Standards Committee Rules of Operation
Overview
Current version: version 3.2 - January 2005
This document describes the processes that govern the FpML Standards Committee (hereafter "Standards Committee") in relation to its operation, membership, meetings, decision and escalation methods and the publication of approved standards. This document is subject to evolve with the progression of the Committee.
The two primary objectives of the Standards Committee are:
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To implement the strategy set out by the ISDA Technology Advisory Board, by defining and maintaining the FpML standard. It is responsible for evolving the FpML standard to meet the business needs. This includes defining changes to the standard in order to cover more products or support additional business services, to be accomplished via working groups. Therefore, the Standards Committee itself will not be solely responsible for performing this function, although it is responsible for ensuring that it happens and the standard moves forward.
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To review (and subsequently accept or reject) the changes that are proposed by working groups. The group is also responsible for making the standard available to the general public and releasing new versions.
Membership
New members for the Standards Committee should apply to the co-chairs of the Standards Committee. The Standards Committee will vote to accept new members to the Committee. The Committee will ensure a diverse representation of senior IT and operations personnel from ISDA members.
If a member of the Standards Committee is unable to attend any scheduled meetings, they may nominate an appropriate alternate to attend on their behalf provided notice is given to the committee secretary prior to the meeting. The alternate will not however, be able to participate in any voting.
In the event of a member missing two consecutive meetings without good reason or prior notice to the committee secretary or co-chairs, they will cease to be members of good standing. This essentially means they will forfeit their right to vote effective immediately and will need to reapply to either co-chair of the Standards Committee for re-instatement as a member of good standing. Alternatively, if they feel they are unable to continue to participate in the Standards Committee, they must first notify either co-chair.
Members not in good standing that do not reapply within two months are considered to have cease involvement entirely and the member firm will be removed from the Standards Committee.
Members are able to display the FpML logo on promotional material and are able to publicise their affiliation with FpML.
Meetings
Schedule
The Standards Committee will meet at least once a month. These
will generally be held via video conference for a 2 hour duration
with longer face-to-face meetings scheduled intermittently
throughout the year.
Attendance
If participants are unable to attend a scheduled meeting,
notice should be given to the committee secretary prior to the
meeting, and an appropriate alternate nominated to attend. Each
participant should have one chosen alternate only.
Agenda
The agenda and any supporting documentation will be distributed
to participants during the week preceding the scheduled meeting.
Agenda Items
A participant wishing to raise an item for the agenda must
first gain approval from either of the co-chairmen. If approved, the
participant must provide the committee secretary with any supporting
documentation by the end of the week prior to the meeting, unless
the item is purely informational in nature, in which case it can be
covered under Any Other Business.
The Agenda will cover core items every meeting:
- Review of action items from previous meeting.
- Update on ISDA Technology Advisory Board activities/decisions.
- Working Group Status (each working group to provide an update on activities underway).
- AOB
- Other items can be added using the process outlined above.
Minutes
The minutes/actions will be distributed to participants for
comment within one week of the meeting.
Guests
On occasion it will be pertinent to invite guests to
attend/observe the Standards Committee meetings. Details of the
guest, their company, and reason why they will be attending should
be sent to either co-chair and committee secretary. As with
alternate representatives, guests will not be able to partake in any
voting.
Voting
The Standards Committee's most evident role is to approve or reject
proposals relating to the standardisation of the FpML language.
Generally, issues for voting on will be dealt with as part of the
agendas for the scheduled monthly meetings. It will be necessary for
a quorum to be present before a vote can proceed. For the purposes
of the Standards Committee a quorum is defined as at least half plus
1 of the total number members of good standing.
When resolving issues and making decisions, the aim of the Standards
Committee is to achieve unanimity of opinion wherever possible.
However, a 75% majority of votes will be sufficient to carry the
motion.
