(BIOmethane SUstainable and Renewable Fuel) Project Handbook (D1.1) Authors: Loriana PAOLUCCI & Stefano PROIETTI (ISIS) Version: Final Quality Review: Stefano PROIETTI Date: 28-02-2015 Grant Agreement N : 646533 Starting Date: 01-01-2015 Duration: 36 months Coordinator: Stefano PROIETTI, ISIS Tel: 0039 063 212 655 Fax: 0039 063 213 049 E-mail: sproietti@isis-it.com
Table of contents 1. BIOSURF Project Handbook... 3 2. Project Organization and Management Structure... 4 2.1 Composition and responsibilities... 4 The Project Coordinator (PC)... 4 The Co-beneficiaries (CB)... 5 The WP Leaders (WPL)... 5 The Steering Group (SG)... 5 The General Assembly (GA)... 6 2.2 Project meetings... 6 3. Reporting... 8 3.1 Periodic Report Request for interim payment... 8 The Periodic Technical Report... 8 The Periodic Financial Report... 8 3.2 Final Report Request for payment of the balance... 9 4. Documents Management... 10 4.1 Technical Deliverables... 10 4.2 Periodic Reports... 11 4.3 Documents file naming... 11 2
1. BIOSURF Project Handbook The handbook is a document for internal use and should be seen as a helping tool in the day-to-day project management to be complemented with the Consortium Agreement and with the Grant Agreement. All project participants and work package leaders will follow the procedures reported hereby. This document describes the basic quality standards that BIOSURF partners must comply with quality assurance procedures in force for all official BIOSURF project documents. 3
2. Project Organization and Management Structure BIOSURF requires from partners efforts in terms of: solid command over all running activities; technical quality of deliverables; regular participation to events; administrative and financial paperwork; timeliness of deliveries. Any delay in submitting deliveries must be notified in time in order to avoid problems with the timescale outlined in the Annex I of the Grant Agreement (agreed with the EC). The organisational structure of the Project shall comprise the following roles: 1. Project Coordinator (PC); 2. Co-beneficiaries (All partners) (CB); 3. WP leaders (WPL); 4. Steering Group (SG); 5. General Assembly (GA). Figure 2-1: Management Structure Roles and responsibilities of each component are detailed below and also described in part B of the Annex I. 2.1 Composition and responsibilities The Project Coordinator (PC) ISIS is the Project Coordinator of BIOSURF. The role of the PC is to direct the project, liaise with the Commission, coordinate the work of the Work Package Leaders and be responsible for the implementation of the contract. More in details, the Project Coordinator: acts as the intermediary for communication with the Commission and the partners and is responsible for supplying all documents required to the Commission. 4
establishes the payment requests and transfers the funds to co-beneficiaries within 30 days of receipt. is responsible for informing the co-beneficiaries of any event liable to affect or delay the implementation of the action. Furthermore, it is the aim of the PC to manage the project effectively so that all deliverables are produced within budget, on time and to the quality required. ISIS will be the single contact point for the European Commission and will ensure the day-to-day management, financial, administrative and contractual activities, as well as the preparation of regular reports on work progress and final report. ISIS is the chair of the Steering Group and of the General Assembly. The Co-beneficiaries (CB) All partners are co-beneficiaries of the project. Co-beneficiaries are responsible of the timely and effective implementation of planned work and reporting to the coordinator. All co-beneficiaries are responsible for informing the co-ordinator of any event liable to affect or delay the implementation of the action. The WP Leaders (WPL) Work Package Leaders have the overall responsibility for their Work Package. They will also assist in the effective coordination of the work as members of the Steering Group (SG). Their principal responsibility is to take the technical lead, ensuring that the Work Package is achieving or exceeding the expected outcomes and outputs, and, in particular, supporting those partners who may be struggling in this respect. They will also assist help the PC to ensure that the Work Package runs to programme and budget. Table 2-1: WP Leaders WP number WP1- Project Coordination & Management WP2- Networking and Cooperation WP3- Biomethane Trade WP4- Sustainable Raw Material Supply WP5- GHG emission reduction certification WP6- Regional Specificities for Biomethane Market WP7- Impact analysis and Policy Dimension WP8- Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication WP leader ISIS ISIS EBA FNR DBFZ CIB EBA EBA Table 2-1 shows the list of WP Leaders of BIOSURF. They will also: be involved in steering the overall project via the participation in the Steering Group; communicate proactively with all partners and external stakeholders involved in their WP activities; be strongly supported by Task Leaders, as responsible of accomplishing the activities foreseen in tasks led by them. The Steering Group (SG) The Steering Group (SG) is made up of PC and WPL. The group meets every 6 months, and take place backto-back with the General Assembly meeting and workshops in order to optimise resources. 5
