Re: ASON RSVP-TE extensions

[Stephen Trowbridge <sjtrowbridge@lucent.com>]

All,
Stephen has is right, but I'd like to add a little background.
"Alternative Approval Process" is a misleadling name for newcomers
who might ask "Alternative to what?"

Prior to this, we had a "Traditional Approval Process" (TAP) that
involved proposing the text at one full study group meeting, and
approving it at the next one, usually 8-10 months later. This
gave the member states (governments, the ones with the greater
power in ITU) the opportunity to decide on national positions before
approving documents.

While this was an appropriate procedure for documents with
regulatory or tarriff implications, it was a bit heavyweight for
a purely technical document where the member states would typically
not develop a national position. This motivated development of
the lighter weight "alternative" in A.8. But don't be fooled
by the word "alternative" that this is any kind of unusual
shortcut. This is now the way we NORMALLY approve technical
Recommendations in ITU-T.

The next point is that all of the A series Recommendations (which
document ITU-T procedures - kind of like ITU-T's RFC 2026) are
available for free download to anyone from the TSAG web site:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/tsag/index.asp
These are not "members only" or subscription download like many
other ITU-T documents. This is where you can find Recommendation
A.8 (describing AAP) among other procedure type documents.
Regards,
Steve

> Stephen Shew wrote:
> 
> I'll attempt (with help from Peter Wery and Malcolm Betts) to explain what is meant by "consent".  It is a state of a document which reflects agreement by all participants within a group.  Within
> the ITU-T there are Study Groups (14 of them).  Within a Study Group (SG) there are Working Parties (WPs), and each Working Party has rapporteur groups called "Questions".  Consent is agreement at
> the Study Group level that a Recommendation is complete. This causes the Director to initiate last call (across all SGs), if no substantive comments are received then the Recommendation is approved.
> 
> The term 'Consent' is used in the context of the ITU-T 'Alternate Approval Process' (AAP), described in Recommendation A.8.  The AAP is, for most Study Groups developing technical Recommendations,
> now the rule rather than the exception.
> 
> Consent can be reached at a stand-alone WP meeting or at a SG meeting (mostly the case in SG 15).  In this context consent means that the WP or SG is of the opinion that the draft Recommendation
> text is mature and should be submitted to the AAP, with the expectation that it will be approved without further comments.
> 
> Prior to consent by a stand-alone WP or a SG, the Rapporteur Group, and in case of consent at a SG, also the WP 'propose' the draft text for consent at the higher level (Rapp. Group --> WP; WP -->
> SG).  Actual formal consent is then given at the highest level meeting, either stand-alone WP or SG meeting, usually at the closing plenary session.
> 
> My experience with the consent process is quite positive.  Unlike other SDOs, there is no voting.  Anyone can object and block the consent process.  This motivates the group to resolve problems.  At
> the SG level, representation is by county and so consent by a Study Group reflects an international level of understanding.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kireeti Kompella [mailto:kireeti@juniper.net]
> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 18:46
> To: ccamp@ops.ietf.org
> Cc: Stephen Trowbridge; Wijnen, Bert; zinin@psg.com; Ronald P. Bonica; Kireeti Kompella
> Subject: ASON RSVP-TE extensions
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> We would like to send the following as a Liaison to the ITU-T from the CCAMP WG.
> 
> Please comment on the text.  Ideally, we would like to send this out before the interim meeting in Chicago, and discuss it there.
> 
> It would be helpful in this context to know what it means procedurally that a document "has been consented" in the ITU.
> 
> Kireeti.