Policies & Procedures - 4.6 Standards Activities Council

- approved 6/2012

Purpose

The Standards Activities Council is responsible for all ComSoc-sponsored, ANSI accredited standards development activities under umbrella of the IEEE Standards Association as well as for standards-related technical activities within ComSoc.

The Standards Activities Council oversees the work of Director of Standards Development and Director of Standardization Programs Development, and their respective Boards

Organizational Structure

The Standards Activities Council is chaired by the Vice President - Standards Activities. Council members include the Vice President – Technical Activities, Directors who report to Vice President – Standards Activities, Namely Director of Standards Development and Director of Standardization Programs Development, and the Chairs of all Standards and Standardization Programs Committees that report to the Standards Activities Council Directors. All council members shall be members of IEEE and ComSoc, Graduate Student grade or higher.

The two Boards that report to the Standards Activities Council are: Standards Development Board (CSDB) and Standardization Programs Development Board (SPDB). In addition the Standards Development Board, as a standards sponsor committee, reports directly to IEEE-SA Standards Board.

These Policies and Procedures are superior to the P&Ps of each Standards Activities Board P&Ps except for the portions that pertains to standards development sponsor P&Ps. Standards Development Sponsor P&Ps are subject to the governing documents hierarchy and the P&P approval process put forth by IEEE Standards Association.

Both directors are appointed by the ComSoc president in consultation with VP Standards Activities and VP Technical Activities for the term of two years concurrent with the term of the ComSoc president and can each be reappointed for one more term.

Standards Development Activities

In the area of Standards Development Council’s objective is to strive for development of communications and networking standards portfolio across the entire technical scope of ComSoc as reflected in the charters of all ComSoc Technical Committees and Emerging Technology Subcommittees. It is highly desirable to leverage the expertise residing in ComSoc communities for project development, e.g. by participation in study groups as well as support of standards development when requested and on discretion of Working Groups.

Standardization Programs Development Activities

In the area of Standardization Programs Development the objective is to foster pre-standardization and standards-related technical activities. The scope of this activity includes but not limited to:

standards-related meetings and conferences
standards-related feature topics and FT series
standards-related special issues of ComSoc Journals
creating standards-related publications
creation and oversight of research projects
sponsorship of projects under IEEE-SA Industry Connections program

Budgets

In its operation the Standards Activities council should aim to ensure ability to participate in standards development governance of all interested and qualified ComSoc members that have material and/or professed interest in standards. Those ComSoc members who are not employed (temporarily or retired) or employed by industrial or academic institutions having no material interest in standards may be materially supported by Council budget in their volunteer activities that are strictly related to IEEE/ComSoc standards governance and not to standards development, i.e. not for participation in standards Working Groups or in standards ballots.

It is expected that standard sponsor committees are financially self-sufficient and require no subsidy from the Council to operate. Only Standards Activities Council and Boards members and other volunteers, non-materially interested in standards activities, are eligible for support from the Standards Activities Council budget and strictly for activities related to IEEE/ComSoc standards governance or IEEE/ComSoc standards-related technical activities.

Budget allocated to Standards Activities Council by ComSoc BoG is managed by the VP-Standards Activities who is financially accountable to ComSoc BoG.

The treasury of the Standards Development Board that consists of funds collected from its Standard Committees, Sub-groups, and Working Groups are managed by the Director of Standards Development who is financially accountable to IEEE-SA Standards Board.

Meetings and Reporting

Standards Activities Council shall hold face-to-face meetings in conjunction with BoG meetings. Interim meetings can be conducted via TELECON or online means. The quorum for face-to-face and TELECON meetings is 50% of council membership. A web-based repository of P&P, meeting announcements and supporting documents shall be maintained. Face-to-face meeting announcements and agenda should be distributed at least to the council members at least 2 weeks in advance. TELECON and online meetings may be announced and agenda distributed at least one week in advance.
Each Board is to produce progress reports at least 3 weeks in advance of each ComSoc OpCom and BoG meetings. In case Vice President-Standards Activities is not able to attend ComSoc BoG, OpCom, or Management Retreat meetings, VP-SA may designate one of the directors to attend on his behalf (subject to consent of ComSoc president).

Staff Support

Standards Activities may utilize ComSoc staff support as needed for functions that are not possible to perform by volunteers.
Staff support for operation of CSDB and its sub-group sponsor committees and working groups shall be only by IEEE-SA staff
Legal support of standards activities shall be obtained only via IEEE-SA staff liaison or other designated IEEE-SA staff. Any other scenario for legal support can be only with permission of ComSoc president or ComSoc Executive Director.

Appeals and Complaints

Standards Activities Council will consider complaints related to standards activities operation except for those that are related to standards development and standards development governance.
Complaints and appeals, technical or procedural, related to operation of CSDB as a sponsor committee and any technical or procedural complaints and appeals related to standards development shall be only considered by CSDB and from there shall escalate to IEEE-SASB