PHP Training

Mission

To provide a foundation of infrastructure, interaction and guidance upon which innovation can be based.

General Structure

New York PHP takes a collaborative and consensus oriented approach using the following general structure:

Principal

A Principal is any person demonstrating ongoing participation in New York PHP. Principals are associated with Departments.

Department

A Department is comprised of two or more Principals who work together and share related skills and interests to carry out Projects and other associated tasks.

Vice President

The Principals of a Department elect from among themselves a Vice President, whose duty it is to manage the Department, and represent it on the Board of Directors. A person can be the Vice President for only a single Department. Vice Presidents are responsible for the day-to-day affairs of their Department, and for assuring that Projects overseen by their Departments are completed in a timely and acceptable manner. Vice Presidents may be removed at the request of the Department's Principals and with the approval of the Board of Directors.

Project

A Project is a goal overseen by a Department and directly managed by a Project Manager. Projects can be either directly technical or indirectly technical in nature.

Project Manager

Project Managers are drawn from the Principals of the Department overseeing a Project. It is their duty to organize the Project and they are responsible for their Project's successful conclusion. Project Managers may be removed or reappointed by the overseeing Department. A Vice President may be a Project Manager. A Principal may be a Manager for more than one Project.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is responsible for the management, oversight and direction of New York PHP. The Board is comprised of the Vice President from each Department, plus the President.

President/Chairman

The President is the Chairman of the Board and is elected by the Board of Directors. It is the President's duty to ensure that New York PHP develops in a manner consistent with its Mission, the goals set by the Board of Directors, and the goals of its Principals and Departments.

Associate

An Associate is any person subscribing to and participating in New York PHP's public mailing lists but not otherwise participating on an ongoing basis in New York PHP activities. An Associate, after demonstrating ongoing participation, may become a Principal upon application to a Department's Vice President, who has sole discretion to approve or reject the application.

Protocol and Procedure

Effective methods of communication and consistent processes within New York PHP affect all operations. All operations without more specific terms should adhere to the Protocols and Procedures described here.

New York PHP implements silence is acceptance as a general protocol.

The President is authorized to have and use without prior approval an automatically renewed Petty Cash account of $150.

Elections

No elections shall take place during an initial organizational period from 1 March 2004 to 28 February 2005. Thereafter, elections shall take place annually on or about 1 March. At the first election on or about 1 March 2005, Vice Presidents shall be elected for one-year terms, but thereafter for two-year terms. The President shall be elected for a two-year term. The two-year terms for Vice Presidents of Departments created after the initial organizational period shall be coterminous with that of the President.

Elections for Vice President shall take place by email. All Principals of a Department are eligible to vote. The person receiving the majority of votes cast shall be elected.

Mailing List

Central to New York PHP communication is the use of mailing lists. Departments and the Board of Directors each have a mailing list. Mailing lists are the place for general and informal discussion. They are also the place for formal actions and proposals. In these cases, these Protocols and Procedures should be followed.

• Planned Action: Planned Actions are preliminary unofficial attempts to garner feedback for a potential course of action. Any Principal or member of the general public may propose a Planned Action by sending it to the appropriate mailing list. Planned Actions need to clearly indicate intention, timeframe and scope. If there is no response from the mailing list within 48 hours the Planned Action is approved. It is now the responsibility of the submitter to follow through with the Planned Action and take it to completion. This may include writing a formal Project Proposal, research, or contacting involved parties. The submitter is expected to keep the mailing list updated with progress until a conclusion or determining next step is reached.
• Project: Projects are official long term and intensive goals. See section Projects.

Principals involved in a Planned Action are encouraged to keep the appropriate mailing list(s) carbon-copied when communicating with an external entity. In the case of a Principal acting on behalf of a specific Department, the Department's mailing list is appropriate. In the case of a Principal acting on behalf of New York PHP in general, the New York PHP Development mailing list is appropriate.

Principals are subscribed to New York PHP's internal mailing lists. If the Board decides upon review that a Principal's project has stalled, or that the Principal's participation has lacked, that Principal will be unsubscribed from all internal mailing lists.

Appropriate Use of Mailing Lists

The mailing lists of New York PHP may not be used to:

1. promote any commercial activities unless that posting has received prior board approval, in which case the posting shall include the words "This posting has been approved by the Board of New York PHP";
2. suggest that any activity, code base, or writing has been endorsed by or created by or supported by New York PHP if that is not the case.

The Board of New York PHP shall determine whether a violation of appropriate use has occurred, and if it has, the President shall issue a warning notice in writing to the violator.

Anyone who again violates appropriate use after having been already issued a warning notice shall be excluded from any and all participation in New York PHP.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors acts on matters brought to it for review and of its own initiation. Unless otherwise determined, all matters brought to vote are considered approved if a majority is in favor. Each Department's Vice-President holds one vote. The President holds one vote and has no veto power.

Departments

Departments are the main organizational unit of New York PHP. Each Department's Principals share a common set of interests, skills, and talents. It is the objective and responsibility of the Department to carry out its own Projects, and to provide resources for other Departments, Projects, and Principals.

Departments can be added or removed with the approval of the Board of Directors.

Responsibilities of each Department are outlined below. These responsibilities are in addition to those required by any Projects overseen by the Department.

