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IEEE Board of Directors – November 2008
SUBJECT: PSPB Operations Manual Section 8.4.2 – Procedure for Making a Major
Change to a Publications Service or Product
FROM:
John Baillieul, IEEE Director
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This request for action results from a resolution by the IEEE Board of Directors during
their November 2007 meeting that PSPB should add an explicit procedure to its
Operations Manual for making major changes to an existing publication or program as a
result of a Strategic Program Review. A PSPB working group was appointed to review
the issue and produced a recommendation for a new Section 8.4.2, titled Major
Changes to an Existing Publication Product or Service. A recommendation was brought
forward for June-2008 IEEE BoD approval, but was withdrawn because comments
received from Technical Activities justified additional work.
In summary, the key aspects of this action are:


Regular reviews of products and services should be done.
When a major change is being proposed, the Section now clearly states who
approves the change.
The PSPB discussed and agreed with the results, and further recommended that
statements in Section 8.4.2 be included in the PSPB’s delegated responsibilities from
the IEEE Board of Directors. Therefore, PSPB proposes that changes to Section 8.4.2
be approved by the IEEE Board of Directors in accordance with the process defined by
IEEE Bylaw I-300.4(5). The involved Organizational Units are PSPB, TAB, MGAB, EAB,
SA and IEEE-USA.
Additional background information follows.
Financial Implications: The financial impact of the changed Section 8.4.2 should be
negligible. However, these procedures will require that the financial implications of any
decision reached following these procedures be reviewed with IEEE FinCom.
Implementation:
The PSPB Operations Manual can be updated immediately after favorable action by the
Board of Directors.
PROPOSED ACTION:
Resolved that revisions to the PSPB Operations Manual Section 8.4.2 - Major Changes
to an Existing Publication Product or Service, in the form presented to the IEEE Board
of Directors, shall be approved.
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CONSENT
Additions
Deletions
PSPB OPERATIONS MANUAL
8.4
Methods and Processes
8.4.2 Major Changes to an Existing Publication Product or Service
A.
PUBLICATION PROGRAM REVIEWS
While the following assessments are not mandatory, they are
strongly recommended.
Organizational Units should perform strategic reviews of all of their
existing publication products and programs at least every five
years. The review should at least involve an assessment of:



Program or Product Attractiveness: Involving
factors contributing to judgments about whether
the program or program is attractive to the
organization as a basis for current and future
resource deployment
Competitive Position: Involving factors contributing
to judgments about whether the organization is in
a position to support the program
Alternative Coverage: The extent to which other
organizational units can, or may be positioned to
serve the same customers through similar
programs.
The results of these investigations should at least answer the
following questions.

