NENA Development Group Guide

Introduction
This page provides guidelines to NENA working group chairs to help them lead their groups in fulfilling the charter that was developed when the group was formed. Our volunteer working group chairs assume considerable responsibilities when they agree to lead a working group. The information presented here is intended to help guide them through the tasks that are often appear to be more complicated than necessary but are required to satisfy the requirements of a Standards Development Organization (SDO) seeking standards accredited by ANSI (American National Standards Institute). ANSI has approved the organizational structure and processes described in NENA ADM-001 NENA Development Group Organizational Structure and NENA ADM-002 Document Development and Approval Process. Since our working groups play a critical role in document development and approval, it is important that they conform to those provisions when developing documents, and that the processes can be verified. Only then can NENA standards qualify to be classified as ANSI-accredited.

Roles and Responsibilities of Working Group Chairs
The roles and responsibilities of Subcommittee and Working Group Chairs are described in NENA Development Group Organizational Structure (NENA-ADM-001), Section 7.3:

Subcommittee and Working Group Chairs/Co-Chairs preside over their Subcommittee/Working Group, and shall coordinate their team efforts to include:
 * Ensuring that procedures are followed and meetings are conducted in a fair and efficient manner.
 * Understanding and following the NENA Document Development and Approval process document (NENA-ADM-002).
 * Utilizing the conference bridge, web and other resources as provided, to collaborate with team members in the development of documents and resolution of Issues assigned by the Development Committee Chair.
 * Upon direction from the Development Committee Co-Chairs, review NENA documents to ensure they are still applicable, in accordance with the Document Development and Approval Process document (NENA-ADM-002).
 * Directing any conflicts/problems to the Development Committee Co-Chairs for resolution.
 * Fulfilling the minimum requirements and direction for any task that could result in an Information, Requirement or Standard Document as established by the Development Committee Co-Chairs.
 * Providing periodic updates to their Development Committee Co-Chairs and, if necessary, discuss the activities of their Subcommittee/WG in conference calls with their Development Committee leads, or with the DSC.
 * Participating in all Development Committee leadership calls and activities, and participating in DSC calls when necessary.
 * Working closely with other standards-setting bodies and related organizations as required.
 * Responding to questions from the DSC.
 * Providing leadership for and assisting in establishing the NENA Development Conference (NDC), Critical Issues Forums (CIFs), and in developing educational sessions and recruiting speakers for the NENA Annual Conference.
 * Submitting Subcommittee/Working Group Scopes & Goals status reports on a quarterly basis (NENA-ADM-006).
 * Upon direction from the Development Committee Co-Chairs, provide answers to questions received on nena.org in support of FAQ feature.

How Working Group Chairs are Selected
Working Group chairs are selected by Development Committee co-chairs after an Issue is assigned to the committee. Thereafter, the working group chair position is reviewed by the Development Committee co-chairs annually.

NENA members who are interested in serving in a leadership position are encouraged to submit NENA Development Group Committee Leadership Application (NENA-ADM-009).

How to Use NENA Resources to Manage a Working Group
NENA processes and procedures that govern working group functions are described in NENA-ADM-002. In this section, we’ll describe the details of the working group processes and how they are accomplished using the various NENA resources and tools. Following these guidelines will help working group chairs manage their groups fairly and efficiently.

The NENA Development Group has established a collaboration web site called NENA Workspace. The NENA Workspace Member Guide contains information for all members about using the resources of the NENA Workspace. Working group chairs have additional capabilities for managing their working groups.

Managing NENA Workspace Rosters
NENA Workspace working group rosters control all aspects of a working group member's participation including:


 * Voting
 * Participation in email discussions
 * Access to the document library

Managing these rosters is an important responsibility of working group chairs. The management and control of working group rosters is shared between the Committee Resource Manager (CRM), Committee Co-Chairs, and Working Group Chairs. The table below shows the who can do what in a member's working group roster.

How to Add Member in NENA Workspace to Working Group
In many cases, members are added to working groups and their parent committee by the Committee Resource Manager when the member is added to NENA Workspace. Members who are already in NENA Workspace can be added to the working group by the working group chair.

Here are the steps to add a member already in NENA Workspace to your working group.


 * 1) Log on to NENA Workspace (http://dev.nena.org).
 * 2) Select your working group.
 * 3) In the Roster section, click on add member.
 * 4) In the New Member section, select the member's name.
 * 5) In the New Member Role section, choose WG Member.
 * 6) Choose a method to notify the member.  If you want NENA Workspace to send a notification email to the member, select Yes, send an email now.  If you want to send an email similar to the Welcome Letter for New Members, select No, I will do that later.
 * 7) Click Add New Member

Document Types
The NENA Development Group publishes material and documents in five categories:
 * Administrative Documents (ADM)
 * Standards Documents (STA)
 * Requirements Documents (REQ)
 * Information Documents (INF)
 * Reference Publication (REF)

Administrative Document (ADM)
NENA Administrative (ADM) documents provide for the organizational structure of the association and its committees, establish the process of document development and approval, and provide the appropriate forms to document committee work. ADM documents are produced by a Development Steering Council (DSC) Working Group and approved by the DSC and NENA Board.

