W3C

QA Framework: Operational Guidelines

W3C Working Draft 09 June 2003

This version:
http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/2003/05/qaframe-ops-20030609
Latest (published) version:
http://www.w3.org/TR/qaframe-ops/
Previous version(s):
Published: http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-qaframe-ops-20030210/
WD-discussion: http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/2003/05/qaframe-ops-20030515
Editors:
Lofton Henderson (lofton@rockynet.com)
Dominique Hazaël-Massieux (dom@w3.org)
Kirill Gavrylyuk (kirillg@microsoft.com)
Dimitris Dimitriadis (dimitris@ontologicon.com)
Lynne Rosenthal (lsr@nist.gov)
Contributors:
See Acknowledgments.

Abstract

This document defines a common Operational Framework for building conformance test materials for W3C specifications. It presents operational and procedural guidelines for groups undertaking conformance materials development. This document is one in a family of Framework documents of the Quality Assurance (QA) Activity, which includes the other existing or in-progress specifications: Introduction; Specification Guidelines; and, Test Guidelines.

Status of this document

This version is a QAWG-review version, for illustrating and discussing in-progress modifications to the Last Call version.

See details in Change history.

The SoTD of the Last Call version follows...

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest version of this document series is maintained at the W3C.

This document is a W3C Working Draft (WD), made available by the W3C Quality Assurance (QA) Activity for discussion by W3C members and other interested parties. For more information about the QA Activity, please see the QA Activity statement.

This Working Draft is published for Last Call review. This version incorporates the closure of all open QAWG (QA Working Group) issues about this specification, as well as editorial improvements to more clearly explain the rationale behind a number of the checkpoints. The Previous Version (3rd published WD) represented convergence on a stable set of the individual checkpoints and their priorities, and was structured so that its conformance requirements (fulfillment criteria) were clearly isolated and identified. For details, please see Change history.

This version supersedes all previous drafts. Future progression of this document beyond Working Draft is planned, but the final status has not been determined at this time. See QAWG issue #18 and issue #71. It is anticipated that this specification will eventually advance to Candidate Recommendation (CR), after successful discussion and resolution of any and all issues that arise during Last Call review. The QAWG has discussed criteria for finishing CR phase and entrance to Proposed Recommendation ( PR). The agreed criteria are: for each Priority 1 and Priority 2 checkpoint, two example implementations that successfully fulfill the checkpoint.

This part of the Framework document family has a companion QA Framework: Operational Examples & Techniques. That informative companion document is currently being progressed as a W3C Note. At least until this guidelines document stabilizes, that Examples & Techniques companion will be maintained and frequently updated in QA Working Group Web space (as opposed to /TR/). Although that document is not the principal subject of this review, the QAWG welcomes feedback on it as well.

The QA Working Group Patent Disclosure page contains details on known patents related to this specification, in conformance with W3C policy requirements.

Please use the provided form to make your comments. If for some reason you are unable to use the form, you may email comments to www-qa@w3.org, the publicly archived list of the QA Interest Group [QAIG]. Please note that comments that you make will be publicly archived and available, do not send information you would not want to see distributed, such as private data.

Publication of this document does not imply endorsement by the W3C, its membership or its staff. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use W3C Working Drafts as reference material or to cite them as other than "work in progress".

A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR/.

Table of contents

  1. Introduction
    1. Scope and goals
    2. Class of product and audience
    3. Motivation and expected benefits
    4. Relationship to other specifications
    5. Understanding and using this document
    6. Checkpoint priorities & conformance levels
    7. A chronological view of the guidelines
    8. Terminology
  2. Guidelines
    1. Commit to Quality Assurance in Working Group activities.
    2. Commit to resource level for Working Group QA activities.
    3. Synchronize QA activities with the specification milestones.
    4. Define the QA process.
    5. Plan test materials development.
    6. Plan test materials publication.
    7. Plan the transfer of test materials to W3C if needed.
    8. Plan for test materials maintenance.
  3. WG relationship to QA Activity
  4. Conformance
    1. Normative sections
    2. Extensibility
    3. Conformance requirements & test assertions
    4. Conformance definition
    5. Conformance disclaimer
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. References
    1. Normative references
    2. Informative references
  7. Change history

Two separate appendices to this document [OPS-CHECKLIST] and [OPS-ICS] present all checkpoints in a tabular form sorted in their original order and sorted by their priorities, for convenient reference. The latter is an Implementation Conformance Statement (ICS) pro-forma for this specification.


1. Introduction

[@@Ed note. this Introduction is to be substantially re-worked per resolution ofLC-110]

1.1. Scope and goals

The scope of this specification is a set of verifiable requirements for the process and operational aspects of the quality practices of W3C Working Groups. The primary goal is to help the W3C Working Groups (WGs) with the planning, development, deployment, and maintenance of conformance test materials (TM).

For this guidelines document, the term conformance test materials includes:

1.2. Class of product and audience

The class of product that is the target of the requirements in this specification is: all process and operational aspects of Working Group quality practices. This includes

The intended audience for these guidelines is all W3C Working Group members, as well as the actual developers of conformance materials for W3C specifications.

It is optimal that sound quality practices are integrated into WG activities from the very beginning. Nevertheless, these guidelines are written for newly chartered and existing Working Groups alike. Working Groups who may already be doing some of these activities should review the document and incorporate the principles and guidelines into their quality practices as much as possible.

1.3. Motivation and expected benefits

As the complexity of W3C specifications and their interdependencies increase, quality assurance becomes even more important to ensuring their acceptance and deployment in the market. There has been a growing awareness and interest in conformance and quality. In approving and initiating the QA Activity, W3C has endorsed the principle that in order for W3C Web standards to achieve full interoperability and access to all, the quality of the implementation must be given as much attention as the standards' development. The principal factor for improving the quality of implementation is early availability of conformance test materials.

