6.4.1 Planning and categorization of the deliverables (and control thereof)

Planning:

An initial time plan should be set up at an early point. As a basis, the time plan should include at least the following points:

1. Presentation for principle agreement of the service requirements;

2. Presentation for principle agreement of the architectural/system implications and requirements;

3. Presentation for information of the drafts of all needed deliverables,

4. Presentation for approval of all needed deliverables.

The time plan shall include realistically achievable dates for each step.

The WI Status List shall also contain information about existing and planned permanent and semi-permanent documents related to the WI, e.g. future specifications as well as interim/temporary requirements "specifications", including the responsible Group, the rapporteur, the state of the documents, expected completion dates, etc.

Categorization:

Before the substantial work on a Work Item starts, the WI shall be examined in the light of its technical and commercial dependency with respect to the existing specifications as well as with respect to other Work Items. Aspects that shall be considered and settled at an early stage are:

• Required versus acceptable time scales;
• Whether the WI has an impact on User Equipment or not;
• Whether the WI has an architectural impact or not;
• To which degree the WI needs to specify (and hence how much can be left "open", to speed up the work);
• Whether the WI can be technically and/or commercially combined/grouped with other WIs;

Unless the above aspects are sorted out at the beginning of (or prior to) the work, the risk of getting inefficient and non-optimal specifications increases and the control of the work becomes difficult and unmanageable.