OASIS Defined Terms

This version of the OASIS Defined Terms was approved by the OASIS Board of Directors on on 22 July 2020 and became effective 01 December 2020. The change was announced in https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/members/202011/msg00011.html

The previous version, approved 22 May 2018 and effective immediately, can be found at https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/oasis-defined-terms-2018-05-22/oasis-defined-terms-22-may-2018/.

Definitions of Key Terms

1.1 Introduction

This document defines terms that carry specific meaning when used in OASIS policy and rule documents. Additional definitions specific to the OASIS IPR Policy can be found in that document.

1.2.Definitions

1. “Administrative Document” is a document that is used by a committee only in support of internal operations. Examples are minutes, agenda, liaison statements, issue lists, bug lists, etc. Inter-group communications to request review, respond to review comments, or to respond to questions or requests for clarifications are considered to be Administrative Documents. Administrative Documents are not Standards Track Work Products, Non-Standards Track Work Products nor Project Standards Track Work Products. An Administrative Document must not use a Work Product template.
2. “Approved Errata” is a set of Non-Material corrections to an OASIS Standard that have been approved by a Full Majority Vote of an OASIS Technical Committee or Project Governing Board.
3. “Chair” is a committee member elected by the other members to schedule, officiate at and conduct meetings, provide leadership, act as primary liaison to OASIS staff and in general ensure a committee works efficiently to achieve its goals.
4. “Charter” is the organizational document for a committee comprised of the items included in the template for the proposal to form that committee. The items in a charter vary depending on the type of committee being formed.
5. “Committee Note” is a Non-Standards Track Work Product that has been approved by a Full Majority Vote of an OASIS Technical Committee. A Committee Note is not subject to the patent licensing and other obligations explained in the OASIS IPR Policy.
6. “Committee Note Draft” is a Non-Standards Track Work Product that has been approved by a Full Majority Vote of a Technical Committee. A Committee Note Draft is not subject to the patent licensing and other obligations explained in the OASIS IPR Policy.
7. “Committee Specification” is a Standards Track Work Product that has been approved as such by a Special Majority Vote of a Technical Committee. A Committee Specification is an OASIS Standards Final Deliverable and subject to the patent licensing and other obligations explained in the OASIS IPR Policy.
8. “Committee Specification Draft” is a Standards Track Work Product that has been approved by a Full Majority Vote of a Technical Committee. A Committee Specification Draft is not an OASIS Standards Final Deliverable and is not subject to the patent licensing and other obligations explained in the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy.
9. “Conformance clause” is a statement in a Standards Track Work Product that references one or more Normative Statements in order to describe a condition that an implementation must satisfy in order for it to conform to that part of the Work Product.
10. “Contributor License Agreement (CLA)” is a form signed by a person who wishes to submit material to an OASIS Open Repository or Open Project. The CLA binds the donor to the repository’s applicable license and such other consistent terms as OASIS may require as a publisher to assure its availability.
11. “Convener” is an Eligible Person who serves in the role of organizing the activities leading up to the first meeting of a Technical Committee.
12. “Day” or “Days” means calendar days unless otherwise specified.
13. “Eligible Person” is one of a class of individuals that includes (a) OASIS Individual Members, (b) employees or designees of OASIS Organizational Members, and (c) such other persons as may be designated by the OASIS Board of Directors.
14. “Errata” is a set of Non-Material corrections to an OASIS Standard that have not yet been approved by an OASIS Technical Committee or Project Governing Board as an Approved Errata.
15. “Full Majority Vote” is a vote in which more than 50% (more than half) of the eligible voters vote “yes.” If the vote is held in a committee meeting, more than 50% of the total eligible voters must vote “yes” regardless of the number of present. Abstentions are not counted. For example, if an OASIS Technical Committee has 20 Voting Members on its roster and 12 are present in a meeting, at least 11 Voting Members must vote “yes” for a motion to pass.
16. “IPR” means intellectual property rights.
17. “IPR Mode” is one of the licensing modes defined in section 10 of the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy. IPR Mode generally refers to the mode selected by the proposers of a Technical Committee in its charter.
18. “Leave of Absence” is an approved absence from the work of a Technical Committee during which time the member’s standing in the committee shall be maintained and the member shall be free of any participation or other obligations until the time of their return.
19. “Material Change” is any change to the content of a Work Product that that would require a compliant application or implementation to be modified or rewritten in order to remain compliant or which adds new features or otherwise expands the scope of the work product.
20. “Meeting” is a gathering of a committee’s members that is properly called and scheduled in advance using the OASIS collaborative tools.
