Operating Procedures for IEEE Computer Society

Design Automation Standards Committee

The e Functional Verification Language Working Group

Adopted by eWG 7/7/04

(Based on the model procedures adopted by DASC-SC February 19, 2004)

Please note: Modifications to the model procedures are highlighted in blue. Deletions are colored red.

Introduction

These Operating Procedures outline the orderly transaction of business of the e Functional Verification Language 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:

• New York State Not-for-Profit Law

• IEEE Certificate of Incorporation

• IEEE Constitution

• IEEE Bylaws (includes IEEE Standards Association Bylaws)

• IEEE Policy & Procedures Manual

• IEEE Board of Directors Resolutions

• IEEE Standards Association Operations Manual

• IEEE-SA Board of Governors Resolutions

• IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws

• IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual

• Policies/Procedures of the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS)

• Policies/Procedures of the IEEE Computer Society Standards Activities Board (IEEE-CS SAB)

• Policies/Procedures of the DASC

• DASC Resolutions

• Policies/Procedures of the Working Group (this document)

• Working Group Resolutions

• Robert’s Rules of Order (Revised)

Working Group Scope

The e Functional Verification Language Working Group's (eWG) purpose, as chartered by the IEEE Standards Board, is to develop a standard called The Functional Verification Language e,  by clearly specifying (a.) the e language constructs, (b.) the e language interaction with standard simulation languages of interest, (c.) the libraries used currently in conjunction with the e language, and (d.) additional new features of interest

(References : IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws, Subclause 4.3.1; The P1647 PAR, Section 12)

1.    Organization of the Working Group

The Working Group shall consist of a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Task force leads and members. When staff resources permit, the Working Group shall be supported by a Standards Staff Liaison.
(Reference: IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual, Subclause 5.4.1)

2.     Responsibilities of the Working Group

The Working Group shall be responsible for the following:

1. Developing a proposed IEEE standard within the scope of the PAR under which the Working Group was formed

2. Maintaining the standard developed by the Working Group in accordance with the IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual

3. Responding to requests for interpretations of the standards developed by the Working Group

4. Preparing PARs for revision of the standard developed by the Working Group

5. Acting on other matters requiring Working Group effort as provided in these procedures

6. Cooperating with other appropriate standards development organizations

7. Protecting against actions taken in the name of the Working Group without Working Group authorization

(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)

3.    Officers

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:

1. Secretarial services

2. Making meeting arrangements

3. Preparation and distribution of meeting notices, agendas, minutes, ballots, and draft standards

4. Maintenance of adequate records, including the Working Group roster

(Reference: IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual, Subclause 4.4.2)

3.1     Election of Officers

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.

3.2     Temporary Appointments to Vacancies

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, 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.

4.     Membership

4.1     Voting Membership

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. A member shall be considered actively participating based on attending at least 3 out of the last 4 meetings for ballots between meetings; or 2 out of the last 3 meetings and the ongoing meeting in which voting is conducted.

4.2     Observers

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.

4.3     Application

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.

4.4     Review of Membership

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.] Only active members, fullfiling the attendance obligations in accordance with 4.1, will be allowed to vote.

4.5     Membership Roster

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:

1. Title of the Working Group

2. Scope of the Working Group

3. Officers - Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, [Treasurer] [and Standards Staff Liaison]

4. Members: for all, list name, address, IEEE membership number and business affiliations; for society or organizational Designated Representatives (DR) and alternates (DRA), list as DR or DRA and the IEEE Society or organization (as applicable), together with organization address

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.

5.     Meetings

5.1     Holding Meetings

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 30-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.

5.2     Quorum

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.

6.     Vote

6.1     Vote Counting

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%.

6.2     Balloting Positions

Each voting member shall vote one of the following positions:

1. Affirmative

2. Do Not Approve (Negative With Comments - the reasons for a negative vote shall be given and should include specific wording or actions that would resolve the objection)

3. Do Not Approve (Negative Without Comments)

4. Abstain

(Reference: IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual, Subclause 5.4 and Subclause 5.4.3.1)

6.3     Voting By Ballot

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, theWorking 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.

6.4     Actions Requiring Approval by a Majority of the Working Group Voting Membership

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:

1. Formation of a subgroup, including its procedures, scope, and duties

2. Disbandment of subgroups

3. [Authorization of a letter 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 formal recorded vote with approval by at least two-thirds of those voting of the voting members of the Working Group, excluding abstentions:

1. Position Statements for Standards

2. Adoption of Working Group procedures, or revisions thereof

3. Approval of change of the Working Group scope

4. Approval of termination of the Working Group

6.6    Actions Requiring Approval by Seventy-five Percent of Those Voting of the Working Group Voting Membership

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.

7.     Communications

All Working Group officers should use the Working Group letterhead if available, or email notification, when corresponding on behalf of Working Group activities.

7.1     Formal Internal Communication

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.

7.2     External Communication

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.

8.     Interpretations

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)

9.     Appeals

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)

10.     Parliamentary Procedures

On questions of parliamentary procedure not covered in these Procedures, Roberts Rules of Order (revised) may be used to expedite due process.

11.    Position Statements for Standards

All communications shall comply with subclause 13 of the DASC Procedures.

12.     Standards Publicity

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.