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This document aims to list the proposals that have been brought up so far, both in the responses document and , during the 2024-12-13 meeting and during the 2025-01-17 meeting. If you see any proposal missing, don’t hesitate!
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Part 1 - Level of commitment
This is to decide how to set a number or criteria for the commitment being made. Note that this is only to set the level, not how this is contributed: a criteria could be set using $ amounts but contributed as time, or the other way around, depending on the following question.
1-1) Partners commit to contribute at a level equal to1-1) Partners & Verified Providers should commit to contributing
A percentage of activity (determined in a follow-up question), ensuring proportional effort across providers regardless of size.
A fixed amount (e.g. a specific number of hours or contributions), ensuring equal volume of work per provider within a tier.
1-2) If the criteria is a percentage, it should be:
5%
10%
15%
20%None of the above. Instead, use a tiering system similar to conferences, with
1-3) If the criteria is a percentage, it should be based on:
the annual income derived from Open edX projects
the workforce hours dedicated to Open edX projects
1-4) If the criteria is a fixed amount, it should use:
A tiering system: Assign gold/silver/bronze members. Each company would be assigned to a tier based on the absolute number of CC employees and contributions.
None of the above. Instead, set areas of ownership, which is another way to build long-lasting expertise in the community. (eg. mobile, i18n, xblocks, MFEs, Tutor and others)
1-2) The % is based on:
the annual income derived from Open edX projects
the workforce hours which is affected to Open edX projects
n/a (select this if you picked the tiering system above)
Part 2 - How it is contributed
This is to decide the ways this level of commitment is actually contributed:
As core contributor & maintainer time, or as a financial donation toward the project’s maintenance
As a financial donation toward the project’s maintenance
As core contributor & maintainer time
As a tiers based on contributions above a baseline.
Assigned areas of ownership: Long-term focus on specific features or repositories to build expertise
1-5) If a tiering system is used, how should the tiers be structured? (Choose one of the following options for defining contribution levels within a tiering system):
Option A - Bronze: 10h/month, Silver: 50h/month, Gold: 100h/month, Platinum: 200h/month, Diamond: 300h/month
Option B - Bronze: 50h/month, Silver: 100h/month, Gold: 150h/month, Platinum: 200h/month, Diamond: 300h/month
Option C: Redefine Partner tier to 150h/month and Verified tier to 50h/month, maintaining a simplified structure without additional tiers.
Option D: Number of core contributors: Bronze: 1, Silver: 2, Gold: 4, Platinum: 8, Diamond: 16 – with at least 1 medium-sized or 2 small-sized contributions for each quarter per core contributor. A quarterly impact report is sent by each company company & would be public.
Part 2 - How Contributions Are Made
How should partners fulfill their platform contribution commitment?
Core contributor and maintainer time
Financial donations toward project maintenance
A combination of both 1. and 2.
A fixed number of pull requests, bug fixes, or feature enhancements annually
Part 3 - Maintenance
To decide how to ensure that some of the contributed time or money contributes to maintenance.
If a partner contributes core contributor time to the project, rather than donating toward the project maintenance, it also commits to maintain on the openedx github organization:
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How should repository maintenance be structured?
Maintain at least one repository for each every $100K of annual in revenue derived from Open edX projects. Large or complex repositories could count as multiple repositories (decided by Axim).At related sales initiatives
Maintain at least one repository for each per core contributor from the partner. Large or complex repositories could count as multiple repositories (decided by Axim).At Partner/Verified Provider
Maintain at least one repository for each every 10h/month contributed as part of the partner commitments. Large or complex repositories could count as multiple repositories (decided by Axim)..
Note: Larger/complex repositories may count as more than 1 repository at the discretion of Axim
Part 4 -
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Partner Program Benefits
4-1) What benefits should the Open edX Partner program provide?
Rank the following benefits in order of priority. Drag and drop to reorder them based on your preferences.
