TSC Mission and Charter

HL7 Technical Steering Committee

Mission

This group supports the HL7 mission to create and promote its standards by:

• Overseeing and coordinating the technical efforts contributed by the HL7 participants,who make up the HL7 Working Group, and assuring that the efforts of the Working Group are focused on the overall HL7 mission.

The Technical Steering Committee and the HL7 Working Group operate in such a way so as to:

• respect the contributions and ideas of the talented individuals who make up the Working Group;
• maintain an effective focus on the goals of HL7;
• assure that the all major decisions are based on consensus of the stakeholders;
• maximize sharing and "re-use" of work products between elements of the Working Group;
• use project management to assure that project goals are articulated and met;
• reduce competition and conflict between the components of the Working Group; and
• assure that HL7 standards are developed on a solid architectural foundation that assures consistency and interoperability.

Charter

Work Products and Contributions to HL7 Processes

The HL7 Technical Steering Committee (TSC) is responsible for overseeing the execution of standards development within HL7 by assuring that the efforts of the Working Group (WG) are effectively focused on accomplishing the product and services strategy set forth by the Board.

The Technical Steering Committee provides a coherent architecture and development process and establishes or reviews the Technical Architecture, the development methodologies, and the work processes to be used by the WG in developing HL7 consensus-based standards specifications.

The Technical Steering Committee also oversees the technical operations of the Working Group and assures that the Working Group works smoothly together and covers the work scope in a consistent matter.

The Technical Steering Committee 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.

Composition of the Technical Steering Committee

The Technical Steering Committee is composed of ten voting members; six elected representatives, two Board-appointed positions (the Chief Technical Officer and a liaison), and up to two Technical Steering Committee-appointed positions. It also includes a non-voting secretary and other staff support positions.

• Technical Steering Committee Chair— Elected by the TSC from the pool of voting TSC members
• Chief Technical Officer — Board appointed ex officio
• Foundations & Technologies Steering Division (SD) Representative — elected by the SD
• Structures and Semantic Design SD representative – elected by the SD
• Domain Expertise Steering Division Representative— elected by the SD
• Support Services SD Representative — elected by the SD
• Two Affiliate Representatives — Elected by global affiliates
• Architecture Review Board (ARB) Representative — TSC Appointed
• Board Liaison — Board appointed
• TSC-appointed Member — ad hoc
• Recorder/Scribe — designated by HQ (non-voting)
• Technical Staff & Consultants (non-voting)

Formal Relationships with Other HL7 Groups

The Technical Steering Committee is the focal point for decision making, harmonization, issue resolution, project and committee creation an dissolution within the Working Group. The TSC is a representative consensus body of elected and appointed members.

Formal Relationships with Group Outside of HL7

None