Identifying and Accelerating the Development of New Standards
This module focuses on several approaches for identifying new standards development areas, as well as the tools and techniques to efficiently develop an initial draft standard and move it through the ASTM balloting process to final approval and publication.
New Standards Needs Identified
There are several ways in which new standards needs are identified. Standards may be developed to create market access, ensure uniformity and reliability of testing techniques, to improve quality control, to address safety or health concerns or to satisfy a regulatory requirement. The need for new standards may be identified by a member of ASTM or through an outside source.
Approval to Explore New Standard
After a need has been identified, the interested parties contact the appropriate subcommittee chairman to get the proposed idea on the agenda for discussion at the next subcommittee meeting. This provides an opportunity to find out what the committee members think, and, more importantly, find out if they support exploring and possibly creating a new standard. If the subcommittee determines further investigation is warranted, a technical contact is appointed.
Is a New Standard Needed?
Before beginning to work on the content of a new standard, careful research should be completed. Determining whether any standards currently exist in the proposed area is a critical step and eliminates duplication of effort. Research should include a careful search of ASTM activities and other standards development organizations as well. Provided here are several websites that are useful to explore:
ASTM - www.astm.org (Standards Search)
ANSI - www.nssn.org (Search for Standards)
NIST - http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/pubs.htm (Technical Publications Database)
WSSN - www.wssn.net (Organizations Database)
Discussion with Stakeholders
It is important to speak with key people in industry and government who have a vested interest in the outcome of the standard. This group is often referred to as the industry “stakeholders.” Get their opinion on the potential for the new activity, whether the activity is worthwhile, or possibly not needed. The key is to garner the stakeholders’ support and their participation for the activity.
Meeting of Stakeholders
If approval is received from the subcommittee or subcommittee chairman to move forward, a task group will be formed and a task group chairman appointed. Task groups usually contain about 4 to 5 stakeholders that can either be ASTM members or non-members. Ideally, task groups should strive to have a balanced group, to ensure all views are represented. Usually the individual who initiated the idea with the subcommittee will serve as the task group chairman.
One of your first orders of business is to develop a scope for the standard. Decide exactly the purpose of the standard and how broad of an area the standard will cover. Developing a scope will ensure the activity stays on track. In addition, reviewing an existing ASTM standard can be a helpful resource when beginning to work on your draft.
Timeline
Creating a timeline ensures that expectations are clearly communicated and helps to eliminate confusion. Target dates set clear goals and provide a reminder of where the task group is in the development process.
Work Items
All proposed new standards must be registered as a new Work Item. A member may register a new work item on their My ASTM page of the ASTM website.
What Does a Work Item Do?
There are several purposes of a work item, including publicizing the activity of the task group. By registering a work item, a web page is created, which includes the title, scope, and other vital information that can attract additional stakeholders. It also alerts those individuals who subscribe to the Standards Tracker service. Standards Tracker is a service available on the ASTM website for anyone to track specific industry information related to standards development.
Simply said, the work item is used to track the draft through the balloting process to approval and provides transparency on the ASTM website to work in progress.
Outreach/Publicity
In addition to creating a work item summary page on the website, ASTM has other ways to assist with publicizing a new activity. Often contact with your industry peers and an invitation to a task group meeting is the best way to attract stakeholders. ASTM offers a convenient “Invite a Colleague” tool in the Membership area of the ASTM website that you can use to create a personal invitation. Industry association lists and other email lists can also be used as an effective way to recruit participation. Our Membership Promotions department can assist with obtaining mailing lists from trade associations and developing lists of customers who have purchased similar products.
ASTM’s Corporate Communications department also offers publicity outlets, including Standardization News, the Society’s monthly magazine. In addition, Corporate Communications keeps a list of relevant magazines and trade publications for each committee and regularly sends out press releases to these publications. Press releases are also posted on ASTM’s website as well. Feel free to discuss all of these options with your ASTM Staff Manager or contact the ASTM Staff listed below:
ASTM’s Membership Promotion Department
Ileane Smith:
ASTM’s Corporate Communications Dpt.
Maryann Gorman:
Standard Development Tools
ASTM has developed a comprehensive set of tools to assist individuals or task groups in developing new standards. These tools are designed to ease the task of developing a standard and accelerate the development process. Let’s look at each of these in more detail.
Standard Templates
All documents developed using the ASTM consensus process are called standards. There are six different types of ASTM standards: Test Methods, Specifications, Terminology, Guides, Practices, and Classifications. ASTM has developed templates for each type of standard since each has different mandatory sections. The templates, downloadable as Microsoft Word documents, provide the necessary formatting, including section headings and auto-numbering. In addition, the instructions provide directions on how to insert tables and figures.
Website: select “Technical Committees” then “Key Documents and Forms”
Up-Front Editing
Before moving the draft to the first stages of balloting, we recommend having the TCO Editor review the document for conformance to ASTM Form and Style. This is an effective way to correct any mistakes in formatting or grammar or to identify any problems with tables or figures. It is important to note that missing mandatory sections may result in negatives during the ballot process and delay approval of the proposed standard.
TCO Editor - Kathy Peters:
#14– Virtual Meetings
Virtual meetings provide a powerful tool for developing standards. A virtual meeting is a web-based tool that combines teleconferencing with Internet document viewing and editing.
Virtual meetings allow attendees to view a draft, discuss it, and make changes in real time. This can be done without leaving the office, saving on travel expenses.
The committee Staff Manager can arrange a virtual meeting upon request.
On the ASTM website you can find more helpful information regarding virtual meetings, such as system requirements, Frequently Asked Questions, and tips on presenting. Holding virtual meetings is extremely simple and should be utilized during the development process to supplement face-to-face meetings.
