Research and Innovation Participant Portal Latest changes to the Participant Portal Olivier MARGANNE olivier.marganne@ext.ec.europa.eu eFP7 Communication Office RTD M2

The Participant Portal Offers external stakeholders a unique entry point for the interactions with the European Commission or Agencies in handling grant-related actions, based on: ECAS Single sign-on (1 ECAS account = 1 e-mail address = 1 person) IAM Access rights based on role authorisation + = Personalised services on the Participant Portal Brings homogeneity, transparency and better service integration for grant management.

Participant Portal services: without login Funding Funding opportunities Documents Reference documents My Organisations Organisation registration Experts Experts registration Support Help & support

Personalised services Participant Portal services: after login Funding Funding opportunities Documents Reference documents My Organisations Organisation-related data My Proposals Proposals for funding My Projects Projects-related services Personalised services My Roles Viewing your access rights Notifications Service messages Experts Manage expert profiles Support Help & support

The Identity and Access Management

Personalised services The Participant Portal allows each user to have access to a personalised space, based on 3 main elements: Each user is supposed to have a unique ECAS account, which is the unique identifier for persons (linked to their professional email address). Each ECAS account is linked to one (or more) PIC number(s), which are the unique identifier for organisations. Each ECAS account is linked to all the roles that the user has in projects and/or organisations through IAM. One user can have as many roles as necessary. PCoCo CoCo PaCo TaMa TeMe LEAR AccAd FSIGN FSIGN

The new version of IAM (January 2013) Project level Organisation level Coordinating Organisation Coordinating Organisation Participating Organisation Primary Coo. Contact PCoCo 1 LEAR LEAR 1 LEAR LEAR 1 Participating Organisation Coordinator Contact CoCo 4 Participant Contact PaCo 5 Account Administrator AccAd Account Administrator AccAd … … Task Manager TaMa Task Manager TaMa Financial Signatory FSIGN Financial Signatory FSIGN … … … … Team Member TeMe Team Member TeMe FSIGN FSIGN … … … …

Important remarks Only the key roles of the LEAR and Primary Coordinator Contact are defined/modified by the Commission. The rest is left at the discretion of the consortium. One person can have several roles at the same time. The complexity of the consortium depends on the participants. The minimum configuration is: The Primary Coordinator Contact One Participant Contact per beneficiary One LEAR per organisation One Financial Signatory per organisation PCoCo 1 LEAR 1 Project Organisation PCoCo 1 FSIGN LEAR 1 Coordinator PaCo FSIGN LEAR 1 Beneficiary

Access rights: Project roles PCoCo 1 Is the primary contact person for the European Commission; + Nominate/revoke other Coordinator Contacts; Nominate/revoke any Participant Contact; Submit to European Commission/Agency; Read/write access to common forms; + FSIGN Sign & submit the Forms C; Read/write access to own forms; + CoCo 4 PaCo 5 Nominate/revoke other Participant Contacts, Task Managers and Team Members within their organisation; Assign FSIGNs to a given project; Submit to the Coordinator Contacts; Read/write access to own forms only; + TaMa Create and update forms; + TeMe Read-only access

Access rights: Organisation roles LEAR 1 Nominate/revoke Account Administrators and FSIGNs within their organisation + AccAd Nominate/revoke FSIGNs within their organisation Access the list of roles/persons representing their organisation Access their organisation’s list of Projects and their summaries May request to revoke users from roles within his/her organisation

The nomination process: “Original roles” Some roles are automatically provisioned in the early stages of the Project (“original roles”) as follows: The proposal initiator in the proposal submission phase will automatically be recognised by the Commission as the Primary Coordinator Contact. The contact persons of the participating organisations identified during proposal submission will become Participant Contacts at the beginning of negotiations. The LEAR is validated by the Commission during the validation process of his/her organisation.

