e-SENS Electronic Simple European Networked Services e-SENS General Assembly Administrative procedures Berlin, Germany Apr 9th 2013

Agenda Documents Reporting Transfer of Funds Internal Communication Governance Next Steps

Documents

EC Grant Agreement Technical Annex Financial & Reporting Guidelines e-SENS Consortium Consortium Agreement e-SENS financial guidelines National Consortium National Consortium Agreement National Guidelines

Reporting

Eligible costs The EC funds 50% of eligible costs, never more. Costs must be essential for the performance of the project and would not be incurred if the project did not take place The beneficiaries must be able to justify the resources used to attain the objectives set. The Community financial contribution must not be diverted to finance other projects Each beneficiary is – at all times – responsible and accountable for the budget he has received Extracts from the “Guide to Financial Issues relating to ICT PSP Grant Agreements” published by the European Commission

Each beneficiary Is responsible for the application and coordination of these principles in the beneficiary’s organization and in those of the partners in their ‘national consortium’ Acts as a single point of contact for all communication with the Project Coordinator on administrative and financial matters. Maintains accounts and keeps the relevant supporting documentation for at least 5 years after the date of the final payment. Ensures accounts and originals are kept by the partners of its national consortium. Provides information on costs to the Project Coordinator

Cost categories Personnel Costs Definition: Gross total costs of the individuals working directly on the project Personnel Costs Definition: Gross total costs of the individuals working directly on the project Indirect Costs Definition: Also referred to as Overheads. A 30% flat rate is applied based on the total personnel cost of individuals employed directly by the partner. Indirect Costs Definition: Also referred to as Overheads. A 30% flat rate is applied based on the total personnel cost of individuals employed directly by the partner. Direct Costs Definition: Direct costs are travel expenses, allowances, and other expenditure such as translation and equipment required by the project. Direct Costs Definition: Direct costs are travel expenses, allowances, and other expenditure such as translation and equipment required by the project. Subcontracting Definition: A partner can choose to subcontract part of the tasks, provided he/she justifies he/she does not have the capacity to perform this task on his/her own. Subcontracting Definition: A partner can choose to subcontract part of the tasks, provided he/she justifies he/she does not have the capacity to perform this task on his/her own. One golden rule: The eligible costs described above are reimbursed 50% by the European Commission. The 50% ratio applies to all costs.

Mid Year & Annual Reporting to the EC The Coordinator always reports to the EC. All beneficiaries report to the Coordinator. Frequency? Interim reporting every half year Annual reporting at the end of each year Content? Person Months consumed Budget consumed How to report? Short-term solution: spread sheet template Long-term solution: online reporting tool Who do you report to? To the WP1 coordination team / PAC EC Coordinator Beneficiaries

Long-term: Monthly reporting by National Consortium & WP leaders Registrations of time and expenses at individual project participant level 1st Approval – by National Coordinator of the National Consortium 2nd Approval – by Work Package / Domain / Cluster Leaders

Short Term: WP1 to Provide a template for record keeping WP1 to provide registration template in MS Excel to National Consortium leaders to keep a record of time and expenses use in the meantime Once the Long Term solution is up and going, WP1 will transfer information from the templates National Coordinators will also be requested to collect project participant information from their respective Consortium to feed into the Long Term solution More information to come from WP1 by

Transfer of funds

Financial operations The whole project lifetime is divided into 6-months intervals. Funds are transferred based on these intervals. The first pre-payment will be 1/6 of the total funding based on the initial budget forecast. Further (pre-) payments will be made according to the costs reported. What is needed now in order to receive funds: 1.Sign the Grant Agreement, Coordinator co-signs, EC co-signs 2.In parallel Send the bank account details of the Beneficiary –The bank account must be owned by the Beneficiary –Funds cannot be transferred to the partners only to the Beneficiary 3.Comply with administrative reporting

Internal communication

Mailing lists Groups general: all project members pd: primary / deputy contact person per Beneficiary (national coordinator and/or person who has mandate to vote in General Assembly) aa: admin aspects -> Administrative person per Beneficiary mb: management board apb: advisory policy board ab: architectural board db: domain board Work Packages wp1 wp2 wp3 wp4 wp5 - wp5.1-wp5.4 wp6 -wp6.1-wp6.4 examples: Mailing lists are automated mail distributors which accept s sent to a central address and distribute the to all members of the list. Every participant is allowed to to every list.

BSCW Group specific folders: The access to these have to be approved in advance. pd: primary / deputy -> national coordinator + person who has mandate to vote in General Assembly mb: management board -> MB members apb: advisory policy board -> APB members ab: architectural board ->AB members db: domain board -> DB members Work Packages: Each Project participant will get access to these folders.

