[Secretariat] Fw: [CESG] BOFs and White Paper vs. Concept Paper vs. White Book

Gian.Paolo.Calzolari at esa.int Gian.Paolo.Calzolari at esa.int
Tue May 21 13:01:39 EDT 2013


I do agree with Peter on the fact that we do NOT " need to invent anything 
new".
I am not so sure that "these terms and processes are already well defined" 
as Peter says and for this reason I would like to see some polishing.

For sure I fink that the following equivalences are false:
1) white paper = concept paper (from Peter)
2) White paper = White book; the two are interchangeable. (from Mike)
What I remarked is that they are even more false after we dismissed the 
original idea of having 1 WG = 1 Book.
It is a matter of fact that today we have agreed to have a multiple 
correspondence between WG and books (i.e. 1 WG has several CWE Project, 
with 1 Project = 1 Book either new or to update). I think this approach is 
not well reflected in the CCSDS procedures.

Having said this it is true that, digging through the  CCSDS Procs doc, 
the following can be found:
a) a white paper, or concept paper, is the initial noodling of a BoF on 
the way to a working group
b) a white book is  is  a "CCSDS Proposed Draft Recommended Standard"; 
i.e. draft blue/magenta before becoming red (as per Figure 6-1: CCSDS 
Document Taxonomy); i.e. it exist after WG Creation and CWE Project 
approval
c) a concept paper is needed to start any CCSDS Book (*)  (as per Figure 
6-1: CCSDS Document Taxonomy); i.e. it exist before CWE Project approval 
(this may be before or after WG Creation).       (*) and not only a Green 
Book as I erroneously wrote in my first mail


I also have the following consideration:
White Paper 
It should contain all BOF's considerations that do not go into the CWE 
Charter/Project(s). It may even include items from  CWE Charter/Project(s) 
for a more comfortable reading/presentation (e.g.  a global schedule for 
more books will be better explained in the White Paper than going to look 
and combine the individual CWE Projects, etc.).
I doubt that a WG would update a White Paper after WG creation, but this 
is just an opinion and it cannot be excluded.
Fine about free format with one caveat: as the White Paper explains why 
CESG and CMC should approve the WG creation, the format should allow CESG 
and CMC to make up their mind about the eventual vote.
White Book
White Books exist within a WG (and not within a BOF) and - as Peter says - 
they remain White Books i.e. it exist after WG Creation and CWE Project 
approval
Concept Paper
Every CCSDS document (or family of related documents) starts out as a 
CCSDS concept paper; i.e. a Concept Paper explains what a book (or several 
books) will contain and it is not expected to be a draft of the eventual 
book.
A Concept Paper may be prepared by a BOF when defining the initial target 
of a WG or it may be prepared by a WG is new books/projects are added 
while the WG is already alive.  For the BOF case, I think that the Concept 
paper could be integrated in the White Paper. 

As the 3 terms are already in the CCSDS Procedures, I am just asking to 
make their definition clearer and - most important - to adapt this yellow 
book to the approach we have nowadays with CWE Charters and Project.

Just to confuse a bit more the debate, I would mention that in 2.3.3.4 of 
the Organisation and Processes, it is said that:
 "A WG chair is specifically responsible for
a) creating a charter, work plan, and resource plan for the WG and getting 
it approved by the Area Director and the CESG;
b) publishing the approved work plan, showing the scope of its tasks, 
their schedule, and the nature and source of the resources (e.g., which 
agencies are providing staffing support) that are needed for their 
completion;
c) making sure that necessary resources are committed by someone during 
the initiation and conduct of new work or the modification of work in 
progress;"
 COMMENTS:
- Items a) and b) are indeed part of the work to cerate a WG; i.e. they 
shall be done within the BOF
- Item a) should include CMC approval
- Items a) and b) are generating tasks for the WG chair with respect to 
their maintenance for addition, deletions, completion, etc.; i.e. WG task 
should include their maintenance (including additions) and not their 
creation.
- Item b) is actually done through CWE Projects and not via a separate 
document (and CWE Charters and Projects are subject to CMC Approval)
- In principle, item c) is NEVER a task of the WG Chair but rather a task 
of CMC members  :o) 

Best regards

Gian Paolo





From:
"Shames, Peter M (313B)" <peter.m.shames at jpl.nasa.gov>
To:
"Kearney, Mike W. (MSFC-EO01)" <mike.kearney at nasa.gov>, 
"Gian.Paolo.Calzolari at esa.int" <Gian.Paolo.Calzolari at esa.int>, "CESG -- 
CCSDS-Engineering Steering Group" <cesg at mailman.ccsds.org>
Date:
21/05/2013 15:16
Subject:
Re: [Secretariat] Fw: [CESG] BOFs and White Paper vs. Concept Paper vs. 
White Book



According to the CCSDS Procs doc (attached) a white paper, or concept 
paper, is the initial noodlings of a BoF on the way to a working group 
(sec 2.3.4  Sec 6).  That White Paper may get refined even after the WG is 
formed.  It is often the case that a white paper contains material that is 
both "green" and "blue" in nature.  There is no constraint placed on the 
format of a White Paper, it could be in some arbitrary tech memo form or 
formatted to look like a White Book.  The format does not matter since it 
has no formal standing.

Once a WG settles on what just what standards they need to develop, how 
many, of what "color" this White Paper material may get split out into 
more than one book (sec 6).  Those draft Green and Blue (or Magenta) books 
are White Books (Sec B2.2).  They remain White Books until the WG 
completes their work and hands them off to the tech editor.  They become 
Red Books when the tech editor send them out for review.

I do not think we need to invent anything new, I think that these terms 
and processes are already well defined.

