SystemVerilog Working Group
Procedures and Policies
1. Preface
In today’s technological environment, standards play a critical role in product
development and market share. Responsibility for how a standard evolves begins in the
working group. Every contribution, behavior, and action has both a contributory and a
potential legal consequence. These procedures help protect working group members
and the IEEE.
These are operating procedures that outline the orderly transaction of business by the
SystemVerilog Working Group (SV-WG). The working group may amend these
procedures with the approval of the IEEE DASC and the IEEE-SA Corporate Advisory
Group (CAG) coordinating committee (the Sponsor coordinating committee).
2. Hierarchy
Several documents take precedence over these procedures in the following order:
New York State Not-for-Profit Law
IEEE Certificate of Incorporation
IEEE Constitution
IEEE Bylaws
IEEE Policies
IEEE Board of Directors Resolutions
IEEE Standards Association Operations Manual
IEEE-SA Board of Governors Resolutions
IEEE-SA Standards Board Bylaws
IEEE-SA Standards Board Operations Manual
IEEE CAG Sponsor Operating Procedures
IEEE Robert's Rules of Order (Revised) shall be followed for parliamentary matters not
discussed in this document or in superior documents.
3. Fundamental principles of operation
For the development of standards, openness and due process must apply, which means
that any entity with a direct and material interest has a right to participate by:
1) Expressing a position and its basis,
2) Having that position considered, and
3) Appealing if adversely affected.
Due process allows for equity and fair play. In addition to openness, due process
requires balance, i.e., the standards development process should have a balance of
interests and shall not be dominated by any single interest category. Due process also
requires a consensus of those parties interested in the project. Consensus is defined as
a majority agreement, but not unanimity.
4. Legal accountability
The working group will abide by all intellectual property policies of the IEEE, including
those for patents, trademarks, and copyright. The working group chair shall review the
IEEE patent policy at the start of each meeting. The working group shall require
assurance from patent holders in the form of subclause 6(a) of the IEEE-SA Standards
Board Bylaws. The working group is obligated to avoid discussions that could result in
an antitrust action. If health, safety and environmental issues are raised in the standards
document developed by the working group, the chair will inform IEEE Standards staff to
ensure that the appropriate legal review of these clauses is fulfilled.
5. Working Group Responsibilities
The working group shall
a) Develop a proposed IEEE Standard within the scope of the Project
Authorization Request (Assigned PARs)
b) Provide the Sponsor with a business rationale for the development of the
standards
c) Work towards the goal of completing the projects within 18–24 months
(from PAR approval to IEEE-SA Standards Board approval)
d) Submit documentation required by the Sponsor, for example, a project
schedule or a monthly status report
e) Schedule meetings (in person or electronic) at least six times a year,
based on an agenda distributed at least two weeks prior to the meeting
f) Obtain funding as needed to cover dedicated support to expedite the
standards development process
g) Use the IEEE FrameMakerTM document templates.
h) Include the Sponsor coordinating committee on distribution of the
standard as it is developed and when it is ready to begin IEEE Standards
Sponsor ballot
5.1 Working Group Constitution
The following qualify as members of the working group:
— Corporation: An entity that has a controlling body, such as a Board of Directors,
that does not report to another controlling body.
— Government agency or subdivision: An entity that reports to its parent or
executive, legislative, or judicial branch of a government.
— Partnership or association: An entity comprised of two or more principal members.
In order to be a voting member, each partnership or association shall declare that
it does not represent the interests of another member of the working group.
— Consultant: An entity whose principal source of revenue is derived from providing
consulting services for other institutions. In order to be a voting member in a
working group, each consultant shall declare that it does not represent the
interests of another member in the working group.
— Academic institution: An educational entity that has a controlling body, such as a
Board of Regents or a Board of Governors.
— Consortia, vendor-specific user groups, professional societies, and other
standards-developing organizations: The principal and alternate representatives
for these types of entities may be employed by other entities that have voting
membership in the working group.
— Other institutional persons as approved by the Sponsor coordinating committee
In the event that, through merger or acquisition or other similar event, a working group
member has its assets totally or substantially transferred to another entity, working group
membership may be transferred to the new entity, provided that the new entity is not a
current member of the working group and all provisions of membership are maintained.
Any such transfer of membership shall be subject to the approval of the Sponsor
coordinating committee.
6. Officers
There shall be a Chair, a Vice-Chair, and a Secretary. The Chair and Vice-Chair shall be
IEEE members of any grade, individual IEEE-SA members, and must also be a
Designated Representative (DR) of an entity that is a corporate IEEE-SA member. The
Secretary must be a DR of an entity that is a corporate IEEE-SA member. The Chair, for
organizational purposes, will work with the Sponsor to submit PAR forms to the New
Standards Committee (NesCom).
