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Policies and Procedures - Finance |
3.1 Approval Levels & Business Plans - approved 6/98 -
The following ComSoc approval levels and business plan requirements are proposed:
| Amount |
Approval by |
| Up to $5K |
Directors/Treasurer |
| Up to $10K |
Vice Presidents/Executive Director |
| Up to $25K |
President |
| $25 to $50K |
OpCom |
| Greater than $50K |
Board of Governors |
In the first three cases, the expenditure must be made known to the Executive Director, Treasurer, and other BOG members along with a brief statement of justification. For expenditures between $15K to $50K, the attached one-page information sheet must be completed and provided to OpCom as part of the approval process. The BoG will be informed of the approved expenditure at their next meeting. For expenditures greater than $50K, a business plan must be completed and provided to the BoG as part of the approval process. The cover sheet should not exceed one page (essentially containing the same information and in the same format as the one page information sheet used for the $15-50K plans), and the detailed information (plus any associated supporting materials) should be as simple and understandable as possible. Remember, BoG agenda are busy and time is limited.
The plan should, at a minimum, answer the following questions:
- What opportunity (or problem) is being addressed?
- What is the likely cost?
- What are the likely returns expressed in dollars, statistics, or other benefits?
- How and when will these returns be measured?
- Are there any relevant models for this initiative.
- Has staff been consulted? If so, is the staff reaction positive, negative or mixed?
- Does this project fall within IEEE policies and procedures and is IEEE approval required for this project?
- What Department (or account) will be charged expenses associated with project?
- What Department (or account) will receive revenue associated with project.?
- What member of BoG will assume responsibility for this project?
- If project is approved when will it commence? And when will first report to BoG be distributed?
- If a new product, describe the market, marketing media, marketing costs, and expected sales volume.
The project may not be a "financial" winner but may provide intangible results which enhance the value of the Communications Society or stimulate an immediate or long range benefit to our members. Thus, the cost/benefit does not have to be entirely financial. A financial loser may be very profitable otherwise to the Communications Society.
Projects less than the $25,000 should be analyzed in the same manner, although a formal business plan need not be prepared. However, the same information should be considered when any project is considered which has not been previously approved and is a part of the annual budget.
Format for a Business Plan
NAME OF DEPARTMENT INVOLVED
PROPOSAL:
Describe the project in general terms
GOAL:
Briefly describe the end results desired and/or expected.
METHODOLOGY:
How do you propose to conduct the project...in some detail. What procedures will you use and why?
PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS:
What staff effort will be required? What volunteer effort will be required? Where are both/either to come from? Use both numbers of people involved and estimated hours (per week, month, etc.) required to staff the project.
FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS:
What will the project cost? Has it been contemplated in the budget process? If not, can it be funded from within the present budget or will additional funding be needed? Will the project result in an increased (or additional) income stream? If funding is needed, what will the requirements be.and in what year?
BENEFITS:
Benefits are both financial and improved (or additional) service to ComSoc members. What are those benefits? Describe them briefly here and, if necessary, on a backup information sheet.
RISKS:
Enumerate the risks. Are the risks only financial? If not, what are they. Is there a risk that we may not be able to evaluate success or failure of the project itself. If this is the case, briefly describe why.
MILESTONES:
What is going to be accomplished and when? Are there measurable points during the project which will indicate progress or lack thereof? If there are, what are those milestones and when are they expected?
KEY PERSONNEL:
Who are the key people on the project? Who will be the champion? Who are the key people?
Sample Business Plan
MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES DEPARTMENT
PROPOSAL:
To allocate up to $10,000 in 1997 to the M&C Department to finance marketing test by GLO’97.
GOAL:
To determine whether "big" or "small" Advance Programs are more cost effective – particularly in off shore marketing.
METHODOLOGY:
GLOBECOM’97 to compare the Return on Investment on the "big" traditional Advance Program versus a "small" version by mailing alternate versions to every other name in US and overseas markets. The results from the four groups –which should total about 800 registrations– will be tallied to determine the relative effectiveness of each type of advance program in both US and non-US markets.
FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS:
Like most ComSoc conferences, a primary goal of GLOBECOM’97 is to maximize profitability. Because of the additional costs associated with producing two versions of the Advance Program and because it is possible that the smaller version of the program may not be as effective as the larger one in attracting attendees, ComSoc proposes to provide a lump sum payment of $10,000 to GC’97 to cover additional costs and potential liabilities.
BENEFITS:
Distribution of ICC and GLO Advance Program to all 18,000 Foreign (including 2,000 CAN where the economics vary slightly) costs about $2.00 per copy or $72,000 per year. If we can cut our Advance program size in half for overseas mailings without sacrificing our "reach" we could save $30,000 per year. Further, though less pronounced, potential savings are available in the GICB programs in the United States and on major non-GICB conferences.
RISKS:
1) Administrative failure: failure of EC or printer to code the Advance Programs correctly; failure of EC or IEEE to select labels correctly; failure of Mailing House to affix proper labels to appropriate forms; failure of registration operation to code returns properly; excessive untraceable registrations due to high electronic or WWW registration; late mailing.
2) Differences in returns too small to be statistically reliable;
3) Sharp drop in GLO’97 registrations due to introduction of small Advance Program;
4) Contaminating results with author, BoG, staff, and other regular supporters.
MILESTONES:
| ‘97 |
Jan |
Preliminary review at retreat |
| Mar |
Endorsement by GLO’97 |
| April |
Endorsement by OpCom |
| June |
Formal Approval by BoG |
| Sep |
Advance Program Mailed by GLO’97 |
| Nov |
Preliminary Results available from GLO’97 |
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| ‘98 |
Jun |
Final recommendations to GICB/ICPB-cc to BoG |
KEY PERSONNEL:
Nigel Reynolds, GLOBECOM’97; Tom Stevenson, ComSoc staff
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