School of Specs How standards actually get madeOverview

Cheat sheet

How standards actually get made

3GPP and the IETF in one morning

Depth
Overview
Chapters
7
Reading
40 min
Questions
40
Document
TR 21.900 v20.0.0
Sources cited
138

Back to the course

The shape of it

1 Why any of this exists

  1. 1 Why anybody writes a standard down

2 The 3GPP machine

  1. 2 The shape of 3GPP, and where the data stops
  2. 3 From an idea to an approved version
  3. 4 The change request and the release

3 The IETF, and reading the record

  1. 5 The IETF, and the life of an RFC
  2. 6 Two ways of deciding
  3. 7 Reading either body's paper trail yourself

Keep these in your head

  • 1.7 Why anybody writes a standard down

    A standards body has no power to make anybody build anything. Its entire product is an agreement, written precisely enough that companies who never speak to each other can build the two ends of one connection and have them meet.

  • 2.5 The shape of 3GPP, and where the data stops

    Two layers make every 3GPP decision: a working group agrees, its parent TSG approves. Everything else — sub-groups, rapporteurs, the Support Team — hangs off that pair.

  • 3.6 From an idea to an approved version

    A 3GPP document's version number is not a marketing label. It is a status report: who is allowed to change the document, and by what procedure.

  • 4.7 The change request and the release

    Change request and release are one idea in two halves. The change request makes every edit traceable to a person, a meeting and a decision; the release makes a set of documents stand still long enough to build from.

  • 5.4 The IETF, and the life of an RFC

    An RFC is never edited after publication. A new version of a standard goes through the entire process again as a new document, and the old one usually becomes Historic RFC 2026.

  • 6.5 Two ways of deciding

    In 3GPP a decision is an event with a body's name on it and a status in a database. In the IETF it is a chair's judgement that no unanswered technical objection is left standing. Neither is "everybody agreed".

  • 7.7 Reading either body's paper trail yourself

    Before quoting either body at somebody, check three things: which document it is, which version, and whether the word carrying the weight is the defined spelling. Most standards arguments die there.

Easy to get wrong

One from each chapter that has one. The course carries 8 in all.

  • 1.4 Why anybody writes a standard down

    "It is a standard" is not the same as "it is the law". A 3GPP document imposes no obligation by itself — an obligation comes from legislation or from a contract that names the document. That is exactly why the drafting rules force a reader to be able to tell a requirement inside the text from a recommendation [1].

  • 2.5 The shape of 3GPP, and where the data stops

    "Meets most often" is not "does the most", and neither is "owns the most specifications". The three columns disagree with each other on purpose, and a sentence that picks one of them and calls it the workload is picking the answer it wanted.

  • 3.5 From an idea to an approved version

    Version 1.0.0 sounds like a first release and is nothing of the kind. It means "shown to the plenary for information" — still a draft, still changeable without any formality. The number that means "this is real" is the one that matches the release §4.0A.

  • 4.7 The change request and the release

    "Frozen" does not mean finished and untouchable, and it does not mean published. A frozen release keeps taking corrections for years [2]. The state where the document stops moving entirely is "closed".

  • 5.2 The IETF, and the life of an RFC

    Do not quote 1998 figures as today's. RFC 2418 says "more than 100 working groups" and "8 areas", and it said that in 1998 RFC 2418. No file read for this course gives the current numbers, and the documents themselves point at the website for the live list [3].

  • 6.3 Two ways of deciding

    "3GPP votes and the IETF does not" is the shape of the comparison, but the detail — how many votes a member gets, what majority carries, who is eligible — cannot be quoted from anything here. If somebody needs the number, the Working Procedures is the document to open [4].

  • 7.1 Reading either body's paper trail yourself

    The 21-series is not "the process documents". The working methods, the drafting rules and the vocabulary live there, but so does a requirements specification about the card in your phone TS 21.111 v19.0.0. Read the title, not the range.

The numbers, and where each came from

Every one was counted out of a file on this machine. Hover a row to read the question that produced it.