Although not explicitly stated, the W3C Process Document supports the development of conformance test materials.

[...] groups may produce technical reports, review the work of other groups, develop sample code or test suites, etc." (see Process Document, section 3.)

W3C should make every effort to maintain its Recommendations (e.g., by tracking errata, providing test bed applications, helping to create test suites, etc.) (see Process Document, section 5.2.5, "Ongoing work".)

To meet these suggestions and address the implementation requirements of the Process Document, some Working Groups have included the development of conformance materials as part of their PR-entrance criteria. Examples include Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG), and Extensible Style Language - Formatting Objects (XSL-FO). This makes sense, since it is natural for test suites and implementations to develop in parallel - each is a help to the development of the other.

There is already a body of contemporary QA experience and activity amongst the Working Groups. The Matrix [MATRIX] identifies more than a score of test suites and validators, in various states of development. Moreover, many Working Groups have already established procedures, techniques and tools for developing test materials (e.g., Document Object Model - DOM). It makes sense to capitalize on what has already been done and share that with those who are starting out and those who are already in the process of developing conformance materials.

Accordingly, these guidelines aim to capture the experiences, good practices, activities, and lessons learned of the Working Groups, and to present them in a comprehensive, cohesive set of documents for all to use and benefit from. By standardizing the best of current practice, these guidelines should allow the WGs to reuse what works rather than having to reinvent, which in turn should facilitate and expedite the work of the WGs. Conformance with these guidelines should also promote consistency across the various Working Group quality activities and deliverables

1.4. Relationship to other specifications

This document is part of the QA Framework family of documents. The QA Framework documents aim to help the WGs improve all aspects of their quality practices by solidifying and extending current quality practices found within the W3C.

The QA Framework documents are:

The QA Framework documents include guidelines documents and examples & techniques documents. [@@tbd -- finish sorting out the GL/Extech distinction]

The QA Framework documents are interrelated and complement each other. For example, there is a close relationship between the processes for dealing with versions and errata, and the test framework architecture for handling multiple versions and errata levels. Hence there is interrelationship between this document and the Test Guidelines. The reader is strongly encouraged to be familiar with the other documents in the family.

1.5. Understanding and using this document

The guidelines in this document start with those that are applicable as early as the formation of a Working Group (e.g., charter considerations), and continue through the various process and operational activities necessary in planning, developing, deploying and maintaining conformance materials.

This specification applies the WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) guidelines model to Working Group quality practices and the development of conformance test materials. See, for example, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Each guideline includes:

The checkpoint definitions in each guideline define the processes and operations that need to be implemented in order to accomplish the guideline. Each checkpoint definition includes:

Each checkpoint is intended to be specific enough so that someone can implement the checkpoint as well as verify that the checkpoint has been satisfied. A checkpoint will contain at least one, and may contain multiple individual requirements, that use RFC2119 normative keywords. See the Conformance section for further discussion of requirements and test assertions.

Two separate appendices to this document [OPS-CHECKLIST] and [OPS-ICS] present all checkpoints in a tabular form sorted in their original order and sorted by their priorities, for convenient reference. The latter is an Implementation Conformance Statement (ICS) pro-forma for this specification.

1.6. Checkpoint priorities & conformance levels

Some checkpoints are more critical than others for the timely production of high-quality, highly usable test materials. Therefore each checkpoint has a priority level based on the checkpoint's impact on the quality and timing of the test materials produced by a Working Group.

[Priority 1]
Critical/essential. These checkpoints are considered to be basic requirements for ensuring that test materials are usable, and are produced in time to ensure the quality of the standard and its implementations. Satisfying these checkpoints is a basic requirement to ensure quality and interoperability of the standard.
[Priority 2]
Important/desirable. Satisfying these checkpoints, in addition to the priority 1 checkpoints, should significantly improve the usability and timeliness of the test materials, as well as the quality of the standard and its implementations.
[Priority 3]
Useful/beneficial. Satisfying these checkpoints, on top of all the others, will further improve the quality, usability, and timeliness of the test materials and the standard itself.

1.7. A chronological view of the guidelines

There is a strong association between the individual guidelines and stages in the life of a Working Group, its specifications, and its QA deliverables. Certain guidelines either only apply or ideally apply at certain stages.

The following { diagram | table } presents the correlation. [@@Ed note. TBD. But contents are roughly...

1.8. Terminology

The keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" are used as defined in RFC 2119 [RFC2119]. When used with the normative RFC2119 meanings, they are all upper case. Occurrences of these words in lower case comprise normal prose usage, with no normative implications.

Unusual terms in this framework document are defined when first used, and most generally useful QA-specific terms will eventually be in the QA Glossary [QA-GLOSSARY].

2. Guidelines

Guideline 1. Commit to Quality Assurance in Working Group activities.

In approving and initiating the QA Activity, W3C has endorsed the principle that in order for W3C Web standards to achieve full interoperability and access to all, the quality of implementations must be given as much attention as specifications' development.

The quality of specifications and the early availability of conformance test materials (TM) are significant contributors to the quality of implementations. Early adoption of a suitable commitment level for these two components of a WG's quality practices -- followed by identification of specific QA deliverables, milestones, and dependencies with other WG deliverables -- is prerequisite to detailed planning, execution, and timely achievement of at least a minimal quality level across all of a Working Group's deliverables.

This guideline and Guideline 2 concern the early statement by the Working group of degree(s) of QA commitment, commitment to test materials and other QA deliverables, and commitment to needed QA staffing resources. See further discussion of the chronology of the guidelines in "Introduction".