Standard Document (STA)
NENA Standard (STA) Documents are published as information sources for the use of the public safety community. A NENA Standard is intended to describe methods, processes, and specifications that, if implemented as specified, should result in successful operation of the 9-1-1 emergency call and incident processing system. NENA Standards documents may be used by system developers, service providers, public safety agencies, regulatory authorities and others for the purposes of development, procurement, and management of 9-1-1 emergency call and incident processing products and services. Some NENA Standard document may be certified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The NENA STA Template may be downloaded from the Administrative Procedures & Templates Documents Page on NENA Workspace.

Requirements Document (REQ)
NENA Requirements (REQ) documents are published as an information source primarily for use by NENA committees and working groups as guides for their development of NENA Standards. The contents of NENA Requirements documents are derived from a combination of the expressed needs of public safety agencies and the capabilities of the vendors of equipment and services. Requirements documents are not intended for use in development or procurement processes because their content does not include standard methods, processes, or specifications needed to support interoperability among the various 9-1-1 system elements.

The NENA REQ Template may be downloaded from the Administrative Procedures & Templates Documents Page on NENA Workspace.

Information Document (INF)
NENA Information (INF) documents are published to distribute information on a particular subject to the public safety community. Information documents may contain background information, best practices, check lists, and other material representing the collective knowledge and experiences of the NENA community. These documents do not contain normative statements and are not intended to be used directly for development or procurement purposes.

The NENA INF Template may be downloaded from the Administrative Procedures & Templates Documents Page on NENA Workspace.

Reference Publication (REF)
A NENA Reference Publication may contain any of the following examples that do not fit into a typical Standard, Information or Requirements document: NENA Reference Publications do not have an established NENA template, may be subject to different approval processes, and may require expedited approval under DSC control.
 * Public Education
 * PSAP Training
 * White Paper
 * Checklist
 * Web site material

Working Group Conference Calls
Working Group conference calls are the primary method for reviewing contributions and achieving consensus in the preparation of documents and other deliverables. Because of the importance of these calls, and because they take a considerable amount of our volunteers' time, they should be conducted as effectively as possible.

They also have to be conducted in conformance with NENA policies that must be observed in order to satisfy ANSI requirements. This allows NENA to produce ANSI-certified national standards.

Fortunately, our working groups have useful tools for scheduling, conducting, and documenting our calls.
 * NENA Workspace is a collaboration web site that maintains calendars, document libraries, rosters, and other resources for our committees and working groups.
 * Join.me is a web conferencing service that allows desktop and application sharing for real-time conference calls.

Scheduling Conference Calls
In Advance:
 * Enter calendar event in NENA Workspace with “Attendees can Record Their Attendance” set to NO with announcement that includes calendar notice.
 * At least one day in advance of each call, put agenda (NENA-ADM-008) on NENA Workspace with distribution to membership.
 * Be sure that someone has accepted the roles of Chair, Note Taker, and Document Editor.

Conducting Conference Calls
Prior to each call verify that the people are available for the call that have the necessary access codes and are able to perform the following functions:
 * Chair. The meeting chair leads the call. This is usually the working group's chair or co-chair.
 * Note Taker. In addition to taking notes, the Note Taker is usually assigned to monitor TurboBridge.
 * Document Editor. (if documents or contributions will be reviewed)

Tips for Successful Calls

 * The Chair's primary goal should be to conduct the call so that it proceeds efficiently and stays on topic and within scope. The Chair should work to achieve consensus and should avoid taking strong positions or advocating one position over another.
 * Try to keep any participant's comments focused and brief.

After the Conference Call...
Several tasks need to be completed after the conference call is adjourned:
 * If anyone disclosed patent information, contact the parent committee's Co-Chairs and Committee Resource Manager (CRM).
 * Within 5 days, note taker enters attendance into NENA Workspace.
 * 1) Go to calendar and select that day’s calendar entry.
 * 2) Select track attendance.
 * 3) Select each member who was on the call.
 * 4) Select Record Attendance.
 * 5) Select the group members that attended the call.


 * Within 5 days, note taker uploads minutes to group library. (Use NENA-ADM-008 Template)
 * If edits are made to contributions or draft documents, document editor will upload updated material within 5 days using “Add a Revision” in NENA Workspace. Reviewed contributions should be updated until consensus is reached and the contributions can be incorporated into draft documents.  Contributions should also be retained in the contributions folder with major contributor identified.