1. Operations
   1. proactively forming relationships and partnerships with outside groups, vendors, and speakers
   2. proactively planning and organizing meetings and events
   3. organizing and following through on Project submittals, news and updates
   4. supervising Principal relations
   5. maintaining websites and calendars, while sharing responsibility for updating the website with the Media Department
   6. overseeing and managing general operational issues which are not overseen by another Department
2. Education
   1. forming, maintaining, and developing an education strategy
   2. overseeing educational programs, courses and materials
   3. providing general oversight and leadership in all educational areas
3. Media
   1. providing general oversight for creation, review, and editing of all content, for digital or paper media, while sharing responsibility for updating the website with the Operations Department
   2. developing graphical, layout, and design elements for digital or paper media
   3. writing and maintaining meeting/event abstracts, announcements, and summaries
   4. maintaining and publishing a newsletter
4. Research and Development
   1. providing technical support and guidance
   2. providing software, server, and infrastructure development
   3. reviewing and analyzing proposed projects
   4. developing innovative technical solutions to support Departments and Projects
   5. providing general oversight and management of all technical areas

Projects

Projects are the heart of New York PHP's activities, and may develop independently or in conjunction with one another. Projects must have a sponsoring Department and a Project Manager. New York PHP supports many facets of Project development through technical know-how, infrastructure, organization, and exposure. New York PHP adopts Projects that are both explicitly technical and implicitly technical.

All Departments are expected to provide resources to all Projects, even those sponsored by other Departments.

Project Statuses

The Board of Directors has the sole authority to approve changes in Project status, and may change a Project status at any time. Projects may be in only one of the following statuses:

• approved: After successfully completing the New Projects process, the Project is approved. Approved projects are designated as such by the Board of Directors.
• active: Active development and progress, as determined by the Project Manager and overseeing Department, continues. Active projects have priority access to New York PHP resources and attention. Only approved projects may become active.
• postponed: The Project is not active but may become so at a later time. Postponed Projects are kept for possible future attention, and may be resubmitted or reviewed at any time by a Project Manager or the Board of Directors. Postponed projects have no access to New York PHP resources.
• rejected: The Project has been determined to be inappropriate or has repeatedly violated Active Project Requirements. Rejected projects will not be accepted for further review or consideration unless exceptions apply as determined by the Board of Directors.
• completed: The Project has met its goals. No further development or progress is required or expected, and the Project has no further access to New York PHP resources. Completed Projects may become active again if future circumstances warrant, upon application to the Board of Directors from the Project Manager.

Active Project Requirements

Active Projects are subject to review by the Board of Directors at any time. To remain an active and supported New York PHP Project, a Project Manager must ensure that they fulfill the following ongoing requirements:

• maintaining an accurate Project description
• maintaining at least monthly status reports or news items
• maintaining an accurate Project plan or TODO document
• for a technical Project, writing and maintaining documentation, including how to install and use the software
• announcing milestones at least every 6 months, and doing a reasonable job of reaching those milestones
• providing information on how others can join or help the Project

Project Managers may request, through their overseeing Departments, resources and support from any New York PHP Department, or other active Project.

Failed Projects

Projects that are determined to have failed, or remain inactive for an extended period of time, have their status changed to either postponed or rejected. Project Managers or Vice Presidents may consider a project to have failed under any of the following circumstances:

• repeated failure to reach documented milestones
• no development for more than 6 months

The Board of Directors determines if the Project meets any of these circumstances and will decide the status of the Project.

New Project Proposal Submission and Review Process

A Project Proposal Form is submitted to the New Project Coordinator, who reviews it for completeness and merit, and creates a node for it under the Proposals node.

• If the Form is incomplete, the New Project Coordinator contacts the submitter for more information, and so updates the Project’s Proposal node.
• If the proposed Project is judged unworthy, the New Project Coordinator so notifies the submitter, and so updates the Project’s Proposal node.
• If the Project Proposal Form is complete and the Project is judged worthy, the New Project Coordinator submits it to the Board for approval, proposing in which Department the Project might be housed, and so notifies the submitter.

The Board reviews the proposed Project, voting to approve, reject, or postpone it.

• If the proposed Project is approved by the Board and accepted by a Department, the Departmental Vice President assigns a Project Manager and creates a node for it under the Department node. The New Project Coordinator so updates the Project’s Proposal node.
• If the proposed Project is rejected, the New Project Coordinator so notifies the submitter and so updates the Project’s Proposal node.
• If the proposed Project is postponed, a review date is set, and the New Project Coordinator so notifies the submitter, so updates the Project’s Proposal node, and remains responsible for instituting a review on or before the review date.

Project - Department Relationship

Approved Projects are under the auspices of an overseeing Department, which is usually the sponsoring Department. At any time, and by recommendation by the Board of Directors, overseeing Department, or Project Manager, a Project may change its overseeing Department. Any change in overseeing Departments must be approved by the Board of Directors.

Project Managers must maintain status reports and communicate with their overseeing Department on a regular basis.

Internal Project Organization

Internal Project organization and structure is at the sole discretion of the Project Manager. Project Managers are free to recruit personnel or resources as they see fit, and organize themselves in any manner necessary.

Interaction and recruitment between active New York PHP Projects is subject to the review of overseeing Departments and the Board of Directors.

Charter Modification

Any member of The Board of Directors may initiate a modification of this Charter by submitting it via email to the Board, with the words "PROPOSED CHARTER REVISION: 48 HOUR RULE" in the subject line. Other members of the Board of Directors will have 48 hours to respond with an opinion on the proposal. No response shall be interpreted as approval.

Website Maintenance

All changes to the website must be approved by the Board of Directors. Such approval may be retroactive.