Liaison Policy

Table of contents

Organizational Liaisons
Establishing org-to-org liaisons
Representative Guidelines
Policy for submitting OASIS work to other organizations
TC Liaisons
Liaisons to the TC
Fee-waived membership grants

Organizational Liaisons

Establishing org-to-org liaisons

A liaison relationship is defined as OASIS obtaining membership in another organization, or entering into any other liaison relationship or joint agreement such as an MoU, Letter of Intent, Cooperation Agreement, etc. (Other organizations seeking membership in OASIS under standard OASIS membership policies is not covered by this policy.)

Only the OASIS President has the authority to negotiate a liaison relationship with another organization.

The request to establish a liaison or membership with another organization should be submitted to the President, and may originate with the request from the external organization, the OASIS Board of Directors, a Technical Committee (TC), the Technical Advisory Board (TAB), or OASIS staff. The request to the President should include the following:

  • Who is the other organization, what do they do, and what is the nature of the relationship suggested? (e.g. is it suggested that OASIS join the other organization and at what level, or vice versa.)
  • What are the benefits to OASIS of this relationship? What are the goals of OASIS in the relationship?
  • Which particular activities (technical committees, member sections, etc.) at OASIS would be affected by the relationship? What effect will it have on them, and what level of involvement should be expected from them?
  • What are the benefits to the other organization of this relationship? What are the goals of the other organization in the relationship?
  • What is the risk of negative impact on OASIS?
  • What liaison representation would OASIS be expected to send?
  • What are the costs, obligations, and responsibilities to OASIS and/or its TCs?

The OASIS President will, based on the above items, decide whether to establish the liaison relationship, and what the nature of the relationship should be. The OASIS President will submit this decision and the justification of the decision (including a summary document with the answers to the above questions) to the Board of Directors for their review and comment. If, after consultation with the Board, the President approves establishment of the Liaison, and if the Board of Directors approves the MoU, Letter of Intent, Cooperation Agreement, Membership Agreement, or any other document that the President must sign in order for the relationship to be established, the OASIS President and staff will then proceed to establish the relationship. Once the relationship is established, a liaison representative to the other organization will be selected as required, and tasked as outlined in section below.

The OASIS President will provide a quarterly status report to the OASIS Board including an update on all the information mentioned above for each liaison. The report will include a detailed plan of actions for at least the top five inter-organization liaisons that involve OASIS resource commitments (OASIS staff, members, etc.).

Representative Guidelines

In most cases where OASIS has established a liaison relationship with another organization OASIS will have the opportunity to send technical or liaison representatives to that other organization. As the person is representing OASIS, he or she should be selected by OASIS and should be given specific instructions so that OASIS will gain the most benefit from the representation. (For the case of a person representing a single TC, see the section below on TC liaisons.)

Selection of the representative and definition of scope/mission

The OASIS representative will be selected and given a scope/mission as follows:

  1. The OASIS President establishes the liaison relationship as described above, and determines that a representative is required to maintain the relationship.
  2. The OASIS President asks OASIS staff, Board, or TAB to make recommendations regarding the qualifications of the representative and to suggest possible candidates. The person could be OASIS staff, a Board Member, a TAB member, a TC chair, any other OASIS member, or other designated person.
  3. The TAB or OASIS management drafts the scope/mission of the liaison representative. The assignment scope should include such things as
    1. Length of assignment
    2. Frequency of assignment activities (conference calls, meetings, etc.)
    3. Who is responsible for any travel expenses (OASIS or the representative’s company)
    4. What technical agenda the representative should pursue (are they expected to influence the other organization’s work, provide info on OASIS work, or just report on the activities of the other organization)
    5. What, if any, decisions the person is allowed to make
    6. What information they report and to whom
    7. Who at OASIS do they report to and who provides them with direction and feedback
  4. The TAB or OASIS management recommends the person to the OASIS Board.
  5. The Board approves the recommendation.
  6. OASIS management then extends an invitation to the approved liaison representative.

Managing the Representative

In order for OASIS to get the most benefit from having a representative to another organization, the representative should be expected to report back to OASIS so that having a liaison representative results in two-way communication.

OASIS management will manage the representative to ensure that he or she is properly representing OASIS, and that OASIS is receiving regular reports from the other organization. OASIS management should speak at least monthly with the representative.

The representative will also be expected to communicate regularly with OASIS TCs and/or member sections that are effected by the liaison relationship.

Policy for submitting OASIS Standards for adoption by other organizations

OASIS members may wish to have OASIS Standards submitted to other standards organizations for approval under their separate processes. The following provisions govern these submissions. Terms defined in the OASIS TC Process are used here as defined therein.

