Coordinator's Guide to Horizon 2020 projects

© Europa Media Trainings, EMG Group, 2020
COORDINATOR'S GUIDE TO
EU PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
Templates, Tools, Tips and Examples – Focus: Horizon
2020
FOREWORD
Europa Media’s experts have been managing and coordinating EU projects since
1999. To share our knowledge and experience with you, we have produced various
publications, launched online platforms, and organised many conferences and
training courses till now. During these years, we have also learnt a lot from the
thousands of participants of our training courses and events. Our scope with this
new publication is to support your work as a project manager and coordinator with
more practical tools and tips.
We have collected the handiest templates, project management tools and
practical tips, and supplemented them with examples for better clarification, so
that you can directly use them in your projects. The idea is not to repeat all the
rules and legal commitments of a project coordinator; these are all available in
the official guidelines. Instead, we have focused on those practical issues, that can
arise during project implementation, and which not all coordinators may be able
to properly manage.
We value your opinion! Please let us know if you find this guide useful. We would
also very much like to hear about your experiences and stories on managing and
coordinating EU projects.
THE EUROPA MEDIA TEAM
info@europamediatranings.com

CONTENTS
FOREWORD ...................................................................................... 1
WHO WE ARE.................................................................................... 3
THE TASKS OF................................................................................... 4
A COORDINATOR................................................................................ 4
MAIN ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF A COORDINATOR ................................. 6
EVERYDAY MANAGEMENT...................................................................... 9
SKILLS OF A COORDINATOR ..................................................................14
PROJECT TOOLBOX – SETTING UP A SYSTEM ..............................................15
COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM .................................................................17
ARCHIVING .....................................................................................18
QUALITY ASSURANCE PLAN ..................................................................19
RISK MANAGEMENT............................................................................19
PREPARE THE PROJECT FOR EXPLOITATION – IPR ISSUES................................20
GENDER ACTION PLAN ........................................................................23
ETHICAL ISSUES................................................................................26
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ....................................................................27
UNWANTED PROCEDURES ....................................................................32

WHO WE ARE
Building on our direct experience with EU research projects, we have come to
realise that there is a need for more harmonised information provision on EU
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building on developing competitive proposals and effectively managing projects
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The EU funding system is complex and competition to get a project financed by
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are needed to successfully get involved in these competitive projects.
To respond to this need, Europa Media was established in 2003 with a mission to
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In parallel, we launched our first international training programmes on EU proposal
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THE TASKS OF
A COORDINATOR
Let’s allocate a few minutes for the basics:
What are the tasks of a coordinator?
Consider the Management and Coordination related work package in a project
proposal, or already in the Description of Action (DoA). What tasks are listed there?
Is everything mentioned? Do you know your tasks and responsibilities?
Below is a list of tasks that regularly appear in the Management/Coordination work
packages depending on the complexity of the project.
• Scientific coordination and
• Administrative coordination
Setting up an overall management structure (acting
persons, responsibilities and teams).
Preparation of all project meetings.
Kick-off activities of the project and kick-off meeting
(re-align vision, mission and focus on project outputs
and related deliverables).
Generating a project management plan. The plan will
describe the indicators, the reporting procedures,
schedule and the management of the project progress.
Monitoring accordingly.
Developing a quality assurance plan and monitoring
deliverables/processes accordingly.
Risk Management and Contingency Planning.
• Legal and IPR coordination.
IPR Management (managing and protecting IPR linked to
the results developed in the project).
Drafting and signing a Consortium Agreement (CA),
signed before the Grant Agreement (GA)
• Financial coordination
Managing financial aspects, including payments,
financial reporting, reallocations, and other financial
activities in the project.
• Sustainability and Exploitation (if not part of another WP)
Analysis and actions to make the project and its
infrastructure sustainable (overview of the project’s
sustainability scenarios;
Attracting stakeholders and public and private funding
for the expansion of the project).

• Communication
Internal communication within the consortium.
Communication with the EC.
• Gender issues, ethical issues, social impact (horizontal issues).
• Data Management.
• Cooperation with other EC projects.
All these tasks are described in a short paragraph in the proposal/DoA. Make sure
that all necessary tasks are noted in your project (and in your mind).
Possible deliverables of the Management/Coordination work package:
• Management tools e.g. Guidelines, Gantt chart, Deliverables
and Milestone tables, reporting templates
• Quality Assurance Plan
• Gender Action Plan
• Kick-off organisation (Attendance, logistics, minutes)
• Minutes of the meetings
• Online Platform Communication tool
• 6(or 9)-monthly Interim Reports
• Partner lists and updates
• Business Plan, Exploitation Plan, etc.
Additional documents, not part of the list of deliverables but related to
Management and Coordination, are:
• Consortium Agreement (should in principle be signed before the
GA is signed, therefore, not needed to be included as a
deliverable)
• Official EC Periodic Reports and the Final Report (some EC
Project Officers request to take these out as they have to be
submitted anyway)
These are the basics. Let’s see what tasks are in general listed specifically for the
coordinator in the DoA and the Consortium Agreement.

MAIN ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES OF
A COORDINATOR
• Act as a SINGLE legal representative of the Consortium towards
the EC and handle all communication between the EC and the
consortium.
• Keep the project on track – keeping the deadlines of the
deliverables and submitting them and the official reports to the
EC.
• Initiate changes in work content (in line with the GA).
• Handle the advance payments and interim instalments, initiate
changes or reallocation in the budget (between categories and
partners and in line with the GA and CA).
• Organise and chair the review meetings if needed (decided by
the EC).
• Deal with the unexpected (see example at p. 8).
The above-mentioned tasks shall not be subcontracted – only in very exceptional
cases, e.g. spin-offs offices taking care of coordination activities for public bodies.
OTHER TASKS:
• Keeping the address list of members and other contact persons
updated and available.
• Collecting, reviewing and submitting information on the
progress of the project and reports and other deliverables
(including financial statements and related certifications) to
the EC.
• Initiating, preparing the meetings, proposing decisions and
preparing the agenda of the meetings, chairing the meetings,
preparing the minutes of the meetings and monitoring the
implementation of decisions taken at the meetings.
The above require a good communication, quality assurance and monitoring system
and procedures to be set up.
• Leading the negotiations and communication with the EC.
• Drafting a CA and handling all discussions around it.
• Dissemination, marketing of project results, lobbying,
cooperation with external parties – as the main representative
of the consortium towards the Commission, the public and the
scientific community.

