NesCom Conventions

Effective 3 April 2006
(Revised 08 June 2012, revised 05 December 2017, revised 02 December 2020, revised 15 May 2023, revised 28 June 2023, revised November 2024)

These conventions serve as a guideline for a PAR submitter regarding some of the internal procedures that NesCom members examine as part of their review and recommendations concerning PAR submittals. Please keep these in mind when drafting the PAR. For more detailed information regarding the IEEE SA standards development process, please refer to the IEEE SA Standards Board Operations Manual.

1. PAR Submissions

PAR submittals are completed within the myProject system and must be authorized in the myProject system by the Standards Committee Chair or Standards Representative prior to the NesCom meeting.

PARs shall only be submitted when there is a firm commitment to perform the work.

2. Required Policies and Procedures for Standard Committees

NesCom will only recommend approval of PARs from Standards Committees who have been recognized as a Standards Committee by the IEEE SA Standards Board. If the Standards Committee does not have an accepted Policies and Procedures (P&P) or P&P “visibly under development”, the PAR will be returned to the Standards Committee. Once the P&P are “visibly under development” or accepted, then the PAR may be resubmitted.

3. Co-Standards Committee Information

If the PAR indicates that the project falls under the scope/definition of multiple Standards Committees, then the PAR should indicate Co-Standards Committees in Section 3.3 of the PAR form.

4. Request to Reserve a Project Number

If a specific number is desired for a PAR for which work is not yet ready to begin, the number can be requested by the Working Group Chair for reservation from the NesCom Administrator.

5. Clarity in PAR Content and Title

NesCom will only recommend approval of PARs where the Title, Scope, and Purpose are sufficiently unambiguous and clear. All acronyms shall be spelled out at first use.

The terminology used in the PAR referring to the type of document to be developed shall be consistent with Section 1.2 Type of Document in the PAR, i.e., standard, recommended practice, or guide.

6. Document Scope and Document Purpose

The Scope and Purpose fields stated in the PAR shall be written:

• in present tense,
• in complete sentences,
• with proper grammar as they are intended to appear in the published standard.
• in separate distinct statements as described in the IEEE SA Standards Style Manual, sections 12.2.3 and 12.2.4.

Note: It is not mandatory that a published standard contain a Purpose clause. If the published standard will not contain a Purpose clause, this shall be noted on the PAR.

7. Additional Explanatory Notes field

For references to other standards within the Scope and Purpose fields, the number, full title, date (if appropriate), and source of the referenced standards shall be listed in PAR Section 8.1: Additional Explanatory Notes.

8. Quantification of the Ranges of Numeric Values

For PARs for new projects, standards developers who use general terms to represent ranges (e.g., high, medium, low) within the Title, Scope, or Purpose fields, must numerically define such ranges where they first appear (title, scope, or purpose, as applicable). Any exception to this must be explained in 8.1 Additional Explanatory Notes of the PAR form.

9. PARs with Missing Data or Explanations

NesCom will not recommend approval of PARs when required data or explanations are not included.

10. Modified PARs

a. Any substantive change(s) must be explained in PAR section 8.1 Additional Explanatory Notes.

b. Modified PARs cannot result in a PAR extension. If a change in the completion date extends the PAR past the existing expiration date, a separate PAR Extension Request must be submitted. The Modified PAR and the PAR Extension Request can be submitted concurrently.

11. PAR Extension Requests

a. Extension requests shall include sufficient information to provide reasonable confidence that the project will be completed within the additional time requested in the extension.

b. An extension request shall not be granted for a project if a draft document has not been generated after four years.

c. If a project reaches 8 years after the date of original PAR approval and has not yet initiated the IEEE SA ballot, the existing PAR may not be granted an extension.

d. Extension requests may be requested for a period of one to four years. The usual extension approval is for one to two years. When longer extensions are requested (i.e., three to four years), sufficient extenuating circumstances must be provided to justify the length of the extension.

Other fields (e.g., Title, Scope, Purpose,) of the PAR cannot be modified in an extension request.

12. PARs for the Revision of a Standard

Any substantive change(s) must be explained in PAR Section 8.1: Additional Explanatory Notes.

13. PARs for the Amendment of a Standard

a. Amendments and corrigenda are balloted documents that give explicit instructions on how to change the text in an existing base standard or an existing amendment.

b. After the approval of a PAR to amend an existing standard, it may at some point be necessary to update the year of the base standard which the PAR is amending (i.e., if a revised version of the base standard has been approved). This change is considered administrative and will be modified in myProject by staff.

14. Explanation for PAR Withdrawal

An explanation of the reason for the withdrawal shall be included when submitting a PAR Withdrawal request.

15. Document Jointly Developed with Another Organization

If a PAR has the intention of being developed jointly with another organization, please indicate Yes in PAR Section 7.2 and provide information of the preferred used document style guide in PAR Section 8.1: Additional Explanatory Notes.

16. Timely Response to Comments

a. Each NesCom member should post preliminary votes and any comments during the “Review” period (“Individual Review” period occurs first and lasts one to two weeks and then is followed by “Open Review” period.) Each NesCom member should review comments and comment dialog during the “Review” period, being mindful that updates to PAR submittals may occur shortly before a NesCom meeting.

b. Responsibility of Standards Committee/Working Group Chair – It is important that comments be replied to during the “Review” period in an attempt to resolve NesCom member comments prior to the NesCom meeting. If a NesCom member posts a comment, an initial response is requested from the Standards Committee/Working Group Chair within one week. This allows sufficient time for any required follow-up actions, such as addressing additional NesCom member comments to the response and for changes to be applied to the PAR by the NesCom Administrator. If the Standards Committee/Working Group Chair fails to respond to NesCom member comments forty-eight hours prior to the scheduled NesCom meeting, the PAR may be deferred to the next meeting, or disapproved.

c. Attendance at NesCom meetings – Standards Committee and/or Working Group Chairs of PARs on a NesCom agenda are permitted to attend the NesCom meeting to address any remaining comments from NesCom members. Please contact the NesCom Administrator if you wish to be invited to the meeting.

17. Maximum Interval for Project Deferral

If a PAR submittal is deferred for two meetings without NesCom receiving an adequate response from the Standards Committee and/or the Working Group Chair to address NesCom comments, the PAR submittal may be disapproved.

18. PAR Withdrawal/PAR Resubmittal

NesCom will consider submittals for PAR withdrawal and submittal of another PAR for the same project area on the same NesCom agenda on an individual basis. NesCom may require that the Standards Committee provide an explanation of the circumstances that prevented completion of the original PAR within the PAR validity and may require a project plan that gives NesCom confidence that another PAR will actually be completed. NesCom may require participation in the NesCom meeting by the Standards Committee Chair or Designee.

19. NesCom Mentors

For submittals that do not receive NesCom approval, NesCom member(s) may be assigned to the Standards Committee as a mentor. The mentor, acting as a representative of NesCom, will assist the Standards Committee in understanding NesCom’s reasons for not approving the PAR submittal and will assist the Standards Committee in implementing the action(s) that NesCom has suggested.

• Submit Project Authorization Request
• IEEE SA Policies and Procedures
• Standards Board Bylaws
• Standards Board Operations Manual
• IEEE SA Board of Governors