Minutes of the Conformance TC Teleconference

August 16, 2001

Attendees:

Lynne Rosenthal (lynne.rosenthal@nist.gov)
Mark Skall (skall@nist.gov)
Lofton Henderson (lofton@rockynet.com
David Smiley (dsmiley@mercator.com)
Rik Drummond (Drummond@drummondgroup.com)
Al Boseman (ATPCO)
David Marston (David_Marston@lotus.com) representing XSLT/XPath TC
Karl Best (karl.best@oasis-open.org)

Future Meetings:

• Teleconf: Sept 13, 2001 at 2:00 (eastern)
• F2F - sometime week of 9 Dec. 2001, Orlando

1. House Keeping

• Welcome to all who participated on the teleconference.
• A quorum of voting members was present. Rik Drummond and Al Boseman stated their intent to be voting members.
• Approval of previous minutes (July 19 teleconf)
• Review and approval of Agenda

2. Discussion of Conformance Requirements Document
Mark Skall led the discussion, starting with an overview of the document. Comments on the document were discussed as follows:

What is the status of the document within OASIS? Can TC's be required to conform to this document? Should 'shall' be used to designate requirements? Within OASIS, TCs can be encouraged to use this document, but cannot be required to conform to it. If we use 'shall' within the document, then other TCs can claim conformance to this document. Thus, if you use it, you can conform. Document as a whole is a 'should', but once you use it, it is a 'shall'

Line 135 - is 'need not' really the converse of 'may'.
ACTION ITEM: Lynne will check the ISO Directive 3 for the proper definition

Section 6 - What is the distinction between profiles, levels and alternate approaches? Levels make it easier for implementers to provide functionality - in increments. Profiles address a community and the needs of that community. Profiles may also specify options and specific values for use. Several people wish to think more about the distinction between profiles and levels.
ACTION ITEM: Lynne will add more information on profiles

Add section on internationalization, language sets, etc.
Any comments on Registration? None
Any comments on having a section or conformance requirements to specifically address ebXML? Generic document should be fine, no need for ebXML specific document.

ACTION ITEM: based on the discussion, Lynne will edit the document and have it posted to the TC web page.
Any comment, additions, etc should be sent to the mail exploder (or Lynne). Comments received by Sept 7 will be considered for inclusion and be discussed during Sept 13 teleconference.

3. Discussion of Test and Certification Framework White Paper
Mark introduced the document and led the discussion. Most people had not read the document. This document is to stimulate discussion and to serve as a starting point. Comments on the document were discussed as follows:

Reaffirmation of this deliverable. Document is to provide guidance to those interested in setting up testing programs. It can provide people with an idea of what is involved. It is important to differentiate between conformance, validation, certification and interoperability. Suggestion to add pictures and flow charts of organizational relationships and concepts.

4. Other Activities
The W3C QA Activity will be starting soon. Its purpose is to improve the quality of W3C specifications and their implementations. NIST will be participating on this committee and will keep the TC posted. The QA Activity plans to coordinate with external organizations such as OASIS to leverage conformance work. ACTION ITEM: at the next teleconf - notify TC of W3C QA's first meeting. Identify someone to act a liaison.

Dave Marston provided an overview of the XSLT/XPath test methodology and progress in developing a generic document for building test suites. The document addresses keeping track of test cases, assembling tests (built by several contributors), and information that must be contained in every test.

5. Next Teleconference: Sept 13 2001 at 2:00pm (eastern).

Meeting Adjourned at 3:00pm