Governance

Overview

Governance

Structure

Board of Directors

Board of Directors basic responsibilities:

Set strategic direction
Approve budgets
Approve OMA Process (Gating Criteria and light process)
Ratify Approval of Specifications
Approve Steering Committee Charter and Working Groups Charters

One of the more important duties of the Board of Directors is the Ratification of the Specifications produced and Agreed by consensus by the members of the Working Groups.
The Board of Directors is comprised of a representative of the founding members of the Organization and has a single primary member representing each company.
Each Board of Directors meeting is called on a regular interval, although this interval can be ad-hoc as long as the proper notice is given.
Proper notice of the Board of Directors (BoD) meeting is given to its representatives including an agenda with the topics to be voted by the BoD having been prepared with a proper notice period, typically one week.
A meeting of the Board of Directors makers presumably has a quorum.
Motions are made and accepted by a vote of the designated Board of Directors members. Members may debate the motion, make changes if thought fit, accept or reject the motion. It is an important principle that there is an opportunity for questions and clarifications of the motion in the process.
The votes are taken only by the appointed representatives of the Board of Directors.
Minutes of the meeting are taken to record the votes and their outcomes.

Specifications, especially important specifications, are subject to challenges from others. Having a well understood, well documented, and neutral process for their creation and approval demonstrates consistency in process and makes the challenges much more complicated for those who might try to make mischief in the future.

Technical Plenary (TP)

Note: this Committee is not longer active in OMA.

The following list of responsibilities were transferred to the Board of Directors:

It consists of Directors (voluntary) and WG Officers (mandatory).
It meets on a monthly basis or as required.
It recommends to OMA BoD:
- Approval of WG Charters
- WG Creation & Closure
- Approval of documentation template changes (proposed by WGs)
Review of Liaison Agreements and coordination of Liaison Statements that are not clearly allocated to a Working Group.

Working Groups (WG)

These are the responsibilities of the Working Group:

Working Groups (WGs) that are chartered by the Board of Directors to handle one or more Work Item
Responsible for the technical work.
Free to define their own development guidelines and set of tools within the boundaries rules provided by OMA.

There is a minimum requirement that all procedures promote fair participation of all members within their membership rights, transparency of decision making, and appropriate quality of the resulting specifications.

4. As a courtesy, WGs SHOULD copy (CC) the Steering Committee (SC) on their email requests to the Board asking for ratification of Enablers.

In OMA the technical Working Groups are open to all the Organization members.

Processes, Guidelines in OMA

OMA Process

Set of rules that provides the Governance of Open Mobile Alliance and ensures the quality of the Technical Specifications published by OMA.

WG Guidelines

Specified and maintained by the Working Group

OMA Process defines a basic, comprehensive set of steps & tools for developing Technical Specifications.
The Working Groups are free to follow and enhance these optional guidelines or define their own.

Approval Criteria

Set of rules, created & approved by the OMA Board, which aim is to ensure the quality and homogeneity of the Technical Specifications published by OMA Working Groups.

The Technical Specifications created by the Working Groups MUST meet the Approval Criteria in order to be accepted for Board Ratification.

The Approval Criteria is clearly defined and available to all the Working Groups.

The staff will enforce the compliance of the Approval Criteria at the time of submission for Board Ratification.

Work Item Creation Process

The OMA work starts with the creation and approval of a Work Item.
Three supporting companies (Sponsor, Full or Associate Members) are required in order to support quorum of a Work Item.