The Gravity Project uses a consensus process to finalize project documentation and deliverables. Consensus is a core value of HL7 and other ANSI accredited organizations' governance processes. As part of this process, individuals are asked to join the project as either a Committed Member or Other Interested Party.
Committed Members are those who can regularly participate in weekly project meetings and actively contribute to the development and review of project deliverables. These individuals will be expected to vote on all project deliverables.
Other Interested Party are participants who intend to follow the progress of the project as observers and participate in project discussions. These individuals will be able to submit comments on a project deliverable but not cast a vote during a deliverable consensus voting period.
During any consensus voting period, Committed Members will be asked to vote on project documentation and deliverables that have been developed as part of the community meeting activities.
- All project members will be given at least one week to submit relevant comments on project documentation or deliverables.
- Only Committed Members may vote on project documentation and deliverables.
- Individuals who signed up as Other Interested Party may only submit comments.
- All “No” votes (Formal Objections) and “Yes with Comments” votes are resolved in a timely manner.
- Voting members of the project may cast any one of the following vote types on any given project document or deliverable:
- Yes: A Yes vote does not necessarily mean that the deliverable is the ideal one from the perspective of the Committed Member, but that it is better to move forward than to block the deliverable.
- Yes with Comment: If a consensus process attracts significant comments through Yes With Comment votes, it is expected that the comments will be addressed in a future revision of the deliverable.
- Formal Objection: This vote must include comments indicating a path to address the objection in a way that meets the known concerns of other members of the project. A Formal Objection vote without such comments will be considered an Abstain vote.
- Abstain: A member declined to vote.
Project members will be asked to submit their votes via a link provided to them during the consensus voting period.