The PC chairs the SG and has to take care of the organisation of the meetings: agenda, PPT templates and minutes. The SG is responsible for providing strategic guidance and is in charge of directing the project. The main tasks of SG are: to ensure the technical and scientific guidance of the project; to monitor its progress and achievements; to prepare the decisions on red flag situations and on changes of activities, as creation, reallocation and termination of tasks. The SG has the right and the possibility to discuss on administrative and financial issues and to propose adjustments and amendments to be transmitted to the General Assembly for discussion and formal approval. The General Assembly (GA) The General Assembly (GA) is a collegial body representative and made up of all project partners which gathers every 6 months. The main tasks of the GA are: to review the planning of project activities and discuss the next steps for coming project phases; to discuss and decide about administrative and financial issues and any other issue relevant to the whole consortium; to ensure a smooth internal workflow and circulation of information among all partners. The GA is chaired by the PC. The General Assembly decides about any contractual matters (i.e. administrative and financial issues), upon the advice of the Steering Group. In general, this management structure has been designed in order to enable each partner to contribute to the Project as a whole and participate in the preparation and execution of specific tasks within the work program. This structure provides support to partners allowing discussions, exchange of ideas and at the same time facilitating the achievement of solutions to problems that might be encountered and building consensus among the consortium. The concentration of key responsibilities in top of the PC is complemented by the sharing of other duties with the WPLs (within the SG) and with the GA, so producing a well balanced configuration. 2.2 Project meetings Each partner has at its disposal a budget estimated for one person per meeting (with exception for the coordinator: two persons per meeting). This is not a mandatory rule but partners must be aware on this and should manage their budget reasonably in order to be able to attend all the SG and GA meetings along all the duration of the project. Table 2-2: Meetings structure and organization Meeting Type Steering Group + General Assembly Meetings Participants and purpose All partners Main Topics (the list is not exhaustive): the strategic course of BIOSURF; the identification of criticalities and the proposal of possible contingency Format & frequency Physical meetings every six months, in one day Roles and Responsibilities ISIS shall: Provide agenda and PPT templates Chair the General Assembly 6
actions; the solution to possible conflicts and the handling of red flag procedures; the discussion of administrative and financial issues, and the proposal of adjustments and amendments to be transmitted to the Project Coordination Group for discussion and formal approval. To address the status of the project activities; the project outputs (deliverables, publications, events, etc); Site visit to a local experience (e.g., biogas/biomethane plant, waste treatment plant, bus depot, filling stations, etc.) and half Produce the minutes The Hosting Partners shall: Take care of logistic organization Provide support to the PC in the organization of the meeting Organise a site visit Trans Association Workshops All partners + Local stakeholders The format of the workshop can be changed and redesigned every time in accordance with the hosting partners needs and consortium choices. Physical meetings every six months, in one day Hosting Partner shall: Organize the workshop (topics and logistic) Contact and invite stakeholders Provide summary of the parallel sessions ISIS shall: Provide support to the organization Draft the minutes 7
3. Reporting Project activities are reported two times along its overall duration (36 months). The PC is responsible for the submission of the technical and financial reports to the Agency. These reports must cover the following reporting periods: RP1: January 2015 (M1) - August 2016 (M18); RP2: September 2016 (M1) - December 2017 (M36). The corresponding reports to be submitted are: the Periodic Report and the Final Report. These documents have to be timely delivered by the partners to ISIS according to the established timetable (provided in due time by the coordinator) in order to submit all reporting documents within 60 days following the end of each reporting period. 3.1 Periodic Report Request for interim payment The Periodic Report must include: The periodic technical report ; the periodic financial report. The Periodic Technical Report In the Periodic Technical Report, detailed explanations of the work carried out by the beneficiaries together with an overview of the progress towards the objectives of the action (including milestones and deliverables) must be carried out. In particular, explanation justifying the differences between actual and expected activities (in accordance with Annex I) have to be provided. Furthermore it shall include a summary of the report for publication by the Agency and the answers to the questionnaire, covering issues related to the action implementation and the economic and societal impact in the context of Horizon 2020 key performance indicators and monitoring requirements. The template documents and further explanations for the completion of the report will be provided by ISIS in due time. The Periodic Financial Report The Periodic Financial Report contains: the individual financial statement from each beneficiary for the reporting period concerned; an explanation of the use of resources also with information on the use of subcontractors and/or in kind contribution provided by third parties from each beneficiary for the reporting period concerned; a periodic summary financial statement, automatically calculated by the electronic exchange system, in which the individual information of each beneficiary are consolidated. Partners shall provide the first two inputs according to the time schedule established in due time by the coordinator. FOCUS on INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT The individual financial statement must detail the eligible costs for each of the following budget category: 8
