CSSII Topical Team on Roles and Responsibilities Agenda Item 20

1. CSSII Topical Team on Roles and ResponsibilitiesAgenda Item 20 Paul Counet EUMETSAT CEOS SIT-28 Meeting Hampton , Virginia, USA12 March 2013

2. Mandate from CSS W-shop in Sept 2012 CEOS Self-Study: Key Recommendations on Organizational Functions “Articulate the organizational functions and relationships that CEOS needs in order to perform and sustain its work, and consider whether modification of the leadership structure and organizational elements is needed to support these functions. Clarify roles and responsibilities for CEOS Leadership at all levels.” Charge: CEOS Essential Business/Core Activities: Identify the main responsibilities of the CEO, DCEO, SEO, Working Groups, Virtual Constellations, and SBA Coordinators, using the information gathered in the CEOS Self-Study and Annexes, and to highlight areas where responsibility is a) unclear, b) overlapping, or c) where there are important areas where no one has responsibility; and Develop a suite of options for addressing unclear areas, overlaps, and gaps.

3. Membership Membership: Paul Counet (EUMETSAT) Co-Chair Mark Dowell (EC/JRC) Robert Husband (EUMETSAT) Andrew Mitchell (NASA) Kerry Sawyer (NOAA/CEO) Co-Chair Shelley Stover (NASA)

4. Main Inputs • The guidance from the SIT Technical Workshop in September 2012 • The conclusions of SIT-27 in March 2012 on the respective roles of CEOS and SIT chairs (and also recalled at the SIT Technical Workshop in Sept 2012) • The findings and recommendations of the CSS Synthesis Report, e.g. "The most common issues articulated included confusion regarding leadership structure and responsibilities, and the sense that the overall structure of CEOS has become extremely complicated and difficult to navigate."

5. Options/Recommendations 2 types of Options/Recommendations are provided, i.e. • “Core” – i.e. related to a substantive issue not thought to be addressed elsewhere • “Inputs to other Topical Teams” - provided for consideration

6. Input from La Jolla • “Top-level responsibilities were defined and agreed upon at the La Jolla SIT-27 meeting”:

7. Core Options/Recommendations • [R.1]: Options to Address Reporting Line Inconsistencies

8. Core Options/Recommendations [R.2]: It is recommended that the terms of reference of all VCs, WGs and ad hoc initiatives be reviewed to verify that they all respond to an externally validated set of requirements, and that this requirements baseline is identified in their terms of reference. If this is not the case, an action should be initiated to clarify the requirements basis.

9. Core Options/Recommendations [R.3]: In order to promote a more systematic approach across the various VCs, it is recommended that the ToRs of all VCs are updated with a common format and structure that includes a mission statement, vision and objectives, measures of success, overview of externally-validated requirements baseline, organisational structure, harmonised term lengths for chairs/co- chairs, provision of the development of an Implementation Plan that addresses transversal activities. For completeness, it is further recommended that a more exhaustive analysis of VC contributions to transversal activities (e.g. Cal/Val & capacity building) should be undertaken.

10. Core Options/Recommendations [R.4]: Options for Addressing Role of SBA Coordinators

11. Core Options/Recommendations [R.5]: Options to Rationalise Treatment of Disasters

12. Core Options/Recommendations [R.6]: It is recommended that WGISS and WGCV present annually their proposed main lines of activity to SIT and Plenary for endorsement (partitioned into "Standing" activities and "Project" activities). The activities endorsed by SIT and Plenary shall then be embedded within the relevant Work Plans, to be updated on an annual basis.

13. Core Options/Recommendations [R.7]: It is recommended that Plenary exercises stricter discipline on the handling of ad hoc initiatives through better use of standing CEOS mechanisms and adherence to a lifetime of one year. Furthermore it is recommended that transparent criteria are used for the selection of ad hoc activities (latter an issue for decision- making topical team – see R.11)

14. Core Options/Recommendations [R.8]: Options to address role of SDCG

15. Core Options/Recommendations [R.9]: It is recommended that ToRs for key CEOS leadership roles be developed and updated as appropriate.

16. Inputs to “Decision-Making” Topical Team [R11]: To better regulate CEOS ad hoc activities it is recommended that: a) Ad hoc activities should be systematically terminated after one year (unless a specific exemption has been obtained from Plenary - which should be the exception); b) Clear criteria should be established for starting and ending ad hoc activities, with the aim of: - reducing the overall number of such activities; - confining such activities to CEOS priority areas (as endorsed by Plenary); - ensuring appropriate resources are available. c) Once agreed, these criteria should be applied to existing CEOS activities to assess if some activities should/could already be closed.

17. Inputs to “Meetings” Topical Team [R.10]: It is recommended that the modalities of Plenary be adjusted to ensure that there is a better integration, in terms of guidance and feedback, of CEOS subsidiary bodies. This dialogue needs to be at level that is consistent with engaging the attention of decision-makers (i.e., not asking for feedback on Work Plans/ Implementation Plans, but requesting endorsement of headline activities/initiatives that will be subsequently reflected in Work Plans/Implementation Plans) - see also related recommendation [R.6]

18. Inputs to “Meetings” Topical Team [R.12]: It is recommended that the "Meetings" Topical Team assess whether the CEOS Plenary should be moved to the northern hemisphere Spring. When considering a possible change, it should be borne in mind that CGMS has decided, as from 2013, to move its annual plenary to the northern hemisphere spring and future annual GEO plenaries are likely to take place in the first part of the year.

19. Closing Remarks • The Synthesis Report has inspired much of the work of the Topical Team, particularly the findings concerning complexity and confusion: "The most common issues articulated included confusion regarding leadership structure and responsibilities, and the sense that the overall structure of CEOS has become extremely complicated and difficult to navigate.” • Hence the main focus of the recommendations are on simplification and/or rationalisation • This set of recommendations is just one contribution to the CSSII, and is offered in the expectation that it will be subject to an overall consolidation exercise that integrates the various inputs to identify an appropriate way forward. • When considering the way forward, the Topical Team strongly hopes that an ambitious and far-sighted approach will be adopted that rejects a minimalistic "patching up" in favour of structural decisions that will stand the test of time.