The Sponsor coordinating committee shall appoint the interim Chair and Vice-Chair of
the working group. At the first organizational meeting, the WG shall elect its operating
officers in accordance with 6.1, and, where necessary, Robert’s Rules of Order. The
term of service for each of the elected officers is two years. Any one person may not
hold the same office for more than a maximum of three consecutive terms.
6.1 Election of Officers
The Chair shall appoint a Returning Officer to conduct an election of officers. The
Returning Officer shall not be a nominee in the election and shall not vote in the election.
An election will seek to fill offices that are either vacant, have an official in temporary
appointment, or when the term of office has expired.
The members shall nominate to the Returning Officer one or more members for each
office to be filled at the election. Nominees shall be eligible to hold the office for which
they are elected. A member shall be nominated for no more than one office. The
response period for nominations shall be at least 14 calendar days. If no nomination is
received for an office, a temporary appointment shall be made in accordance with 6.2.
The Returning Officer shall conduct the election by letter or electronic ballot. Voting will
conclude after 14 calendar days. Voting shall be by “approval”, whereby each balloter
may cast one approval vote for each of any number of nominees for an office. The
nominee with the greatest number of approval votes shall win the election.
Election of the Chair and Vice-Chair shall be confirmed by the Sponsor Coordinating
Committee. If the Sponsor Coordinating Committee fails to confirm election of the Chair
or Vice-Chair, the Returning Officer shall conduct a fresh election for the office not
confirmed.
6.2 Temporary Appointments to Vacancies
If an office becomes vacant due to resignation, removal, lack of nomination at an
election or for another reason, a temporary appointment shall be made for a period of up
to six months. In the case of Chair or Vice-Chair, the temporary appointment shall be
made by the Sponsor Coordinating Committee, with input from the working group. In the
case of Secretary, the temporary appointment shall be made by the Chair. An election
for the vacated office shall be conducted at the earliest practical time.
6.3 Chair
The Chair shall
a) Institute a “Call for Participation” to the IEEE-SA corporate and organizational
membership upon initiation of the project
b) “Call for Patents” at each meeting
c) Solicit “letters of assurance” from patent holders
d) Ensure coordination with Societies as appropriate
e) Regularly attend WG meetings (including face-to-face, teleconference, or other
electronic means)
f) Notify Sponsor when document is ready for balloting
g) Achieve ballot resolution
The Chair also shall:
a) Be objective
b) Entertain motions, but not make motions
c) Not bias discussions
d) Delegate necessary functions
e) Ensure that all parties have the opportunity to express their views
f) Set goals and deadlines
g) Be knowledgeable in IEEE standards processes and parliamentary procedures and
ensure that the processes and procedures are followed
h) Seek consensus of the WG as a means of resolving all issues
6.4 Vice-Chair
The Vice-Chair shall carry out the Chair's duties if the Chair is temporarily unable to do
so or chooses to recuse him- or herself (e.g., to give a technical opinion).
6.5 Secretary
The Secretary shall:
a) Distribute the agendas
b) Record and have published minutes of each meeting
c) Maintain the membership roster
d) Schedule meetings in coordination with Chair
e) Be responsible for the management and distribution of WG documentation
f) Maintain list of unresolved issues, action items, and assignments
g) Maintain a budget and control all funds into and out of the WG’s bank account
7. WG membership
WG membership is by entity. To be eligible to vote in the working group an entity must
be a corporate member of IEEE-SA. An entity shall have one Designated Representative
(DR) and may have more than one alternate (DRA) participating in the WG. The Primary
Representative of the entity determines the DR/DRA for the WG. The assignment of a
DR/DRA can change throughout the life of the WG. It is the entity’s responsibility to
notify the Secretary of changes to the DR/DRA assignment.
Only the DR is eligible to vote on behalf of the entity for all WG matters. If the DR is
unable to vote at a meeting, one DRA will be recognized at the start of the meeting to
vote on the DR’s behalf. Membership shall give the DR the right to vote on all WG
matters.
Each DR/DRA can vote for only one member of the working group; no one
representative can represent the interests of more than one member of the working
group except for a temporary proxy vote.
Membership and voting privileges shall be granted automatically during the first three
initial meetings of the working group to those entities attending any of the first three
initial WG meetings. Thereafter, membership and voting privileges shall be granted to
the entity after the entity attends two consecutive meetings of the WG.