New Working Groups -- i.e., those that are writing and submitting their charters for approval -- are required in this guideline's checkpoints to make the specified commitments in their charters. Working Groups that are renewing their charters are considered the same as new WGs. Existing Working Groups could satisfy the checkpoints by amendment to their charter, or in other ways, the latter to be specified in QA Framework: Operational Examples & Techniques [OPS-EXTECH].

Checkpoints:

Checkpoint 1.1. Define QA commitment levels for operations, specifications, and test materials. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: the WG MUST:

Discussion. This checkpoint is about early commitment of the WG to the intended degree of quality practices in the various aspects of the WG's activities. It is not about the actual performance or delivery of quality practices and deliverables. For existing working groups that make the QA commitment after chartering, various ways to do it are discussed in the Examples & Techniques document.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 1.2. Commit to test materials. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements:

Discussion. This checkpoint is about early commitment of the WG about its test materials intentions. It is not about the specific deliverables, nor about the details of the test materials or their actual production and delivery. For existing working groups that make the test materials commitment after chartering, various ways to do it are discussed in the Examples & Techniques document.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 1.3. Commit to complete test materials. [Priority 3]

Conformance requirements:

Discussion. This checkpoint is about early commitment of the WG about its test materials intentions. It is not about the specific deliverables, nor about the details of the test materials or their actual production and delivery. For existing working groups that make the test materials commitment after chartering, various ways to do it are discussed in the Examples & Techniques document.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 1.4. Enumerate QA deliverables and expected milestones. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements:

Discussion. The W3C Process Document requires for Charters, that deliverables be identified with milestones. It is vital that the milestones for QA deliverables are synchronized and even serve as criteria for WG technical deliverables (specifications).

Examples of QA deliverables include sets of use cases, primers, lists of test assertions, test suites (produced or acquired), validators, test harnesses.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 1.5. Associate QA criteria with WG milestones. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements:

Discussion. A de facto convention of test suite completion before entrance into PR phase (and by implication, completion of CR phase, if there was a CR phase) seems to be a common process goal amongst a number of the existing test suite efforts. For example, SVG, UAAG, and others have defined this criterion. It is natural for test suites and implementations to develop in parallel -- each is a help to the development of the other. And, the W3C Process Document does address implementation requirement:

Advancement of a technical report to Candidate Recommendation is an explicit call for implementation experience to those outside of the related Working Groups or the W3C itself." (see Process Document, section 5.2, about "Candidate Recommendation.)

Preferably, the Working Group should be able to demonstrate two interoperable implementations of each feature. (see Process Document, section 5.2.4, about "Entrance Criteria".)

Related checkpoints. This checkpoint is related to Checkpoint 3.1, but is concerned specifically with early, (ideally) Charter-phase commitment to bind QA-related entry/exit criteria to the major process milestones as defined in the W3C Process Document. Checkpoint 3.1 is concerned with the operational aspects of synchronizing specific QA deliverables with successive specification versions.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Guideline 2. Commit to resource level for Working Group QA activities.

It is highly beneficial to the success of the WG's QA work that it address QA resource requirements from the beginning of the Working Group formation. Starting from the Working Group Charter and later in the Call For Participation special attention is required to the staffing and other resource requirements for successful QA work.

This guideline and Guideline 1 concern the early statement by the Working group of degree(s) of QA commitment, commitment to test materials and other QA deliverables, and commitment to needed QA staffing resources. See further discussion of the chronology of the guidelines in "Introduction".

The sooner the resources needs are defined and a resource level is committed, the better. Therefore new Working Groups -- i.e., those that are writing and submitting their Charters for approval -- are required to have the resource commitments in their charters. Working Groups whose charters are being renewed are considered the same as new WGs. While "sooner is better", existing Working Groups can still satisfy the checkpoints, in other ways to be specified in QA Framework: Operational Examples & Techniques [OPS-EXTECH].

Checkpoints:

Checkpoint 2.1. Address where and how conformance test materials will be produced. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: a new or rechartering Working Group MUST, in its charter, address and discuss who will produce the test materials and how. An existing Working Group MUST define the who & how in some consensus record, in one of various other ways.

Rationale. Determining whether the WG plans to produce the test materials themselves or get them from other sources is a first step in the overall planning for QA deliverables. Identifying the scenario for producing these deliverables is a prerequisite to estimating the resources and effort needed for the WG's level of QA commitment.

Discussion. TM-production scenarios range from all intra- WG effort concurrent with other WG deliverables, to importing completed materials from an external group, and hybrid internal-external efforts. Further discussion and example scenarios are found in Operational Examples & Techniques.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 2.2. Address QA staffing commitments. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: a new or rechartering Working Group MUST, in its charter, allocate WG staffing resources for the tasks necessary to meet the total QA commitments according to the where-and-how plan. An existing Working Group MUST define the allocation in some consensus record, in one of various other ways.

Rationale. For any acceptable level of QA commitment, there will be some staffing requirement. If the WG addresses the staffing level at the same time that it defines the commitment level and general scenario, then that both helps to confirm that the overall plans are realistic, as well as facilitates that the commitments will be successfully realized.

Discussion. Depending upon the general intent and plan, and how the test materials will be built, the commitment can range from minimal to significant. At the least, a QA point-of-contact will be needed by the WG.

This checkpoint is related to Checkpoint 4.1 and Checkpoint 4.2, in that they all deal with staff for QA activities. However this checkpoint concerns the early, (ideally) Charter-phase commitment to a level of QA staffing appropriate for the total QA commitments, whereas the checkpoints 4.1 and 4.2 concern the actual operational assignment of the staff and establishment of the QA task force.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 2.3. Request allocation of QA resources to the Working Group. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: a new or rechartering Working Group MUST, in its Call for Participation, request that participating members include QA specialists in their staff-resource allocation to the WG. An existing Working Group MAY make external appeal for QA-specific resources in one of various other ways.

