community via
  the SISO reflector
• PDG develops Terms of Reference for Product
  Support Group (PSG)

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Step 5 Interpretation, Distribution and
Configuration Management

• Responsibility of SAC and Product Support Group
• Establish and maintain a process to respond to
  questions concerning the language used in the
  standard, the intention or result meant by a
  particular action, or an explanation of the
  reasons behind what the standard says.
• Establish and maintain a Help Desk function using
  the SISO provided discussion board to answer
  questions and provide support to the community.
• Establish and maintain a Problem/Change Request
  process to collect problems and change requests
  from the community. Conduct analysis and
  refinement of submitted problems and change
  requests.
• When the PSG is operating in parallel with a PDG
  developing a revision to a product, forward
  refined PCRs to the PDG for use in revision
  development.
• Maintain liaison with related Conference Forums,
  related PDGs, related PSGs, and related SGs.
• Identify, create, and maintain SISO reference
  products relating to the balloted products being
  supported.
• Identify and create Product Nominations for
  additional parts or supplements.

Included for information only. Steps 5 and 6 of
the process are the responsibility of the PSG.
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Step 6 Periodic Review

• Responsibility of PSG and SAC
• Conduct Periodic Reviews
• Determine course of action for SISO Product(s)
• Reaffirm
• Revise
• Withdraw

Included for information only. Steps 5 and 6 of
the process are the responsibility of the PSG.
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PDG Organization

• Chair
• Vice-Chair
• Secretary
• Technical Area Director
• Drafting Group(s) (DG)
• Sub-set of PDG members
• DG editor
• DG assistant editor - if PDG wants
• DG member
• Member
• Be registered on the PDG reflector
• PDG may establish additional membership
  requirements with approval from the SAC
• All PDG members shall maintain SISO membership.

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PDG Chair

• Elected by popular vote (simple majority)
• Primary oversight for product development and
  other activities
• Plans and conducts meetings
• Ensures voting rules upheld
• Does not vote except to cast the deciding vote in
  electronic votes
• With TAD, nominates Drafting Group Editor
• Appoints members to subgroups
• Coordinates meetings, votes, and mediates
  disagreements
• Must not engage on issues without recusal
• Must be a SISO member and cannot be a member of
  the SAC

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PDG Vice Chair

• Elected by popular vote (simple majority)
• Assists the Chair
• Conducts meetings in absence of chair
• Assumes role of Chair if Chair yields to take a
  stand on an issue
• Must be a SISO member

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PDG Secretary

• Elected by popular vote (simple majority)
• Documents the activities of the PDG
• Conducts meetings when neither the Chair or Vice
  Chair are able to attend
• Compiles minutes at face-to-face and
  teleconferences
• Maintains member roster including affiliations
• Summarizes discussions for electronic votes
• Must be a SISO member

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PDG Drafting Group(s)

• Responsible to produce the product or product
  components
• May have one or more drafting groups
• Recommended that a drafting group be responsible
  for one product component

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PDG Drafting Group Editor(s)

• Responsible for overseeing development of a
  product or product component
• Assigns specific tasks to DG members, collects
  inputs, and integrates input into the product
• Reports on efforts to the PDG
• Shall not be the PDG Chair
• Nominated by Chair and TAD, approved by SAC

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PDG Assistant Drafting Group Editor(s)

• Responsible for helping the assigned editor
• Recommended for large or complex products or
  components
• Nominated by Chair and TAD, approved by SAC

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PDG Technical Area Director

• SAC Representative on the PDG
• Monitors PDG activities
• Meet SISO Policy
• Meet product development requirements
• Meet SAC directives
• Liaison between SAC and the PDG
• Proponent of the PDG to SAC
• Appointed by the SAC

If you observe behavior you believe is not
consistent with the SISO PP or BPDSP, dont stay
silent! Raise an objection. Notify the TAD.
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PDG Meetings

• Accessible to all SISO members
• Agenda published and approved
• Chair shall conduct meetings in a professional
  manner
• Roberts Rules of Order
• Attendees may approve informal style
• Face-to-Face
• Announced at least 30 days in advance
• Teleconference
• Announced at least 5 days in advance
• Reflector
• Announced at least 5 days in advance
• Start date/time and End date/time specified

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PDG Voting Rules - 1

• Applies to general PDG business and comment
  resolution
• Face-to-face and Teleconference Voting
• The larger of a five-person quorum or 5 of the
  registered membership quorum is required to
  conduct a vote
• All PDG members present are eligible to vote
• PDGs with restrictive memberships (additional
  qualifications to the ones listed in BPDSP) may
  establish a quorum requirement (with SAC
  approval) based on a percentage of members
• 67 of members present vote
• 75 consensus of members present who vote
  required to approve or reject a motion
• If a 75 consensus cannot be reached, the issue
  is moved to an electronic vote.

