[AfriNIC-rpd] Implementation of afpol-pdp200707

[sm+afrinic at elandsys.com]

Hi Lillian,
At 00:56 23-12-2009, Lillian O. Sharpley wrote:
>Yes, some of the history of the proposals is available through the pdp website
>and through the RPD mailing list archive. Again, we realise this is an area of
>weakness that is undergoing improvements.

Thanks for explaining the procedures.  The questions were to 
understand how the existing process works.  Please read the comments 
below in terms of the proposal and not as a request to change 
existing procedures.

>The procedure for submitting a new version of a proposal is not currently
>addressed in the PDP. Therefore, is it acceptable to follow the same procedure
>as when submitting a new policy proposal, which is to send to the PDP-MG (if
>assistance is needed to write the proposal) or to the RPD mailing 
>list using the
>recommended template. Without the tracking system in place, these 
>changes are at
>times handled as edits from the author to the proposal and are not
>systematically documented. In this case, we often rely on the archives of the
>two mailing lists.

There will probably be minor or major changes to the text.  It will 
be up to the author to keep track of the changes.  It may be better 
to have the major changes in a new version if they are accepted.

>Let's use your current proposal as an example: now that you have 
>resubmitted the
>proposal using the required format, the proposal has been added to the policy
>proposals under discussion list and a Policy Number has been 
>assigned, however,
>the version that was sent on day one will only be available through archives.
>The version that was sent using the required format will be 
>considered the first
>official version. This is the procedure as it exists today.

I'm fine with that.

>As previously explained, we do not currently have a formal version tracking
>system, however, we are planning to implement on under the new Document
>Management System. We will continue to keep the community informed of this and
>other corrective action measurements underway to improve the maintenance and
>management of all documents related to the PDP. We also welcome any 
>suggestions
>from you and the community to improve this process.

By version tracking, I mean keeping a copy of the older versions 
too.  It doesn't require a full-fledged Document Management 
System.  I should not get into implementation details which are not 
directly relevant to the proposal as it is an internal matter.  I'll 
try to keep the suggestions and the policy part separate.

>The procedure for implementing a policy once ratified by the Board is to first
>send an announcement that the policy was ratified by the Board and will now be
>implemented. The date implementation is typically consistent with the date the
>announcement. Which was the case with your policy in question.

There may be cases where the policy is to be implemented at a 
specific date instead of when it is ratified.  These are the sort of 
details in the proposal that may need to be fine-tuned.

>At anytime, an author can withdraw a proposal by sending a message to the
>mailing list. Once the request is received to withdraw, the status of the
>proposal is changed to 'withdrawn' and the withdrawn proposal is moved to the
>archive page under policies withdrawn.

My proposal did not cover the case where a proposal is withdrawn.  I 
will probably add that as part of the possible documents states.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy