The Working Group Subcommittee (WGSC)
The WGSC is a standing subcommittee of the PAB which has an advisory role in the administration of working groups. As the PAB only meets every two months, the WGSC gives chairs of potential working groups an informal way to negotiate and liase with the PAB without waiting for a PAB meeting. The WGSC makes no formal decisions, and every decision consists of a recommendation which has no effect unless and until approved by the PAB. The WGSC operates predominantly by email and teleconference. The WGSC consists of such PAB members who wish to join it, and is supported by the PAB secretariat.
All formal decisions that the PAB is required to take with regards to working groups SHOULD be put before the WGSC first, in order that they can make a recommendation which can be published as a PAB paper alongside the PAB paper containing the main item for approval.
The WGSC has no role with respect to the decisions of working groups.
WG Chair
The Working Group Chair is concerned with making forward progress through a fair and open process, and has wide discretion in the conduct of WG business. The Chair must ensure that a number of tasks are performed, either directly or by others assigned to the tasks.
The Chair has the responsibility and the authority to make decisions, on behalf of the working group, regarding all matters of working group process. The PAB has the authority and the responsibility to assist in making those decisions at the request of the Chair or when circumstances warrant such an intervention.
The Chair's responsibility encompasses at least the following:
Ensure WG process and content management
The Chair has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that a working group achieves forward progress and meets its milestones. The Chair is also responsible to ensure that the working group operates in an open and fair manner.
Moderate the WG email list
The Chair should attempt to ensure that the discussions on this list are relevant and that they converge to consensus agreements. The Chair should make sure that discussions on the list are summarized and that the outcome is well documented (to avoid repetition).
Communicate results of sessions
The Chair and/or Secretary must ensure that minutes of a session are taken and that an attendance list is circulated The WG chair MUST provide each PAB meeting with a short report (this can be as short as one paragraph) on progress so far.
Distribute the workload
Of course, each WG will have participants who may not be able (or want) to do any work at all. Most of the time the bulk of the work is done by a few dedicated participants. It is the task of the Chair to motivate enough experts to allow for a fair distribution of the workload.
Document development
Working groups produce documents and documents need authors. The Chair must make sure that authors of WG documents incorporate changes as agreed to by the WG.
Document Editor
Most policy working groups focus their efforts on a document, or set of documents, that capture the results of the group's work. A working group generally designates a person or persons to serve as the Editor for a particular document. The Document Editor is responsible for ensuring that the contents of the document accurately reflect the decisions that have been made by the working group.
As a general practice, the Working Group Chair and Document Editor positions are filled by different individuals to help ensure that the resulting documents accurately reflect the consensus of the working group and that all processes are followed.
Design teams
It is often useful, and perhaps inevitable, for a sub-group of a working group to develop a proposal to solve a particular problem. Such a sub-group is called a design team. The output of a design team is always subject to approval, rejection or modification by the WG as a whole.