21. “Member“, with respect to a committee, is an Eligible Person who has taken the necessary steps to join the committee and is allowed to subscribe to that committee’s email list, participate in its discussions, attend and participate in its meetings, and make contributions to the committee’s work.
22. “Minimum Membership” is five Voting Members of a committee required to maintain voting rights for its members or, in the case of a committee not required to maintain voting rights or for a project about to be formed, five Eligible Persons, at least two of which represent different OASIS Organizational Members. For Project Governing Boards, Project Approval Minimum Membership is defined separately below.
23. “Non-Material Change” is any change to the content of a Work Product that does not add or remove any feature of the Work Product and that: (a) constitutes only error corrections, editorial changes, or formatting changes and would not require a compliant application or implementation to be modified or rewritten in order to remain compliant; or (b) is a pro forma change to content required by TC Administration.
24. “Informative Reference” is a reference in a Standards Track Work Product or Project Standards Track Work Product to an external document or resource provided to the implementer for informative purposes only and which has no bearing on any Normative Portions of the Work Product.
25. “Non-Standards Track Work Product” is a Work Product produced and approved by an OASIS Technical Committee in accordance with the TC Process that may be progressed to Committee Note. Non-Standards Track Work Products are intended to be informative and explanatory in nature. They are not subject to the patent licensing and other obligations explained in the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy Non-Standards Track Work Products must not contain language that would otherwise fall within the definition of Normative Portion.
26. “Normative Portion” is a portion of an OASIS Standards Final Deliverable or Project Standards Final Deliverable that must be implemented to comply with such deliverable. If such deliverable defines optional parts, Normative Portions include those portions of the optional part that must be implemented if the implementation is to comply with such optional part. Examples and/or reference implementations and other specifications or standards that were developed outside the TC or PGB and which are referenced in the body of a particular final deliverable that may be included in such deliverable are not Normative Portions.
27. “Normative Reference” is a reference in a Standards Track Work Product or Project Standards Track Work Product to an external document or resource with which the implementer must comply, in part or in whole, in order to comply with a Normative Portion of the Work Product.
28. “OASIS Deliverable” is any of the following: Committee Specification Drafts, Committee Specifications, OASIS Standards, Approved Errata, Committee Note Drafts, and Committee Notes.
29. “OASIS Individual Member” is an OASIS Member who is classified as such in their executed Membership Agreement.
30. “OASIS Member” is a person, organization or entity who is a voting or non-voting member of the corporation, as defined by the OASIS Bylaws.
31. “OASIS Non-Standards Draft Deliverable“means any of the following: Committee Note Drafts.
32. “OASIS Non-Standards Final Deliverable” means any of the following: Committee Notes.
33. “OASIS Open Project Administrator” is the person or persons representing OASIS in administrative matters relating to Open Projects, Open Repositories, or Project Governing Boards. All official communications must be sent to op-admin@oasis-open.org.
34. “OASIS Organizational Member” is an OASIS Member who is classified as such in their executed Membership Agreement.
35. “OASIS Standards Draft Deliverable” indicates draft work products developed under the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy comprising any of the following: Committee Specification Draft.
36. “OASIS Standards Final Deliverable” indicates final work products developed under the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy, comprising any of the following when originating from a Technical Committee: Committee Specification, OASIS Standard, or Approved Errata.
37. “OASIS Standard” is a Committee Specification that has been approved by the OASIS Membership following the procedures explained in section 2.8.3 of the OASIS TC Process.
38. “OASIS TC Administrator” is the person or persons representing OASIS in administrative matters relating to Technical Committees. All official communications must be sent to tc-admin@oasis-open.org.
39. “Observer” is an Eligible Person who has taken the necessary steps to join a Technical Committee, is subscribed to the TC email list, and may attend TC meetings, but is not allowed to participate in TC email list discussions, participate or speak in TC meetings, or make Contributions to the TC. Observers are not listed on a TC’s public roster. The process for becoming an Observer is defined in section 1.4 of the OASIS TC Process.
40. “Open Project” is a group comprised of at least the Minimum Membership formed and conducted according to the provisions of the OASIS Open Project Rules for the purpose of developing source code, data specifications and other artifacts under a specified open source license.
41. “Open Repository” is a distinct facility operated by OASIS for collection of voluntarily contributed information relevant to the work of a specific TC, under the rules set forth in the OASIS Open Repository Guidelines and Procedures.
42. “Persistent Non-Voting Member” is a Technical Committee Member who wishes to participate in the work of the committee but who does not wish to count for purposes of calculating quorum, make or second motions, or vote.
43. “Primary Representative” is a person designated by an organization to serve as its principal contact to OASIS for administrative issues regarding OASIS membership and participation in an Open Project, Technical Committee, or other OASIS activity.
