Index Improvement Proposals (IIP) Overview

What is an IIP?

An IIP is a proposal to update some function or standard within the Index Coop. IIPs can vary widely from proposing new Index products to requesting funds from the Index Treasury, to performing Index Coop smart contract upgrades. The IIP proposal process largely follows the same behavior as Ethereum's EIP process.

The Index Coop GitBook (what you are reading) contains details on how to engage with the IIP Process.

An archive of all historic IIPs can be found on this tracker.

Scheduled and live votes can be found on the Index Coop snapshot page.

This is a high level overview of an IIP lifecycle:

1. RECOMMENDED (optional): Informal discussion & sentiment check on the Index Coop Discord server or forum. This is a good time to ensure that the relevant parties (affected, deciding, executing) are aligned on the desired outcome. THE REMAINING STEPS ARE REQUIRED.

2. Make a formal proposal (use the IIP template or Product IIP template) on the Index Coop Forum. The proposal should be categorized under Leadership and Governance -> Proposals, with the relevant tag (‘IIP’ or ‘Product’) added.

3. After posting your proposal. There are two separate ways to proceed:

1. If you wish to queue the subsequent snapshot vote yourself (1000 INDEX is required to post on the Index Coop Snapshot Page), proceed to step 5.

2. If you do not wish to interact with snapshot, or you do not have the minimum INDEX required. Tag the @GovNest account in a comment to the post, and request that a GovRep review the post and assign an IIP number.

4. The Proposed IIP will be assigned to a GovRep:

• The @GovNest account will introduce the assigned GovRep in a subsequent post. From this point in the process you will interface directly with the assigned GovRep; tag the @GovNest account if your GovRep is unresponsive or if a request requires elevated attention.

• If there are non-material edits the GovRep will make them and notify you.

• If the proposal does not comport with the template or lacks sufficient detail to be executable upon passage, the GovRep will provide this feedback in the forum. In this case, an IIP number will not be assigned yet, and you are free to edit the post and call for a new GovRep review by tagging both the assigned GovRep and the @GovNest account.

5. There is a 48-hour minimum discussion period following the initial forum post and IIP number assignment, after the first 48 hours, the proposal may be ported over to snapshot. Any significant edits to the post reset the 48-hour discussion period.

6. Typically IIPs run starting on Mondays at 1800 UTC; however, any date that satisfies the 48-hour minimum discussion period may be chosen, it is advised however to keep the 1800 UTC start time.

7. Once the IIP is queued on Snapshot by the author of the proposal or an assigned GovRep. Voting should run for 72-hours once the snapshot vote is live. For assistance with awareness around any votes that might be live, reach out to any of the Governance Nest coordinators mentioned below.

8. After the vote ends, voting results should be posted on the forum as a comment to the original proposal.

9. The specification of the proposal should contain sufficient detail to outline execution. If execution status is unclear from the IIP tracker, tag the @GovNest account in a comment to the original post and a representative from the Governance Nest will follow up on the request.

For assistance with this process:

Operational Governance Coordinator: @sixtykeys (discord)

Governance Nest Coordinator: @mel.eth#0001 (discord)