Rationale. The WG needs explicit indication of resources available for QA, in order to know whether Working Group capabilities are commensurate with its deliverables and milestones. If the WG emphasizes in its participation calls that QA specialists are needed and welcome, that should facilitate getting competent and interested people to work on the WG's QA commitments.

Discussion. Once the Charter is prepared, the Director sends a Call for Participation to the Advisory Committee. At this point AC Representatives are asked to provide information about amount and type of resources their organization plans to allocate for the particular Working Group. Note that W3C Process [PROCESS] allows a WG to have several participants per Member, and it is up to the WG to determine details such as any further numerical restrictions, composition by specialty, etc.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Guideline 3. Synchronize QA activities with the specification milestones.

The benefits of starting synchronization of the specification and test materials development as early as possible include:

Checkpoints:

Checkpoint 3.1. Synchronize the publication of QA deliverables and the specification's drafts. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: the Working Group MUST publish QA deliverables, including at least the test materials to which the WG has committed, concurrently with each Working Group specification publication milestone.

Rationale. Because each published version of the specification -- WDs, CR(s), PR, etc -- is a changed document, therefore all important dependencies such as test materials need to be updated concurrently.

Discussion. QA deliverables to be synchronized must include at least the test materials to which the WG has committed -- see Checkpoints 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4. For such test materials, the WG might for example synchronize the first public release of a test suite (TS) with Candidate Recommendation (CR). The Working Group should consider and attempt to synchronize other QA deliverables as well, for example:

Related checkpoints. This checkpoint is related to Checkpoint 1.5. However, that checkpoint concerns the (ideally) Charter-phase commitment to bind QA-related criteria to the status transitions of the WG's specifications, as defined in the W3C Process Document. This checkpoint concerns the synchronization of any and all QA deliverables with successive versions of the specifications, whether they be successive published WDs, CR succeeding Last Call WD, etc.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 3.2. Support specification versioning/errata in QA deliverables. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements:

Rationale. There will be products that support different versions (editions) and/or different errata levels of the specification after it becomes Recommendation. The requirements of this checkpoint ensure that users will be able to select and apply the appropriate test materials for a given product

Discussion. This checkpoint specifically extends the previous one to cover support for specification milestones after Recommendation status. As used in this checkpoint, the scope of "versions" at least includes "editions" -- editorial revisions that incorporate errata and small changes -- rather than major versions with major functional increments (i.e., new Recommendations).

Building specification versioning/errata support into the test materials' infrastructure is one effective technique. Other techniques may also suffice, such as reliance on a code versioning system like CVS (Concurrent Versions System).

Related checkpoints. This checkpoint concerns versioning/errata support functionality in the infrastructure or framework of test materials. The related checkpoint 8.2 is about defining maintenance procedures for test materials to track specification versions or errata levels.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Guideline 4. Define the QA process.

A Working Group QA process encompasses all aspects of QA life within the Working Group, including:

Documented examples of the QA process can be found at DOM TS process, at XML Schema TS process, and at XML Protocol TS process.

Checkpoints:

Checkpoint 4.1. Appoint a QA moderator. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: the Working Group MUST identify a person to manage the WG's quality practices.

Rationale. Having a single person assume primary responsibility for the WG's quality practices will help ensure that its QA commitments and milestones are met efficiently and on schedule, and a single identified QA point-of-contact will optimize external QA-related communications.

Discussion. The QA moderator is the overall manager of all of the QA activities in the Working Group, and (by default) principal point-of-contact. At even the lowest acceptable levels of QA commitment, there are sufficient requirements that at least part-time of one person is needed. Depending on the anticipated origin of the test materials, there are several possibilities for the QA moderator, ranging from appointing a QA member to inviting someone from an external organization.

Related checkpoints. This checkpoint and Checkpoint 4.2 are related to Checkpoint 2.2 -- they all deal with staff for QA activities. However Checkpoint 2.2 concerns the early, (ideally) Charter-phase commitment to a level of QA staffing appropriate for the total QA commitments, whereas this checkpoint and Checkpoint 4.2 concern the actual operational assignment of the staff and establishment of the QA task force.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 4.2. Appoint a QA task force. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: the Working Group MUST identify and assign a QA task force for the tasks necessary to meet the QA commitment level and the committed QA deliverables, as identified in checkpoints 1.1 - 1.5.

Rationale. At higher levels of QA commitment and deliverables, the resource requirements may exceed (part-time of) one person. Identifying and assigning any additional needed QA staff resources is a prerequisite to realistic schedules and QA delivery milestones.

Discussion. Depending on the level of involvement of a Working Group in the test materials development, a task force assisting the QA moderator can take responsibility for a QA framework development, test materials development, review of contributions, and maintenance. In practice, the task force can range from a subset of dedicated individuals, to some fraction of the time of each WG member. The WG needs to ensure that the size of the task force is adequate to meet the committed QA deliverables and QA level, per the committed milestones.

Related checkpoints. This checkpoint and Checkpoint 4.1 are related to Checkpoint 2.2 -- they all deal with staff for QA activities. However Checkpoint 2.2 concerns the early, (ideally) Charter-phase commitment to a level of QA staffing appropriate for the total QA commitments, whereas this checkpoint and Checkpoint 4.1 concern the actual operational assignment of the staff and establishment of the QA task force.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 4.3. Produce the QA Process Document. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: the Working Group MUST produce a QA Process Document that:

Rationale. A QA Process Document records, in one place, key information about the WG's quality-related logistical and communications setup, contribution and licensing policies, publication and maintenance plans, and other critical process and operational details. The production of this document ensures that these key aspects of the WG's quality practices are explicitly addressed and publicly recorded.

Discussion. The primary goal of a QA Process Document (QAPD) is a single starting place to find important QA information about the Working Group. A single document is preferred, and a template for writing such is included in Operational Examples & Techniques. A table of contents comprised of links to distributed WG documents is another way to satisfy the QAPD goals.

