Escalation protocol

An escalation protocol is a written rule for how long an unresolved issue may sit at one level of a project before it moves up, and who receives it there.

How it's used in a university-industry collaboration

Research collaborations run on part-time attention, and a disagreement over a deliverable can wait for a meeting that keeps slipping. The protocol removes the judgment call. Our default is one week to project leads, four weeks to the steering committee, eight weeks to executives, written into the governance charter at kickoff with named roles.

Partners adjust the windows to their own schedules and priorities. What matters is that fixed windows are tied to named people, so a problem is raised the week it's seen, not held for a quarterly review.

Where this comes from

The definition builds on the PMBOK Guide, where escalation passes an issue to the level with authority to act on it (Project Management Institute, https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards).

What Helikon does with it

Our Governance Charter template has a line for each level's role and time window. Our Escalation and Conflict Resolution Protocol covers IP, budget, and relationship disputes.