From Project Proposal to Sustainable Open Source Community
Overall Goal
Guide an emerging higher education open source project from an innovative software effort into an Apereo Endorsed Project possessing:
- healthy governance
- transparent operations
- an active contributor community
- institutional adoption
- sustainable funding
- continuous development
- documented processes
- community leadership
Target Outcome
At graduation the project should demonstrate an average HEOSAT Capability Level ≥ 3 (Managed) across all capability domains.
Phase 0 — Welcome & Discovery
Objective
Help the project determine whether Apereo is an appropriate long-term home.
Activities
- Welcome meeting with project leaders
- Introduce Apereo mission and values
- Explain incubation philosophy
- Introduce CAMPOSS and Foundation-as-a-Service
- Review project history
- Understand institutional relationships
- Identify project goals
- Discuss long-term sustainability aspirations
Deliverables
- Project Profile
- Initial Vision Statement
- Sustainability Aspirations
- Initial HEOSAT Assessment (Baseline)
HEOSAT Goal
Baseline assessment only (typically 1–2).
Phase 1 — Proposal & Readiness
Objective
Prepare the project for entry into formal incubation.
Activities
Develop:
- Incubation Proposal
- Project description
- Higher education value proposition
- Organizational sponsors
- Initial governance model
- Initial contributor list
- Existing user community
- Technology overview
- Project roadmap
Confirm:
- Open source licensing
- Intellectual property ownership
- Contributor rights
- Trademark issues
- Repository ownership
Review by:
- Incubation Working Group
- Apereo Board
Deliverables
- Incubation Proposal
- Two organizational recommendations
- Legal/IP review
- Acceptance into incubation
HEOSAT Goal
Average capability: 1.5–2
Phase 2 — Foundation Building
Objective
Build the project's operational foundation.
Activities
Establish:
- Git repository
- Issue tracker
- Website
- Documentation site
- Discussion forum
- Mailing lists
- Release process
- CI/CD
- Code review process
- Contribution workflow
Develop:
- CONTRIBUTING.md
- CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
- GOVERNANCE.md
- LICENSE
- SECURITY policy
Begin:
- Community meetings
- Mentor meetings
- Quarterly reviews
Deliverables
Complete project infrastructure.
HEOSAT Target
Average capability: 2
Phase 3 — Governance & Community Formation
Objective
Transition from a project maintained by individuals into a community governed by transparent processes.
Activities
Develop:
- Governance charter
- Decision-making process
- Technical leadership
- Community leadership
- Maintainer responsibilities
- Release manager roles
Recruit:
- New contributors
- Institutional partners
- Early adopters
Begin:
- Community calls
- Public roadmaps
- Community voting
- Meeting minutes
Mentoring focuses on:
- distributed leadership
- succession planning
- avoiding single-person dependency
Deliverables
Transparent governance.
Growing contributor base.
Community participation.
HEOSAT Target
Average capability: 2.5–3
Phase 4 — Software Quality & Operations
Objective
Develop reliable engineering practices.
Activities
Implement:
- release schedule
- testing strategy
- CI automation
- issue triage
- documentation standards
- dependency management
- security process
- vulnerability response
- architecture documentation
Measure:
- release cadence
- response times
- issue backlog
- contributor activity
Deliverables
Predictable software operations.
Reliable release management.
Engineering best practices.
HEOSAT Target
Average capability:
3
Phase 5 — Community Growth & Adoption
Objective
Develop an engaged and growing ecosystem.
Activities
Recruit:
- additional institutions
- developers
- documentation writers
- students
- researchers
Conduct:
- webinars
- conference presentations
- workshops
- office hours
- demonstrations
Develop:
- onboarding guides
- user documentation
- contributor documentation
- community recognition programs
Establish:
- regular newsletters
- success stories
- case studies
- adoption metrics
Deliverables
Growing contributor community.
Growing adopter community.
Visible ecosystem.
HEOSAT Target
Average capability:
3–3.5
Phase 6 — Sustainability Planning
Objective
Ensure the project can continue beyond its original funding and founding team.
Activities
Develop sustainability plans covering:
Organizational
- succession planning
- distributed leadership
- governance renewal
Technical
- release continuity
- documentation maintenance
- contributor onboarding
Community
- mentoring
- contributor pipeline
- institutional engagement
Financial
Develop diversified support model:
- institutional memberships
- grants
- sponsorships
- consulting
- commercial ecosystem
- donations
- in-kind contributions
Review dependencies.
Reduce project risk.
Deliverables
Project Sustainability Plan.
Community Growth Plan.
Funding Strategy.
Risk Register.
HEOSAT Target
Average capability:
3.5
Phase 7 — Graduation Assessment
Objective
Confirm readiness to become an endorsed Apereo project.
Activities
Mentors conduct:
- final review
- governance review
- sustainability review
- legal review
- community review
Repeat full HEOSAT assessment.
Compare:
Baseline
↓
Graduation
Prepare graduation recommendation.
IWG recommendation.
Board approval.
Deliverables
Graduation Report
Final HEOSAT Report
Recommendation for Endorsement
Graduation Outcomes
The project becomes an Apereo Endorsed Project with:
- transparent governance
- distributed leadership
- documented processes
- regular software releases
- active contributors
- engaged institutions
- onboarding documentation
- community mentoring
- sustainability strategy
- diversified support model
- measurable project health