The nomination process Project level Organisation level Coordinating Organisation Coordinating Organisation Participating Organisation Primary Coo. Contact PCoCo 1 LEAR LEAR 1 LEAR LEAR 1 Participating Organisation Coordinator Contact CoCo 4 Participant Contact PaCo 5 Account Administrator AccAd Account Administrator AccAd … … Task Manager TaMa Task Manager TaMa Financial Signatory FSIGN Financial Signatory FSIGN … … … … Team Member TeMe Team Member TeMe FSIGN FSIGN … … … …

The nomination process Project level Organisation level Coordinating Organisation Coordinating Organisation Participating Organisation Primary Coo. Contact PCoCo 1 LEAR LEAR 1 LEAR LEAR 1 Participating Organisation Coordinator Contact CoCo 4 Participant Contact PaCo 5 Account Administrator AccAd Account Administrator AccAd … … Task Manager TaMa Task Manager TaMa Financial Signatory FSIGN Financial Signatory FSIGN … … … … Team Member TeMe Team Member TeMe FSIGN FSIGN … … … …

The nomination process Project level Organisation level Coordinating Organisation Coordinating Organisation Participating Organisation Primary Coo. Contact PCoCo 1 LEAR LEAR 1 LEAR LEAR 1 Participating Organisation Coordinator Contact CoCo 4 Participant Contact PaCo 5 Account Administrator AccAd Account Administrator AccAd … … Task Manager TaMa Task Manager TaMa Financial Signatory FSIGN Financial Signatory FSIGN … … … … Team Member TeMe Team Member TeMe FSIGN FSIGN … … … …

The nomination process Project level Organisation level Coordinating Organisation Coordinating Organisation Participating Organisation Primary Coo. Contact PCoCo 1 LEAR LEAR 1 LEAR LEAR 1 Participating Organisation Coordinator Contact CoCo 4 Participant Contact PaCo 5 Account Administrator AccAd Account Administrator AccAd … … Task Manager TaMa Task Manager TaMa Financial Signatory FSIGN Financial Signatory FSIGN … … … … Team Member TeMe Team Member TeMe FSIGN FSIGN … … … …

The nomination process Project level Organisation level Coordinating Organisation Coordinating Organisation Participating Organisation Primary Coo. Contact PCoCo 1 LEAR LEAR 1 LEAR LEAR 1 Participating Organisation Coordinator Contact CoCo 4 Participant Contact PaCo 5 Account Administrator AccAd Account Administrator AccAd … … Task Manager TaMa Task Manager TaMa Financial Signatory FSIGN Financial Signatory FSIGN … … … … Team Member TeMe Team Member TeMe FSIGN FSIGN … … … …

The nomination process: how to nominate/revoke someone? To grant a role, the e-mail address of the "new user" will have to be filled in; this e-mail address should be the same as the one used for the ECAS account of the "new user". If this "new user" has no ECAS account, he/she will automatically receive an invitation to create his/her ECAS account.

Project roles can be granted/revoked in the "My Projects" tab, through the orange "Consortium" icon

Nominate new roles or revoke existing roles (only if you are Primary Coordinator Contact, Coordinator Contact or Participant Contact)

(only if you are LEAR or Account Administrator) Organisation roles can be granted/revoked in the "My Organisations" tab, through the blue "RO" icon (only if you are LEAR or Account Administrator)

The nomination process: Financial Signatories The FSIGN first needs to be nominated by the LEAR or the Account Administrators (but he will not have any right for the time being). There can be as many FSIGNs as needed. Within their organisation, the Primary Coordinator Contact/Coordinator Contact/Participant Contact will need to assign one or several FSIGNs to a specific project. Only then will the FSIGN(s) be able to work on the project.

The nomination process Project level Organisation level Coordinating Organisation Coordinating Organisation Participating Organisation Primary Coo. Contact PCoCo 1 LEAR LEAR 1 LEAR LEAR 1 Participating Organisation Coordinator Contact CoCo 4 Participant Contact PaCo 5 Account Administrator AccAd Account Administrator AccAd … … Task Manager TaMa Task Manager TaMa Financial Signatory FSIGN Financial Signatory FSIGN … … … … Team Member TeMe Team Member TeMe FSIGN FSIGN … … … …

The nomination process Project level Organisation level Coordinating Organisation Coordinating Organisation Participating Organisation Primary Coo. Contact PCoCo 1 LEAR LEAR 1 LEAR LEAR 1 Participating Organisation Coordinator Contact CoCo 4 Participant Contact PaCo 5 Account Administrator AccAd Account Administrator AccAd … … Task Manager TaMa Task Manager TaMa Financial Signatory FSIGN Financial Signatory FSIGN … … … … Team Member TeMe Team Member TeMe FSIGN FSIGN … … … …

Services that have been moved from CORDIS to the Participant Portal

Services that have been moved from CORDIS to the Participant Portal FP7 Reference documents Database of National Contact Points (NCPs) Experts registration (new services for experts will come soon)

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Registration for new experts / Update of new PP expert profile

The new proposal submission tool has definitely replaced EPSS

The new proposal submission tool has definitely replaced EPSS The new proposal submission service is available on the call’s page (after an ECAS login). This tool will help you creating and submitting a proposal step by step, while ensuring data confidentiality. This tool is available from call launch to a strict deadline. You can save a draft proposal and submit it later. The "My Proposals" tab gives you access to draft and submitted proposals (after an ECAS login).

