Open sarahcleary opened 4 years ago
@sarahcleary - for the few among us who don't live and breath legal documents, could you point to the specific PDF (there are three) and page? Thanks, Val
https://csiroau-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/personal/cle11c_csiro_au/Documents/APSIM_RP%20Shared%20Folder/Innovation%20Agreement/AI%20-%20Reference%20Panel.pdf?csf=1&e=D7h85w - this document has the key clauses/schedule. The main docs were for reference/interest/definitions etc.. The Steering Committee were interested in the RP considering the following: ACTION: RP to provide views on the following: • Purpose; Role of the RP – potentially a Principles of membership/Terms of reference Doc. • View on consensus decision making / quorum • Individual performance reviews (metrics, collaboration – and what these should be) • Ability for an RP representative to replaced • Inclusion of RP into SC meetings. Value, frequency, content
As per Agenda item 6 RP Roles and Responsibilities from https://github.com/APSIMInitiative/ReferencePanel/issues/67 and Action from AI SC July meeting. @APSIMInitiative/reference-panel - draft RP role for review:
Membership
RP Role and Function
Science Quality
The RP shall oversee all major science modifications to APSIM including new science functionality. This function reviews all science changes to APSIM, being cognisant of the wider APSIM functionality. On request, the RP shall advise the Steering Committee on acceptance or rejection of proposed science changes.
Software Engineering
The RP shall oversee all substantial software changes and development activities dealing with APSIM, including release management, reengineering source code and actively improving software process, reviewing all source code modifications and changes and, where appropriate, advising the Steering Committee on acceptance or rejection of same.
It is envisaged that membership of The Reference Panel would be a prestigious appointment akin to a journal editorial board.
Decision Making
Reference Panel Operations
The Reference Panel shall elect from its members a chair for 12 months. The Chair shall rotate each 12 months.
The Reference Panel shall attempt to reach consensus but will develop clear processes to acknowledge dissenting opinions and/or no response.
The Reference panel shall meet a minimum of 4 times per year.
Science and Software Review and other Procedural decisions
Other issues
-- Should there be an FTE commitment? Organisations should support RP and SC membership by allocating a 10% FTE. Organisations should require measurable, concrete, individual milestones be met for the 10% allocation. These milestones be aligned with RP goals and activities.
Reference Panel Guiding Principles:
Outstanding Action: @APSIMInitiative/reference-panel to provide any further comments.
Outstanding Action: @APSIMInitiative/reference-panel to provide any further comments.
Meeting on Tuesday - sign off and plan for implementation of new Reference Panel Operations
One suggestion - refer to the new development guidelines in items 3 and 4 in Reference Panel Guiding Principles:
Membership
RP Role and Function
Science Quality
The RP shall oversee and review all major science additions and modifications to APSIM, being cognisant of APSIM functionality across science domains. On request, the RP shall advise the Steering Committee on acceptance or rejection of proposed science changes.
Software Engineering
The RP shall oversee all substantial software changes and development activities dealing with APSIM, including release management, reengineering source code, reviewing source code modifications and, where appropriate, advising the Steering Committee on acceptance or rejection of same. The RP should actively seek to improve AI software process wherever possible.
It is envisaged that membership of The Reference Panel would be a prestigious appointment akin to a journal editorial board.
Decision Making
Reference Panel Operations
The Reference Panel shall elect from its representatives a chair for 12 months. The Chair shall rotate each 12 months.
The Reference Panel shall attempt to reach consensus but will develop clear processes to acknowledge dissenting opinions and/or no response.
The Reference panel shall meet a minimum of 4 times per year.
Science and Software Review and other Procedural decisions
Other issues
Reference Panel Guiding Principles:
(Note these may need to be modified depending on APSIM IP discussion)
"Membership of the RP requires active involvement from the RP representatives" - needs some clarification that this is active involvement in APSIM (e.g. developer, experienced / pushing-the-boundaries user) in order to contribute meaningfully to RP processes.
"Organisations should support RP and SC membership by allocating up to a 10% FTE to each member" :-) my organisation has supported my involvement for many years by allocating <= 10% FTE (because 0 < 10 = true)! Do you mean approximately 10%?
Not explicitly mentioned in the principles section is stuff that is not actually a module. So a third party could wrap all or part of APSIM in their model. The other things we've been seeing in a third party using our file format and generating a commercial service on transferring data from their database to APSIM and charging for that. Do we see both of these as fitting in the non-commercial space? Neither provide benefit/returns to APSIM.
I would expect "active involvement" refers to RP activities, not apsim development activities. Users aren't necessarily developers.
FTE: yes, the actual percentage is meaningless; but the expectation here is that the organisation supports AI activities which include an amount of time, meetings/workshops & travel (eventually).
"Membership of the RP requires active involvement from the RP representatives" - needs some clarification that this is active involvement in APSIM (e.g. developer, experienced / pushing-the-boundaries user) in order to contribute meaningfully to RP processes - Agree with @peter-devoil - this is capturing RP activities - as defined above in the RP Role and Responsibility.
"Organisations should support RP and SC membership by allocating up to a 10% FTE to each member" :-) my organisation has supported my involvement for many years by allocating <= 10% FTE (because 0 < 10 = true)! Do you mean approximately 10%? This is for discussion and engagement with the SC reps. Discussion should also be around "milestones be aligned with RP goals and activities and communicated to the APSIM Initiative"
Some of the "Principles" discussion will be wrapped in the IP discussion as well as the what constitutes commercial use which is under discussion with the AI SC at the moment. Happy to brief the RP on this during the meeting - or have a chat with your AI SC rep for further information.
Agree with Val on the FTE commitments of supporting organisation.