44. “Project Approval Minimum Membership” shall have the meaning defined for such term in the OASIS Open Project Rules.
45. “Project Governing Board“(or “PGB“) means a group comprised of at least the Minimum Membership formed and conducted according to the provisions of the OASIS Open Project Rules.
46. “Project Standards Final Deliverable” indicates final work products developed under the OASIS Open Project Rules, comprising any of the following when originating from a PGB: Project Specification, OASIS Standard, or Approved Errata.
47. “Project Standards Track Work Product” is a Work Product produced and approved by a Project Governing Board in accordance with the OASIS Open Project Rules that may be promoted to Project Specification or OASIS Standard.
48. “Project Specification” is one or more Release(s) or subsets of Release(s) of an OASIS Open Project properly prepared and nominated by the Project Governing Board (PGB) and approved as such by the Members of the PGB by a Special Majority Vote.
49. “Project Sponsor” shall have the meaning defined for such term in the OASIS Open Project Rules.
50. “Public” and “publicly” is all persons, organizations and entities, whether or not OASIS Members.
51. “Quorum” is the number of Eligible Persons in a committee that must be present in a meeting so that Resolutions and decisions may be made. The quorum for OASIS committee meetings is a simple majority (more than half) of the Voting Members or, for committees that do not use voting rights, a simple majority of the Members.
52. “Quorate Meeting” is a committee meeting at which a Quorum is present.
53. “Release,” with respect to an OASIS Open Project, is a collection of links to resources within the project that enable the Project Governing Board to deliver software to users.
54. “Resolution” is a decision reached by a Technical Committee by vote, or by a PGB when voting is used. Resolutions require a Simple Majority Vote to pass, unless a Full Majority Vote or Special Majority Vote is required under the applicable Process. The Open Project Rules govern when PGBs must conduct a vote in order to reach decisions.
55. “Simple Majority Vote” is a vote in which the number of “yes” votes cast is greater than the number of “no” votes cast. Abstentions are not counted. For example, in a Quorate Meeting in which 20 Voting Members are present, if 7 vote “yes” and 4 vote “no”, the motion passes.
56. “Special Majority Vote” is a vote in which at least 2/3 (two thirds) of the eligible voters vote “yes” and no more than 1/4 (one fourth) of the eligible voters vote “no”. These numbers are based on the total number of eligible voters in the committee. Abstentions are not counted. For example, in a Technical Committee in which there are 30 Voting Members, at least 20 Voting Members must vote “yes” for a motion to pass; but if 8 or more vote “no” then the motion fails. All Special Majority Votes must be conducted via electronic ballot by the OASIS TC Administrator.
57. “Standards Track Work Product” is a Work Product produced and approved by a Technical Committee in accordance with the OASIS TC Process and the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy that may be promoted to Committee Specification or OASIS Standard.
58. “Statement of Use“, with respect to a Committee Specification or Project Specification, is a written statement that a party has successfully used or implemented that specification in accordance with all or some of its conformance clauses, identifying those clauses that apply, and stating whether its use included the interoperation of multiple independent implementations. The Statement of Use must be made to a specific version of the Specification and must include the Specification’s approval date. The party may be an OASIS Member or a non-member. In case of a non-member, the Statement of Use must be submitted via the Technical Committee’s or Project Governing Board’s comment facility. A TC or PGB may require a Statement of Use to include hyperlinks to documents, files or demonstration transcripts that enable the committee’s members to evaluate the implementation or usage. A Statement of Use submitted to the TC or PGB must be approved by TC Resolution or PGB action as an acceptable Statement of Use with respect to the Specification. A party can only issue one Statement of Use for a given specification. When issued by an OASIS Organizational Member, a Statement of Use must be endorsed by the Organizational Member’s Primary Representative.
59. “Subcommittee” (or “SC“) is a group of Members of a TC producing recommendations for consideration by the parent TC.
60. “Technical Committee” (or “TC“) means a group comprised of at least the Minimum Membership formed and conducted according to the provisions of the OASIS TC Process.
61. “Voting Member” is a Member of a committee who has voting rights in the committee. The process for gaining voting rights is defined differently for each type of committee.
62. “Work Product” is a package of materials (e.g. narrative documents, schemas, sample code) being prepared under a single name and version number and which is either a Standards Track Work Product or Non-Standards Track Work Product, or a Project Standards Track Work Product. Other outputs of an OASIS Open Project, including Releases and Group Releases, are not included in this definition.
63. “Work Product Approval Motion” is any motion to initiate a Work Product Ballot.
64. “Work Product Ballot” is any TC ballot for the:
    1. approval of a Committee Specification Draft or Committee Note Draft,
    2. start of a Public Review,
    3. approval of a Committee Specification or a Committee Note, or
    4. submission of a Committee Specification as a candidate for OASIS Standard.