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Process Documentation

The Process Documentation Initiative began in January 2017 when the ICANN organization realized the need for additional clarification and documentation of existing processes, including implementation and associated roles and responsibilities. Processes identified for this initiative included those related to policy development, advice, reviews, and the newly formed Empowered Community.

The purpose of this initiative is to improve organizational and community effectiveness by addressing areas of uncertainty and confusion within and across core engagement mechanisms. Input came from a number of sources, including the ICANN organization, Board of Directors, and ICANN community.

We devised a "phased" approached to identify and align the process flowcharts to break down the processes for each area in an understandable format. We created more detailed illustrations to facilitate conversations to capture the various steps, substeps, and areas of possible confusion. Subject matter experts (SMEs) verified each step to ensure consistency. In June 2017, we presented the overall processes to the community for feedback at ICANN59 in Johannesburg.

As a result of this initiative, these materials now serve as easy-to-follow introductions to the key processes conducted across ICANN's multistakeholder model. The processes fall into these categories: Reviews, Advice and Correspondence, Supporting Organizations, Advisory Committees, and Empowered Community Powers.

This page gives you a visual (flowcharts) and narrative (handbooks) overview of these processes before you delve into the detailed supporting documentation, which includes the respective standard operating procedures (if applicable) and the new ICANN Bylaws. These new bylaws were part of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) stewardship transition, and reflect hundreds of hours of work by the ICANN community and legal team.

The flowcharts and corresponding text-based handbooks posted here will be updated as needed and monitored yearly in coordination with the community. If you have any feedback, questions, or concerns about any of these processes, email us at processdocumentation@icann.org.

Latest Updates, Blogs, and Meetings

29 Jun 2017 Meeting Review of ICANN Process Documentation Initiative
16 Jun 2017 Blog ICANN Process Documentation Initiative (Community Feedback Requested)
9 May 2017 Meeting ICANN Process Mapping Initiative at the GDD Summit

Flowcharts, Handbooks, and Source Documents

Reviews

Advice and Correspondence

Supporting Organizations

Advisory Committees

Empowered Community

Reviews

Specific Reviews

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Organizational Reviews

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Advice and Correspondence

Board Advice

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Correspondence

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents (None)

Supporting Organizations

Address Supporting Organization (ASO)

Flowchart

Handbook (In progress)

Source Documents

Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO)

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO)

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Advisory Committees

At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC)

Flowchart

Handbook (In progress)

Source Documents

Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Advice

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC)

Flowchart (In progress)

Handbook (In progress)

Source Documents

Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC)

Flowchart (In progress)

Handbook (In progress)

Source Documents

Empowered Community

Initiate Mediations

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Approve Approval Actions

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Community Independent Review Process (IRP)

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Rejection Actions

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Initiate a Community Reconsideration Request

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Remove Nominating Committee Directors

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Remove Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees (SO/AC) Directors

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Recall the Board

Flowchart

Handbook

Source Documents

Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."