We are pleased to announce that the FHISO Board have approved a Operations and Policy Manual which should help clarify how we envisage the standards development process proceeding. We identify three main phases in the production of a new standards: idea generation, exploratory work, and project development. The manual details how these stages will operate to ensure an open, transparent and inclusive development process.
Idea generation is where we find out from the community what areas they want to see addressed in future standards. It began with the Call for Papers we announced last spring. More recently we set up the tsc-public mailing list for more informal discussion. Even though we are ready to begin exploratory work in certain areas, we welcome new ideas from all interested parties and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Exploratory work will be carried out in a number of exploratory groups (or EGs), each exploring a particular area. We expect the first of these to commence work shortly. Each group will be issued with specific directives detailing its precise responsibilities. Typically this phase will begin with a review of current applications and standards. Third-party research and ideas submitted to FHISO will be considered, and a consensus reached on the scope of future FHISO work in the field. The EGs will then try to build consensus on the major decisions necessary to recommend the broad substance of the eventual standard.
Project development is the last stage. Project teams will pull together areas of exploratory work and develop them into a coherent standards. This is where the details will get sorted out and the inevitable inconsistencies resolved. The result will be a proposed standard that, after review by the Technical Standing Committee and the Board, may be adopted as a standard by a ballot of all FHISO members.