Ability to advertise being an “Open edX Partner” to clients and publiclyAdvertised as an Open edX Partner on the Open edX website
Leads forwarded from the requests sent on the Open edX website , or when talking with stakeholders from different organizationsor stakeholder discussions
Transparency report for in lead distributionattribution, sharing aggregated numbers of leads allocated per region or vendor.Leads allocated with an area-specific systemwith aggregated reports sharing the distribution of leads (e.g. by region, vendor, or category)
Leads allocated equitably by region, ensuring contributors in various regions areas receive equitable fair opportunities (defined transparently)
Leads allocated by categories, such as pricing structure, company size, market size, or geographic focus (defined transparently).
Renewed focus on the referral program to increase conversion rates and address market-specific challenges , such as (e.g. pricing or regional demand disparities.)
Being consulted Consultation on decisions that affect the partners, before they are taken, by convening the present assembly of Open edX partners (and/or a an assembly or shared mailing -list, depending on the importance of the decision).list for input before major decisions are made
Priority access to beta features, roadmap discussions, or technical support to give them a competitive edge in their service offeringsOpportunities to join
Priority access to aggregated market insights, such as annual market size estimates split by hosting, development, instructional design, etc.
Opportunities for collaborative marketing campaigns and being included inclusion in global Open edX 's global outreach efforts, to help gain visibility and leads
Exclusive training resources for their partner teams, helping them ensuring they stay up-to-date with Open edX features and best practices.
More visibility into Axim’s partnerships with other organizations, to encourage more companies to get involved and work togetherProvide more transparency regarding decisions being taken internally at Axim, by holding all discussions related to Open edX publicly, or at least open , encouraging collaboration between partner companies
Transparency regarding internal Axim decisions, with discussions held publicly or at least accessible to Open edX partners.
A plan to remove most of the edX-specific code and especially reduce the MFE maintenance burden to make the platform economical to maintain
To foster an ecosystem of smaller companies, their contributions would be highlighted in the
Highlighting smaller companies' contributions on official Open edX marketing channels , including the (e.g. blog, YouTube channel, etc.)
Part 5 - Marketing
For the Open edX product and community to thrive, we have to build visibility on the market for Open edX platform. It’s important for growing, building credibility and ensuring that Open edX platform remains competitive. There is no way to do it without partners, so we would establish a consistent amount of promotion-related activities. (The following could be yes/no votes:)
Requiring each provider to contribute X case studies per year to openedx.org
Publishing X articles or blog posts on topics approved by the Marketing Working Group
Adding X testimonials from clients to open.edx.org
Approving putting the logo of X clients to open.edx.org website
To determine the amount of activities, the criteria used would be (ranked voting:)
At least 20% of the amount of acquired clients. For example, if the company has acquired 10 clients, they have to put 2 - 5 case studies and testimonials about Open edX platform to Open edX website.
A fixed amount - at least one of each (X = 1).
For the requirements that require client approval, like 4-2) Should partners contributing above the baseline (e.g., 15% or 20%) qualify for additional benefits?
Yes
No
4-3) If additional benefits are offered, they should include:
Priority access to beta features or roadmap discussions
Increased visibility on the Open edX website or marketing materials
Recognition in the community (e.g. badges or highlights)
Access to large deal-sized customer contracts
Part 5 - Marketing
Marketing contributions by Partners & Verified Providers should include the following (ranked individually - 1-4):
A specified number of case studies per year on Open edX projects for the website
A specified number of articles or blog posts on Open edX topics
A specified number of client testimonials published on the Open edX website
Adding a specified number of client logos to Open edX marketing materials
The specified number for marketing contributions should be based on:
20% of acquired clients (e.g. 2-5 case studies/testimonials per 10 clients)
A fixed amount (e.g. 1 case study, 1 testimonial per quarter).
Note: For marketing materials that require client approval, such as logos or testimonials, an exception is granted if the clients refuse - but publication. However, the other items criteria would remain required, at least as requirements on an anonymous basis for the client.
Part 6 - Commitment Mechanism
6-1) How should commitments and benefits be tied?
Post-moderation: Benefits are removed after unmet contributions
Pre-fulfillment: Partner levels are granted based on prior contributions
6.2) If post-moderation is chosen, how should warnings be structured?
3 warning process with associated deadlines (e.g. first warning: private notification, second warning: stop referrals privately, third warning: removal from the Partner/Verified Provider list)
Immediate removal from the Partner/Verified Provider Program, if the requirements are not established within a reasonable time