TRAC: A4.5: Managing revenue

A4.5 Repository commits to monitoring for and bridging gaps in funding.

The repository must recognize the possibility of gaps between funding and the costs of meeting the repository’s commitments to its stakeholders. It commits to bridging these gaps by securing funding and resource commitments specifically for that purpose; these commitments can come either from the repository itself or parent organizations, as applicable. Even with effective business planning procedures in place, any repository with long-term commitments will likely face some kind of resource gap in the future. The repository must provide essentially an insurance buffer as a first—and hopefully effective —  line of defense, obviating the need to invoke a succession plan except in extreme situations, such as the repository ceasing operations permanently.

Evidence: Fiscal and fiduciary policies, procedures, protocols, requirements; budgets and financial analysis documents; fiscal calendars; business plan(s); any evidence of active monitoring and preparedness.

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This is another short entry since this requirement is pretty far beyond the scope of IT...

ICPSR's organizational documents require us to maintain something like a 90-day window of cash flow in our "checking account."  Every so often these funds will be referenced, particularly during the annual budgeting process, and my sense is that these are exactly the types of monies referred to above.

And, again, a lot of ICPSR's fiscal discipline and operations are rooted in being part of the University of Michigan and the Institute for Social Research.