1. Research and Innovation Participant Portal Latest changes to the Participant Portal
Olivier MARGANNE
eFP7 Communication Office
RTD M2

2. 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 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.

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

4. 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

5. The Identity and Access Management

6. 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 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

7. 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 … … … …

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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 … … … …

13. 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 … … … …

14. 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 … … … …

15. 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 … … … …

16. 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 … … … …

17. The nomination process: how to nominate/revoke someone?
To grant a role, the address of the "new user" will have to be filled in; this 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.

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

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

20. (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)

21. 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.

22. 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 … … … …

23. 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 … … … …

24. Services that have been moved from CORDIS to the Participant Portal

25. 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)

26. 26

28. Registration for new experts / Update of new PP expert profile

29. The new proposal submission tool has definitely replaced EPSS

30. 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).

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

33. Electronic-only submission of financial statements

34. 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)

35. 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.)

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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

39. 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.

40. Date of entry into force; retroactiveness?
New regime is obligatory for all grants signed after (changed model grant agreement)
Consequence: nomination of LEARs is obligatory
For grants signed before , 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)

41. More information
FAQ:
Contact us:
ECAS help:
FP7 IT helpdesk: /

43. Thank you! Any questions?
Olivier MARGANNE
eFP7 Communication Office
RTD M2