These Operating Procedures outline the orderly transaction of business of the VASG Working Group of the Design Automation Standards Committee (DASC) of the IEEE Computer Society. For the development of standards, openness and due process must apply, which means that any individual with a direct and material interest has a right to participate by:
a) expressing a position and its basis,
b) having that position considered, and
c) appealing if adversely affected.
Due process allows for equity and fair play. In addition to openness, due process requires balance, i.e., the standards development process should have a balance of interests and shall not be dominated by any single interest category.
These Operating Procedures outline the orderly transaction of business for this working group. Several documents take precedence in the following order:
This project will revise and enhance the VHDL LRM by including a standard C language interface specification; specifications from previously separate, but releated standards 1164 and 1076.2; and general language enhancements in the areas of design and verification of electronic systems.
(Reference : IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws, Subclause
4.3.1)
The Working Group shall consist of a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and members. When staff resources permit, the Working Group shall be supported by a Standards Staff Liaison. In the absence of a separate Standards Staff Liaison, the Working Group Chair shall be responsible for liaising with Standards Staff.
(Reference: IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual, Subclause 5.4.1)
The Working Group shall be responsible for the following:
(Reference: IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws, Subclauses 4.3.1 and 5.2.1 and IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual, Subclauses 4.3.2, 4.5, and 5.1)
There shall be a Chair, a Vice-Chair and a Secretary. These officers shall be DASC
members and shall be appointed/elected in accordance with the procedures of the DASC.
The Chair shall be a member of any grade of the IEEE and a member of the IEEE-SA and shall organize the Working Group, oversee the Working Group’s compliance with these procedures, and submit proposed standards approved by the balloting group with supporting documentation for IEEE-SA Standards Board review and approval as IEEE standards.
The Vice-Chair shall be a member of any grade of the IEEE and a member of the IEEE-SA and shall carry out the Chair’s duties if the Chair is temporarily unable to do so or chooses to recuse himself or herself.
The Secretary shall record and have published minutes of each meeting.
The Standards Staff Liaison may perform, as a service, administrative work including:
(Reference: IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual, Subclause 4.4.2)
The Chair shall appoint a Returning Officer for the conduct of an election of officers. The Returning Officer shall not be a nominee in the election and shall not vote in the election.
The Members shall nominate to the Returning Officer one or more Members for each office to be filled at the election. Nominees shall be eligible at the time of nomination to hold the office for which they are elected. A Member shall accept nomination for no more than one office. The response period for nominations shall be at least 14 days. If no
nomination is received for an office, a temporary appointment shall be made in accordance with 3.2.
The Returning Officer shall conduct the election by letter or electronic ballot. Voting shall be by “approval”, whereby each balloter may cast an approval vote for each of any number of nominees for an office. The nominee with the greatest number of approval votes shall win the election. Write-in candidates are permitted as specified in the IEEE Bylaws.
In the event of a tie, the Returning Officer shall decide between the tied candidates by picking a candidate’s name from a hat.
Election of the Chair and Vice-Chair shall be confirmed by the DASC-SC. If the DASC-SC rejects election of the Chair or Vice-Chair, the Returning Officer shall conduct a fresh election for the office not so confirmed.
If an office becomes vacant due to resignation, removal, lack of nomination at an election or other reason, a temporary appointment shall be made for a period of up to six months. In the case of Chair or Vice-Chair, the temporary appointment shall be made by the Chair of the DASC. In the case of Secretary or Treasurer, the temporary appointment shall be made by the Chair of the Working Group. An election for the vacated office shall be conducted at the earliest practicable time.
Voting Membership in the Working Group shall be in accordance with the procedures of the IEEE-CS SAB and the IEEE-SA Standards Board. A Working Group member shall be a DASC member in order to be a voting member of the Working Group. A voting member shall participate in Working Group activities as specified in Clause 4.7.1 of the
IEEE-CS SAB policies. For the purpose of interpreting that clause, a meeting shall be deemed to include a teleconference or a Working Group ballot conducted by letter or electronically. A member shall be counted as participating in a meeting on the basis of email communication with the Working Group addressing an item on the published agenda or minutes of the meeting.
Observers shall be permitted to participate in discussions at Working Group meetings and in email discussions in accordance with the procedures of the IEEE-CS SAB.
A request for membership shall be addressed to the Working Group Chair, indicating the applicant’s direct and material interest in the Working Group’s work, qualifications and willingness to participate actively. Please note that all IEEE Standards meetings are open to anyone who wishes to attend.