Preview of the step-by-step approach Instrument selection Pre-registration Consortium set-up Forms & documents Form filling Submission

Electronic-only submission of financial statements

Purpose of e-only submission Abolition of parallel electronic and paper streams – reduction of a source of errors and inconsistencies Reduced administrative burden for beneficiaries and Commission Clearer management of time-to-pay First test case for full paperless grant management (planned for Horizon 2020)

New role in the identity and access management New role in the identity and access management: persons authorised to sign forms C for their organisation (FSIGN) Nominations for this new role by LEARs (or their account administrators) – under the "My Organisations" tab Unlimited number of FSIGNs can be nominated LEARs can add comments to each FSIGN (e.g. which part of the forms C of the organisation they can sign) Comments are visible to the persons having project roles in the organisation (Participant Contacts (PaCos) etc.)

Process of electronic-only submission Participant contact assigns an FSIGN to the project (from the list nominated by the LEAR) Participant contact or task manager prepares form C (as today) If applicable, participant contact or task manager uploads scanned copy of certificate on financial statement (signed by the auditor), original to be kept in the files of the beneficiary When ready, participant contact identifies form C as “ready for signature”, triggering a notification to the FSIGN FSIGN electronically signs and submits form C to the coordinator After submission by the coordinator of the forms C package to the Commission, a digitally signed eReceipt is issued for each form C No more paper signature of forms C, no more paper sending of certificates on financial statements

PARTICIPANT COORDINATOR COMMISSION TaMa PaCo FSIGN PCoCo CoCo Drafting of Form C Upload of scanned copies of certificates (if applicable) Identify Form C as “ready for signature” Electronic signature of Form C & Submission of signed Form C (+ certificates) Reject Reception of Form C Notification to FSIGN Approve Submission of all signed Forms C (+ certificates where applicable) Creation of 1 e-receipt for each Form C + 1 for the whole package PARTICIPANT COORDINATOR COMMISSION

Forms C of third parties (SC10) Participant contact or task manager of the main beneficiary (or a person of the third party getting an IAM role by the main beneficiary) drafts third party form C Participant contact of the main beneficiary submits the third party form C to coordinator (no electronic signature, no FSIGN involved) After submission of the package by the coordinator to the COM, third party form C is printed (by the main beneficiary), hand-signed by the legal representative of the third party and this hand-signed original is kept in the files of the main beneficiary (for potential later audit) – no sending to the Commission No need for third parties to appoint LEARs and FSIGNs

Value of the eReceipt Electronic receipt = digitally signed PDF version of the document submitted. Both the content of the document and a set of metadata (time stamp, ECAS credentials of submitter) are digitally sealed. The digital signature mechanism, using a public-private key pair mechanism, uniquely binds the eReceipt to the transaction and ensures its full integrity. Therefore a complete digitally-signed trail of the transaction is available both for the beneficiaries and the Commission. Any attempt to modify the content will lead to a break of the integrity of the electronic signature, which can be verified at any time by clicking on the signature in the PDF document. The eReceipt can be downloaded at any time and stored on other electronic media.

Date of entry into force; retroactiveness? New regime is obligatory for all grants signed after 1.1.2013 (changed model grant agreement) Consequence: nomination of LEARs is obligatory For grants signed before 1.1.2013, the current parallel paper and electronic submission remains available as an option. However: consortia are encouraged to go for the electronic-only also for existing grants Pre-requisite: signature of a simple amendment (accepting the new stipulations of the revised model grant agreement)

More information FAQ: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/faq Contact us: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/contactus ECAS help: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/help.html FP7 IT helpdesk: ec-research-it-helpdesk@ec.europa.eu / +352 43 01 31 570

Thank you! Any questions? Olivier MARGANNE olivier.marganne@ext.ec.europa.eu eFP7 Communication Office RTD M2