How Standards Are Developed at TIA

Standards projects and technical documents at TIA are formulated according to the guidelines established in the association's Engineering Manual. Any potential project is initiated by a technical contribution to one of the engineering committees or subcommittees from an individual requesting the creation of a new standard or technical document in a particular area of technology.

If there is support for this contribution, and a number of people are willing to work on the project, a Project Initiation Notice (PIN) form is completed and submitted for approval to TIA. After the project is approved for initiation, the engineering committees and their subcommittees work to further develop the technical parameters of the project. When the proposed standard or technical document is near completion, the formulating engineering committee circulates the draft of the document on a ballot called a "Committee Letter Ballot." The purpose of this ballot is to identify any unresolved issues and to establish consensus within the formulating group. Every effort is made to resolve comments received. During this phase of the standards-making process, the draft of the document is not released to the general public.

If the document is intended to be an American National Standard, the proposed draft must be circulated as an industry-wide ballot, also known as a "Standards Proposal" (SP) or Pink Ballot. During the balloting period, any interested party may cast his/her vote. A party can respond in three ways: affirmative, affirmative with comment or negative with comment. Every attempt is made to resolve comments received at this phase of the balloting. During this phase of balloting, the SP Ballot can be purchased through IHS Inc.

After the final draft of the document has obtained industry consensus, the document is forwarded with all its balloting information to a review group at TIA called the Telecommunications Standards Subcommittee (TSSC). If the document is intended to be an American National Standard, the same information is forwarded to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Board of Standards Review (BSR) with request for approval.

The balloting information is then reviewed by TSSC, and supporting documents are checked to see if TIA due process and other requirements have been met. After this review and upon approval of the BSR, the document is approved for publication as a TIA Standard.

A standard which is an American National Standard must be reviewed every five years to ensure it remains current. During this five-year period, a standard may be reaffirmed, modified or rescinded.