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Recommended Improvementsto
The ETSI Standards Engineering Process
Hans van der Veer
Chair OCG-IOP
&
Steve Randall
STF308OCG#32, 12 June 2007, Sophia Antipolis
ETSI Standards Engineering Process: OCG#32 (12 June 2007) 2
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Background Interoperability: identified as a topic of strategic importance for ETSI in 2005
STF308 study Review of the ETSI Standards Engineering Process and propose
Recommendations for Improvements Started in June 2006 with OCG-IOP as Steering Group and TC MTS as the
supporting TB Timeline
• Review with OCG: June 12, 2007• Review & Approval with Board: September 10-11, 2007• Implementation by ETSI Secretariat
Objective of this Meeting Review recommendations of STF308 Get feedback on feasibility, gaps/omissions, etc
• Recommendations should be complete and implementable!
Get agreement for the proposed Recommendations
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Sept. 2005 ETSI SWOT – Technical Interoperability
Strengths STF, PTCC and Plugtest activities Global network of Collaborations Forums Hosting
Weaknesses Ex-ante standardization No formal, imposed project control process No structured approach to interoperability testing “One standard for everybody” approach
Threats: Diversity of technologies with different standards approaches Competing technologies Open standards & open source movements Other SDOs claiming integra- tor & project coordinator roles
Opportunities Structured approach to interoperability testing Leadership position for (large) projects: e.g. inte- grator & architect role EU political momentum
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Overview of DTR/MTS-00101
Analysis of the Engineering Processes within other bodies: 3GPP IETF OMA IEEE ITU-T DVB
Analysis of the Engineering Process within ETSI Recommendations for changes to ETSI’s process which should
help to assure the inherent interoperability of implementations
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Basis of the Analyses
The analyses of engineering processes were based on the existence and use of the following aspects: A means of initiating new work items aligned with strategic objectives A means of distributing elements of new work to multiple
development bodies A means of coordinating work distributed across multiple
development bodies Document drafting methods and facilities Procedures for validating completed standards and sets of standards A means of controlling changes to approved standards
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Analysis of other Standards Bodies
Protocol standards development in a number of bodies is still based on a 3 Stage method (as per I.130): User requirements Functional Architecture Detailed Protocol specification
Most other bodies raise Project or Topic work items which then spawn lower-level work items
In many organizations, responsibilities are distributed and monitored by a single central group
Coordination of related standards is generally good and even quite formalized in a few organizations
In most cases validation of standards is rather ad hoc and, in some instances, accidental!
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Analysis of ETSI’s Standards Engineering Process
Drafting procedures and support amongst the best but mainly in the area of cosmetic rather than technical quality
The combined facilities offered by STFs, PTCC and MTS itself are unique and enviable
The Work Programme management culture is document based rather than project based
Distribution and coordination of projects across multiple TBs depends on individual TBs
Agreements with other SDOs are oriented towards the sharing of documents rather than resources
Validation facilities exist but validation is not mandatory Change control is ad hoc
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Recommendations (1)
The analysis identified that ETSI's own process is very good in many aspects
However, lessons can be learnt from the other SDOs There are a number of areas where changes in ETSI's process
should result in improvements to the interoperability inherent in ETSI's standards
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Recommendations (2)
Recommendation 1: ETSI's technical committees should use a hierarchical system for
organizing and managing work items.
Recommendation 2: If a hierarchical system for organizing work items is introduced to the
ETSI standards engineering process (Recommendation 1), a coordinating editor should be appointed for each high-level work item with overall responsibility for the coordination of the content and schedule of the subordinate work items and deliverables.
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An Example of a Hierarchical Work Item
IPv6 Testing
Level 1
IPv6 Core
WI Level 2
IPv6 Mobility
WI Level 2
IPv6 to IPv4
WI Level 2
IPv6 Security
WI Level 2
RequirementsCatalogueWI Level 3
Interoperability
WI Level 3
Conformance
WI Level 3
TSS & TP
WI Level 4
Test Suite
WI Level 4
Core TSS & TP
Deliverable
Core TTCN-3 ATS
Deliverable
Core Catalogue
Deliverable
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Recommendations (3)
Recommendation 3: If the subject area of a new high-level work item does not fit clearly
into the scope of a single existing technical committee, ETSI members should be encouraged to submit the work item request to OCG for approval and allocation of responsibilities
Recommendation 4: The ETSI Secretariat should investigate the provision of an easy-to-
use project management software package that can be used for small projects as well as large ones
Recommendation 5: All technical committee support staff should be trained to be
competent in project planning and management techniques and the associated software tools available in ETSI
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Recommendations (4)
Recommendation 6: The current set of fixed milestones associated with a work item
should be extended to include significant stages within the drafting process
Recommendation 7: The ETSI Secretariat should investigate how the existing Work
Programme Management application could be used to monitor the progress of work items upon which ETSI projects depend but which are developed in external SDOs.
Recommendation 8: All technical committees should be encouraged to use a top-down
and phased approach to the development of standards (particularly protocol specifications)
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Recommendations (5)
Recommendation 9: All technical committees should identify for each work item a method
that will be used for validation purposes.
Recommendation 10: ETSI should ensure that the use of the TC-MTS validation techniques
and guidelines is promoted to all technical committees
Recommendation 11: "Specification Validated" should be included in the fixed set of WPM
milestones
Recommendation 12: All technical committees should be encouraged to incorporate
Plugtest events into their standards validation processes.
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Recommendations (6)
Recommendation 13: All technical committees should identify a method of change
management which is appropriate to the nature of the specifications they produce
Recommendation 14: The ETSI Secretariat should investigate the provision of an easy-to-
use, web-based change request and management system and train all TB support staff in its application and use
Recommendation 15: OCG and The ETSI Board should commission the production of a
"Managing Standards Engineering" handbook to provide guidance and direction on all aspects ETSI's standards engineering process
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Conclusion
DTR/MTS-00101 has started MTS approval by correspondence. Planned completion 20 April 2007
OCG review in June 2007 Approve Recommendations to present to The Board
Board review September 2007 Approve Implementation Plan
If required, a follow-up STF in 2008 to develop an implementation plan