Technical Steering Committee Mission and Charter review

Mission

The HL7 Technical Steering Committee’s mission is to provide the technical direction to the HL7 organization to achieve the vision of creating the best and most widely used standards in healthcare. The TSC oversees and coordinates the technical efforts contributed by the HL7 participants to ensure that the efforts of the Working Group (WG) are focused on the overall HL7 mission.

TSC will provide input and operationalize the Strategic Initiatives as indicated in GOM section 10.11. The TSC also reviews and provides oversight to projects during the approval process. This allows the TSC to identify gaps and overlaps between projects of the Working Group and the Strategic Initiatives.

Charter

The HL7 Technical Steering Committee (TSC) is responsible for overseeing the execution of standards development within HL7 by assuring that the efforts of the WG are in line with the product and services strategy set forth by the Board.

The TSC provides a coherent architecture and development process by refining the HL7-adopted Services-Aware Interoperabiliy Framework Canonical Definition (SAIF-CD) and specializes the SAIF-CD to develop an Implementation Guide as the HL7 Technical Architecture, development methodologies, and work processes to be used by the WG in developing HL7 consensus-based standards specifications.

The TSC oversees the technical operations of the WG and assures that the WG works smoothly together and covers the work scope in a consistent manner.

The TSC serves as the primary communication vehicle for the technical operations of HL7 and serves as the technical authority of HL7, communicating status and guidelines regarding standards and operations.

The composition of the TSC is described in section 09.01 of the GOM, and additional ex officio membership as described in sections 07.02 (Chair), 07.03 (Chair-elect).

Mandate

The TSC is mandated by the HL7 Governance and Operations Manual to coordinate the activities of the WG in accordance with section 09.01 of the GOM.

This mandate also includes the following specific responsibilities:

a)Providing product project approval and management including decisions regarding discontinuation of projects.

b)Providing technical oversight including HL7 Architecture, development methodologies, and work processes.

c)Ensuring that the WG efforts proceed in a timely manner, cover the scope of work consistently, and arbitrating the ballot and distribution process for HL7 Protocol Specifications (Standards) available to the public.

d)Providing the official interpretation of all HL7 Standards, and official endorsement of tools for use by the membership in the development of HL7 Standards.

e)Providing final and formal approval of formation of new Work Groups, appeals for requests to change the name of a Work Group or a Work Group’s Mission and Charter, and petitions to dissolve a Work Group.

f)Approval of ballot document titles and title changes for Normative, Informative, and Draft Standard for Trial Use (DSTU) material, as well as any other ‘official’ documents carrying an HL7 copyright and logo including providing approval for registering an informative document with ANSI.

g)Resolving all petitions from the working group related to proper balloting and accreditation of the HL7 standards.This includes decisions related to participation in a review group for an informative document (CTO resolves variance in process for Normative consensus group), extension of a Trial Use period of a DSTU, comment-only ballot material, allowing Normative balloting without a first review ballot, discontinuing a standards project, withdrawal of an American National Standard (ANS) or submission of ANSI standards to ISO (in conjunction with HL7 ISO liaison).

Work Products and Contributions to HL7 Processes

The Technical Steering Committee (TSC) operates – and expects the WG to operate – in accordance with the HL7 organizational ideals so as to:

a) respect the contributions and ideas of the individuals who make up the WG;

b) maintain an effective focus on the goals of HL7;

c) assure that the all major decisions are based on consensus of the stakeholders;

d) maximize sharing and "re-use" of work products between elements of the Working Group;

e) use project management to assure that project goals are articulated and met;

f) address any conflict between the components of the Working Group; and

g) assure that HL7 standards are developed on a solid architectural foundation that promotes consistency and interoperability.

Formal Relationships With Other HL7 Groups

The TSC may recommend representation on other HL7 committees such as the Organizational Relations Committee, but such recommendations are subject to the normal approval process by the Board of Directors of HL7.

TSC members may also act as liaisons with board appointed committees at the discretion of the board, including:

• TSC Representative to the Organization Relations Committee (ORC)
• TSC Representative to the Governance and Operations Committee (GOC)

Formal Relationship With Groups Outside of HL7

When relationships between HL7 and external organizations involve the use by HL7 of a standard or specification developed by the external organization; then the use/specialization/localization of the specification by HL7 is governed by principles and practices specified by the HL7 SAIF Canonical Definition (SAIF CD) and the HL7 SAIF IG.

Formal relationships between the TSC and groups outside of HL7 shall be governed by any Memorandums of Understanding or other agreements between HL7 and the organization as defined by the Organization Relations Committee.

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For additional information, please visit the TSC Wiki Site