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Additional information on project management

Gabriella Soos

REA Unit S2 – Space Research

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1. Where to find documents

2. Reporting

3. Auditing

4. Amendments to the Grant Agreement

5. Publication issues

Table of content

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FP7 web portal CORDIS

Database of experts

Open and closed calls•Guide for applicants

•Work programme

Most important!FIND A DOCUMENT

Find guidelines and templates in Cordis

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/

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Key documents to read

The coordinator and/or the person in charge of the administrative and financial issues in the coordinating organisation must read – at least - the following documents:

Guide to financial issues Guidance notes on project reporting Amendments Guide for FP7 Grant Agreements

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(Not legally binding)

Additonal information on Participant Portal on the online User Manual

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/home Log on to theParticipant Portal

Accessing the reporting functions:the Participant Portal (1/2)

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The Participant Portal (2/2)(Not legally binding)

2. Once connected to the Participant Portal, select the tab "My Projects"

3. The list of the projects you are involved will be displayed.

4. For any of your projects in the "Active" phase, you can access: - the technical reporting (deliverables) - the financial one (Form C).

5. Once you have clicked on the link, you will be redirected to the right supporting application.

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1. Where to find documents

2. Reporting 3. Auditing

4. Amendments to the Grant Agreement

5. Publication issues

Table of content

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Guidance Notes on Project Reporting

ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/project_reporting_en.pdf

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Periodic reporting and deliverables

During the course of the project, the consortium has to submit:

The deliverables according to the timetable specified in the Deliverables list

A periodic report within 60 days of the end of each reporting period (including the last reporting period)

BE ON TIME!

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At the end of the project you have to submit:

1. A final report, within 60 days after the end of the project, comprising: A final publishable summary report covering results, conclusions and socio-economic

impact of the project; A report covering the wider societal implications of the project, in the form of a

questionnaire (gender equality actions, ethical issues, etc.)

2. After receiving final EU payment, the coordinator shall submit a report on the distribution of the Community financial contribution between beneficiaries. To be submitted 30 days after receipt of the final payment.

Final Reporting

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Submission in SESAM

Reports, deliverables and financial statements (Form C’s) have to be submitted in the IT application SESAM

Access through the Participant Portalhttp://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/appmanager/participants/portal

1 part of the report completed only on-line: Publishable report, Explanations on use of the resources Tables of deliverables and milestones

Report on work progress and achievements Follow the template (available at

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/find-doc_en.html )

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In SESAM Both coordinator and beneficiaries can upload the deliverables, whereas ONLY the Coordinator can submit the deliverables at the due dates Upon the electronic submission, the coordinator receives a short generic, automated

‘acknowledgment of receipt’

Important: Submit only final deliverables Once submitted the deliverable cannot be modified To change a deliverable, the project officer has to “reject” it and the coordinator

has to submit the finalised document SESAM is an “archive”, not to be used as a platform for working documents

In SESAM submit only FINAL deliverables

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How to submit deliverables/reports?

By electronic means:

1. Periodic / Final reports / deliverables, etc. via web-based tool in the Participant Portal

2. Forms C via web-based tool in the Participant Portal (via FORCE)

• NB: The signed self declaration is part of the electronic submission.

By post to the mail address indicated in article 8 of the GA,

in parallel to the electronic submission:

ONLY:

- the signed Forms C (prepared and submitted via the web-based tools. The coordinator should collect them and send them to REA)

- the certificates on financial statements or on the methodology (only if applicable!).

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How to write the progress report on the activities

Give a clear account of the project activities during the reporting period

The progress report What did you do? What did you achieve? Which problems did you encounter? Any deviations? Corrective actions?

Clear, informative, straight to the point, concise Transparent communication

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Periodic report: the financial part

2 financial documents:

1. The explanation on the use of the resources This is part of the report submitted on-line in SESAM

• How did you spend your budget? Any deviations?• Personnel: Who worked on the project? How many person*months? How much?

KEEP TIMESHEETS• Travel: which trips? Where? Why? How much in total?• Meetings: collect participants’ signatures (especially if you reimburse or claim travel costs)• Any subcontracting?• Etc.

2. One Financial statement per beneficiary (Forms C) and a summary financial report for the whole consortium

submitted via Participants Portal AND by post

(can be signed by any representative of the beneficiary)

The coherence between the two financial documents has to be ensured. In addition the use of the resources has to be compared with the section “Resources to be

committed” in the Description of Work to explain deviations.

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Explain the use of the resources: an example

* All the entries are examples and purely for illustration

Travels:- distinguish between travels claimed under RTD and travels for dissemination (OTHER)- indicate title of meeting, date, location, « purpose » of travel

Equipment: has to be depreciated

Note to the coordinator: if one partner overspends, it is up to the coordinator to decide how much the partner can claim as EU contribution (i.e. full amount if the overspending is due to anticipated work, or only the budget share agreed for the reporting period and lower than the amount which could be claimed).

For each item, specify type of activity: −RTD −Demonstration−Management −OTHER (e.g. dissemination)

Personnel: specify position (not name) and no. of person-months of work

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Some important financial rules

1. Interests generated by the pre-financing Coordinator to identify the interests generated by the prefinancing due to the beneficiaries, if any, at

the end of the 1st Reporting Period

2. Purchase cost of durable equipment and Depreciation Durable equipment (e.g. software, computers, etc.) is subject to depreciation, according to the usual

accounting rules of each partner

Please see p. 61 and following of the Financial Guidelines (there is a new version dated 28/02/2011).