  • 97 97 clauses in TR 21.900, the working-methods document
  • 3928 3,928 3GPP specifications in the catalogue
  • 2149 2,149 of them are Technical Specifications
  • 1778 1,778 of them are Technical Reports
  • 9735 9,735 RFCs in the local archive
  • 4371 4,371 of them are 3GPP meetings, from 1998-12-07 to 2028-06-13
  • 27 27 3GPP bodies hold a meeting series of their own
  • 331 331 3GPP meetings were held in 2024 and 2025
  • 86887 86,887 delegate registrations were recorded across them
  • 213886 213,886 documents were filed to them
  • 21 21 3GPP bodies held at least 4 meetings in 2024 and 2025
  • 15 3GPP RAN 4 held 15 meetings in 2024 and 2025
  • 541 541 delegates registered for the middle 3GPP RAN 4 meeting
  • 3079 3,079 documents were filed to the middle 3GPP RAN 4 meeting
  • 16 3GPP SA 2 held 16 meetings in 2024 and 2025
  • 453 453 delegates registered for the middle 3GPP SA 2 meeting
  • 1694 1,694 documents were filed to the middle 3GPP SA 2 meeting
  • 13 3GPP RAN 2 held 13 meetings in 2024 and 2025
  • 702 702 delegates registered for the middle 3GPP RAN 2 meeting
  • 1617 1,617 documents were filed to the middle 3GPP RAN 2 meeting
  • 14 3GPP RAN 1 held 14 meetings in 2024 and 2025
  • 1092 1,092 delegates registered for the middle 3GPP RAN 1 meeting
  • 1600 1,600 documents were filed to the middle 3GPP RAN 1 meeting
  • 17 3GPP SA 5 held 17 meetings in 2024 and 2025
  • 203 203 delegates registered for the middle 3GPP SA 5 meeting
  • 912 912 documents were filed to the middle 3GPP SA 5 meeting
  • 13 3GPP CT 1 held 13 meetings in 2024 and 2025
  • 231 231 delegates registered for the middle 3GPP CT 1 meeting
  • 907 907 documents were filed to the middle 3GPP CT 1 meeting
  • 29 3GPP SA 3 held 29 meetings in 2024 and 2025
  • 61 61 delegates registered for the middle 3GPP SA 3 meeting
  • 145 145 documents were filed to the middle 3GPP SA 3 meeting
  • 70 3GPP SA 4 held 70 meetings in 2024 and 2025
  • 32 32 delegates registered for the middle 3GPP SA 4 meeting
  • 16 16 documents were filed to the middle 3GPP SA 4 meeting
  • 685 685 specifications carry the group code S5
  • 458 458 specifications carry the group code R4
  • 343 343 specifications carry the group code S3
  • 321 321 specifications carry the group code S2
  • 303 303 specifications carry the group code S4
  • 256 256 specifications carry the group code S1
  • 237 237 specifications carry the group code C1
  • 236 236 specifications carry the group code C4
  • 200 200 specifications carry the group code RP
  • 3599 3,599 specifications are marked still maintained
  • 329 329 specifications are marked no longer maintained
  • 1629643 1,629,643 meeting documents recorded
  • 53714 53,714 of those registrations ended with a presence recorded
  • 516809 516,809 of them are change requests
  • 159055 159,055 of them are pseudo change requests, for documents not yet under change control
  • 19 19 named releases
  • 20793 20,793 specification-and-release pairs
  • 8457 8,457 of them are plain text, numbered 1 to 8649
  • 1278 1,278 of them are XML, numbered 8650 to 9953
  • 97521 97,521 meeting documents ended with the status "approved"
  • 16137 16,137 meeting documents ended with the status "not pursued"
  • 47474 47,474 of them are liaison statements sent to another group
  • 11595 11,595 of them are new work item descriptions
  • 5532 5,532 of them are new study item descriptions
  • 579 579 terms defined in the 3GPP vocabulary
  • 1543066 1,543,066 of them carry an upload date, running from 2015 to 2026

The document's own words

One quotation per chapter that carries one, of 6.

