Tsc issue review process

The following is the stawman process provided by Karen for discussion on the call 15/10/07 -- it does not reflect changes agreed since them

Assumptions:

1. Gforge will be used for all issue tracking. Issues may be submitted directly onto gForge, or by posting the Word document to the email address. Once registered on gforge that is the definative version of the issue
2. All issues will be submitted via the issues submission procedure, regardless of whether they come directly from a member or up through the SIG/TC and Steering Division.

Process:

1. Submitter submits issue through TSCissues@lists.hl7.org or through gForge. Additional files such as mission/charter for new SIGs or project proposals can be submitted with the issue.
2. HQ logs the issues received by email onto gForge, ensuring all fields on the submission form have been entered, follows up with submitter should information be missing (i.e. ,mission/charter statement, etc).
3. The status of the issue is automatically set to Submitted. This alerts the TSC that the issue has not been discussed.
4. HQ and TSC Chair/CTO will meet weekly on Friday to triage issues and determine which shall be discussed on the next call. Issues may be closed at this point without discussion on the TSC.
5. TSC discussion will result in the following:
   1. Change to status. Status codes and their meanings are as follows:
      1. Submitted – the issue has been logged but not discussed
      2. Approved – the issues has been logged and discussed by the TSC, and is being worked on.
      3. Approved/Transferred – the issues has been discussed by the TSC and transferred to another body (e.g., ARB, MnM, SD, CTO, etc).
      4. Completed – the body to which the issues was referred has responded and the issue is ready for review by the TSC.
      5. Closed/Rejected – the issue was reviewed and rejected by the TSC (as in the case of creating a new TC/SIG or request for out-of-cycle ballot).
      6. Closed/Duplicate – the issue was reviewed by the TSC and closed as it is a duplicate issue.
      7. Closed – the TSC has discussed, resolved, and closed the issue.
   2. Assignment of TSC Steward –all issues will be assigned to a TSC steward. This TSC member keeps the issue moving forward toward resolution and will be responsible for communication of issue resolution to submitter. He/she may need to be work with others (i.e., committee, individual or other body to whom the issue has been transferred) to bring the issue to closure.
6. TSC resolves the issue, which results in the following:
   1. Capture of resolution – issues whose status is CR, CD or CC are required to have documented resolution. Resolution should state the decision of the TSC and how that decision will be implemented (e.g., Implementation Note to be distributed on V2.6 CD ROM, announced via eNews, and posted to the web site for download.)
      1. Capture of date on which resolution was achieved
      2. Communication of resolution by TSC Steward to submitter.

Questions/issues:

1. Do we think that gForge can/should be used for all submissions? do all HL7 (and affiliate) members have access permissions to do that?
2. Would a priority field be useful? There is a priority field on the gForge form
3. Would a target date for discussion/resolution be helpful? Yes
4. It is suggested that managing the actions taken to resolve an issue should be done with gForge tasks in addition to the issue -- this needs to be added to the process, with a description / tutorial of how this works
5. It is not clear yet how this tracker links to the gForge issue trackers used by other committees and projects.
6. Not all members of the TSC are registered as resources on gForge, so it is not possible to assign issue to them. This is not ideal. There is an action outstanding to see if all cochairs can automatically be added. I suspect that all document editors should also be added.
7. There is not a "resolution" value of "submitted" on gForge -- so I cannot look for just those issues that have not yet been accepted. also need a resolution of "assigned" or "referred" so that there is a way to filter for those issues that are awaiting TSC action (ie where the issue has been dealt with, and the proposed resolution is ready for review/approval)