How Issues are Processed
NENA uses the NENA ISSUE SUBMISSION FORM (NENA-ADM-003) as the method to receive and document suggestions, ideas, recommendations, or questions about 9-1-1 or NENA's Development Group activities that would likely require a group effort to address. From the time a person submits a NENA Issue Submission Form (ISF) until its final disposition, the document follows a process described in detail in the NENA Document Development and Approval Process (NENA-ADM-002.1).

Issue Processing Steps
This diagram is a summary of the steps for processing an Issue described in the NENA Document Development and Approval Process (NENA-ADM-002.1). See that document for the details of these steps.



Completing the Charter
In initiating a new WG or a new subject within a WG, a clear definition of Charter, Scope and/or Mission shall be established in the beginning, to provide direction and end objective. This shall be reviewed frequently in order to keep the WG on track. In addition, intermediate milestones representing major accomplishments toward the end results shall be identified and documented. Minor adjustments to Scope can be made as perspectives evolve, but no major changes to Scope shall occur without review by the leadership of the Committee(s).

After Scope and Intermediate Milestones are established, the WG shall estimate the timeline for both intermediate milestones and the final deliverable. The Scope/Mission and timeline/date information shall be fed back to the Committee leadership so that intentions are known and overall Committee development schedules can be recognized and managed as necessary. The schedules shall be reviewed between the WG and Committee leadership periodically so that there may be an early warning of any jeopardy relating to the schedules.

Because volunteer time for both leaders and members is limited, and the development needs are often large, Committee and leaders of specific projects shall establish development priorities across the NENA effort. Recommendations may be set to assign priority to specific development areas at both the WG level and, in some cases, between subject areas within WGs. These priorities shall be communicated to the WG leaders in order to assist them in managing workload. WG leaders and volunteers who are members of more than one WG are expected to self-manage the application and balancing of their time according to these priorities. WG leaders shall communicate to the Committee leaders where issues arise relating to WG membership conflicts (e.g. competing time slots for meetings).

Recruiting Members
Once a working group is formed around a charter, the group's chair should recruit members with the skills and experience appropriate for the task.

In addition to specific subject matter experts, don't forget to recruit members with administrative skills needed to fulfill the roles of Document Editor and Note Taker.


 * Document Editor. The editor edits text in the draft document and in contributions during a meeting to reflect the corrections, additions, and deletions that achieve consensus during a meeting. The editor also maintains the draft document and when contributions are accepted, updates the draft accordingly.
 * Note Taker. The Note Taker keeps the minutes and attendance of all meetings.  After the conclusion of a meeting, the note taker uploads the minutes of the meeting to the NENA Workspace folder for that group's minutes and also enters the attendance into the NENA Workspace meeting attendance page.

It is a good idea to also prepare other members to take over these roles when it is necessary to substitute. For these roles, subject matter expertise is not as important as administrative skills and reliable availability.

Here are several methods available for recruiting working group members:


 * Contact the group's parent committee members. Initially, members can easily be recruited from the parent committee by using the NENA Workspace committee mail list.
 * The parent committee chairs can forward an invitation to the other NENA committees through their representatives on the DSC.
 * Group chairs who are members of other committees can email invitations directly to those committee members using the committee email list.
 * Upon request, the CRM can send an invitation to all NDG members.

For every working group, a description of the working group is added to the committee's page on nena.org. The description should include the areas of expertise needed on the group and the group's normal call schedule so that prospective members can determine whether they should join.

 Sample Working Group Description on a NENA.org Committee Page 

When a prospective member clicks on the "Join This Work Group" button, they will see a form to fill out that includes agreeing to the NENA policies for working group membership and NENA's Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy. Working Group chairs and the CRM are notified by email of any requests to join the group that originate on the NENA.org page. If the applicant is not already a NENA Workspace member, the CRM will add them to NENA Workspace. If the applicant is already a NENA Workspace member, working group chairs may add them to the working group.

Reporting Status
Policy Issues

Since the WGs are formed to address technical and operational issues, anything that might constitute a significant policy issue, or affect NENA policy, shall be escalated to the Committee or Project leadership for resolution with the NENA staff or other lead point. The WG leader shall convey to the leadership when any policy issues inhibit progress on technical or operational topics.

Contributions to WG effort and People Resources

WG members are expected to contribute ideas, text, and review effort toward the goals of the WG. If the WG leader(s) determine(s) that they are not receiving these contributions in a timely manner, they shall identify this issue to the Committee or Project lead teams as soon as possible. The lead teams will attempt to rebalance the efforts of existing volunteers and seek out new resources as appropriate.