Mr. Hendrickx called the first meeting of the Interregional Telecommunications Standards Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Handling (ITSC-EDH) to order on 29 November 1991 at ETSI headquarters in Sophia Antipolis. The following persons were in attendance:
| Name | Org | Telephone | Facsimile |
| Henri Hendrickx | ETSI | +33-92-94-42-05 | +33-93-65-47-16 |
| Paul Kinsoen | ETSI | +33-92-94-42-23 | +33-93-65-47-16 |
| Hiroyuki Tanaka | TTC | +41-22-798-38-40 | +41-22-798-38-73 |
| Steven Minneman | T1 | +1-408-954-1088 | +1-408-432-9859 |
The agenda was approved as distributed by Mr. Hendrickx. A copy is enclosed as attachment 1.
Mr. Hendrickx presented the following list of subjects as a proposed initial work plan for ITSC-EDH to concentrate on:
Mr. Hendrickx noted that the last two items were long-range goals. The group agreed with the proposed workplan.
Mr. Kinsoen demonstrated the use of the ITSC Bulletin Board System which ETSI has established on their computer system. The system currently has a consolidated ITU-TTC-T1-ETSI Calendar of meetings as the only posting. Mr. Kinsoen led Mr. Minneman through logon and change of password for the Committee T1 account on the ITSC BB System. A hard-copy version of the consolidated calendar was distributed. Mr. Hendrickx distributed a document describing access to the ETSI BB system (which the RSOs could use to access the ITSC BB system). The group discussed how to change the individual RSO calendars to allow automatic integration of the calendars by ETSI for posting on the BB. It was also noted, that the current different formats for the various calendars, made the consolidated calendar difficult to read. As a result, the group agreed to see if it would be possible to use a common format for the first 15 columns of each organization's calendar. The format agreed upon is the following:
DD MMM-DD-MMM Meeting
DD indicates a numeric day and MMM indicates the first three letters of the month. If the meeting lasts only one day (no ending date), leave columns 7 through 13 blank. The meeting description would START in column 15, but beyond that point, the format is totally up to each RSO. The meeting description could extend as far as the individual organization wishes. Using this common format, would allow ETSI to develop software to automatically integrate the calendars and would improve the readability of the consolidated calendar. All attendees agreed to report back by 31 Jan 92 on the results of their efforts to get their organizations to use the common date format for the calendars.
Mr. Hendrickx suggested that it would be a good idea to provide descriptions on the bulletin board of the various subgroups in each RSO to enable the reader of the bulletin board perusing the consolidated calendar to understand the functions of each subgroup (such as NA4, TSC II/Working Group II, and T1S1.2). The attendees agreed to provide Mr. Hendrickx by 15 Dec 91, the descriptions of the various subgroups within their standards organization. Mr. Tanaka provided a brochure showing the descriptions of the TTC subgroups thus fulfilling the requirement for TTC on this action item. Mr. Tanaka noted that TTC now has five upstream Working Groups in their organization, corresponding to the first five high-priority subject areas agreed upon by the ITSC adhoc group on Global Standards Making Management. Mr. Hendrickx agreed to update the Consolidated Calendar on the ITSC Bulletin Board, whenever the ETSI calendar is updated.
The question was raised as to whether it might be useful to include the matrix of High Priority Subject Areas and associated technical groups and technical group meetings (developed at the Jun 90 ITSC Adhoc Group Meeting on Global Standards Making Management) on the ITSC bulletin board. Although there was some sentiment that this might be useful, it was felt that it should first be updated by the GSMM adhoc group in order to reflect current information.
Mr. Hendrickx demonstrated the use of the full ETSI Bulletin Board system available to ETSI members. [Note: This is the same system on which the ITSC Bulletin Board runs. The ITSC Bulletin Board also uses the same terminal-independent, user-friendly user interface as the ETSI Bulletin Board.]
Mr. Minneman noted that the new in-house bulletin board system being evaluated by the T1 Mechanization Committee corresponds in many respects to the ETSI system.