The other requirement is that RP members are recognised nationally or internationally in the modelling field and should be actively publishing on development and application of models. RP should endvour to identify such talented persons and include them either as guest or as a formal representative of their organisation if their organsiation is a member of AI.
Have strong advocacy for modelling science within their organisations for ensuring continuing support.
There's been some discussion within UQ that I'll mention here:
We'd like to change the Science Quality statement to "The RP shall oversee coordinate and review all major science additions and modifications to APSIM" - the RP actually don’t review the changes but send it to reviewers and then makes the final decision.
And later, in the Operations section, we would like to emphasise the need for formative science discussions:
v. It is envisaged that RP meetings are mostly strategic in nature, intending a focus on major/strategic improvements and the coordination of science developments in APSIM; fostering interaction between (invited) implementors and the broader APSIM community.
The change of wording to "coordination" reflects misgivings about the online development process being reactive - opportunities for the RP to discuss and become involved at the design stage of science development are limited if the panel meets infrequently.
Updated document hopefully addressing comments and other discussions.
Let me know if you have any comments, inputs etc..
• The Reference Panel shall consist of at least one individual, preferably two individuals but no more, from each of the AI member organisations. • The Reference Panel Representatives should be active developers and/or advanced users and are expected to have cross domain interest in APSIM
The RP shall coordinate and review all major science additions and modifications to APSIM, being cognisant of APSIM functionality across science domains. On request, the RP shall advise the Steering Committee on acceptance or rejection of proposed science changes.
The RP shall oversee all substantial software changes and development activities dealing with APSIM, including release management, reengineering source code, reviewing source code modifications and, where appropriate, advising the Steering Committee on acceptance or rejection of same. The RP should actively seek to improve AI software process wherever possible. It is envisaged that membership of The Reference Panel would be a prestigious appointment akin to a journal editorial board. • The Reference Panel shall consist of individuals who will advise the Steering Committee on technical and commercial matters including: i. APSIM source code changes and development; ii. Acceptance or rejection of substantial science or software improvements iii. Legal, financial, and strategic issues including intellectual property commercialisation and relationships with third parties iv. Other activities and other functions as agreed to by the AI SC • The Reference Panel Representatives shall strengthen the APSIM community via face-to-face informal interactions, conferences, the APSIM GitHub Organisation, the APSIM ResearchGate project, and other online forums. • The Reference Panel Representatives shall have an active role in the organisation and delivery of APSIM Symposiums, Training and related events
• The Reference Panel shall have decision making capacity only in relation to those matters delegated to it by the Steering Committee. • Decisions on delegated matters are only valid if the following criteria are met: i. majority agreement by the Reference Panel. Each APSIM Initiative Organisation is allocated one vote. • The Reference Panel may meet, adjourn, and regulate its meetings as necessary to fulfil its obligations and support the APSIM Initiative by advising the Steering Committee and making decisions on matters delegated
• The Reference Panel shall elect from its representatives a chair for 12 months. The Chair shall rotate each 12 months. • The Reference Panel shall attempt to reach consensus but will develop clear processes to acknowledge dissenting opinions and/or no response. • The Reference panel shall meet a minimum of 4 times per year. i. The meeting length and timing are agreed to by the Reference Panel for the purposes of achieving the Reference Panel's role ii. In general, a meeting will be held approx. 4-6 weeks prior to a Steering Committee Meeting. iii. One meeting a year will be an APSIM Strategy Meeting, preferably held in Q1 and if possible, face to face. iv. Meetings are not restricted to RP representatives but may include non-RP Representatives who can contribute to the discussions on the agenda. RP Representatives shall coordinate the invitee list with the Project Officer. v. It is envisaged that RP meetings are strategic in nature, intending to focus on major/strategic improvements and the coordination of science developments in APSIM; fostering interaction between (invited) implementors and the broader APSIM community. vi. The Science Quality and Software Engineering role is predominately conducted online via the APSIM Initiative GitHub Organisation or similar mechanism. If an issue cannot be resolved online, then the Project Officer will organise a face to face or virtual meeting. To facilitate this process, the Project Officer will arrange pre-agreed meeting times for this purpose. If no issues arise, then these ‘Meeting Slots’ will be cancelled.
• Membership of the RP requires active involvement in AI Activities from all of the RP representatives • There is an expectation that RP members will review (at least weekly) the GitHub major issues and comment on RP relevant issues. If the APSIM Initiative GitHub Organisation is moved to another platform, the RP will develop a set of new processes and expectations for the RP review. • For each substantial change: o Review activities - for both internal and external contributors - occur on the GitHub issue platform o 2 weeks are provided for review and comment on 'major' changes. If no comment is made by any representative, it is deemed, by default, to be accepted by that representative. A majority of acceptances (either explicit or by default by the AI member organisations) are required before a change is merged into the APSIM release. If there are explicit objections and these are unable to be resolved in an online forum, the change is paused and the RP will meet to discuss.. A meeting slot may include non-RP Representatives. If a decision cannot be made by the RP on whether a substantial change should be made to APSIM, the issue will be ‘pushed’ to the SC.
• FTE commitment: It is anticipated that organisations support RP and SC membership, acknowledging that effective participation would entail in the order of 10% FTE, and that participation is defined by concrete milestones (aligned with RP goals and activities) that can be reported to both the organisation and the AI.
Fine with me.
As per Minutes: https://github.com/APSIMInitiative/ReferencePanel/issues/50
@APSIMInitiative/reference-panel - to review current role.
Key clauses can be found in the AI-Reference Panel Doc. Agreement (Variation 4 and 7 attached for reference) https://csiroau-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/personal/cle11c_csiro_au/Documents/APSIM_RP%20Shared%20Folder/Innovation%20Agreement?csf=1&e=JMpO5D