Draft thinking on governance models that Kuali Rice and other Venture Partners might enter into.  The first table contains existing and proposed Kuali Rice models, including a Venture Partner Model.  The second table highlights 3 possible variations on the Venture Partner Models. 

Kuali Rice Investment / Governance Models

Model

Contribution

Participation

Benefit

Barriers

Full Investing Partner – Higher Education Institutions, Kuali Commercial Affliates, other Kuali Projects

Annual dues based on size of institution, 1 FTE for 2 years, or $100K per year in lieu of FTE

(Note, each participating Kuali Project (KFS, KC, KS, etc.) contributes at full investing partner level)

1 seat on Rice Board, 1 seat on ARC, 1 seat on TRC, full voting rights

Strongest opportunity to influence direction, guide board, guide roadmap, participate in sub-committees

Bar too high for many interested institutions.

Contributing Partner – -Other Higher Education Institutions or Consortiums, Kuali Projects, Kuali Commercial Affliates, Grant Sponsors, etc.

Annual dues based on size of institution, and/or .5FTE contribution for specified period of time

(assume some minimum in-kind contrib. knowledgeable in Rice development  to make it worthwhile.  i.e. .5 FTE for 6 months???)

1 seat on quarterly advisory board, review board meeting notes, input to proposed changes to charter, Strategic plans and roadmaps (Join a board meeting on quarterly basis?  Separate conference call?)

Ability to influence direction via quarterly meetings that advise the board. 

(Note, some Kuali Projects have added additional contribution to help advance both Rice and their projects)

Even with shorter durations still hard to get firm in-kind contributions.

If critical mass of in-kind pool can be developed can minimize risk.

Venture Partner / Targeted Development - Other Higher Education Institutions or Consortiums.  Other Open Source Vendors, etc.

As general rule of thumb, at least twice the full investing partner level. 

Kuali Rice team provides basic project infrastructure, coordination and support as well as development contributions.

Rice Board and Venture Partner jointly create Venture Charter outlining expectations on development, governance and ongoing support. 

Subject to Kuali Foundation Board approval.

Rice able to advance more strategically.  Venture partner able to take advantage of Rice development infrastructure, shared services.  Both interests able to speed development velocity.

Mismatch in governance / decision making processes.  Community development, versus open source meritocracy, etc.


Venture Partner Models

Model

Contribution

Participation

Benefit

Barriers

Venture becomes part of core Rice -

Venture partner contributes existing code to become part of core, and/or helps develop core Rice code. 

Venture Partner contributes to initial design and development.  Venture Partner gets voting rights on Rice Board and Roadmap Committees proportional to full investment partner contributions.

Rice provides infrastructure, PM, shared services (conf mgmt, QA, etc.) design, development and ongoing support.

Venture Partner able to have strong influence on direction of product.

If aligned with Rice Strategic directions Kuali community benefits by accelerated development

Venture partner migration of current client base could be difficult.

Venture becomes close integration and collaborative support

Venture partner and Kuali Rice agree to enhance code bases separately for better integration capabilities.

Venture Partner and Kuali Rice build common vision and reference architectures. 

Venture Partner and Rice make special adjustments to product roadmaps to synchronize delivery, collaborate on development of each other’s code, and co-market comprehensive solutions.  Assume part of Rice roadmap is divested to separate roadmap with Venture Partner.

Venture Partner and Kuali Rice agree to join and cross train on each other’s support channels.

Venture Partner and Kuali Rice enhance value proposition of individual products with anticipated increased adoptions of comprehensive solution set.

Synchronizing roadmaps and timelines may be difficult. 

Joint marketing and support could cause confusion for clients.

Venture becomes new self sustaining product

Venture partner and Rice team jointly merge existing code and develop new common code base with eventual goal of product becoming its own self sustaining support model.

Venture Partner and Rice team initially create new code branch and dedicate development resources.  New venture is created as a new Kuali Project (and/or under the umbrella of the Venture Partner) to drive investment and adoption.  New support channels are created.

Allow either Venture Partner or Kuali Rice to divest their code in order to concentrate on other core functionalities.

May still need institutional backing especially in early years until critical mass of investment and support reached.


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