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754R Folks, This is to review the process from where we are now to the IEEE
Floating Point STANDARD being published. Now we go to Sponsor ballot, followed by submission to the
IEEE Standards Board through RevCom. Here are the steps: Your action at the June meeting will request that the
Sponsor (The MSC and the Chair acting for the MSC) to form a Sponsor Balloting
Committee for the p754r project to review and approve the draft document for
publication. This is the formal peer review of the standard that backs up
the Standards Board, and the ANSI decision to publish the standard. Following the MSC meeting, I will, or will authorize
someone, the more usual case it is the chair of the working group, to initiate
the MyBallot action to create the balloting pool with some of the preset
balloting pools listed, starting with the MSC. This initiation will send
an invitation to all those in the pool and any additional list to join the
ballot. This is an open process and anybody that is an IEEE member, or pays the
balloting fee, can participate in the ballot through the MyBallot process on
the http://standards.ieee.org/stdsdev/index.html
Please note well – a large balloting pool is very
difficult to get the required return rate. The ballot fails if there in
insufficient returned votes! It is not uncommon for this chasing in of the
ballots to be one of the more difficult tasks in the ballot. A lot of folks
want the free draft only. My next biggest job will be to get the ANSI required
balance on the balloting body. My request would be that you specifically
invite those willing to take the time and trouble to vote and comment. From the IEEE Ops manual: “Balloters are required to classify their relationship to the
balloting group relative to the scope of standards activity (for example,
producer, user, and general interest). Where appropriate, additional
classifications, such as "testing laboratory" or
"academic," may be added by the Sponsor. This decision should be based
on the effect the standard may have on participants not already recognized by
the primary classifications. Individuals classify themselves based on their
technical background, which may be related to their employment, job functions,
or experience. IEEE-SA entity balloters are classified based on their entity
interest as it relates to the scope of the standards project (for example,
producer, consumer, general interest). No group (classification) is permitted
to constitute 50% or more of the balloting group membership. Care shall be
taken to ensure that all classes of interest are represented to the extent
possible. It is desirable to have representation of the materially interested and
affected parties when reviewing the balance of the balloting group. Sponsors
shall ensure balance prior to conducting a Sponsor ballot. Balloting groups
should have at least 10 members to ensure adequate balance.” Section 5.4.1 – “The balloting group shall
meet the criteria in subclause 5.2.2.3 of the IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws.
Balloting group members vote on the acceptability of a new or revised standard
based on their interest in and commitment to reviewing and voting on a specific
proposed standard. The balloting group shall provide for the development of
consensus by all interests significantly affected by the scope of the standard.
This is achieved through a balance of such interests in the balloting group
membership. Balance is defined as the avoidance of dominance by any single
interest category. The name, affiliation if any, such as employer or
sponsor, and interest category of each member of the consensus body shall be
made available to interested parties upon request. Unless it is claimed in writing (including electronic
communications) by a directly and materially affected party that a single
interest category, individual or organization dominated the standards
development process, no test for dominance is required.” All Negative ballots must be accompanied with the written
changes that, if incorporated in the draft, would cause the negative voter to
change there position to affirmative! Any Negative vote without the list
of required changes is not a valid vote and will not be counted. There are many reasons to vote negative and it is not
uncommon for the Committee chair, or member, to vote negative to incorporate
fixes to the draft since is was first offered for ballot! If any negative ballots are returned, they must be re-circulated
to all voters to give them the opportunity to agree with the negative ballot
and change their vote to negative. This recirculation is after the Ballot Review
Committee (BRC) meets to discuss the negative vote and its merits and my change
the draft to accommodate the negative vote, hence reversing the vote, or
partially accept or reject the negative comments and then re-circulate the
modified draft, along with the negative comments and the actions taken on each
negative, and positive, comment and the decision of the BRC on each comment. This process can go through many generations. However any voter
may not object to any point that was agreed to previously unless it is affected
by the negative votes. This prevents the same comment coming in on each
circulation of a ballot. Who is the BRC? The Sponsor appoints the BRC for each
balloting body. The sponsor will also look to the sitting expertise for this group!
You are not done yet! The BRC is usually a small group from the working group,
a subcommittee, or a committee of the whole working group. Smaller is
better! This BRC group must formally answer each comment, by accepting it
into the draft, rejecting it with reason, or possibly negotiating with the
commenter for a mutually agreeable solution. All written correspondence is captured
and accompanies the document through the SASB/RevCom process. It will be
examined for due process! My best guess is that this will take several to 6 months to
complete with multiple re-circulations needed to achieve closure.
Re-circulation ballots are 10 day ballots. The BRC will probably take
more time than this. This ballot MUST have a 75% return rate and MUST have 75%
passage rate. Reported like this for a recent ballot. Ballot Open Date: xx/xx/xxxx Ballot Close Date: xx/xx/xxxx RESPONSE RATE This ballot
has met the 75% returned ballot requirement. 75
eligible people in this ballot group. 64
affirmative votes 2
negative votes with comments 0
negative votes without comments 4
abstention votes 70
votes received = 93%
returned 6%
abstention APPROVAL RATE The 75%
affirmation requirement is being met. 64
affirmative votes 2
negative votes with comments 66
votes = 97% affirmative This particular ballot pool was smaller than the one anticipated
for 754r. Once the response and approval rates are in the proper range
and the negative votes have been answered with the necessary modification of
the draft and the recirculation ballots passed, the standard and all balloting
related material is forwarded to RevCom for process review including matching
the PAR statement with the submitted standard – did we do what we said we
were going to do? Please see: http://standards.ieee.org/board/nes/projects/754.pdf
Another remaining issue is to collect all the Copyright
License forms. Start checking the attendance list for the list of needed
licenses. Your have all made very good progress, it is not done yet,
there are still opportunities to fix things, and more work ahead. Then we can start again…….. Respectfully, Member IEEE p754r working group Sponsor of p754. |