A. direct personnel costs; B. direct costs of subcontracting; C. other direct costs; D. indirect costs; Direct costs are costs that are directly linked to the action implementation and can therefore be attributed to it directly. They must not include any indirect costs. Indirect costs are costs that are not directly linked to the action implementation and therefore cannot be attributed directly to it. Each of these categories includes the following eligible cost figures: Actual costs Unit costs Flat rate costs Each of these figure is detailed in ARTICLE 6 of the Grant Agreement. Furthermore, it is worth knowing that: - The beneficiaries must declare all eligible costs, even if they exceed the amounts indicated in the estimated budget. - Amounts which are not declared in the individual financial statement will not be taken into account by the Agency. - If an individual financial statement is not submitted for a reporting period, it may be included in the periodic financial report for the next reporting period (Final Report). All information reported above are not exhaustive, for details see the Grant Agreement. 3.2 Final Report Request for payment of the balance The final report must include a more completed set of information: a final technical report with a summary for publication containing: o an overview of the results and their exploitation and dissemination; o the conclusions on the action; o the socio-economic impact of the action. a final financial report containing: o a final summary financial statement automatically calculated by the electronic exchange system, in which the individual information of each beneficiary are consolidated; o the request for payment of the balance; o a certificate on the financial statements if a contribution highest than 325,000 is requested by a beneficiary. 9
4. Documents Management In the drafting of the planned project documents (not only contractual deliverables), a Document Editor (DE) is identified in order to clearly define responsibilities and well organize the work. Usually the DE might correspond to the task leader, i.e. the drafter of deliverables, or to the PC, i.e. reporting documents. The role of the DE is to: Draw out the table of contents, including responsibility allocation and timing; Gather and format the contributions of the partners. Examples of best procedures and timing for deliverables and key documents is outlined below. 4.1 Technical Deliverables a) TABLE OF CONTENTS: DE circulates it not later than 60 days before the planned submission date, specifying who had to do what and by when; b) Involved partners provide comments to DE at the latest within 7 calendar days from sending of the document; c) FIRST DRAFT: a first version of deliverable will be submitted by the DE to ISIS and involved partners for review of contents at the latest within 7 calendar days from sending of the document; d) FIRST REVIEW: Inputs will be provided by involved partners to the DE at the latest within 14 calendar days from sending of the document; e) FINAL DRAFT: The final draft will be sent from DE to ISIS and involved partners at the latest within 14 calendar days from sending of the document; f) FINAL COMMENTS: all corrections requested will be sent by involved partners at the latest within 7 days from sending of the document; g) FINAL VERSION: The final revised document will be circulated among partners at the latest within 7 days from sending of the document, before the submission to EC. 10
Figure 4-1: Deliverable management scheme 4.2 Periodic Reports The DE responsible for periodic reports is the Project Coordinator, ISIS. The timing for the Periodic Reports is as follows: a) ISIS will circulate the templates to partners, specify exact partners contributions and ask for inputs at the latest 60 days before the submission date; b) Partners will send technical and financial inputs to ISIS at the latest within 14 days from sending of the template; c) ISIS will circulate the first draft of the technical and financial Report at the latest within 14 days from sending of the inputs; d) Partners will send feedback to ISIS on technical and financial Report at the latest within 7 days from sending of the documents; e) ISIS will circulate to partners the final draft on technical and financial report at the latest within 7 days from sending of the documents; f) Involved partners will send to ISIS all corrections requested at the latest within 7 days from sending of the documents; g) ISIS will circulate to partners the final version of the technical and financial report at the latest within 7 days from sending of the documents, before the submission to EC. 4.3 Documents file naming The following rules should be used for the naming of all the files in BIOSURF: 11
Where: BIOSURF-DocumentName-edxx.FileExt DocumentName is the name of the document (i.e. Minutes WS). If the document is a deliverable or a milestone, indicate only the deliverable/milestone codes (e.g. Dx.y for a contractual deliverable. Mx,y for a milestone) without the title. Edxx is the incremental edition number of the document. Only the DE shall change this number. (e.g. BIOSURF-D1.1-ed01-doc) FileExt: the extension of the file. During document review phases and in order to trace the contribution of each partner to a draft document, the partner who has revised the documents should add the figures indicated in red below: BIOSURF-DocumentName-edxx-PartnerAcronym-revyy.FileExt Where: Partner Acronym is the short name of the partner who performed the review revyy is the incremental revision number of the document performed by PartnerAcronym. Only the Partner who is performing the revision shall change this number. (e.g. BIOSURF-D1.1-ed01-ISISrev04.doc) The final version of the document will be identified with the following sequence: BIOSURF-DocumentName-final-FileExt 12