Governance
Most current openEHR-related software projects are self-governed sparate entities. The principles below only govern the common openEHR Software Programme itself and it's provided resources (sometimes including code donated to the openEHR foundation).
The governance structure of the openEHR software program/group is mosly mail-list based and inspired by the Apache Software Foundation and the way it works. That is combined with the general governance structure of the openEHR Foundation that requires both a Program Committee and a list of Program Qualified Members.
Community, including Program Qualified Members
The majority of the work and software decisions should be discussed on the openehr-implementers mailing list where anybody can contribute to the concensus-targeted discussion (no qualified membership required).
If voting is needed then votes from Program Qualified Members will be evaluated using Apache style voting and interpretation.
Qualified Membership should be based on meritocracy and willingness to contribute. Qualified Membership is not time-limited. Qualified Membership can be ended if the member requests to be removed.
If three independent* Qualified Members agree to suggest a new member and presents the candidate (including openEHR related merits), then the Program Committee should discuss and consider if the new member should be:
a) approved at present or
b) be recommended to first gain more experience in order to get suggested again later.
If thorny vendor/institution-related issues arise that at least three independent* Qualified Members think would benefit from vendor/institution balance, then the issue can be transferred to the program committee instead.
*) Independent in this case refers to not being dependent on the same organisation for salary or other benefits.
Program Committee
The Program Committee is responsible for reporting to and relating to the openEHR foundation board and it also maintains the official (and incubating) openEHR software project listings and approves new Program Qualified Member suggestions (as described above).
The Program Committee is according to openEHR foundation program rules limited to a maximum of 9 and minimum of 5 Qualified Members. During initial/bootstrap committee formation we have strived to set it up in a way so that no specific company or institution is represented more than once (since the number of seats is limited).
The Program Committee positions should be renewed or changed on a regular basis as decided by the openEHR foundation. The Software Program Qualified Members suggest new and/or renewed positions in the Software Program Committee to the openEHR foundation board that does final approval (or asks the Software Program Qualified Members for a new suggestion).