6.4.4 Early implementation

The responsible TSG may decide that a particular Work Item is a candidate for "early implementation". If a feature is a candidate for early implementation this shall be indicated in the 3GPP work plan.

Where a feature is a candidate for early implementation the deliverables shall include an early implementation Technical Report. The Technical Report shall give guidance on how to perform early implementation of a Work Item. This report shall not define any new technical requirements. It is there to help implementers identify which parts of the specifications are relevant to the Work Item and how they should be handled when early implementation is performed.

The early implementation Technical Report shall be identified in the list of impacted documents in the WID. The early implementation Technical Report is part of the same release as the feature to which is relates.

Where a single early implementation feature consists of several Work Items then the number of different TRs should be minimised. The aim shall be for a single report to be written for the appropriate highest level Work Item (typically the feature level). However, flexibility should be left to take account of different ways Work Items may be structured

Work on the early implementation Technical Report shall begin with the identification of the requirements for early implementation.

The contents of the early implementation Technical Report shall be developed in parallel to the overall progress on standardisation of the Work Item. The responsible Working Groups shall keep the report up to date – particularly the clauses "specification impacts" and "Early Implementation Status" which must be completed before finalisation of the WI and maintained if they are subsequently impacted by any essential corrections.