Trust and Identity Document Stewardship

Introduction

Internet2 Trust and Identity's document stewardship process is intended to formalize the management of documents as they are drafted, proposed, vetted, and approved for use, and published for open access.  It is intended to address any documents that are products of work sponsored by Trust and Identity or one of its community advisory groups. Examples of such products include:

• Community standards
• Policies
• Contract templates
• Specifications
• Recommendations and guidelines
• White papers

Note that any software documentation for developers and end users that is related to a specific release of the software, and is distributed with software, is vetted as part of the quality assurance process for the software release and is out of scope for Trust and Identity Document Stewardship. Documents describing software lifecycle management, overall system architecture, etc., however, are in scope.

CACTI (Community Architecture Committee for Trust and Identity) is charged with oversight of the document stewardship processes.

The foundational document establishing and governing the Document Stewardship process is found here (click on the link to the PDF).

Authorized Sponsors

Submissions to the Document Repository must be approved by a Sponsor.  The authorized Sponsors are::

• CACTI (Community Architecture Committee for Trust and Identity)
  
• The Trust and Identity Program Advisory Group (PAG)
• Internet2 Trust and Identity executive management
  
• Incommon Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
• InCommon Community Trust Assurance Board (CTAB)
• InCommon Steering Committee

Getting a Doc ID for a document that will go into the Repository

For a document that will eventually go into the repository, it is recommended to get a document ID and format the document with the needed components during the time that you are developing the document, prior to it being finalized. (You will submit the document to go into the repository later when it has been finalized and approved.)

• Contact the librarian, ti-librarian@internet2.edu, to get the document repository ID, DOI and Persistent URL.  (The document will not be placed in the repository and the DOI and Persistent URL will not be active until a later stage when the document is final and approved.)
• Follow the steps below to add the needed elements to the document.

Preparing a Document to go into the Repository

To prepare a document to go into the Document Repository:

1. The cover page should include this info below, though  only the Title, copyright and the licensing info are strictly required

Document Title

Note: You obtain the Repository ID and Persistent URL from the librarian. Also note that the authorized Sponsors are listed in Trust and Identity Document Stewardship. See Document Repository Metadata Element Definitions for more information.

2. This copyright and licensing info must be on the first page of the document  (where <year> is the current year).

See example HERE  (note, the example includes two elements no longer recommended for the cover page as of March 14, 2018: DOI and subject tags) 

3. When the document review phase is complete, a community consultation has been completed if appropriate, and the sponsor has approved the final version, then the document is ready to be put in the repository.
Send the document to  ti-librarian@internet2.edu  in both of these formats:

1. text (preferred) or HTML

2. PDF, unless that is not appropriate for the specific document

At this time, you may also propose the following metadata elements to the librarian, as appropriate:

• Review
• Signature
• Future Review
• Supersedes
• Related Docs
• Development Location
• Subject Tags

See Document Repository Metadata Element Definitions for more information about these optional items.

After you submit the document in two formats of the document to the librarian, the librarian will attach them to the corresponding page in the repository and those will become the authoritative copies. 

Here is an example of a repository page that has the attachment of the authoritative doc.

When it's time to update a document

An updated document is a new document with its own new row in the document repository, even though much of its content may be the same as the original document. 
Just as with the original document, the update is subject to review and approval, as specified by its sponsor.

There are a few of things to note:

• The Repository ID of the original document should be listed as a "superseded document" on updated document's cover page and its repository metadata page.
  Note to librarian: be sure to link to the previous version in the Superseded field on the matadata page.
• The "Deprecated" field of original document's repository metadata page should be "yes."
• The Repository ID of the updated document will be the Repository ID of the original document after adding 1 to the version number. 
  For example, an update to TI.22.3 will have TI.22.4 for its Repository ID. 

Additional Info

Working group chair and flywheel guidelines with regard to the Document Stewardship process are found here.

Please contact David Walker <dwalker@internet2.edu> or Emily Eisbruch <emily@internet2.edu> for more information.

Document Stewardship Process - Framework Docs

• Trust and Identity Document Stewardship, describes the stewardship process, and
• The Document Repository Service, describes T&I's support service for the process and the documents.  It also contains criteria for the selection of a technical platform for the repository itself.

See Also

Trust and Identity Document Repository Index

Consultations Home

Community Review of the Doc Stewardship plans

Guidelines for Trust and Identity Working Group Chairs and Flywheels