OASIS Defined Terms #

Source: OASIS Defined Terms. Approved July 22, 2020; effective December 1, 2020.

Overview #

The following terms have specific meanings in OASIS policy and process documents. Staff administering Technical Committees, Open Projects, or standards work should be familiar with these definitions. Additional definitions relating to intellectual property rights appear in the OASIS IPR Policy.

Definitions #

Administrative Document — Documents supporting internal committee operations only (minutes, agendas, liaison statements, issue lists). Not a Standards Track or Non-Standards Track Work Product; must not use Work Product templates.

Approved Errata — Non-material corrections to an OASIS Standard approved by Full Majority Vote of a Technical Committee or Project Governing Board.

Author — Person(s) who donated content to a Technical Committee or Open Project through TC membership, official repository submission with a valid CLA, submission via open comment facility under OASIS Feedback License, or authorized third-party submission.

Chair — Committee member elected to schedule meetings, provide leadership, serve as liaison to OASIS staff, and ensure efficient operations.

Charter — The organizational document for a committee, containing items specified in the committee formation proposal template.

Committee Note — A Non-Standards Track Work Product approved by Full Majority Vote of an OASIS Technical Committee. Not subject to patent licensing obligations.

Committee Specification — Standards Track Work Product approved by Special Majority Vote of a Technical Committee. An OASIS Standards Final Deliverable subject to IPR Policy obligations.

Committee Specification Draft — Standards Track Work Product approved by Full Majority Vote. Not an OASIS Standards Final Deliverable; not subject to IPR Policy obligations.

Contributor License Agreement (CLA) — Form signed by persons submitting material to OASIS Open Repositories or Open Projects, binding them to applicable licenses.

Day/Days — Calendar days unless otherwise specified.

Eligible Person — OASIS Individual Members; employees or designees of OASIS Organizational Members; or persons designated by the OASIS Board of Directors.

Full Majority Vote — Vote in which more than 50% of eligible voters vote “yes.” If held in a meeting, more than half of total eligible voters must vote affirmatively regardless of attendance.

IPR — Intellectual property rights.

IPR Mode — One of the licensing modes defined in the OASIS IPR Policy, selected by TC proposers.

Material Change — Any change to a Work Product that would require a compliant application or implementation to be modified or rewritten, or that expands scope.

Meeting — Properly called and scheduled gathering of committee members using OASIS collaborative tools.

Member — Eligible Person who joined a committee and may subscribe to email lists, participate in discussions, attend meetings, and contribute.

Minimum Membership — Five Voting Members (or five Eligible Persons for committees not requiring voting rights), with at least two representing different OASIS Organizational Members.

Non-Material Change — Change that does not add or remove any feature; constitutes only error corrections, editorial changes, formatting changes, or pro forma content changes.

Non-Standards Track Work Product — Work Product produced and approved by a TC for informative purposes. Not subject to patent licensing obligations; must not contain Normative language.

Normative Portion — Portion of an OASIS Standards Final Deliverable that must be implemented to comply with that deliverable.

OASIS Deliverable — Any of: Committee Specification Drafts, Committee Specifications, OASIS Standards, Approved Errata, Committee Note Drafts, Committee Notes, Technical Report Drafts, and Technical Reports.

OASIS Member — Person, organization, or entity who is a voting or non-voting member of the corporation, as defined by the OASIS Bylaws.

OASIS Open Project Administrator — Person(s) representing OASIS in administrative matters relating to Open Projects, Open Repositories, or Project Governing Boards. Contact: op-admin@oasis-open.org.

OASIS Standard — Committee Specification that has been approved by the OASIS Membership following the procedures specified in the OASIS TC Process.

OASIS TC Administrator — Person(s) representing OASIS in administrative matters relating to Technical Committees. Contact: tc-admin@oasis-open.org.

Observer — Eligible Person who joined a TC, subscribed to the email list, and may attend meetings but cannot participate in discussions, speak, or make contributions. Observers are not publicly listed.

Open Project — Group formed and conducted according to the OASIS Open Project Rules to develop source code, data specifications, and artifacts under specified open source licenses.

Open Repository — Facility operated by OASIS for collection of voluntarily contributed information relevant to the work of a specific TC.

Project Governing Board (PGB) — Group formed and conducted according to the OASIS Open Project Rules.

Project Specification — One or more Releases of an OASIS Open Project nominated by the PGB and approved by Special Majority Vote.

Quorum — Number of Eligible Persons required to be present in a meeting for Resolutions to be made — a simple majority of Voting Members or Members.

Resolution — Decision reached by a Technical Committee by vote, or by a Project Governing Board when voting is used. Requires Simple Majority Vote unless Full or Special Majority is mandated.

Simple Majority Vote — Vote in which the number of “yes” votes is greater than the number of “no” votes. Abstentions are not counted.

Special Majority Vote — Vote in which at least 2/3 of eligible voters vote “yes” and no more than 1/4 vote “no,” based on total eligible voters. Must be conducted via electronic ballot.

Standards Track Work Product — Work Product produced and approved by a TC that may advance to Committee Specification or OASIS Standard.

Statement of Use — Written statement that a party has successfully used or implemented a specification according to its conformance clauses.

Technical Committee (TC) — Group formed and conducted according to the provisions of the OASIS TC Process, comprising at least the Minimum Membership.

Technical Report — Non-Standards Track Work Product approved by Full Majority Vote. An OASIS Non-Standards Final Deliverable not subject to patent licensing obligations.

Voting Member — Committee Member possessing voting rights through processes defined for each committee type.

Work Product — Package of materials being prepared under a single name and version number; either Standards or Non-Standards Track or Project Standards Track. Excludes Open Project Releases.