The requirement for a Ballot (Refer Appendix 1) may arise as a result
members requiring consensus on issues between scheduled Standards
Committee meetings. The Ballot Submission form will be distributed
by the committee secretary to members of good standing for
completion. This will clearly state the nature of the issue to be
voted upon and a date for completion - all replies must be received
by the committee secretary by close of business NY time on the
determined date. The form enables members to give comment on the
rationale behind their vote. The Co-chairs will endeavour to address
the legitimate concerns of those whose votes form the minority.
If a member requires a ballot on an issue to be made between scheduled
meetings, he/she should first contact either co-chair or, in their
absence, the committee secretary who will then initiate the formal
Ballot process if required.
Working Groups
Working Groups will be established to study a technical or policy issue
involving FpML and to develop proposals for the Standards Committee
to recommend to the Technical Advisory Board.
Working groups are where much of the actual work will be done, which
together will evolve the standard. It is expected that members of a
particular working group will actively solicit others opinions and
input as appropriate in order to achieve the best solution for any
given set of requirements.
Participants can either be fellow Standards Committee members, nominated
individuals/experts from organisations that are committed to
involvement in the FpML standard or independent experts.
The chair of each working group must produce a charter that describes the
following: (refer Appendix 2 for example)
- the groups mission;
- the chair and participants of the group;
- the scope of the groups activities and deliverables detailing the criteria for success;
- milestones for activities and deliverables;
- meeting schedules;
- voting mechanisms if required;
- estimated time commitment a member would have to make in order to participate.
The Chair will make the initial presentation of the charter for
approval and then subsequently report on the progress of
activities/deliverables at each scheduled Standards Committee
meeting.
It is up to the Chair of the working group to apply criteria to determine whether participants are contributing accordingly. Some examples of what could be deemed inappropriate conduct are:
- the person is not present at more than one in three scheduled meetings;
- the person has not provided required deliverables on time on consecutive occasions.
To allow rapid progress, Working groups are intended to be
small and composed of experts in the area defined by the charter.
When all deliverables of the working group have been achieved,
or if the scope of the Standards Committee alters to the extent that
the activities conducted by the working group are deemed no longer
necessary, the working group may be disbanded. A request to dissolve
a working group should be made at a scheduled Standards Committee
meeting.
Escalation of IssuesDecisions to the Technology Advisory
Board
All decisions reached by the Standards Committee, either in the general
course of a Standards Committee meeting, or resulting from a ballot,
will be communicated to the Technology Advisory Board by the
Standards Committees co-chairs. This will either be done at a
scheduled Technology Advisory Board meeting or via the communication
mechanism adopted by the Technology Advisory Board.
Communication
An e-mail group with archiving capability has been established. The email
group is managed by the committee secretary. All general
communications should be sent using the mail group:
STDCommittee@fpml.org
English is the primary language of the FpML Standards Committee.
Nominated alternates will receive all mails sent using the above
mechanism.
Press Releases
Upon the release of a standard or a new version of an existing standard,
the details will be made public via a press release.
Documentation Archiving
All documentation including working group charters, links to related W3C
standards, process guidelines etc. relating to the Standards
Committee will be held on the FpML website: www.fpml.org
FpML Standards Committee Intellectual Rights Policy.
Any 3rd Party prototypes incorporated into the devised FpML
standard cannot be subjected to patent or IPR claims by the
3rd party concerned.� They must forfeit all claims to
patent/IPR rights and ownership transferred to ISDA.
Ballot Submission Form
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Proposal: |
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Date For Completion: |
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Members Name |
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Vote Decision: |
FOR |
AGAINST |
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Comments:
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EXAMPLE ONLY
Working Group Charter
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Title of Working Group: |
Standards Committee Process/Rules |
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Chair of Working Group: |
Matt Meinel |
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Participants :
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Brian Lynn |
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Mission: |
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Scope: |
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Meeting Schedule: Weekly 1 hour phone call. |
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Voting Mechanism (if required): Not required |
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