  • 1.2 Why anybody writes a standard down

    … the fact that the specifications are/will be implemented by industry almost in parallel with the writing of them requires strict and fast procedures for handling of changes to the specifications. It is very important that the changes that are brought into the standard, from the past, at present and in the future, are well documented and controlled, so that technical consistency and backwards tracing are ensured.

  • 2.1 The shape of 3GPP, and where the data stops

    Working Group (WG): official subgroup of a TSG reporting to that TSG.

  • 3.5 From an idea to an approved version

    NOTE: It is thus quite normal that a 3GPP specification approved for, say, Release 4, jumps directly from version 2.0.0 to version 4.0.0; there is no Release 1999 document, therefore no version 3.y.z.

  • 4.5 The change request and the release

    Specifications are grouped into "Releases". A mobile system can be constructed based on the set of all specifications which comprise a given Release.

  • 7.3 Reading either body's paper trail yourself

    EXAMPLE 1: 29341-420.zip is the compressed file of specification 29.341 version 4.2.0.

Where to look it up

The 39 clauses of TR 21.900 this course is built from.

§Introduction§1§2§3.1§3.2§4.0§4.0A§4.0B§4.1§4.1.1§4.1.2§4.2§4.6.1§4.6.2§4.6.3§4.6.4§4.6.6§4.7§4.8§4.9§4.10.2§4.10.3§4.10.3.4§5.1§5A§5B§6.0.2§6.1§6.4.5§6.5§6.6§7.6§8.0§8.3§8.5§8.6§9.1§9.2§Annex A

The 77 named sources it cites, by what they are.

Quoted wording 32

RFC 3935, section 1RFC 2418, section 1TR 21.801, Annex ETR 21.900, clause 2TR 21.900, clause 4.1.1TR 21.900, clause 4.6.1TR 21.900, clause 4.6.1TR 21.900, clause 4.6.1TR 21.900, clause 4.6.1TR 21.900, clause 4.10.2TR 21.900, clause 2TR 21.900, clause 2TR 21.900, clause 2TR 21.900, clause 2TR 21.900, clause 2TR 21.900, clause 4.7RFC 2418, section 1RFC 2026, section 2.2RFC 6410, section 2RFC 2026, section 1.1RFC 2026, section 4.1.1RFC 7282, section 1RFC 2418, section 3.3RFC 7282, section 1RFC 2418, section 3.3TR 21.900, clause 8.6RFC 8174, section 1TR 21.900, clause 4.0ATR 21.801, Annex ERFC 2119, section 1RFC 2119, section 3RFC 2119, section 5

Working group 21

3GPP SA3GPP RAN3GPP CT3GPP SA 13GPP SA 23GPP SA 33GPP SA 43GPP SA 53GPP SA 63GPP RAN 13GPP RAN 23GPP RAN 33GPP RAN 43GPP RAN 53GPP CT 13GPP CT 33GPP CT 43GPP CT 63GPP PCG3GPP OP3GPP

RFC 13

RFC 3935RFC 7282RFC 2026RFC 2418RFC 2028RFC 8729RFC 9280RFC 7841RFC 7322RFC 8179RFC 8126RFC 3629RFC 2119

Page on the standards body's own site 7

The IETF websiteThe 3GPP Working ProceduresThe change-request databaseThe 3GPP portalThe 3GPP websiteChange requests, step by stepTR 21.900 as a readable web page

Specification 4

TS 21.111 v19.0.0TR 21.801 v19.1.0TR 21.905 v19.2.0TR 21.900 v20.0.0

Where to go from here

The raised numbers on this page

  1. TR 21.801, Annex E — the words of clause Annex E of 3GPP TR 21.801 v19.1.0 as parsed under /var/www/whatthespec.net/data/friendlyspec/json/21801/19.1.0
  2. TR 21.900, clause 4.7 — the words of clause 4.7 of 3GPP TR 21.900 v20.0.0 as parsed under /var/www/whatthespec.net/data/friendlyspec/json/21900/20.0.0
  3. The IETF website — the address as written in RFC 2418 section 1, where it is written http://www.ietf.org
  4. The 3GPP Working Procedures — the address as written in the reference list of TR 21.900, reference [8]