Mr. Minneman inquired as to access to ETSI Bulletin Board information, for downloading the T1BBS. Mr. Hendrickx agreed to determine the ETSI policy on access to and downloading of ETSI information and to provide the other RSOs with access to ETSI BB information via the ITSC BB by 31 Jan 92.
Mr. Hendrickx also demonstrated the capability to log on to T1BBS and the TTC BB using TRANSPAC packet network. It was noted when he logged onto the TTC BB, that all information seemed to have disappeared from the BB. Mr. Tanaka agreed to take an action item to investigate this problem.
Mr. Hendrickx suggested that it would be useful for the RSOs to each provide on their BB, information on what standards they had approved and which standards had been published. The attendees agreed to investigate the feasibility of this suggestion.
Mr. Hendrickx provided information on ODA, including a document on ODA Conformance Testing developed by INTAP (1991-04-30), which provides a listing of all ODA reference documents.
T1 agreed to email the list of ITSC Liaison Rapporteurs to Mr. Hendrickx by 15 Dec 91, so that it could be posted on the ITSC Bulletin Board. The RSOs agreed to also get email addresses, where available, for each Liaison Rapporteur in their RSO and provide these to Mr. Hendrickx by 31 Jan 92.
The meeting attendees agreed to attempt to establish email connections among themselves using X.400, at the earliest possible opportunity, preferably by 15 Dec 91. It was agreed that a goal would be to establish X.400 connections between the RSOs bulletin board systems. Mr. Minneman noted that current plans for the new T1 BB system called for Internet email capability initially.
Mr. Tanaka presented two documents from TTC. The first document correlates areas of work within TTC to the CCITT Recommendations and Study Groups. This document provides a good start towards the correlation of work in the RSOs to the work on CCITT Questions. The second document was an update on TTC activities in the area of EDH. It describes in detail the TTC BB system and describes the interconnection ability of that system with other X.400 email systems.
Much time was spent discussing the terms of reference for the working group. Mr. Minneman proposed the following terms of reference:
1. Initially have a common bulletin board with the following items
Integrated calendar
Glossary of Committees and Subgroups of Each RSO
Directory of Liaison Rapporteurs
2. Establish X.400 Email Connections Between the Four Organizations (including the addition of email addresses for all Liaison Rapporteurs)
3. Work Toward File Transfer Among the Four Organizations Leading to a Capability to Transfer Documents in a Common Standardized Format (e.g. ODA).
The group did not reach agreement on the Terms of Reference; however, it was agreed to consider the above proposal as a basis for discussion at the next meeting.
The group agreed that it's next meeting would be held on 6 Apr 92 (immediately following the Spring ETSI TA/GA), in Geneva. Mr. Hendrickx agreed to check with Mr. Goelzer of the ITU, as to whether the ITU might be able to host this meeting. Mr. Minneman volunteered on behalf of T1 to host the following meeting on 10 Jun 92 in Chicago, immediately preceding the next meeting of the ITSC adhoc group on Global Standards Making Management.
The action items are highlighted above in bold type. For convenience they are summarized below:
| Action Item | Responsibility | Due Date |
| Report results on efforts for common calendar format | All | 31 Jan 92 |
| Provide description of RSO subgroups |
All | 15 Dec 91 |
| Update consolidated calendar when ETSI calendar is updated | Hendrickx | |
| Update matrix of high priority subjects/technical GSMM | groups/meetings |
| Action Item | Responsibility | Due Date |
| Provide RSO with access to appropriate ETSI BB information | Hendrickx | 31 Jan 92 |
| Investigate the disappearance of information from TTC BB | Tanaka | |
| Investigate putting information on approved standards on RSO BBs | All | |
| Email list of ITSC Liaison Rapporteurs to Mr. Hendrickx | Minneman | 15 Dec 91 |
| Provide email addresses for all Liaison Rapporteurs | All | 31 Jan 92 |
| Establish email connections among the participants | All | 15 Dec 91 |
| Check with ITU on whether they can host 6 Apr meeting | Hendrickx |
Respectfully Submitted,
Steven A. Minneman
December 12, 1991