The entity (member), through its DR or DRA, is expected to attend meetings as required
by the procedures established by the WG. The Secretary records attendance for
members who attend at least 50% of a meeting’s duration. Attendance at a meeting via
teleconferencing and/or electronic means, e.g., Internet conferencing, shall also be
permitted.
After the three initial meetings of the WG, a member must attend two out of the last three
regularly scheduled meetings to remain a voting member of the working group. A
member will also lose its membership if the member does not participate in 80% of the
letter or electronic ballots conducted by the working group in the last three months.
The Chair shall notify, in writing, a member that has lost its voting privileges. A member
who has lost its voting privileges shall have its voting privileges reinstated by attendance
at two consecutive meetings of the working group. All voting privileges and rights shall
be restored after attending the second consecutive meeting.
Observers shall be permitted to participate in working group meetings and email
discussions.
The entity member is to ensure that their DR/DRA have a material knowledge of the
project scope.
The WG may from time to time form subgroups for the conduct of its business and
determine the eligibility of WG members and observers to vote on questions within such
subgroups. Any resolution of a subgroup shall be subject to confirmation by the WG.
8. WG Membership Roster
The Secretary shall maintain a current and accurate roster for the working group and
shall distribute it to the members upon request or at least annually. All changes to the
roster shall be forwarded to the Chair immediately. The roster shall include the following:
1) Title of the Sponsor and its designation
2) Officers--Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary
3) Standards Staff Liaison (if applicable)
4) Members
a. Entity name
b. Designated Representative (indicated by “DR”) and entity address
c. Alternate(s) (indicated by “DRA”) and entity address (es)
9. Voting
The working group may conduct a vote by letter or electronic ballot at the discretion of
the Chair. The response period for a letter or electronic ballot will be at least 14 days.
The Chair will publish the results of a letter or electronic ballot within 7 days of the vote
conclusion, including the balloting position of each voting member who voted in the
ballot. Unless otherwise required, a letter or electronic ballot requires at least a 50%
return of the members to be valid.
Approval of an action requires an approval vote from a majority of those votes cast from
those entitled to vote at the time of a vote (either at a meeting or by electronic ballot),
provided a quorum is present. Those able to vote shall be official members of the
working group. Notification of the potential for action shall be included on any distributed
agendas for meetings.
These actions include
1) Adoption of WG procedures, interest categories, or revisions of interest categories
2) Approval of minutes
3) Approval of WG Officers
In case of a tie in a working group motion, it is broken by the chair of the working group.
The chair can only vote to break a tie, making the motion pass or fail. The chair can also
vote to create a tie, making the motion fail. The Chair can also choose not to break a tie.
In such a case, the motion would fail. If the tie is in an election, usually there is a runoff
vote between the two tied candidates. Each voting member is allowed one vote in this
case.
9.1 Actions Requiring Approval by Two-Thirds of the Voting WG Membership
The following actions require an electronic ballot or an equivalent formal recorded vote
with approval by at least two-thirds of the voting members of the WG, excluding
abstentions (provided that notification of the action has been included on the distributed
agenda for the meeting)
1) Approval of change of the WG scope
2) Approval of termination of the WG (subject to approval by the Sponsor coordinating
committee)
3) Establishment of fees
4) Approval of revised WG procedures
5) Removal of a WG officer
6) Approval to move the draft standards project to IEEE Standards Sponsor ballot
9.2 Proxy voting
Proxy voting is allowed in the working group. All proxies must be approved by the
working group chair prior to the meeting or time period in which the proxy is to be in
effect Proxy voting must be determined for finite time periods and may be renewed if
necessary. Any proxy voters must be announced to the working group prior to the period
in which the proxy is to be in effect.
10. Meetings
Working Group meetings shall be held, as decided by the working group, the Chair, or
by petition of 15% or more of the members, to conduct business, such as making
assignments, receiving reports of work, considering draft standards, and considering
views and objections from any source.
A meeting shall be announced 30 days in advance to all members and observers. An
agenda shall be distributed at least 14 days in advance of a meeting.
The working group may charge a meeting fee to cover services needed for the conduct
of the meeting. The fee shall not be used to restrict participation by any interested
parties.
11. Quorum
A WG quorum must be identified before the initiation of a WG meeting. A quorum shall
be defined as 50% of the WG membership eligible to vote (i.e., the DR or DRA of each
such entity), including those present using teleconferencing facilities. A WG vote
requires the presence of a quorum.
12. Communications
Inquiries relating to the working group should be directed to the Chair, and all members
should so inform the individuals who raised such questions. All replies to such inquiries
shall be made through the Chair.