Kein Folientitel

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European Union Research and Technology
CooperationNew Funding Opportunities for Russia
Project Implementation Coordination
Ralf KönigFFG/EIP Unit for International
Cooperation
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• What is it all about?
• Project Culture
• Keeping track/Monitoring
• Communication/Meetings
• Problems, Conflicts, Solutions
• Modifications in case of deviations
• Conclusion of a project

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PROJECT CULTURE

• Main problem Internationality
• different cultures
• Holidays, vacation dates, working culture
• Taboo topics religion, politics
• ?sensibility!

• English a common language?
• tolerance support, ask for clarification!
• do not be sarcastic
• silence does not mean consent!

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PROJECT CULTURE

• project culture replaces language-, working and
  living culture specific Rules Rituals
• established at Kick-off Meeting and strengthened
  in everyday-communication, by
• uniform procedures
• exact equal treatment, politeness, co-operation
• social contacts
• official project logo motto
• team spirit
• appropriate communication
• common extranet

NO!
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MONITORING

• Why?
• essential, in order not to lose control of the
  project!
• When?
• through whole project duration start - end
• How?
• various tools

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MONITORING

• Tools
• Project Handbook
• Reports
• Deliverables, Milestones
• Project reviews

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Project Handbook

• What for?
• constant control update possible for whole
  duration of project
• all relevant project data at hand
• Tool for whom?
• Coordinator
• Contractor

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Project Handbook

• Writing of a project handbook, content
• Addresses
• Documents (numbers, standard,...)
• Programme (type, version)
• WWW
• Templates for reports
• Roles of participants
• Contract
• Project structure, activities (workpackages),
  time plan
• List of deliverables
• Consortium agreement
• Quality procedure

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Project handbook - Partner details

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Project handbook - Financial information
Partner Details Authorised contact
person...........................................
........................ Organisation............
..................................................
............................ Address.............
..................................................
................................... Phone........
..................... Fax........................
... E-mail.................... Bank
Details Bank name................................
...... Bank address..............................
.... Account holder..............................
. Account number............................. Ban
k Sort Code.............................. Swift
Code....................................... Date
and Signature....................................
..................................................
.......
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Project handbook
- Roles of participants
- WP/Deliverables list for full duration
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Reports

• General information on reporting
• reports short and regular ? no delay!
• without Cost Statements no payment!
• exact and checkable!
• Use?
• for internal/external monitoring and
  communication of project relevant issues
• ? external Commission requires periodic and
  final reports by Consortium, submitted
  by Co-ordinator
• ? internal Co-ordinator can ask from each
  project partner to submit regular
  reports on used resources, progress,
  problems,...

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Reports
When? ? external max. 45 days after each
reporting period of 6 or 12 months
(fixed by Commission) ? internal
recommended in quarterly periods over whole
duration of project Templates now available? ?
external reporting guidelines for FP6 are
published www.cordis.lu/fp6/find-doc.htm ?
internal Co-ordinator can prepare templates for
quarterly reports ? uniform handling
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Reports - External

• Periodic Report
• for each reporting period, contains
• periodic activity report overview of activities
  carried out by consortium in respective period,
  description of progress, identification of
  problems encountered and corrective actions taken
• management report containing
• ? justification of resources deployed by each
  partner
• ? Form C financial statement different
  according to Type of Activity, provided by
  each partner
• ? summary financial report aggregating claimed
  costs of all partners

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• further....
• report on distribution of Community contribution
  between contractors
• supplementary reports required by any Annex of
  the contract (deliverables, workpackage
  reports,...)

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Form C - template
Structure 1) General information on contractor
equal in all types of Form C
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Form C - template
2) Declaration of elligible costs different,
according to type of instrument, f.ex.
Network of Excellence
Integrated Project
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Form C - template
3) Declaration of receipts different, according
to type of instrument, f.ex.
Network of Excellence
Integrated Project
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Form C - Template
4) Information on declaration of interest,
request of financial contribution, audit
certificates, Conversion rates, contractors
certificate equal in all types of Form C
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Reports - External

• Final Report
• after the end of the project, contains
• final activity report covering all the work,
  objectives, results, conclusion and final plan
  for using and disseminating the knowledge
• final management report including a summary
  financial report aggregating claimed costs of all
  partners for whole project duration
• supplementary final reports laid down in any
  Annex of the contract
• report on distribution of final tranche of
  Community financial contribution, submitted 60
  days after receipt thereof

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Reports - Internal

• Quarterly Report
• obligation for completion by each partner can be
  fixed in consortium agreement
• constant monitoring of activities and costs
• quick reaction to problems possible ? corrective
  actions

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• further...
• templates can be prepared by Co-ordinator
  uniform handling, eases preparation of external
  reports, content
• ? progress overview, according to tasks in WPs
• ? issue and alert description in case
  of problems
• ? activities carried out, meetings attended
• ? deliverables
• ? deviations from workplan
• ? planned actions for forthcoming period

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Quarterly Report - Template
A) Progress monitoring
Page 1
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Quarterly Report - Template
Page 2
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Quarterly Report - Template
Page 3
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Quarterly Report - Template (SSA)
B) Cost monitoring
Reporting Contractor/Acronym Reporting period
(month - month) Responsible Author Date of
submission
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Quarterly Report - Template
C) Effort monitoring
Reporting Contractor/Acronym Reporting period
(month - month) Responsible Author Date of
submission
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Deliverables - Milestones

