Standards Committees and Processes

Standards Committees

Internationally, the GQL standardization effort is occurring in the committee ISO/IEC JTC1 SC32 WG3 Database Languages. This requires some translation.

• ISO -- International Organization for Standardization

• IEC -- International Electrotechnical Commission

• JTC1 -- Joint Technical Committee 1

  • Technical Committee under both ISO and IEC

  • Much (but not all) information technology standardization efforts occur within JTC1

• SC32 -- SubCommittee 32 underneath JTC1

  • Responsible for Data Management and Interchange standards

• WG3 -- Working Group 3 under SC32

  • Responsible for Database Language Standards

SC32 WG3 does not work in a vacuum. Participants in WG3 are "individual experts" from national bodies including:

• Canada: SCC – Standards Council of Canada

• China: CESI – Chinese Electronics Standardization Institute

• Denmark: DS - Dansk Standards

• Finland: SFS - Suomen Standardisoimisliitto

• Germany: DIN – Deutsches Institut für Normung e. V.

• Great Britain: BSI – British Standards Institution

• Japan: JISC – Japan Industrial Standards Committee

• Korea: KATS - Korea Agency for Technology and Standards

• Netherlands: NEN – Netherlands Standardization Institute

• Sweden: SIS - Swedish Institute for Standards

• USA: INCITS – InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards

Each national body has its own procedures for how individuals can participate in that national body and which national body participants are delegated to participate in SC32 WG3.

Progress in SC32 WG3 is driven by written proposals that include specific additions, corrections and changes to the draft standards. These changes proposals are submitted by individual experts and are reviewed and discussed at WG3 meetings.

Standards Process

The steps to creating an international standard are:

• Someone has an idea for a new standard

  • Work to identify the potential content and requirements

• New Work Item Proposal (NWIP)

  • Proposed by a national body (or several other methods)

  • National Body Vote

  • Requires four national bodies agreeing to work on project

• Working Draft (WD)

  • Development and expansion within Working Group

  • When ready, request a CD Ballot

• Committee Draft (CD) Ballot

  • Votes by national bodies

  • No votes must be accompanied by comments

    • Identify errors in the specification

    • Identify missing features

  • Yes votes may be accompanied by comments

  • Comment Resolution

    • Comments may or may not include recommended resolution

    • Comments resolution changes draft document

  • When ready, request a second CD ballot of a DIS ballot

• Draft International Standard (DIS) Ballot

  • Process similar to CD ballot

  • When ready, request a second DIS ballot or an FDIS ballot

• Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) Ballot

  • Possible to skip this step if all votes on DIS ballot were Yes

• International Standard (IS)

  • Published by ISO/IEC

  • Available for purchase

• Revision and expansion

  • Request a project split for a new version

  • Start over at working draft

When a new project is created, it is set up as a 24 month, 36 month, or 48 month project. If a project does not progress to FDIS stage within the specified time, it risks cancellation.