3. Participation in conferences and other public events Costs can be charged to a project ONLY if justified by a public presentation of the project activities

and results

“Just to listen and network" cannot be charged

Participation of several beneficiaries and/or various representatives of the same partner to be justified

If presentation of the project, the FP7 funding has to be properly acknowledged (see later)

A copy of the submitted paper and/or the presentation, and the event agenda, have to be delivered to the REA project officer (i.e. as deliverable).

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Approval of reports

After reception of the reports the REA may:

1.Approve the reports and deliverables: REA disburses the corresponding payments within 105 days of their receipt unless the time-limit, the payment or the project has been suspended;

2.Suspend the time limit if reports/deliverables have not been supplied, are incomplete, unclear or raise doubts concerning the eligibility of costs claimed.

3.Suspend the payment at any time for the amount intended for the beneficiary(ies) concerned: for details see Article II.5 of Annex II (General conditions) to the grant agreement;

4.Reject the reports and deliverables by giving an appropriate justification and, if appropriate, start the procedure for termination of the GA.

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Payments are linked to submission of a complete and correct report, deliverables Electronic and signed form C’s

«The Commission shall evaluate and approve project reports and deliverables and disburse the corresponding payments within 105 days of their receipt.»

Intermediate payments

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Prefinancing If 2 reporting periods: 60% of EU contribution

If 3 reporting periods: 160% of the average EU contribution per period

Paid to the coordinator within 45 days following the date of entryinto force of the grant agreement

1. Guarantee Fund 5% of maximum EU contribution

No collective financial responsibility in FP7 as was the case in FP6 (still collective scientific responsibility)

At the final payment, the amount contributed to the Fund shall be returned to the beneficiaries via the coordinator

Prefinancing and Guarantee Fund

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Planned at the end of each reporting period Usually the review takes place 2 or 3 weeks after the submission of the report and

deliverables

Present the work carried out, the main achievements and the use of the resources Participation of the coordinator, participation of WP

leaders to be discussed on a case-by-case basis

Independent experts are appointed as external reviewers give external advice to the REA on the project

for the period concerned assist the REA by recommending any reorientation

that may be required.

Technical reviews

ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/project_review_en.pdf

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Reporting: flow chart

and

REPORT, DELIVERABLES

and FORM C’s

Correction of Report and

submission of v2

Technical review

Payment

submitted through the Participant Portal

Assessment by the financial officer

ALL documents received, correct

and accepted

Comments fromProject officer

More than 1 iteration may be

necessary

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Helpdesk for IT related questions

EC-FP7-IT-HELPDESK@ec.europa.eu

Tel: +32 2 29 87288 (08:30 – 16:30 CET)

For IT problems

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Table of content

1. Where to find documents

2. Reporting

3. Auditing4. Amendments to the Grant Agreement

5. Publication issues

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The Commission/REA may, at any time during the implementation of the project and up to five years after the end of the project, arrange for financial audits to be carried out, by external auditors, or by the Commission/REA services themselves including European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF.

The beneficiaries shall keep the originals or, in exceptional cases, duly authenticated copies – including electronic copies - of all documents relating to the grant agreement for up to five years from the end of the project.

Financial audits

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Table of content

1. Where to find documents

2. Reporting

3. Auditing

4. Amendments to the Grant Agreement5. Publication issues

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See: ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/amendments-ga_en.pdf

Requests for amendments

Amendments are legal acts modifying the commitments initially accepted by the parties and which may:

− create new rights or impose new obligations, or

− modify significant parts of the grant agreement (GA).

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When should the coordinator submit an Amendment request? If any GA provision needs to be modified and/or In case of major modification to the Description of Work

When is an Information Letter sufficient? Changes to contact point/authorised representative, legal address/name In this case the LEAR of the concerned beneficiary should update the information in the

Participants Portal

Only if necessary, beneficiaries are allowed to transfer budget between different activities and between themselves (without amendment!), namely:- the needs are clearly justified - the work is carried out as planned in the Description of Work, and- the Project Officer agrees.

Always refer to the Amendments Guide atftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/amendments-ga_en.pdf

When to submit an amendment request?

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Table of content

1. Where to find documents

2. Reporting

3. Auditing

4. Amendments to the Grant Agreement

5. Publication issues

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1.The beneficiaries shall, throughout the duration of the project, take appropriate measures to engage with the public and the media about the project and to highlight the EC financial support.

2.Any publicity, including at a conference or seminar or any type of information or promotional material must specify that the project has received EC research funding and display the European emblem.

3.Any publicity made by the beneficiaries in respect of the project must specify that it reflects only the author’s views and that the Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Publications and publicity

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All publications shall include the following statement:

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme ([FP7/2007-2013]) under grant agreement n° xxxxx (see Article II.30. of the Grant Agreement).

During and after the project, the coordinator shall provide references and an abstract of all scientific publications relating to foreground at the latest two months following publication (see Article II.30. of the Grant Agreement).

As part of the final project report, the coordinator will be required to submit a full list of publications relating to foreground of the project.

Publications and publicity

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Gabriella SoosREA – Research Executive Agencyhttp://ec.europa.eu/research/rea @ Gabriella.Soos@ec.europa.eu COV2 17/102▪ 1049 Brussels ▪ Belgiumsite 16 Place Rogier ▪ 1210 Brussels +32-2-298 72 57 +32-2-297 96 46

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