Templates/CG Charter

This is a proposed template for a Community Group Charter. We recommend that Community Groups have charters as a way to build shared understanding within a group about activities, and to attract new participants who appreciate a clear description of the group's scope and deliverables.

The charter sections below include both notes on what to include and recommended text. Remember to remove the notes in your specific charter.

Goals

• What is the mission of the group?

Scope of Work

• Describe topics that are in scope
• Mention topics known in advance to be out of scope
• For specifications that the CLA patent section applies to, it is helpful to describe the scope in a way that it is clear what types of technologies will be defined in specifications, as opposed to adoption by reference or underlying technology not defined in the proposed spec. It is also helpful to state if there are no specifications that the CLA patent section applies to.

Deliverables

• List specifications covered by the CLA patent section.
• In addition to listing deliverables, it can be useful to provide an initial schedule.

Dependencies or Liaisons

• Are there any significant dependencies on other groups (inside or outside W3C) or materials?

Community and Business Group Process

• Recommended: "Anything in this charter that conflicts with requirements of the Community and Business Group Process is void."

Choosing a Chair

• In development

Decision process

Recommended text:

• "This group will seek to make decisions when there is consensus. When the group discusses an issue on the mailing list and there is a call from the group for assessing consensus, after due consideration of different opinions, the Chair should record a decision and any objections. Participants may call for an online vote if they feel the Chair has not accurately determined the consensus of the group or if the Chair refuses to assess consensus. The call for a vote must specify the duration of the vote which must be at least 7 days and should be no more than 14 days. The Chair must start the vote within 7 days of the request. The decision will be based on the majority of the ballots cast. It is the Chair’s responsibility to ensure that the decision process is fair, respects the consensus of the CG, and does not unreasonably favor or discriminate against any group participant or their employer."

Note:

• If your decision process is not consensus-based, it is important to indicate that clearly, and to describe the decision process you will use.

Transparency

Recommended text:

• "The group will conduct all of its technical work on its public mailing list."
• Groups that operate primarily on a mailing list may wish to include: "Any decisions reached at any face to face meeting are tentative and must be confirmed on the mail list."

Amendments to this Charter

Recommended text:

• "The group can decide to work on a proposed amended charter, editing the text using the Decision Process described above. The decision on whether to adopt the amended charter is made by conducting a 30-day vote on the proposed new charter. The new charter, if approved, takes effect on either the proposed date in the charter itself, or 7 days after the result of the election is announced, whichever is later. A new charter must receive 2/3 of the votes cast in the approval vote to pass. The group may make simple corrections to the charter such as deliverable dates by the simpler group decision process rather than this charter amendment process."
• The group may wish to include: "The group will use the amendment process for any substantive changes to the goals, scope, deliverables, decision process or rules for amending the charter."