Group Shutdown Process

Group Shutdown Process

Process Overview

This document provides information about the process for all parties involved. When a Group is shut down, additional actions may need to be taken by Kantara staff (such as website changes) and/or the Board of Trustees (such as looking after any intellectual property created by the Group).

The scope of this document is restricted to typical scenarios and does not extend to the scenario where a group is in gross violation of its charter or such activity risks reputational damage to Kantara. This is covered in the KI Operating Procedures

The scope of this document does not cover Merging of Kantara Groups. However the merge scenarios share some of the guidance outlined here.

Definitions

• Group Leadership: The elected Chair and Vice-Chair, or several Co-Chairs, of a Work Group or Discussion Group.
• Dechartering: The first stage in group shutdown. An LC vote to decharter a group requires a Simple Majority (to match the standard for chartering set in Section 3.1 of the Operating Procedures). A Work Group vote to decharter itself requires a Supermajority of the Voting Members of the group.

Work Groups

It is prudent for the Leadership Council to ensure that the Group's operations are wound down in an orderly fashion when a Kantara Work Group (WG):

• is incorrectly formed according to the Operating Procedures,
• becomes dormant,
• has an expired charter, or
• requests to be shut down.

Incorrect WG Formation

According to the Operating Procedures, Work Groups (Section 3.3) are required to elect Group Leadership.

If the Group Leadership is not filled within 45 days of a Group's formation, or if 45 days pass after a one-year Chair term ends (Sections 3.4 and 4.4) without a reconfirmation vote or election of a new candidate, the LC must send a reminder notice to the Group.

If the issue is not rectified by the Group within 60 days after receiving the warning, the question of dechartering the Group must automatically be brought up at the next Leadership Council meeting.

To assist the Leadership Council, a Group must note in its quarterly reports any deadlines in the forthcoming quarter, such as:

• Pending expiration of Group Chair term (Section 3.4 requires that a Work Group hold Chair nominations at least one month before the expiration of a term)
• Any Group chartered time-based or other limited restrictions on its own lifetime

WG Dormancy (as indicated by Group Activity and Activity Reporting)

Work Groups are responsible for submitting quarterly activity reports to the Leadership Council (Section 3.3.1). The reporting process is but one of a number