Partners as Maintainers - Proposals

Goals

This document aims to list the proposals that have been brought up so far, in the responses document, during the 2024-12-13 meeting and during the 2025-01-17 meeting. If you see any proposal missing, don’t hesitate! 

The goal is to build a list to base our discussions on for the next meeting, and to eventually vote to decide which one to adopt. To ensure there is no penalty to having multiple proposals that are similar, we would use ranked voting, like for the TOC elections.

To allow for slight variations as well as mix&matching without multiplying the number of proposals, they are broken down in several parts, which would be voted on individually.

Part 1 - Level of commitment

1-1) Partners & Verified Providers should commit to contributing core contributor time (excluding Axim-funded work) based on one of the following criteria:

1. A percentage of activity (determined in a follow-up question), ensuring proportional effort across providers regardless of size.

2. 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:

1. 5%

2. 10%

3. 15%

4. 20%

1-3) If the criteria is a percentage, it should be based on:

1. the annual income derived from Open edX projects

2. the workforce hours dedicated to Open edX projects

1-4) If the criteria is a fixed amount, it should use:

1. A tiering system: Assign gold/silver/bronze tiers based on contributions above a baseline.

2. 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):

1. Option A - Bronze: 10h/month, Silver: 50h/month, Gold: 100h/month, Platinum: 200h/month, Diamond: 300h/month

2. Option B - Bronze: 50h/month, Silver: 100h/month, Gold: 150h/month, Platinum: 200h/month, Diamond: 300h/month

3. Option C: Redefine Partner tier to 150h/month and Verified tier to 50h/month, maintaining a simplified structure without additional tiers.

4. 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?

1. Core contributor and maintainer time

2. Financial donations toward project maintenance

3. A combination of both 1. and 2.

4. A fixed number of pull requests, bug fixes, or feature enhancements annually

Part 3 - Maintenance

How should repository maintenance be structured?

1. Maintain at least one repository for every $100K in revenue derived from Open edX related sales initiatives

2. Maintain at least one repository per core contributor from the Partner/Verified Provider

3. Maintain at least one repository for every 10h/month contributed.

Note: Larger/complex repositories may count as more than 1 repository at the discretion of Axim

Part 4 - 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.

1. Ability to advertise being an “Open edX Partner” to clients and publicly

2. Leads forwarded from the Open edX website or stakeholder discussions

3. Transparency in lead attribution, with aggregated reports sharing the distribution of leads (e.g. by region, vendor, or category)

4. Leads allocated equitably by region, ensuring contributors in various areas receive fair opportunities

5. Leads allocated by categories, such as pricing structure, company size, or geographic focus.

6. Renewed focus on the referral program to increase conversion rates and address market-specific challenges (e.g. pricing or demand disparities)

7. Consultation on decisions that affect partners, convening an assembly or shared mailing list for input before major decisions are made

8. Priority access to beta features, roadmap discussions, or technical support

9. Priority access to aggregated market insights, such as annual market size estimates split by hosting, development, instructional design, etc.

10. Opportunities for collaborative marketing campaigns and inclusion in global Open edX outreach efforts

11. Exclusive training resources for partner teams, ensuring they stay up-to-date with Open edX features and best practices

12. More visibility into Axim’s partnerships, encouraging collaboration between partner companies

13. Transparency regarding internal Axim decisions, with discussions held publicly or at least accessible to Open edX partners

14. Highlighting smaller companies' contributions on official Open edX marketing channels (e.g. blog, YouTube, etc.)

4-2) Should partners contributing above the baseline (e.g., 15% or 20%) qualify for additional benefits?

1. Yes

2. No

4-3) If additional benefits are offered, they should include:

1. Priority access to beta features or roadmap discussions

2. Increased visibility on the Open edX website or marketing materials

3. Recognition in the community (e.g. badges or highlights)

4. Access to large deal-sized customer contracts

Part 5 - Marketing

Marketing contributions by Partners & Verified Providers should include the following (ranked individually - 1-4):

1. A specified number of case studies per year on Open edX projects for the website

2. A specified number of articles or blog posts on Open edX topics

3. A specified number of client testimonials published on the Open edX website

4. 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 publication. However, the other criteria would remain as requirements on an anonymous basis for the client.

Part 6 - Commitment Mechanism

6-1) How should commitments and benefits be tied?

1. Post-moderation: Benefits are removed after unmet contributions

2. Pre-fulfillment: Partner levels are granted based on prior contributions

6.2) If post-moderation is chosen, how should warnings be structured?

1. 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)

2. Immediate removal from the Partner/Verified Provider Program, if the requirements are not established within a reasonable time