The QAPD may contain more, but it must address at least the requirements of these other checkpoints:

Related checkpoints. Satisfaction of this checkpoint requires satisfaction of these related checkpoints: 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 5.2, 5.4, 5.3, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 8.2, 8.3.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 4.4. Specify means for QA-related communication. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: the WG's QA Process Document

Discussion. In practice, the mailing list may be a dedicated "test" mailing list, or something like an existing Interest Group mail list could be used for the purpose. A common convention for the QA-related Web page is recommended: name it /Test/ directly under the WG's home page, e.g., http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 4.5. Define a framework for test materials development. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: the WG's QA Process Document MUST define a framework for test materials development, that at least describes how to develop, document and use the tests.

Rationale. A test materials development framework is effectively the top-level design for test materials production. A sound top-level design enables the accurate allocation and application of resources -- staffing and logistical -- and the efficient production of quality deliverables that work as intended.

Discussion. While consideration of a test materials framework might seem to be a detail that belongs only in QA Framework: Test Guidelines, in fact such a framework has potential impacts on a WG's operations, processes, staffing, and logistics, and therefore its consideration in the QA Process Document is appropriate.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 4.6. Define branding policy details. [Priority 3]

Conformance requirements: the WG MUST document in its QA Process Document the branding policy details, if branding is to be supported.

Rationale. Branding policy (like certification) is potentially one of the most contentious topics that a WG might face. If the WG opts to support branding, then defining the branding policy up front ensures that the WG undertakes test materials development (or acquisition) with a common understanding of their ultimate deployment and use. For end users, early definition of branding policy clarifies the WG intentions for a highly visible aspect of test materials' use.

Discussion. Some W3C activities support "branding". Branding refers to the use of a conformance icon to indicate some level of conformance to the specification. Examples: HTML validation, CSS validation, WCAG conformance. While these content branding schemes are relatively non-controversial, there are nevertheless issues that should be addressed -- particularly in the contexts of user-agent and API conformance -- before any branding-related goals are articulated.

This checkpoint is not applicable if the WG does not support branding.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Guideline 5. Plan test materials development.

As described earlier, a Working Group may have different levels of involvement in test materials development. Nevertheless at any level a Working Group needs to have clear understanding of what QA framework it will use and how to insure the quality and usability of the test materials themselves. As a part of the WG's QA process, before starting a test materials development, it is recommended the test materials implementer (Working Group or 3rd party) looks at Test Guidelines and decide what approach to take for test materials organization, test criteria, etc.

Checkpoints:

Checkpoint 5.1. Ensure test materials are documented and usable for their intended purposes. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: the WG MUST ensure that the test framework contains user documentation that instructs the use of the test materials for the full range of their intended purposes.

Discussion. Documentation should be thorough enough that external entities unknown to the developers of the test materials -- such as external certification services -- can effectively and fully use the test materials.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 5.2. Define a contribution process. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: the WG MUST describe in its QA Process Document where, how, by whom, and to whom test materials submissions are to be made.

Rationale. Clear and simple directions for where and to whom to submit materials will encourage outside contributions. Explicit instructions on formats and other technical details will enable the WG to build processes and procedures for the efficient processing of contributions, whether the contributions are internal or external.

Discussion. The process document must describe where to submit test materials and whom to notify (e.g., moderator) of a submission. The contribution process describes the format of contributed material, it may contain validation harness, utilities that facilitates tests creation, templates, etc. A well defined submission process is applicable to both internal and external contributors of test materials.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 5.3. Address license terms for submitted test materials. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: in its QA Process Document the WG MUST define a submission license policy applicable to test materials submitted to the WG by external parties, and the submission license policy MUST include at least an outline of terms, conditions, constraints, and principles that will govern acceptable submissions to the WG.

Rationale. Defining submission license policies in advance will help clarify the WG's expectations to prospective TM submitters, and will facilitate the efficient negotiation of any needed custom submission licenses with submitters.

Discussion. Unless exempted by custom submission terms with W3C Director's approval, a WG's submission license policies will necessarily conform to standard W3C policies for submitted materials, and specifically those procedures and terms defined in Contribution of Software or Test Materials to W3C [CONTRIB].

[@@Ed note. these examples to be replaced by some from JR.]

Documented examples of TM submission licenses can be seen in the XML Schema submission license, and in the XML Protocol submission license.

Related checkpoints. This checkpoint is about the terms under which the WG accepts contributions to be integrated into its test materials. Checkpoint 6.2 is about the license(s) under which the WG will publish and distribute its test materials.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 5.4. Define review procedures for submitted test materials. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: in its QA Process Document, the WG

Rationale. A well-defined and objective review procedure expedites the processing of contributions, and facilitates quick and impartial decisions about their disposition.

Discussion. These procedures are a follow-on and complement to the contribution process that WGs must define. They should at least include criteria for acceptance or rejection of reviewed tests.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Guideline 6. Plan test materials publication.

Once the test materials (TM) development is in progress, a Working Group needs to publish the TM drafts and releases, as part of its QA processes.

When the test materials have reached some advanced milestone of maturity and development (e.g., operationally usable), W3C needs to ensure that:

Meeting the needs of TM publication necessarily involves some aspects of TM management, such as repository. These prerequisite aspects are addressed in the following checkpoints, as well as publication details proper.

Checkpoints:

Checkpoint 6.1. Ensure a suitable repository location for test materials. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: the Working Group's test materials MUST reside in repository locations that are secure, reliable, and freely accessible.

