© Services GmbH Administrative support to proposal writing 10/4/ St. Petersburg, May 18, 2011 Dr. Andrey Girenko

© Services GmbH What is proposal writing… As agreed, it is a project… Collaborative project‘s proposal writing is a collaborative project/effort Only excellent proposals win. Quality is a key. A need for project management and facilitation 10/4/2015 2

© Services GmbH Organization 10/4/ How it usually works… Who is usually involved… Editor-in-Chief office Key contributor 1 Key contributor N Other partners Profiles, budget requests, admin info Textual contributions WP descriptions, impact, …

© Services GmbH What the editor-in-chief does… Inspires others and generates ideas Defines roles and assigns tasks Stays behind WP and overall budget structures Oversees proposal “assembling” process Key contributions (concept, objectives, progress beyond State-of-the-Art, impacts) Quality control 10/4/ A mastermind, a sole, a heart of the whole endeavor…

© Services GmbH Principle contributors Usually – potential WP leaders Participate in the project design Provide Description of their WPs and ensure linkage to other WPs Help the Editor with the START section If possess specific expertise – provide respective blocks of the proposal (e.g. Ethical Issues) 10/4/2015 5

© Services GmbH Other partners… Agree/disagree with the roles assigned and the budget shares offered Provide: profiles, admin data and detailed budget calculation Contribute by replying to inquiries 10/4/2015 6

© Services GmbH Steps to be taken, PM tasks associated 10/4/ n Shaping a project idea (result – general understanding of what is to be done, tentative title and abstract) – mainly scientists –Facilitation of potential contacts with the EC n Inviting partners –Communication, chasing people –Advising on non-scientific partnership n Structuring a workplan and delegating proposal writing roles n Setting up proposal writing schedule, workflows n Agreement on standards (file exchange standards, graphics, naming and versioning, etc.) n Setting up proposal writing instruments (collaborative working environment, like SVN, TRAC or EMDESK) Meeting?

© Services GmbH During writing itself… 10/4/ nProposal writing schedule management (meeting internal deadlines) and overall communication nFormal arrangements (e.g. registration of proposal in EPSS) nGathering and harmonizing administrative data from all partners (Forms A2), filling the forms in nBudget requests gathering and compiling, budget negotiations nWriting non-scientific texts (management, resources, contributing to impact, etc.) The ultimate role of the PM: enabler and facilitator, an engine behind the writing team

© Services GmbH An example: 10/4/ Budget requests gathering and compiling: n informing partners on specific FP7 financial regime (asking right questions, what is fundable in a particular project, what are the compensation rates,…) n setting up the tools for gathering (see the demo later) n consulting (what is OV calculation scheme? what is a person/month? what is RTD activities and what is DEMO, Other,…? etc…) n ensuring consistency between the workplan and the budget n ensuring meeting the expectations of the EC over project budgets and negotiations with partners (with the Coordinator) n Filling in Forms A3.1

© Services GmbH DEMO: EMDESK – professional project management environment for FP /4/