Summary For large file transfers use the BSCW server. Send mails with specific topics / questions to correct lists (not always just to general list). You can participate in several lists at the same time. Do not use your own mailing list! How to get access to the e-SENS folders on the BSCW server and how to subscribe to a mailing list: Please obtain approval from the WP leader / domain or cluster leader Please address your requests to: In this please add your contact details for the Yellow Pages! (Name, Organization, Address, Phone)

Governance

Important Definitions Beneficiary: means a legal entity which participates in the grant agreement concluded with the Community. The beneficiary will be receiving the funds and will act as a single point of contact with the Coordinator and towards the EC, when applicable. Partner: means a legal entity attached to a specific beneficiary, and the beneficiary itself. The partner is listed in the Technical Annex. Financial rules apply equally to partners and beneficiaries. However, the beneficiary coordinates and consolidates the reporting from the partner(s) it is linked to. A Beneficiary and its partner(s) are commonly referred to as a national consortium. Disclaimer: the legal nature of the link between a beneficiary and its partner(s) lies within the responsibility of the beneficiary.

National Coordination The e-SENS consortium has agreed that there will be only one beneficiary per country and that national participation must be coordinated and organized via the creation of a national consortium. It is up to each and every country to set up their national consortium and to involve the relevant partner organizers. The beneficiary can therefore be any one of the partnering public administrations within the country. Costs for the management of national consortium are considered to be overhead costs and therefore fall under the cost category “indirect costs”.

e-SENS project governance and organisation Coordinator (WP1) Administration, advocacy & overall management WP1 WP1 leader WP4 WP4 leader Management Board General Assembly (1 representative per beneficiary).. WP2 WP2 leader EC, Council, Etc. WP6 WP6 leader WP5 WP5 leader WP3 WP3 leader Partner = Beneficiary (national consortium) Technical governance Administrative governance Advisory Policy Board WPL EC Policy governance Domain Board Architec tural Board Partner 1 ….. Partner 1 Partner 2 Partner n Partner 2 Partner n QM WP1 leader WP2 leader WP3 leader WP5 leader WP4 leader WP6 leader eHealth eJustice eProc. eBusiness eID eDelivery eSign. eDoc.

Governance Structure The objective of the Governance structure of e-SENS is to describe clear working mechanisms and to ensure transparency in reporting, representation and decision making. In a nutshell: Partners work in the various work packages (WPs) WPs report and coordinate via the Management Board The Architecture Board is part of WP6 and works on the overarching architectural aspects. It reports to the Management Board. The Domain Board is part of WP5 and ensures horizontal cooperation across domains. It reports to the Management Board. The Management Board is responsible for the operational aspects of the implementation of the project. It cooperates with the Advisory Policy Board and reports to the General Assembly. The advisory Policy Board addresses specific policy related issues within domains and clusters. It cooperates with the Management Board and reports to the General Assembly. The Coordinator ensures the managerial coordination of the project The General Assembly is the ultimate decision making body of the project. Partners are present in the General Assembly (1 per beneficiary) Each country has one vote in the General Assembly

Key items to remember! Daily Project Operations WP Leaders, cluster and domain Leaders are the contact point for daily work Feel free to contact the technical/administrative coordinators should you have any questions Each WP has specific calls, meetings… Please register to and use mailing lists… all material is on the BSCW General admin. financial Interim reporting every 6 months to WP1 -> EC Annual reporting and review to WP1 -> EC Financial Rules You are responsible for the use of funds you claim/receive – only worked planned for within the project can be considered Reporting is done every 6 months from the Coordinator to the EC Funds are transferred per 6 month period based on work done, forecasted and delta National coordination National coordinators are responsible for the organization on national level Costs for national coordination activities are covered by the indirect costs Regular monthly reporting to WP1

Next steps

Next Steps: Grant Agreement Finalization of the TA Update partner factsheets with subcontracting, key personnel, direct costs GPF forms National Consortium Agreements Grant Agreement Deadline: Apr 19th 2013

Next Steps: Consortium Agreement Comments on the CA Accession form to the CA Bank details Consortium Agreement Deadline: Apr 30th 2013

Next Steps: general Indicate the persons for: aa and pd Project Handbook Reporting template Daily Operations

AprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJanFebMar M1M2M3M4M5M6M7M8M9M10M11M12 Year 1 - WP1 deliverables Internal Guidelines D1.1 How to Write a Good Deliverable (M2) D1.2 Internal Communication Plan (M2) D1.3Risk Management and Quality Assurance (M2) WP1 Interim Report D1.4 Interim Activity Report (M7) Annual Report Annual Report

Thank you for your attention!