Current Situation
The current budget process has served us well for many years. But with the allocation of a fixed development budget to the core team and with more or less set administrative and communication costs, the flexibility to allocate funds for strategic innovative ideas has been somewhat limited.
One of the responsibilities of the EAB is to make strategic budget decisions. And this year one of the decisions was to gather innovative ideas in collaboration with the TYPO3 community earlier on, before setting a stronger focus on a select few ideas to then become concrete budget applications.
This new budget process to support this is explained below:
New Budget Process
The new budget process will feature 3 budget pools:
- a Development pool which is a gross amount given to the core team and managed by TYPO3 GmbH, according to the business plan presented to the members of the Association at the General Assembly in 2016 and 2017
- an Infrastructure pool including budgets to run the Association according to the responsibilities of the Association Board such as brand protection, legal assistance, PR, accounting, administration, association meetings, server infrastructure, security etc.
- an Innovation, Education and Events pool which features innovative projects and events proposed by the community, rated by the members of the Association and strategically selected by the EAB.
The EUR amounts allocated to each pool will be communicated at the start of the budget application process.
Development and Infrastructure Pools
The first two pools will be presented as one combined budget application. This allows for a better overview of what the Association spends on Development and Administration & Communication. Members are encouraged to provide feedback on this budget application in the member poll.
The EAB will
- analyze the feedback
- publish an adjusted budget application based on the analysis
- approve the final application
Aside from the improved overview due to the combined application, the budget process remains the same.
Innovation, Education and Events Pool
For the Innovation, Education and Events Pool, the EAB will introduce a new 2-step budget process:
During step one, anyone can present an idea using a short summary and the EUR amount required - no detailed application necessary. Submission will be via a simple application form that provides guidance and clarifies expections. By simplifying this first step and reducing the effort needed to submit an initial application, we encourage the community to submit their creative ideas for the Innovation pool. All submitted ideas will be published and members will be asked to rate them and speak up if they are interested in getting involved in a particular idea.
Following the poll, in step two the EAB will look for synergies and select (a few) strategic ideas to focus on. The applicants of the selected ideas will be asked to submit a formal budget application. Through transparent idea publication, rating and selection we encourage community members to join forces around the strategic ideas during this second step. An EAB member will be allocated to each idea to support the applicant in creating the formal application and to support the formation of a strong team. As the strategic body of the Association, the EAB will then publish and approve the final budget applications.
Summary
The new budget process for gross budgets should reduce bureaucracy and provide a better overview. It should lower the creative barrier for innovative ideas, and make it easier to identify synergies and form stronger teams due to the time gained with the 2-step approval process. The EAB can set an earlier strategic focus for 2018, taking into account the Association members' opinion at the polling stage, and budget applications can be tailored to the funds available, resulting in higher quality applications and faster approval.