EP E2NA Working Procedures

The ETSI Project E2NA Working Procedures are defined in this document. They address all the aspects that regard the management and technical activities of the Project, leaving to specific documents for each ETSI Technical Body part of the project to detail the procedures needed for their internal activities. The aspects of the EP activity that are already covered by ETSI Technical Working Procedures are in general not addressed again here and reader should refer to those. In particular, decisions, approvals and resolution of conflicts will be handled in accordance to the general ETSI rules. Voting should be avoided and it is recommended that decisions should be taken by consensus.

 The ETSI Project E2NA may use the concept of release. Specifications are grouped into "Releases" where appropriate, i.e. when strong dependencies exist between them. An end-to-end system can be instantiated based on the set of all specifications which comprise a given Release. A new Release differs from the previous Release by adding functionality introduced as a result of ongoing standardization work within the project.  The criteria for use of the release mechanism will be determined as needed by the EP E2NA plenary.

 ETSI Project E2NA is initially composed of the following ETSI Technical Bodies:

• Technical Committees
  • ATTM
  • DECT
  • INT
  • NTECH
  • MCD
  • PLT

Membership of E2NA is open to all ETSI full and associate members. Individuals representing non-members and/or other institutions may be invited to attend E2NA meetings (as observers) for a limited duration (three meetings or 6 months whichever is the shortest) at the discretion of the chairman who will inform the ETSI Secretariat in each case (TWP 1.4).

 Anyone wishing to become a member of the E2NA should subscribe to the main E2NA mailing list.

E2NA has a Plenary Assembly (Plenary in the following). It is formally responsible for the technical program, and is also in charge of the approval of the proposals for new E2NA WI and its deliverables. Moreover it is responsible for opening and closing of WGs at EP level.

The Plenary shall be open to ETSI members associated with all rights and obligations according to ETSI TWP.

The Plenary should delegate technical work to the relevant member Technical Bodies (TB). When it meets, the Plenary will receive reports from the member TBs and EP WG Chairs on the planned actions, work progress, results, proposals and issues of their group, including status of the work plan with an updated list of approved deliverables as well as those in progress.

Coordination and management, including dispute settlement within EP E2NA, is in the responsibility of the Plenary.

The Plenary reports to OCG in representation of the EP E2NA. Member TBs, keep their independency with respect to their participation in OCG.

 Both physical meetings and virtual by remote connection via electronic audio/video tools are possible. Plenary meetings should be co-located as much as possible with physical meetings of WGs.

The Management Group includes the EP Chair and Vice-Chair, as well as the Chairs of all the member TBs and EP WGs in the project. Each chair of a TB can appoint one additional deputy to become member of the Management Group. Additional members of the management group may be approved as needed by the management group, and the management group may invite additional experts when required.

The Management Group (MG) shall be responsible for management and coordination of work in the EP WGs and in the member TBs. This includes the responsibility for re-directing tasks within the different member TBs and EP WGs, depending on the needs of the project. Possible disputes between member organizations will be resolved by the Management Group.

The EP E2NA has specialized Working Groups (WGs) that address technical work and interact and coordinate with the member TBs. In particular the following WGs are established at moment of the EP creation:

1.     Requirements EP WG, in charge of providing technical/service requirements derived from the Work Items of the EP E2NA’s Work Plan; where possible these Requirements will be the detailed final expression of use cases from which they are derived.

2.     Architecture EP WG, in charge of defining a common architecture to enable the support of services defined by the Requirements group.

These groups, and possible new EP WGs that will need to be created in the future in the EP, will work in a coordinated way with each other and with the member TBs of the project. They will ensure the global consistency of the results produced.

The EP WGs are expected to receive input by delegates having technical expertise in the areas covered by the member TBs of EP E2NA, in a way to cover all those areas. The delegates participating in the activities of the EP WGs could therefore be delegates in one or more of the member organizations.

 EP WGs should review the working documents and coordinate work on “Requirements” and “Architecture” on a regular basis.

Meetings dates and location will be optimized to ensure adequate coordination between EP WGs and the member TBs.

Work rules for EP WGs

The meetings of the EP WGs shall be announced at least 30 days for formal meetings and should be announced at least two weeks in advance for ad-hoc/rapporteurs’ meetings. Formal meetings are those where decisions are taken.

Documents should be available at least 5 calendar days before the meeting. 

Chairs / Vice-Chairs of the Plenary and Chairs of E2NA Working groups shall be appointed as per ETSI TWP clause 1.3.

E2NA Working Groups may also appoint Vice-Chairs following the same procedures.

Coordination and management, including dispute settlement within EP-E2NA, is in the responsibility of the Management Group.

Management of Work Items   

A work item is owned either by EP E2NA or a member TB.

When a NWI is proposed within an EP WG or a member organization, the given group informs the plenary with a recommendation on how the WI relates to the project. The proposing member organization can adopt the WI and contextually start the related activities.

If all comments or issues raised during the review period are resolved, then the recommendation is accepted and the adoption of the WI is confirmed.

The EP plenary can recommend the evaluation of synergies and common interests with other TBs in the project and/or externally and propose a different adoption and ownership of the WI.

In presence of unresolved substantial objections against the WI received within the review period the issue will be handled according to ETSI rules.

If a WI is part of the project and owned by a member TB, EP Plenary will decide where the WI fits in the project plan. Member TBs will report on the progress of the WI at each EP plenary.

 Workflow

The Requirements WG will create Requirements deliverables (Stage 1). 

The Architecture WG will develop Architecture deliverables, based on the Requirements deliverables.

The Requirements and the Architecture deliverables will be input to the various member organizations for them to develop the detailed technical documents.

Approval of deliverables

The TB owning a work item will approve the related deliverable.

When a work item is owned and approved by a member TB, the TB will inform EP E2NA in advance of the process/timings for the approval of the deliverable.