Peter


From: <Kearney>, Mike Kearney <Mike.Kearney at nasa.gov>
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013 8:24 PM
To: Gian Paolo Calzolari <Gian.Paolo.Calzolari at esa.int>, CCSDS Engineering 
Steering Group - CESG Exec <cesg at mailman.ccsds.org>
Subject: RE: [Secretariat] Fw: [CESG] BOFs and White Paper vs. Concept 
Paper vs. White Book

I will contribute what I remember from my discussions with Adrian when I 
was a new guy. 
 
White paper = White book; the two are interchangeable.
 
A white book is a draft recommendation (standard or practice). 
 
A concept paper is what a BOF does in order to prove why it needs to 
become a working group. 
 
A BOF is not supposed to do ?real? work before it is approved as a WG at 
which time it is allowed to commence working on a white book.  Therefore 
the concept paper should be something interesting, but following the rule 
above, it should not be a draft white book.  However, in practice this is 
difficult?  a concept paper will often look like a draft white book. 
Therefore it is hard to enforce the rule that a BOF should not produce a 
white book. 
 
Personally, I think that requiring a concept paper to *not* look like a 
draft white book is not only unenforceable, it is not always the most 
efficient approach.  In some cases it may be best to let the concept paper 
look like a draft white book, if that is what is needed to communicate to 
the CMC what the scope of the proposed work is.  I think we can let the 
BOF (or the CESG?) decide.  In any case I would recommend not having a 
hard and fast rule splitting definitions of a concept paper from a white 
book.  But that is a CESG decision to make. 
 
   -=- Mike
 
Mike Kearney
Lead Technology Manager
Mission Operations Laboratory
NASA MSFC EO-01
+1-256-544-2029
 
"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into 
practice with courageous impatience."
                                         - ADM Hyman G. Rickover
 
From: secretariat-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org [
mailto:secretariat-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org] On Behalf Of 
Gian.Paolo.Calzolari at esa.int
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 3:32 AM
To: CESG -- CCSDS-Engineering Steering Group
Subject: [Secretariat] Fw: [CESG] BOFs and White Paper vs. Concept Paper 
vs. White Book
 
Nestor, 
        I got no comment on this subject and, as I think we should not 
loose the occasion to improve the procedure while Tom is working in this 
book, I kindly ask you to include this in the agenda for the CESG Webex 
Meeting on 1st July? 

Regards 

Gian Paolo

----- Forwarded by Gian Paolo Calzolari/esoc/ESA on 17/05/2013 10:24 -----

From:
Gian.Paolo.Calzolari at esa.int
To:
"CESG -- CCSDS-Engineering Steering Group" <cesg at mailman.ccsds.org>
Date:
30/04/2013 17:10
Subject:
[CESG] BOFs and White Paper vs. Concept Paper vs. White Book
Sent by:
cesg-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org
 




Dear All, 
       please find here attached some considerations about BOFs and White 
Paper vs. Concept Paper  vs. White Book.
I generated these considerations taking into account that "originally" 
(i.e. just after CCSDS restructuring) there were no CWE Projects to take 
into account; i.e. the Charter were self contained with respect to the 
complete work to be done by the WG. I have the impression that this new 
situation is not fully reflected in CCSDS A02.1-Y-3 yet.

Here below some text from CCSDS A02.1-Y-3 about BOFs activities together 
with some comments from me.

1) The charter states the scope of discussion for the WG , as well as its 
goals and deliverable products.>
[GPC] OK this is one of the documents to be produced by a BOF for eventual 
CESG + CMC Approval with the remark that CESG does not focus on resources.

2) Figure 6-1: CCSDS Document Taxonomy 
[GPC] This figure requires a Concept Paper to start a Green Book (and not 
a White Paper). A White Book is  a "CCSDS Proposed Draft Recommended 
Standard"; i.e. draft blue before becoming red. ===> Concept paper and 
White Book below to the document life cycle with the Concept Paper being 
the document needed to start a CWE Project (i.e. to accompany the poll for 
the creation of a CWE Project). This is also assuming the 1 to 1 
correspondence between books and projects.

3) The work of the BOF is to articulate the technical concept, usually in 
the form of a brief white paper, draft a charter for the proposed WG , 
appoint someone who is able to be chair, and demonstrate that resources 
can be secured to do the work. 
[GPC] Reading this text it may look that a White Paper paper supports  a 
Charter while a Concept paper supports a (project to write a) Book
Would everybody agree?   
In general I have the impression there is an hole in the real procedures 
due to the fact that  "originally" everything was done creating a WG and 
then the WG was going to create (internal, not CWE) projects. 
Now the approach we have taken is that CESG/CMC approve creating a WG 
together with the (first) project(s) in order to evaluate also resources; 
e.g. look at Telerobotic just as last case. 
Taking into account all I have said above, a BOF should provide a final 
package made of 4 items
a) Draft charter for approval 
b) White paper supporting the draft charter 
c) One Draft CWE project for each proposed book 
d) One Concept paper for each proposed book supporting the related  draft 
CWE project 
  REMARKS: 
       Actually c and d could be included as Annexes to the White paper. 
       Moreover c should be limited to the books for which the work will 
start at WG Creation or shortly after to avoid approving projects planned 
to start 3 or 4 years after WG creation).
       Then d could keep the 1:1 relationship with c or (optionally) 
include also concept papers for future books (if available).

Would everybody agree?   
In general, the difference between white paper and concept paper looks 
fuzzy in the current book.. 

Am I the only one puzzled about this? 
Would you share the need of some (little) editing to CCSDS A02.1-Y-3 in 
order to make all this clearer (and specially BOF output for CESG/CMC 
polls)?


Best regards 


Gippo 

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