> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://funding.treasuries.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://funding.treasuries.io/approaches/incentive-approaches/idea-cost-approaches/independent-idea-costs-process.md).
# Independent idea costs process
**Overview**
An independent idea costs process means that idea related costs are handled separately from any voting that supports or rejects any suggested ideas. An already supported idea could submit further idea related costs for consideration to the community. A separate idea cost process could function in a multitude of ways depending on the requirements of the ecosystem. As one example some funding processes could decide to automatically include and approve idea related costs when the request value being requested is small. Those ecosystems could then adopt an independent approval process for situations where those costs exceed a certain value.
**Very low idea cost budgeting complexity (Score - 5)**
Idea costs don’t need to be fully planned upfront. An initial idea suggestion could focus on what they are able to plan and estimate at the time of submission. When other estimated costs can be more accurately determined those requests could be submitted at the point in which more accurate justifications and evidence can be provided. This approach helps to increase the timeliness and accuracy of any idea cost requests.
**Low idea cost change complexity (Score - 4)**
At any point the contributors involved in an idea could request a change to the costs required for any part of an idea. A separate idea cost process could handle these requests in any way that makes sense for the ecosystem. For instance the purpose, usage and beneficiary details could all be part of the idea cost request. The policies for how idea cost funding can be requested and updated could be very different across each ecosystem. The main concern with having an independent process is if this process is used often it could increase the overall complexity to handle idea cost changes by having too much flexibility. An ecosystem could obviously put limits on how often a proposer could request for changes if this flexibility in handling idea costs became a growing problem.
**Very high voter expressiveness (Score - 5)**
Voters would be able to indicate their exact preferences on any of the requested funds for idea related costs. The ecosystem could also decide that the community only needs to be involved in idea costs that go above a certain amount being requested. Anything below that could be automatically approved and determined by the selected contributors. The funding could come from a set budget that is made available for idea costs.
**Total score = 14 / 15**
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