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

Does the existing program support goals, objectives,
and strategies of the Organizational Unit?
Does the product or program meet the needs of
members and customers?
Does the Organizational Unit desire and have the
ability to continue support?
Does the existing product program need to be
repositioned, enhanced, or discontinued?
It is recommended that the Organizational Unit utilize the Strategic
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Program Assessment Guide available from the IEEE Corporate
Strategy Office. The Organizational Unit should inform the
responsible Major Board about the review results. If the
Organizational Unit determines that a product or program requires
a major change, the Organizational Unit shall follow the process in
Section 8.4.2.B to implement the change. Some examples of major
change include a merger of publications, dramatically redirecting an
operation, and ending a publication product or service. Questions
about what constitutes a major change should be directed to the
Staff Executive – Publications or the PSPB Chair.
B.
PROCESS FOR MAJOR CHANGES TO AN EXISTING
PUBLICATION PRODUCT OR SERVICE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The sponsoring Organizational Unit shall conduct a strategic
program assessment of the product or program as specified
in Section 8.4.2.A.
A proposal for the desired change shall be prepared that
includes at least the following information:
a.
Title of publication product or program
b.
Statement of the desired change
c.
Justification for the change, such as the results of the
required review
d.
An evaluation as to possible conflict with any other
existing IEEE publication product or program
e.
Names of the individuals responsible for implementing
the change
f.
If appropriate, a timeline for implementing the change
g.
A financial impact statement that includes a threeyear financial plan for major expansions.
The proposal shall be reviewed and approved by the
responsible Major Board, including its Finance Committee.
The financial impact of the change shall be reviewed with
IEEE FinCom.
The procedure for change shall be reviewed by PSPB to
ensure that any major change is conducted in a manner that
minimizes disruption to members and/or customers,
preserves IEEE’s reputation, protects IEEE’s intellectual
property rights, and allows coordination with the IEEE
Publications Department so needed changes to IEEE Xplore
and the IEEE Business Management System can be made.
Any major change to an IEEE-wide publication supervised
by PSPB shall be reviewed and approved by the IEEE Board
of Directors.
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CONSENT
Revisions to Section 8.4.2 – Major Changes to an Existing Publications Product
or Service, as contained in this manual, require the review and approval of the
IEEE Board of Directors, using the process in accordance with IEEE Bylaw I300.4(5).
COMMENT: No further changes are requested for the balance of Section 8.4, except for
renumbering, beginning with changing the current 8.4.2 to 8.4.3.
BACKGROUND:
The IEEE Board of Directors is encouraging Organizational Units to undertake Strategic
Program Assessments of their various products and programs. As the result of such an
exercise, an Organizational Unit might determine there are reasons to conduct an indepth strategic program review of one of its publishing activities. Reasons for the review
could range from a dramatic change in market conditions, a change in informationprocessing technology, a change in the level of editorial quality, a change in financial
performance, or some combination of those factors. The outcome objective could be to
make major alterations in the activity – ranging from a significant overhauling of
operations to ending the activity. However, at least in the case of publications, previous
experience has demonstrated that, while it is clear what process must be followed to
start a publication, it is unclear what process should be followed when it is desirable to
end or dramatically redirect a publication.
This agenda item and proposed action presents a procedure for publication services
and products and follows a discussion by Board of Directors during their November
2007 meeting. John Baillieul, PSPB Chair, and Tony Durniak, PSPB Staff Secretary,
introduced the subject to the Board. They related that expectations for any procedure
for producing major changes to a publication product or service should include the
following components.
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The sponsoring Organizational Unit would conduct a strategic program review
using the template provided by IEEE Strategic Planning.
The responsible Major Board would review any proposal for a major change.
The financial impact of the proposed major change would be reviewed with IEEE
FinCom.
The proposal would be reviewed by PSPB to ensure that any change is
conducted in a manner that minimizes disruption to members and/or customers,
preserves IEEE’s reputation, and protects IEEE’s intellectual property rights.
Furthermore, any major change to an IEEE-wide publication supervised by PSPB
would also be reviewed and approved by the IEEE Board of Directors.
During their presentation, the presenters utilized the following experience to illustrate
problems created by the lack of a procedure. The PSPB began a strategic planning
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activity in 2004 at the request of then IEEE President Arthur Winston. One outcome of
that exercise was a recommendation that IEEE PRESS exit the printed book business,
and PSPB voted to take that action. Conversely, when the Board was informed of that
action, they objected and disagreed with the course of action, relating that PSPB lacked
the authority to make that decision independently.
The presenters finished their presentation by proposing that PSPB take action to
implement the described procedure and relating the pros and cons of adoption.
PRO: The proposed action would close the loop in managing a publication
through its life cycle by adding to the existing starting procedures for a
publication, an explicit procedure for any major change – including ending
the publication or service.
CON: No negative impact was anticipated from this proposal.
Following a discussion, the Board of Directors resolved that PSPB should:



Add an explicit procedure to its Operations Manual for changing the status of an
existing publication or program.
That this procedure should specify that the final decision rests with PSPB and the
Organizational Unit in cases where the original permission to start a publication
came from the Organizational Unit and PSPB.
That the final decision rests with the Board in all cases where the original
permission to start that publication or program required Board approval.
The PSPB was directed to draft the requisite changes for its Operations Manual for
PSPB discussion and action at their February 2008 meeting.
EFFORT PRIOR TO THE FEBRUARY 2008 MEETING:
The Board of Directors resolution was pointed at changes to Section 8.4.2 of the PSPB
Operations Manual. There existed inadequate time following the November 2007 Board
Meeting Series to draft and review changes so a submission could be sent to the IEEE
Governance Committee before its mid December 2007 deadline. Therefore, it was
decided to draft possible changes for PSPB review and discussion during the February
2008 meeting. Feedback for PSPB members resulted in the recommended insertion of
a new Section 8.4.2 that is presented in this document. The insertion occurs after the
Section covering the approval of new periodicals. The existing Section 8.4.2 will
become 8.4.3, and the Sections that follow will be renumbered accordingly.
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