  1. Submission requirements.Submissions of OASIS Standards to other standards organizations may be made if all of the following requirements are satisfied. The OASIS Board of Directors must approve any deviations from these requirements.
    1. The proposed submission is an OASIS Standard.
    2. The receiving standards organization is a de jure standards authority, preferably global in geographic scope.
    3. A written submission request to submit the OASIS Standard, as specified in Section 2, is submitted to the President by any one of the parties described in the following options:
      1. Open TC. If the Technical Committee that originally developed the OASIS Standard is open (not closed), there are the following two options:
        1. If (1) there is a Member Section with which the TC is affiliated or was so affiliated at the time that the respective OASIS Standard was finally approved; and (2) that Member Section is open; and (3) the Rules of Procedure of that Member Section require that the external submission request be approved by the Member Section’s Steering Committee: then that Steering Committee may submit the request, after approving a motion to do so, if the TC has previously approved a motion to submit the request by a Special Majority Vote.
        2. If there is no such Member Section, then the TC may submit the request, after approving a motion to do so by a Special Majority Vote.
      2. Closed TC. If the Technical Committee that originally developed the OASIS Standard is closed, there are the following two options:
        1. If (1) there is a Member Section with which the TC was affiliated at the time that the respective OASIS Standard was finally approved; and (2) that Member Section is open; and (3) the Rules of Procedure of that Member Section require that the external submission request be approved by the Member Section’s Steering Committee: then that Steering Committee may submit the request, after approving a motion to do so.
        2. Otherwise, then a minimum of five OASIS Organizational Members may submit the request.
  2. Written submission request.Any submission request delivered to the OASIS President under this policy must be in writing, and must include the following:
    1. The name(s) of the submission requester(s), that is, the TC, the Member Section, or the OASIS Organizational Members that support the submission request as described in section 1(d).
    2. The name of the intended receiving standards organization. The request may also suggest the committee or group in that organization which should process that submission.
    3. The intended status or outcome that the request seeks from the receiving organization’s process; and a short description of the receiving organization’s approval process, including estimated time required, stages of approval and who votes at each stage.
    4. An explanation of how the submission will benefit OASIS.
    5. The expected licensing, copyright and other intellectual property terms that will be used by the receiving organization in regard to the submission.
    6. A statement of the intended future plans for versioning and maintenance of the OASIS Standard and/or Approved Errata for that standard, and the expected roles of OASIS and the receiving organization. This must include clear statements of the rules of the receiving organization applicable to maintenance of an approved submitted standard, and to future versions of that standard; any requirements regarding the submission of future versions; and a description of how OASIS and the submission requesters expect to comply with those rules.
  3. Submission request processing.
    1. In case the submission request is being submitted by a number of OASIS Organizational Members as described in section 1(d)(ii)(B), the Primary Representatives of these OASIS Members must confirm the submission request.
    2. The OASIS President shall have 15 days after receipt of the submission request to confirm the completeness of the request. No later than the 15th day after receiving it, the President shall either return the request to the requesters with an explanation indicating its failure to meet the requirements set forth in section 2, or shall post notice of the submission request to an announced mailing list (or equivalent method) visible to the requesters and all OASIS Members, for comment. The notice will announce that comments are invited to be sent to that list for a period of 30 days after the review notice is posted.
    3. At the end of that 30 day comment period, the President shall have up to 15 days to approve or reject the submission request. No later than the 15th day after the last day of the comment period, the President shall transmit a notice of that decision in writing to the submission requesters and all OASIS Members.
    4. The President shall not approve any request that does not meet the criteria listed in Sections 1 and 2.
    5. If the request is approved, the President shall transmit the submission to the receiving organization, and commit OASIS to the submission process, no earlier than the 15th day after the notice of decision is transmitted to the submission requesters and OASIS members, and no later than the 45th day thereafter.
    6. The President may approve the request with changes to the proposed submission method, schedule or designated receiving organization. Any such changes made to those terms shall be reported in the notice of decision transmitted to the submission requesters and OASIS Members.
    7. Any OASIS member may appeal the President’s approval or rejection of a proposed submission, or changes made to its terms, in the manner provided in Section 6.
  4. Submission terms with receiving organization.The OASIS President must ensure that the terms of an approved submission request cannot result in multiple divergent versions of the submitted standard. The OASIS copyright should remain on the standard when it is published by the other organization, i.e. both OASIS’ and the other organization’s copyright will appear on the standard, but this copyright requirement can be waived by the OASIS President as long as:
    1. The other organization agrees that only OASIS will continue to maintain and modify the standard until OASIS notifies the other organization that it waives that right;
    2. OASIS can continue to publish the OASIS-copyrighted version of the specification under its copyright and distribution policy.

    The OASIS President must arrange for appropriate acknowledgement, in a written acceptance, an applicable set of rules, a signed memorandum of understanding or other appropriate written form, that the above items are mutually understood between OASIS and the receiving organization.