• Deliverables
• different types
• actual products of projects
• should also make sense for the aims of the
  project
• have to be submitted to the PO in the Commission
• Milestones
• control points at which decisions are needed for
  further steps
• resemble expected results

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Project Review

• Project review
• by Project officer (PO)
• external experts
• Characteristics
• checking and information about project
  progress, resources
• Commission decides about payment
• Important happening in the project
• Review is important management tool
• Coordination with milestones

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Review - Planning

• How?
• Exact and on time
• Duration 2-3 days
• 1st day testrun
• 2nd day Review
• 3rd day PCC-meeting
• Rehearsal
• important to inform all partners
• possibility to appeal to partners
• important who does not speak at the rehearsal,
  does not speak at the review!
• plan adaption of sheets and agenda

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Review - Process

• Evening before the review
• social contact with reviewers
• invitation for dinner (discussion of
  problems?)
• Problems
• disucss rather open!
• camouflage usually does not work!
• no accusation between partners!
• closed appearance as one team!
• show secure management qualities!

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Review - Problems

• Negative review
• with real effort and good management, serious
  problems are rather rare
• written report of PO and the reviewer
• comments of the consortium
• worst case stop of project and red flag
• usually recommendations of evaluators for
  improvement with new deadlines

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COMMUNICATION

• Internal
• Meeting of project partners
• Minimizing of communication
• Technical means email lists, web based project
  management, telephone- and video conferences

• Commission
• Coordinator and Project executive, PO
• POs often overburdened, little time, frequent
  business trips
• Conferences, workshops, expertgroups

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Communication - External

• Interest groups
• Experts in the field of work
• Other projects (concertation meetings)
• User organisations
• Specialist- and Interest associations
• Administration (Ministries, federal states,...)

• External
• Webpage
• CORDIS
• Conferences
• Publications

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MEETINGS

• Preparation
• Meeting necessary? (costs, time,...)
• possibility to replace by video conference (ca.
  700 Euro) or telephone conference or
  Group-Website

• Define clear aims of the meeting
• selection of participants
• meeting dates min. one month in advance
• providion of agenda, exact information about
  venue
• agreement on agenda at meeting

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MEETINGS

• Procedure
• Identify chairmen
• Beginning in time
• Keep agenda
• Mind the project culture
• Written fixation of results and decisions
• Set dates for next meetings
• Draft of minutes and then distribution to
  partners

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MEETINGS

• Kick off meeting
• Highly important for good project
  implementation/start
• Adminsitrative questions
• Introduction of all partners
• Introduction in the planned process
• Preparation Consortium Agreement
• Exact clarification of tasks and roles
• Templates (internal reports, cost statements,
  etc.)
• important definition of interests on the project!

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PROBLEMS/CONFLICTS

• Frequently encountered
• Serious delays on deadline
• Overspending
• Low quality of personnel competences/low quality
  of work
• Conflicts about intellectual property rights
• Change of personnel/loss of contractor

• Special Cases
• Inadequate effort
• Change of Interest
• Inadequate Co-ordinator

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Special Case Inadequate effort - reason?

• Clarification of reason
• lack of willingness for co-operation
• lack of capability
• Clarify project interest!
• Diplomacy
• replacement of partners usually not
  possible/not recommended better take along
  inefficient partner
• Keep closeness of the consortium
• in inevitable cases exclusion of partner and
  reallocation of resources and tasks

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Special case Change of interest

• Change of company interest
• - changes in management, owners, clients,...
• Also EC interests can change
• - happens within changes of the PO
• - changes between succeeding framework programmes

Counteractive measures - early recognition -
detailed documentation of project development
can also have positive consequences
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Special case Inadequate Co-ordinator

• Lack of enforcement
• Exceeding enforcement on own goals
• Management by chaos poor time plan, constant
  changes,...
• Delays on forwarding of payments and reports
• Excess of bureaucracy
• Failure in information flow parts of consortium
  is excluded from information, not all information
  is forwarded, information is withdrawn,...

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• Tips on problematic Co-ordinator
• Select a good co-ordinator
• Substitution of the co-ordinator better
  inofficial - too complicated to announce it
  officially
• Make a good consortium agreement especially for
  delay of payment - remedies/sanctions
• PMC discussion/decisions
• Use Reviews
• Last countermeasure inform EC
• carefully and diplomatic!
• after discussion with the co-ordinator

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Conflict Management

• Prevention
• - Protect democratic structures
• - Regard on the weaker partner (see Silence
  is not agrement)
• Measures
• - Depersonalize problem
• - Clarification of the undisputable, fixing of
  the already achieved
• - Co-ordinator as mediator
• - Discussion with concerned parties (evtl. in
  private)
• - Discussion at the Project Meeting
• - Use PO as last possibility

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Despite of it....

• Almost all projects experience difficult phases
• Almost no project ends with a red flag
• Almost all EU-Project participants would do it
  again...
• -...not only because of the money
• -...because of the individual experience
• -...and new partners all over Europe

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DEVIATIONS
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CONCLUSION of a PROJECT

• delivery of all relevant reports in time
  collect all necessary information from partners
  IN TIME ( before the end of the project)
• final meeting/review good opportunity for
• ? summary of project results
• ? emphasising positive aspects of project
• ? pointing out team success
• Good co-operation can path the way for future
  common projects!

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GOOD LUCK!!