Discussion. This checkpoint does not necessarily require that test materials should physically reside in the W3C. Nevertheless, having the repository at W3C is a recommended way of meeting the checkpoint, because:

  1. At the point that test materials become operationally deployed, then challenges to the correctness of both the test materials and specifications normally increase, and the Working Group is the best venue for initial processing and adjudication of such queries against both.
  2. Further to #1, it is more likely that technical report (Recommendation) errata processing and test suite maintenance can be kept synchronized if both responsibilities reside in the same body, the Working Group.

It is implicit in the "secure" criterion of this checkpoint that, if the Working Group ceases to operate, then the repository arrangements must provide for the continued availability of the test materials.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 6.2. Define the licenses applicable to published test materials. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: the Working Group MUST define in its QA Process Document the licenses that are applicable to published test materials.

Rationale. Any W3C-hosted materials must have approved license and use terms associated. Because there is no single license that is appropriate for all test materials, the WG needs consider the options, select or define a best license for its particular test materials, and clearly inform potential users.

Discussion. Currently approved W3C licenses that may be applied to test materials are the Document License and the Software License. The Document license has two characteristics that are valuable to test materials:

However, there are situations in which the Document License is inappropriate, because (for example) some Test Materials require modification or completion in order to apply them.

Furthermore, there are additional issues about the usability of the Document License for Test Materials, which would benefit from more discussion, resolution, and the development of a W3C Test License tailored specifically to test materials.

Test Materials may contain any of these three components: test software, test documentation, and test cases. It is possible and sometimes desirable that the WG apply different licenses to different components. If the WG considers that neither the Document nor the Software License is applicable, it should consult with W3C Legal. .

Related checkpoints. This checkpoint is about the license(s) under which the WG will publish and distribute its test materials. Checkpoint 5.3 is about the terms under which the WG accepts contributions to be integrated into its test materials.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 6.3. Describe how and where the test materials will be published. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: in its QA Process Document the Working Group MUST document the planned Web location and method for publication of test materials.

Discussion. If the test materials are to be published on the W3C site, it is recommended to locate them within the corresponding activity domain. It is strongly recommended not to publish test materials in the TR space for the following reasons:

It is recommended to use one of the practices for publishing test materials, described in Test Guidelines.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 6.4. Provide a conformance verification disclaimer with the test materials. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: the Working Group MUST provide a prominent disclaimer about the use of the test materials for conformance verification of implementations.

Rationale. It is common to draw unwarranted conclusions about conformance to the specification from test suite results. A conformance disclaimer clarifies the relationship between test suite results and conformance.

Discussion. The central principle that a conformance disclaimer for test materials needs to clarify for users of the test materials and consumers of test results is this: passing all tests of the test materials does not guarantee or imply full conformance of an implementation to the specification.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 6.5. Address the publication of test results for products. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: in its QA Process Document the Working Group

Rationale. Publishing test results for implementations of the WG's specifications promotes interoperability and is helpful to users and vendors alike.

Discussion. Taking responsibility to publish test results for vendors' products could be a problem for the Working Group. One way to address the problem is for the Working Group to encourage vendors to publish results for their implementations themselves. Such publication should include or describe a test harness that allows reproduction of the results. The Working Group may want to provide the web space to publish collected results.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Guideline 7. Plan the transfer of test materials to W3C if needed.

A prior checkpoint about test materials repository (Checkpoint 5.1) recommends that test materials reside in the W3C. If test development was done outside by some external entity or group (EG), and the Working Group (WG) together with EG decided to move test materials (TM) to W3C, the following checkpoints define requirements for the transfer process.

It will be noticed that some aspects of the transfer of a whole test suite from outside W3C parallel aspects of in-house planning and development, and piecemeal contribution and review. Those considering such transfers might not already have the planning, development, and submission infrastructure in place. Previous transfer experiences have shown that it is useful to isolate and collect those aspects in one place, as this guideline does.

None of the checkpoints of this guideline are applicable if the Working Group does not transfer test materials from an external entity.

Checkpoints:

Checkpoint 7.1. Perform a quality assessment of any test materials that are candidates for transfer. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: as a part of any test materials transfer process, the Working Group MUST perform and record an assessment of the quality of the test materials.

Discussion. This checkpoint parallels the checkpoint for the test review process (checkpoint 5.2). During test materials review, the Working Group must follow the criteria defined in the document that is required by that checkpoint.

The details of any quality assessment are necessarily TM-specific -- it depends the scope & goals of the TM, the type of TM (think "taxonomy"), etc. However, desirable components of a quality assessment would for example include attributes such as clarity of scope, traceability, atomicity, user documentation, etc.

[@@for OPS-EXTECH, a more comprehensive list or even checklist/template, such as...] "correctness, traceability, atomicity, user documentation, maintainer documentation, declaration of scope, completeness (vis a' vis declared scope), harnesses or interfaces for application of the TM, configurability, results assessment, results recording & reporting, automation features, versioning/errata support, declaration of publication licenses, integrated submission procedures, etc."

This checkpoint is not applicable if the Working Group does not transfer test materials from an external entity.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 7.2. Identify sufficient staff resources to meet the needs of any transferred test materials. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: as a part of any test materials transfer process, the Working Group MUST identify and assign staff resources for the tasks associated with ongoing test materials' development and maintenance after the transfer, and MUST record that commitment in some consensus WG document.

Discussion. The WG needs to take care that the amount of staff resources is adequate to meet needs of ongoing development and maintenance of the transferred test materials.

Related checkpoints. This checkpoint parallels checkpoint 2.2 for the specific circumstance of transferring the test materials from the outside to the W3C.

This checkpoint is not applicable if the Working Group does not transfer test materials from an external entity.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 7.3. For any transferred test materials, resolve all IPR issues with the external party that produced the test materials. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: as a part of any test materials transfer process, the Working Group MUST have a documented agreement with the external entity that covers the IPR aspects that are applicable to the transferred materials.