Website: select “Technical Committees” then “Virtual Meetings”
Interactive Forums
Interactive forums are another way to work on a draft via the internet. However, unlike virtual meetings, forums are designed for independent work. The draft can be stored on a secure page of the ASTM website, where authorized task group members can access the page using a user name and password. Forums allow members to work when it’s convenient for them at any time of the day. Members can post comments for other task group members to view and consider, making it interactive for the entire group.
Website: select “Technical Committees” then “Stds. Development Forums”
Other On-Line Resources
There are several other informational resources on the ASTM website individuals may access when developing a standard. There are voiced-over PowerPoint presentations covering such topics as Electronic Balloting and How to Handle Negative Votes. We have compiled a number of articles written by ASTM staff covering various aspects of standard development including work item registration; ballot item submittal; and running an effective meeting.
In addition, three downloadable publications are available on the ASTM website at no cost:
The Form and Style for ASTM Standards, provides guidance on the mandatory sections and style of ASTM standards.
The Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees, provides rules for the development of voluntary consensus standards. The Regulations outline topics such as voting procedures and how to resolve negative votes.
And the ASTM Technical Committee Officer Handbook, offers guidance to committee officers to help them understand their duties and responsibilities and how to apply the resources available to them.
Rapid Balloting
All new standards require an initial level of subcommittee balloting before being balloted by the main committee. However, under certain circumstances, such as an emergency situation or regulatory requirement, a committee may use the Rapid Balloting procedure. This allows the draft to move directly to a concurrent Subcommittee and Main Committee ballot, saving one step in the ballot process.
To issue a rapid ballot, certain requirements need to be met. An agreement of at least two-thirds of all official voters on the subcommittee needs to be reached, either by ballot or at a meeting. Approval of the main committee chairman is needed as well.
A detailed rationale shall be included in the ballot cover letter and must explain the reason why rapid balloting was necessary and all background information regarding the proposed ballot action.
Subcommittee Ballot
The normal course of action for a new standard is to move first to a subcommittee ballot.
When the ballot item is submitted online, immediately discuss a strategy with your Staff Manager for considering the anticipated ballot results. There may be no need to wait until the next regularly scheduled face-to-face meeting to resolve input received during a ballot.
One timesaver is for the task group chairman to contact any negative voters before the ballot closes. Since chairmen and technical contacts now receive emails alerting them when a negative or comment has been cast, they can attempt to resolve the negative with the voter immediately. A negative voter may withdrawal their negative at any time.
Often times, a task group will simply decide to make changes to the balloted document based on the feedback received and then immediately ballot a revision to the new standard.
Other strategies to handle unresolved negatives may include any of the following:
· A meeting of the task group that developed the item to recommend resolutions
· Issuing another ballot to resolve negative votes
· Or calling an interim subcommittee meeting to handle negatives (keeping in mind that most subcommittees require 30-days notice for meetings).
ASTM provides resources for task groups or subcommittees that wish to meet virtually, by teleconference, or face-to-face.
Negative Resolutions
If negatives votes are received, the subcommittee must consider them in accordance with the ASTM Regulations. There are five resolutions to a negative vote. They are Withdrawal, Withdrawal with Editorial Changes, Persuasive, Not Persuasive or Not Related.
Negative Resolutions cont’d
A negative voter may withdraw their vote at anytime. Many times, the voter may be satisfied when provided additional information, clarification or with a minor editorial or formatting change. When a negative vote is withdrawn by the voter, the vote is changed to an affirmative (or abstention vote if the voter so indicates) and requires no further consideration.
A negative vote is persuasive when the subcommittee agrees with the negative voter or a motion to find the negative not persuasive fails. When a negative vote is found to be persuasive, the item is withdrawn from ballot for further work and deliberation before being placed back on ballot.
If the subcommittee does not agree with the technical statement of a negative voter, the subcommittee may initiate a not persuasive action. Similarly, a subcommittee may find that the technical comments submitted do not relate to the balloted item and motion to find the negative not related.
Both not persuasive and not related resolutions have the following requirements:
- A motion and second.
- A rationale specifying the reason for the action.
- An affirmative vote of at least 2/3 of the combined affirmative and negative votes cast
- For a not related action, the subcommittee shall treat the unrelated negative as an item of new business.
When subcommittee ballot negative votes are ruled not persuasive or not related they only need to be considered by the subcommittee initiating the ballot item.
Main Ballot
Items that have passed subcommittee ballot without any negatives will automatically be placed on the next main committee ballot. In addition, any items where all negatives have been withdrawn or found not persuasive/not related will proceed to the next main committee ballot with documentation on those actions contained in the ballot item.
Concurrent Sub/Main Ballot
A concurrent subcommittee/main committee ballot is initiated when at least one subcommittee ballot has been completed and the consideration received warrants moving to the main committee level.
When an item advances to either Main or Concurrent Ballot, the entire main committee reviews the draft and may offer comments or negatives. Also, at this level of balloting, the editor will receive a copy of the draft and begin working on preparing the document for publication.
The same actions to resolve negative votes should also be practiced at this stage of balloting. Again, you may want to consider discussion with your Staff Manager about a strategy to handle consideration of ballot results.
After the Standard is Approved…
Once the draft has completed the balloting process and all negatives are resolved, the process of handling negative votes receives a procedural review by the Committee on Standards or (COS). COS is a nine member standing committee of the ASTM
Board or Directors that is responsible for insuring due process and only rules on procedural matters. Once the nine COS members have unanimously determined that the action on each negative vote has met the procedural requirements of the Society, the draft standard is approved for publication.
The editor makes any editorial changes that have been requested during the balloting process and prepares a PDF version of the standard for a final review by the task group chairman or reviewer. The reviewer must confirm all information appears correctly, as well as address any questions the editor may pose. Once this is complete, the chairman sends it back to the editor for final publication.