Abstentions do not count as votes
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PDG Voting Rules - 1
Abstentions do not count as votes
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PDG Voting Rules - 2

• Electronic Vote
• PDG Chair and DG Editors may require an
  electronic vote on any issue
• PDG Secretary posts a summary of the related
  discussion on the PDG reflector
• Notice of an electronic vote shall be posted at
  least 10 business days in advance and the voting
  shall remain open for five days
• After announced period of time for discussion,
  electronic vote is held to allow the complete PDG
  to vote on the issue
• An electronic vote must have the larger of five
  (5) voters or 10 of the registered PDG
  membership
• PDGs with restrictive memberships (additional
  qualifications to the ones listed in BPDP) may
  establish a quorum requirement based on a
  percentage of members with SAC approval
• Electronic votes are carried by majority of votes
  cast
• PDG Chair may cast the deciding vote

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PDG Voting Rules - 3

• Recall of Face-to-Face or Teleconference vote
  results
• Issues approved by 75 consensus at a
  face-to-face meeting or teleconference shall be
  posted to the reflector within five days
• PDG members not present for the vote shall have
  10 days from the posting to recall the issue
• Ten recall petitions shall require an electronic
  vote
• Officer voting
• PDG Chair, or acting PDG Chair
• does not vote in face-to-face meetings or
  teleconferences
• is not counted toward a quorum
• PDG Chair may cast the deciding vote in
  electronic votes
• Other PDG officers including Vice Chair,
  Secretary, and DG Editors may vote in
  face-to-face, teleconference and electronic votes

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Appeals - 1

• PDG member may appeal any decision by the PDG
  Chair to a vote by the PDG
• All PDG votes subject to appeal to the SAC
• PDG member may appeal to the SAC, via the TAD,
  the result of a vote within five days of the vote
  being posted to the reflector
• Classified as procedural or technical
• Procedural if PDG member feels the PDG violated
  SISO, SAC, or PDG rules or principles
• Technical if the PDG member believes the approved
  approach is not the best solution
• SAC reviews the appeal and notifies the person
  who appeals and the PDG Chair of its decision and
  rationale no later than 30 days after the appeal
  was filed
• If a resolution to the appeal cannot be reached
  within 30 days due to the scope of the appeal,
  the SAC Chair will periodically post status of
  the appeal to the appropriate committee reflector.

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Appeals - 2

• Any member of the PDG may appeal the SACs
  decision on the appeal to the EXCOM
• Appealing member shall notify the SAC Chair of
  the appeal and the reason and rationale of the
  appeal
• SAC Chair will provide the appeal package, the
  SAC decision and rationale, and the new appeal
  request to the EXCOM Chair
• EXCOM reviews the appeal and notifies the SAC of
  its decision and rationale no later than 30 days
  after the appeal was filed
• SAC shall notify the person who appeals and the
  PDG Chair
• If a resolution to the appeal cannot be reached
  within 30 days due to the scope of the appeal,
  the EXCOM Chair will periodically provide status
  of the appeal to the SAC.
• Decisions by the EXCOM are final.

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Lessons from multiple PDGs

• Maintain structure of process
• Maintain openness of process
• Document and file everything (SISO File Library)
• Chair must exemplify fairness
• Be alert for dominance and undue influence
• Keep your TAD in your decision process

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Dominance and Affiliation

• All Standards Bodies are having to address the
  potential of dominance of the standards process
• The IEEE has established requirements for the
  disclosure of affiliation for all IEEE Working
  Group members
• Employer
• Parent Company
• Any allegation or evidence of dominance within a
  working group is reported to the IEEE Standards
  Activity Board
• SISO has tradition of levying requirements over
  and above IEEE

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Dominance and Affiliation

• All members of SISO Groups participating in the
  standards development process will disclose
  affiliation at all meetings
• Employer
• Parent Company or Prime Contractor
• Sponsoring Agency
• Program or Product Supported

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Tools

• Web Board
• PDG File Area
• Teleconference Bridge
• Tiger Teams
• Membership Rosters
• Comment Tracking System
• Electronic Balloting System
• Web-Board Polling
• Assigned Reviewers
• Problem/Change Reports