Rationale. Completion of suitable IPR agreements for any transferred test materials, before the transfer is actually completed, will ensure that the WG can publish and the public can use the test test materials according terms and conditions planned and envisioned by the WG.

Discussion. This checkpoint is not applicable if the Working Group does not transfer test materials from an external entity.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Guideline 8. Plan for test materials maintenance.

The ongoing maintenance of test materials is critical to their long term integrity, and may require a significant commitment of resources. The checkpoints of this guideline address planning and resource commitment requirements to ensure that proper specification tracking happens, and that maintenance and update procedures are provided for.

If the Working Group is not re-chartered, then it is problematic where the resources will come from. In this case, it is up to the Director to determine how the work should be done. Some options include:

Checkpoints:

Checkpoint 8.1. Provide for the long-term maintenance of the contribution and review procedures. [Priority 3]

Conformance requirements: in some WG consensus document, the Working Group MUST define a plan and identify resources for the maintenance of the test materials' contribution and review procedures throughout the entire life cycle of the test materials and the Recommendation itself.

Discussion. It is implicit in the criteria of this checkpoint that, if the Working Group ceases to operate, then the WG's maintenance plan must survive and address the ongoing maintenance of the contribution and review procedures.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 8.2. Specify a test materials update procedure to track new specification versions/errata. [Priority 1]

Conformance requirements: in its QA Process Document the Working Group MUST specify procedures to update the test materials to track new specification versions and errata levels.

Rationale. Defining tracking procedures for specification versions/errata will help to ensure that all needed versions of test materials are available. This is critical to product version tracking of specification versions. It enables products' users to better assess the quality and conformance of the individual product versions.

Discussion. As used in this checkpoint, the scope of "versions" at least includes "editions" -- editorial revisions that incorporate errata and small changes -- rather than major versions with major functional increments.

Related checkpoints. This checkpoint is about defining maintenance procedures for test materials to track specification versions or errata levels. The related checkpoint 3.2 concerns support functionality for versioning/errata in the test materials' infrastructure, framework or management system.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

Checkpoint 8.3. Identify a procedure for test validity appeals. [Priority 2]

Conformance requirements: in its QA Process Document the Working Group MUST identify the communication channel for appeals of test validity and a procedure for resolving such appeals.

Rationale. A well-defined and deterministic procedure for handling challenges will expedite the resolution of challenges, and is critical to their defensibility and acceptance.

Discussion. Such a procedure is applicable both to external challenges once test materials have been published, as well as to internal challenges during the building of test materials.

Examples & Techniques for checkpoint.

3. WG relationship to QA Activity

The QA Activity works closely with other W3C WGs, providing assistance and expertise in helping them achieve their QA goals and deliverables. The QA Activity anticipates different relationships with the various WGs depending on the QA-specific needs of the particular Working Group. For example, the resources and experience of Working Group members as well as their stage in the Recommendation track may influence the type and level of collaboration between the Working Group and QA Activity. Potential relationships between Working Groups and the QA Activity include:

More details about the ways in which the QA Activity may interact with and assist the W3C WGs may be found in the QA Working Group Process Document [QAWGPD].

4. Conformance

This section defines conformance of Working Group processes and operations to the requirements of this specification. The requirements of this specification are detailed in the checkpoints of the preceding "Guidelines" chapter of this specification, and apply to the Working Group QA-related documents and deliverables required by this specification.

4.1. Normative sections

The following sections are normative in this document:

Any other section not explicitly marked as normative is assumed to be informative.

4.2. Extensibility

This specification is extensible. That is, the Working Groups MAY set up quality-related processes and operations in addition to those required for conformance to this specification. Extensions to this specification MUST NOT contradict or negate the requirements of this specification.

For each degree of conformance claimed (I.e., A, AA or AAA), it is allowable to implement more than the checkpoints required to satisfy that degree of conformance. This may be achieved by either satisfying some, but not all of the checkpoints of the next degree of conformance or by implementing additional conformance related features beyond what is specified in this document. For example, claiming to be A-conforming but also satisfying some of the Priority 2 checkpoints and some Priority 3 checkpoints.

The rationale for allowing Working Groups to define extensions to these operational guidelines is that these requirements are considered to be the minimal requirements for successful quality practices within the WGs. Doing more than the minimum is not only acceptable, but beneficial. Extensions also allow Working Groups tailor their quality practices more closely to their specific needs. The guidelines of this specification may not be sufficient to meet the needs of all WGs.

4.3. Conformance requirements & test assertions

Within each prioritized checkpoint there is at least one conformance requirement, and there may be more than one. These are prefaced by "Conformance requirements:", highlighted in a different style, and contain at least one of the RFC 2119 [RFC2110] keywords (MUST, SHOULD, MAY, etc).

This Operational Guidelines document does not enumerate a list of test assertions. A test assertion can be derived from each "MUST" requirement in a straightforward manner.

4.4. Conformance definition

This section defines three conformance levels to this guidelines specification:

A checkpoint is satisfied by satisfying all of the individual conformance requirements. Failing one individual mandatory requirement means that the checkpoint is not satisfied. Mandatory requirements are those that use the conformance keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", or "SHALL NOT".

A Working Group conforms to the "QA Framework: Operational Guidelines" at degree X (A, AA, or AAA) if the Working Group meets at least all degree X conformance requirements.

An assertion of conformance to this specification -- i.e., a conformance claim -- MUST minimally specify:

The checklist for this specification ([OPS-CHECKLIST]) is the Implementation Conformance Statement (ICS) pro-forma for this specification. Any assertion of conformance to this specification MUST link to a completed ICS.

Example of a valid conformance claim:

The QA processes and operations of this FooBar Working Group, http://example.org/FooBar/, conform to W3C's 'QA Framework: Operational Guidelines', available at http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-qaframe-ops-200302110/, on 23-April-2003, AA-Conforming. The Implementation Conformance Statement for this claim is available at http://example.org/FooBar/Test/OpsGL-ICS .

