Protocol Lifecycles

Protocol Lifecycles

At their meeting in May, the GSA Board approved a new policy that establishes a well-defined three-year lifecycle for GSA protocols.

The overall objective of the new policy is to add more transparency and predictability into the protocol development and release process.

The new policy will provide a framework for the orderly introduction of new releases assuring coordinated adoption by the industry.

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Architectural Oversight Committee

The Architectural Oversight Committee (AOC) will be responsible for the overall management of the new policy.

Every six months, the AOC will meet to:

Assess the industry’s adoption of the current protocols. Review the technical bulletins and extensions released by the

technical committees. Evaluate the content planned for the next version of the

protocols.

As a result of this review, the AOC may adjust the content or timing of the next version of the protocols to assure timely and coordinated adoption by the industry.

Roadmaps, which identify the planned content and timing for the next version, will be posted to the GSA website.

Board of Directors

One year before a new version is planned to be released, each technical committee will prepare a list of all corrections, clarifications, and extensions planned for the new version.

Any potential incompatibilities or redundancies will be identified by the technical committee.

The technical committee will submit the list of corrections, clarifications, and extensions to the board for approval.

The Board of Directors will review the proposal and, as appropriate, approve the content for the new version.

The Board may direct the technical committee to omit certain changes.

The technical committee will then prepare next version of the protocol for review and approval by the membership.

Implementation

Following release of a new version of a protocol, it is expected that members will begin a coordinated implementation of the new version.

Test tool suppliers will update their products. Independent test labs will update their procedures. Manufacturers will integrate the changes into their products.

The goal is to have products, which use the new version of a protocol, available in the marketplace one year after the release of the new version.

Retirement

After two complete three-year lifecycles, old versions of the protocols will be retired.

GSA staff and technical committees will stop providing guidance on the old versions.

Manufacturers may submit products that use old versions to independent test labs for compliance testing. However, GSA will only certify products that use non-retired versions.

The AOC may defer the retirement of a version to meet industry needs.

Protocol Lifecycle

Questions?