  5. Maintenance and errata.Once an initial OASIS Standard has been submitted according to the terms of this policy and approved by a receiving organization, then:
    1. Approved Errata. OASIS shall submit any Approved Errata to the approved standard to the same receiving organization, if it still accepts submissions. No request or approval is required. The President will confer with any TC and Member Section with the right to vote on the standard’s submission, in his or her preparation of the submission.
    2. Subsequent Versions. When a new version of an OASIS Standard, which has been submitted to and approved by a receiving organization, itself is approved as an OASIS Standard, the submission of the new version requires a new submission request in accordance with this policy. If a TC agreed to submit future versions, in the approved terms of the original submission, but then later withdraws its commitment or fails to request submission of the new OASIS Standard version, then the President may elect to submit that new version nevertheless, but must so notify the TC, OASIS Members and the Board of Directors. In such cases, the President must provide a copy of the proposed submission terms, so as to permit an appeal; and that submission and any commitment shall be made no sooner than the 15th day after that notification.
    3. Exchange of Comments and Proposed Corrections. OASIS and, if it is open, the TC that originally developed the approved OASIS Standard, may periodically share with the receiving organization any interim corrections and comments it receives on that standard. If OASIS and the receiving organization choose to maintain shared lists or joint repositories of that interim data, without issuing a new approved version, that activity will not constitute a separate submission, for purposes of this policy, so long as the requirements of Section 4 continue to be met.
  6. Appeal.
    1. Any OASIS Member may appeal a decision of the President described in Section 3, 4 or 5 above, within 30 days of the decision, by delivering a complaint to the OASIS Board of Directors, stating the decision at issue, the nature and reasons for the objection(s), and the outcomes desired. If such an appeal is received, the President shall take no further action on the submission at issue until the Board has rendered a decision on the appeal. In order to be valid, such appeal shall be sent to the Board comment list (oasis-board-comment@lists.oasis-open.org).
    2. Within 7 days of receipt of the complaint, the Chairman of the Board shall provide a copy of the complaint to the requesters of the submission at issue. The Board shall hold a hearing (with the appellants invited) within 45 days of receipt of the appeal. The Board shall render its decision within 30 days. The decision of the Board shall be final.
    3. The OASIS Board of Directors has the authority to effect such remedial action as may be necessary to remedy a complaint brought under this policy.

Liaisons to a Technical Committee or Member Section

An OASIS TC or MS may desire to have a relationship with a working group or technical committee of another organization, by having one or more persons act as liaison representative(s) between the two groups. The selection of the liaison and any invitation to other organizations to provide a liaison should be by vote of the relevant TC or the Steering Committee of the relevant MS. The selection of the liaison must be communicated to the OASIS President, and the liaison must be listed on the web page of the TC or MS. A TC may form a liaison subcommittee as required to help the TC coordinate its various liaison relationships; an MS may do so, to the extent consistent with the OASIS Member Section Policy and its own Rules of Procedure.

Ideally a liaison relationship is accomplished by selecting a person who is a member of both the OASIS TC or MS, as well as the working group of the other organization to communicate between the two. If such a dual-membership person is not available or is not the right person for this role then the TC or MS may ask one of its own members to join the other organization, or recruit a member of the other organization to join OASIS and that TC or MS. If the latter, then the prospective liaison must become an Eligible Person (as defined in the OASIS TC Process), by joining OASIS in an appropriate membership class, in order to give the person eligibility to join the TC or MS in accordance with OASIS membership policies.

While a TC or MS liaison has been asked by the TC or MS to represent its interests in the work of the other organization, that person does not officially represent OASIS, and cannot speak for or obligate OASIS in any way. Only persons appointed as an organizational liaison representative as described above may represent the consortium.

The TC or MS liaison’s participation in the other organization is governed by that other organization’s membership agreement, rules, and procedures. That person acts as a member of that organization, and so. must, for example, follow the other organization’s rules concerning confidentiality when sharing that organizations’ information with the OASIS TC or MS.

OASIS has no class of membership for an “invited expert.” To participate in an OASIS TC or MS, a person must become eligible as described in the OASIS membership policies, OASIS TC Process, and OASIS Member Section Policy.

If the desired organization or person is unable to pay the membership fee to join OASIS, the TC or MS may petition the OASIS President to grant a fee-waived, one-year, Individual or Associate membership to the person, as described below.

Fee-waived membership grants

On some occasions it is in the best interests of OASIS to grant fee-waived membership to people or other organizations for the purpose of furthering the work of OASIS. OASIS will grant membership based on the criteria of OASIS gaining benefit from having the other organization or person as a member of or participant in the activities of OASIS. The OASIS President may grant any level of OASIS membership to a person or organization. The grant will be for a fee-waived, one-year membership at a particular membership level. The member will have all of the rights associated with that level of membership. The level granted will be selected based upon the intended level of participation of the person or organization, including

  • whether the person or organization needs participation at only the TC or MS level, or also voting at the OASIS-wide level;
  • whether the person or organization needs to be included in OASIS press releases;
  • the number of participants from the organization in OASIS technical activities; and
  • whether the other organization has or will in exchange grant OASIS membership in their organization, what rights that membership gives OASIS, and what use OASIS will make of this membership.

All membership levels may be granted on a fee-waived, one-year basis by the OASIS President. The fee-waived memberships will be re-evaluated annually based on the same criteria.