The Working Group Chair shall review the membership list annually and before each Working Group ballot. Members are expected to fulfill the obligations of active participation. When a member is found in habitual default of these obligations, the Chair shall consider the matter for appropriate action, which may include termination of voting membership.
The Working Group Secretary shall maintain a current and accurate Working Group roster. All changes to the roster shall be forwarded to the Working Group Chair immediately. The roster shall include the following:
The Working Group Secretary shall maintain and publish to members a list of names and business affiliations of current Working Group Members.
The Working Group Secretary shall maintain an email list of current Working Group Members and shall ensure that all Working Group Members are permitted to post email messages to the list.
Working Group meetings shall be held, as decided by the Working Group, the Working Group Chair, or by petition of 15% or more of the Working Group Members, to conduct business, such as making assignments, receiving reports of work, considering draft standards, resolving differences among subgroups, and considering views and objections from any source. A 14-day notice, including an agenda, shall be distributed to all members and observers. Meetings of subgroups may be held as decided upon by the members or chair of the subgroup.
The Working Group may charge a meeting fee to cover services needed for the conduct of the meeting. The fee shall not be used to restrict participation by any interested parties.
There shall be a quorum for conducting business at a meeting. Notwithstanding the withdrawal of enough voting members to leave less than a quorum, the voting members remaining at a duly called or held meeting at which a quorum was initially present may continue to do business until adjournment, so long as any action taken (other than adjournment) is approved by at least a majority of the voting members required to constitute a quorum. A quorum is considered to be 50% of the voting members of the Working Group. If a quorum is not present at a meeting, including those present using teleconferencing facilities, the chair may choose to conduct certain business of the meeting via letter or electronic ballot as appropriate.
Except as required by 6.4, 6.5 and 6.6, votes shall be counted by dividing the number of affirmative votes by sum of the numbers of affirmative and negative votes. The question shall be considered approved if the quotient is greater than 50%.
Each voting member shall vote one of the following positions:
(Reference: IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual, Subclause 5.4 and Subclause 5.4.3.1)
The Working Group shall be allowed to conduct Working Group business between meetings at the discretion of the Working Group Chair by use of a letter or electronic ballot. The response period for an electronic ballot shall be at least 14 days. Except as required by 6.4, 6.5 and 6.6, a letter or electronic ballot shall require a 50% return of ballot. Within 7 days of the response period for an electronic or letter ballot, the Working Group Chair shall publish to the Working Group the outcome of the ballot, including the balloting position of each voting member who voted in the ballot.
The following actions require approval by a majority of the voting membership of the Working Group either at a meeting -- provided that notification of the action has been included on the distributed agenda for the meeting -- or by letter or electronic ballot:
6.5 Actions Requiring Approval by Two-Thirds of Those
Voting of the Working Group Voting Membership
The following actions require a letter ballot or an equivalent[1]1 formal recorded vote with approval by at least two-thirds of those voting of the voting members of the Working Group, excluding abstentions:
Approval of a draft standard or a reaffirmation of an existing standard shall require a 75% return of ballot and approval by 75% of those voting affirmative or negative. All negatives must be recorded and an attempt made to resolve them.
All Working Group officers should use the Working Group letterhead if available, or email notification, when corresponding on behalf of Working Group activities.
If correspondence between subcommittees or between working groups of different subcommittees involves issues or decisions (that is, non-routine matters) affecting other subcommittees, copies shall be sent to all affected subcommittee chairs, the Working Group Secretary, and the Working Group officers.
Inquiries relating to the Working Group should be directed to the Working Group Chair, and members should so inform individuals who raise such questions. All replies to inquiries shall be made through the Working Group Chair.
The policies of subclause 5.9 of the IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual shall be followed.
(Reference: IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual, Subclause 5.9)
The Working Group recognizes the right of appeal. Technical appeals are referred back to the Working Group. Every effort should be made to ensure that impartial handling of complaints regarding any action or inaction on the part of the Working Group is performed in an identifiable manner.
(Reference: IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws, Subclause 5.4 and IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual, Subclause 5.8)
On questions of parliamentary procedure not covered in these Procedures, Roberts Rules of Order (revised) may be used to expedite due process.
All communications shall comply with subclause 13 of the DASC Procedures.
The Working Group is encouraged to prepare press releases and other forms of publicity to promote their activities. Please see subclause 5.1.5 of the IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual for further instructions.
[1] “Equivalent” refers to some identifiable method of tallying the votes and addressing the comments.