4.5. Conformance disclaimer

The checkpoints of this specification present verifiable conformance requirements about the operational aspects of Working Group quality processes. As with any verifiable conformance requirements, users should be aware of this disclaimer:

Passing all of the requirements to achieve a given conformance degree -- A, AA, or AAA -- does not guarantee that the subject operations and processes are well-suited to or will achieve their intended purposes, nor does it guarantee the quality or suitability of test materials produced under the processes.


5. Acknowledgments

The following QA Working Group and Interest Group participants have contributed significantly to the content of this document:

6. References

6.1. Normative references

PROCESS
World Wide Web Consortium Process Document, I. Jacobs, Ed., 19 July 2001, available at http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process-20010719/ .
RFC2119
Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels, March 1997, available at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt .

6.2. Informative references

CONTRIB
Contribution of Software or Test Materials to W3C, which defines W3C-approved procedures and terms for submission of Software and Test Materials, available at http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2002/contribution-grant-20021231 .
EXTERN-TA
QA activity email thread about third-party participation in test materials production, available at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-qa/2001Oct/0060.html .
MATRIX
W3C-wide conformance activity survey covering all the Working Groups, "The Matrix", available at http://www.w3.org/QA/TheMatrix .
TAXONOMY
QA Activity test taxonomy, a classification scheme for conformance test materials, available at http://www.w3.org/QA/Taxonomy .
OPS-CHECKLIST
Appendix to this operational guidelines document that presents all checkpoints in a table sorted by guideline. Available at http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-qaframe-ops-20030210/qaframe-ops-checklist .
OPS-ICS
Appendix to this operational guidelines document that presents all checkpoints in a table sorted by Priority. Available at http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-qaframe-ops-20030210/qaframe-ops-ics .
OPS-EXTECH
QA Framework: Operational Examples & Techniques, L. Henderson, L. Rosenthal, D. Dimitriadis, K. Gavrylyuk, Eds., W3C Note, (initially) 10 February 2003, companion version to this document, latest companion version available at http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/2003/02/qaframe-ops-extech .
PROTOCOL-WG-TS
The XML Protocol WG has a TS process document, available at http://www.w3.org/2000/xp/Group/1/10/ts-contribution, and a contribution/submission license (example of a submission legal notice), available at http://www.w3.org/2001/10/test-materials-license.html .
QA-GLOSSARY
A comprehensive glossary of QA terms, maintained by the QA Working Group. (Initial version under construction.)
QAF-INTRO
QA Framework: Introduction, L. Henderson, K. Gavrylyuk, D. Dimitriadis, L. Rosenthal, Eds., W3C Working Draft, 10 February 2003, companion version to this document, available at http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-qaframe-intro-20030210/ .
QAF-SPEC
QA Framework: Specification Guidelines, D. Hazaël-Massieux, L. Henderson, L. Rosenthal, D. Dimitriadis, K. Gavrylyuk, Eds., W3C Working Draft, 08 November 2002, companion version to this document, available at http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-qaframe-spec-20030210/ .
QAF-TEST
QA Framework: Test Guidelines, K. Gavrylyuk, D. Dimitriadis, L. Henderson, M. Skall, P. Fawcett, Eds, W3C Working Draft, 20 December 2002, companion version to this document, available at http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-qaframe-test-20021220/ .
QAIG
Quality Assurance Interest Group of the W3C QA Activity, which may be found at http://www.w3.org/QA/IG/ .
QAWG
Quality Assurance Working Group of the W3C QA Activity, which may be found at http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/ .
QAWGPD
QA Working Group Process Document, defining both the general and QA-specific processes of the QA Working Group, available at (under construction).
DOM Working Group TS
DOM TS Process Document, D. Dimitriadis, Ed., 15 January 2002, available at http://www.w3.org/2002/01/DOMConformanceTS-Process-20020115 .
REC-TRACK
Stages and milestones in the W3C Recommendation Track, per the Process Document (Process Document is available at http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process-20010719/, see section 5.2).
SCHEMA-WG-TS
The XML Schema WG has a TS process document, available at http://www.w3.org/2001/05/xmlschema-test-collection.html, and a contribution/submission license (example of a submission legal notice), available at http://www.w3.org/2001/05/test-materials-license.html .
WCAG10
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, W. Chisholm, I. Jacobs, G. Vanderheiden, Eds., W3C Recommendation, 5 May 1999, available at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/ .
WG-QA-RANGE
Email proposal by David Marston, on the QA public mail list, for range of Working Group commitment levels to conformance test materials production, available at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-qa/2001Apr/0004.html .

7. Change history

2003-05-14, WG-discussion Working Draft

Clarifications and improvements in response to Last Call comments.

2003-02-10, Last Call Working Draft

Revised Introduction, Conformance chapters for better conformance to SpecGL. Restructure all checkpoints for better verifiability. Add rationale to many checkpoints. Implement resolution of all closed OpsGL issues. Editorial improvements.

2002-11-08, third published WD

Revised Introduction, Conformance for better conformance to SpecGL. Implemented other minor editorial and resolved-issue changes. Make over all checkpoints for better verifiability.

2002-05-15, second published WD

Checkpoints numbering is changed, changes list refers to the numbering from the previous WD [1].

[1] http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/2002/framework-20020311/qaframe-ops

03-11-2002

Checkpoints numbering is changed, changes list refers to the numbering from the previous WD [1].

[1] http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/2002/02/qaframe-ops-0225.html

02-28-2002
Major rewrite of the previous draft. Incorporated Lynne's comments about Gd1 and Gd4, split Gd regarding QA process, added bunch of new checkpoints.