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CIECA Standards Process Roles and Regulations


Procedures for the proposal, development, and continuing maintenance of industry standards and guides by the Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA).  The development of such documents is within CIECA's Mission, which is to facilitate the implementation of Electronic Commerce within the Collision Repair Industry.  Through the cooperation and energy of industry volunteers, CIECA strives to develop standards whereby industry trading-partners can better utilize information technology.  All such agreements are purely voluntary, bit itis through the use of them that the Collision Repair Industry becomes decidedly more efficient and cost effective.


Roles and Regulations of Project/Maintenance Process

All approval decisions are made openly and on a consensus basis. CIECA Architecture members are the final approval body for CIECA Standards and Implementation Guides.  
Standard Approval
Balloting Process
Consensus
Certification
Version Control
Standard Approval
After the Project proposal has been completed all required documentation will be sent to the Architecture Committee.  The Architecture Committee performs a Critical Review of the work. Some aspects of the Critical Review include:
    • Quality Assurance
    • Does the work meet the Business Case?
    • Was the Standards development process followed?
    • Is the work consistent with approved Styles, Formats, and Templates?
    • Does the work meet approved Technical Specifications and is technically sound?
    • Was there collaboration with other appropriate organizations, if required.

The next gate in the approval process is full SAB approval. Some aspects of the SAB review include:
    • Was the SDM process followed?
    • No outstanding Architecture issues remain.
    • Was there collaboration with other appropriate organizations, if required.
    • Does the work meet the Business Case?
    • Is a Marketing campaign or press release recommended?

CIECA standards releases are published twice per year. The published schedule is at the beginning of the 2nd and 4th quarter of each year. The format for the standard title is CIECA Release 2XXX.0Y. Where XX is the year and Y is either 1 or 2, based on the 2nd and 4th quarter release respectively.
Balloting Process

The balloting process is through a formal vote by the members of the Architecture Committee. The schedule for development and approval of the new standard is published in the Architecture minutes 2 weeks or more prior to the vote for the standards approval.

Consensus

Consensus is established when a substantial agreement has been reached by directly and materially affected interests.  Substantial agreement means much more than a simple majority, but not necessarily unanimity.  Consensus requires that all views and objections be openly, and honesty considered, and that a concerted effort be made toward their resolution.

Certification

At any time, the SAB may submit the completed standards work and voting results to the Board of Trustees of CIECA for determination of whether consensus has been attained.  If, upon review of all the facts, the Board certifies that consensus has been reached, publication of the standard or standard changes will be ordered.  If the Board feels consensus in lacking, the work will be returned to the SAB for modification and the approval process repeated.


Publication and Maintenance

Once certified as an industry standard, CIECA officially accepts perpetual responsibility for its maintenance on behalf of the Collision Repair Industry.  If the standard is a CIECA standard it is published by CIECA.  If it is not a CIECA standard, 1) it may be published by CIECA with permission, 2) it may be obtained for distribution from the official publishing standards body, or 3) CIECA may advise interested parties to obtain the standard directly from the publishing body.


Documentation

All developmental documentation will be collected from the SAB and maintained on file by the CIECA staff.  A version number will be assigned, and no subsequent changes will be made to that document without a corresponding change in version number.  For other than CIECA standards, the version number assigned by the governing standards body will be utilized, and only CIECA developmental documentation will be filed.

Documentation will be kept in compliance with the then-current CIECA Records Retention Policy as stated in the CIECA Policy Manual.

Version Control

CIECA Standards Releases Includes


CIECA Business Message Specification (BMS)

CIECA Code Lists

CIECA Schema

CIECA Implementation Guides.

CIECA Release Cycle and Naming Convention

There are two scheduled CIECA Releases per year.  The first release is at the end of the first Quarter and the second release is at the end of the third quarter.

CIECA includes both the year and release number of that year, either 1 or 2.  The naming convention i SIECA Release 2006R1 for the first release in the year 2006.


Release Approval Process:

Release processes are contained with the CIECA SDM process flow.  The processes contained here are for the technical execution of the work established by the CIECA Board of Directors.  Regarding the role of each level of the CIECA organization as it related to the CIECA standards releases are:

Board or Trustees

  • Annually the Board establishes and/or updates a Strategic Plan
  • Annually approves JIRA Plan that includes the development of CIECA standards. 
  • Monitors the Standards Advisory Board (SAB) in their management of the Standards Development Committees.
  • Establishes Standards Development committees as needed.

Standards Advisory Board

  • Approves Jira Boards and updates on a monthly basis
  • Reviews the progress of the Standards Development Committees, including the Architecture Committee, on a monthly bias.
  • Reports to the Board at the Board meetings
  • Approves the Standards Development Committees Project Proposals and Implementation Guides.

Architecture Committee

  • Maintains the Charter and Business Plan
  • Develops JIRA issues for CIECA Releases
  • Completes items including white papers, and technology research
  • Reviews Project Proposals, BMS changes, Code List Changes and Implementation Guides and other work products from the committee(s)
  • Manages the approved items and incorporates them into the next CIECA Release
  • Approves CIECA Releases and their content
  • Conducts Periodic Quality Assurance meetings to ensure the quality and consistency of the BMS, Code List, and Schema.

Standards Development Committees

  • Maintains the Charter and Business Plan
  • Develops JIRA issues for CIECA Releases
  • Develop new messages and maintain existing messages within the scope of their committee, and accept work assigned by the SAB
  • Reports to the SAB Monthly on activity and updates on the JIRA Board