Procedures

Internal Procedure #01: "Request for Travel Policy exemptions"

Before asking for a travel advance, please consider the following questions:

• Is the travel on behalf of Sugar Labs?
• Has the trip been approved by the Sugar Labs oversight board or some designated representative of the board?
• Do the travel plans comply with the SFC travel policy?
• Do you need to have a ticket purchased on your behalf?
• Do you need cash for local travel and/or per diem expenses?

Anyone traveling on behalf of Sugar Labs may request a travel advance by sending a written request to the oversight board <slobs AT lists.sugarlabs.org>. Be sure to include the reason for your request, the amount requested, the anticipated dates of travel, and answers to the questions above.

The oversight board will discuss the request and may ask for clarification. The criteria for approval include:

• availability of funds
• ???

It may take the board up to one week to reach its decision, so please make your request as far in advance as possible.

The deliberations of the board will either be published on a public email list or in a meeting log. The decision itself will be documented on Oversight_Board/Decisions.

If the travel advance is approved (by at least four board members) then our liaison with the SFC will communicate the decision on behalf of the applicant. Note that approval by the SL oversight board does not guarantee that the SFC will approve the travel advance. (Past experience suggests that they are more likely to approve the prepurchase of a ticket than a cash advance.) The time-frame for the SFC varies widely and is outside of our control, so again, it is recommended that you make your request well in advance.

>Action 1: Any Sugar Labs member/contributor can request a Cash advance - Travel Policy exemption by sending a formal request to slobs AT lists.sugarlabs.org detailing the reason for the request, the amount of the request, the date needed and any other relevant information. Requesting party understands SFC has the final approval for his/her request and must make sure to ask with enough anticipation of the need of the Cash advance - Travel Policy exemption.

>Action 2: Sugar Labs Oversight Board members manage project funds, and according to available balance on Sugar Labs Accounts at the date of the request, they must try to reach consensus in the form of majority of votes to approve or disapprove the request. Once the request gets approved or disapproved the decision shall be documented on https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/Decisions.

>Action 3: In case of an approved decision, Sugar Labs representative or his/her delegate (e.g. Sugar Labs Financial Manager) will communicate to SFC the decision and make in Sugar Labs behalf the correspondent Cash Advance - Travel Policy exemption request and follow up the result with the Conservancy sharing the results with the Sugar Labs Oversight Board and the requesting party.

References

Currently, Sugar Labs Travel Policy is subject to Software Freedom Conservancy Travel Policy. Software Freedom Conservancy Travel Policy requires Projects Leadership Committees to define a **procedure for Requests for Travel Policy exemptions**.