• Transmitting documents and information connected with the
project, including all relevant communication from the EC
towards the consortium.
• Administering the EU financial contribution and fulfilling the
financial tasks.
• Providing, upon request, the partners with official or original
copies of documents which are in the sole possession of the
Coordinator when such copies or originals are necessary for the
partners to present claims.

Is that all? Not nearly! Take a look at the everyday management items below.
TACKLING UNEXPECTED EVENTS
AND FORCE MAJEURE
A recently closed project of ours, in which we were the coordinator, involved field work
for measuring and validating data. The field tasks were dependent on weather conditions
and the consortium relied on a subcontractor to undertake this specific technical work.
The implementation of the work was planned for the second year of the three-year
project, as in the first year we would assess and calculate certain risks related to this
task due to its nature. Despite the relatively wide “observation window” (i.e. optimal
conditions for data recording throughout the whole spring and summer), we ended up
having bad weather conditions at the planned time of the field work. Since our partner
in implementation of the work was flexible enough to perform the task, we made another
attempt shortly after the first one. Unfortunately, we had bad luck again with the
weather, hence could not conduct the necessary work. Since we had no alternative for
the task, the following year (last year of the project) the partners planned the work
again. After weeks of discussions and careful investigation, we agreed on a solution to
get the job done by the subcontractor. It was a scientifically and technically sound
solution in line with the project’s objectives, therefore an acceptable solution for the
Commission. However, just a few weeks before the field work, the subcontractor
reported that they would be unable to provide the technical solution for data acquisition.
Half of the optimal “observation window” had been gone by that time and we still had
to perform the task, which was instrumental to the success of the whole project. We
came up with a Plan A and a Plan B, and we pursued them in parallel to ensure task
completion. One consisted in submitting an amendment request to the PO referring to
‘force majeure’ and asking for a one-year prolongation of the project. Plan B involved
continuing to try and find a technically and operationally feasible solution and re-
programme the data processing, data analysis and reporting. Finally, our fourth attempt
was successful, and we obtained the necessary data to finish the research task with
satisfactory results. The weather conditions were optimal, and the technical solution was
serving the project’s overall needs for innovation. At the end, the prolongation was not
granted for the project, so one of the plans did not work, but the new schedule for
delivering the results helped us safeguard the project implementation. Lesson learned:
It is always good to have alternative plans and measures in response to unexpected events
and force majeure. Ideally, if you can estimate the probability of occurrence of such
situations early in advance you could draft a sound risk management and response plan
to minimise problems.

EVERYDAY MANAGEMENT
• Establish effective communication (tools, channels, frequency
to be decided and then regular communication maintained) e.g.
Mailing lists for the project and work package teams;
Skype/Online or phone conference calls for smaller discussions
regularly; Face-to-face meetings to be organised cost-
efficiently; Common platform for working on documents, etc.
• Manage work content changes (during the negotiation or the
implementation).
• Monitor project performance - monitoring compliance by the
partners with their obligations (e.g. Partner failure/work
performance: inexperienced partners may act as the “weakest
link”).
• Handle disagreements.
• Interpret the work content to partners if necessary.
• Control spending - budget running low or not spent (e.g.
unforeseen expenditures or complaints from partners).
• Deal with extreme situations, and the unexpected e.g. Force
Majeure (natural disaster, war, etc.).
• Be sensitive to cultural and gender differences.
What helps to remember all the tasks is to put them into perspective. Link the
tasks with project phases; try to differentiate between pure administrative issues
and major tasks, which a scientific and official coordinator of the project must
perform. Here is a table showing the project lifecycle and the individual phases in
this cycle to help you get started. All you need to do is to tailor it to your project.

PROJECT PHASE
SPECIFIC TASKS
OFFICIAL COORDINATION
TASKS, SCIENTIFIC
COORDINATION
ADMINISTRATIVE
MANAGEMENT TASKS
GENERAL
Grant Agreement
Negotiation
Turning the proposal
into DoA.
Submitting all
documents to the EC,
signing the grant
agreement (electronic).
Drafting the CA, having
it signed by all
partners.
Preparing a tasks list
on what should be
done when by whom.
Support in DoA and
CA development.
Support in filling in
GAP parts,
communicating with
all partners.
Making sure all
partners contribute
to DoA development.
Making sure all
partners fill in the
GPF, sign all
documents
(electronically).
Starting the project Distributing advance
payment according to
CA.
Organising the kick-off
meeting.
Sending out the minutes
of the meeting.
Explaining clearly the
scientific scopes,
technical tasks,
implementation method
to the partners.
Explaining the
communication,
quality assurance,
reporting
responsibilities and
rules.
Developing guidelines
and templates to
help manage the
project.
Kick-off meeting:
setting the date,
drafting the agenda,
organising the
meeting itself,
chairing the meeting.
Preparing the
minutes.
Setting the date for
the next project
meeting.
Dissemination,
Representation, lobbying
(Re)presenting the
project at events,
working on the
continuation of the
project, discussing
options with the EC.
Cooperating with other
projects and
organisations.
Supporting the
coordinator.
Ensuring high
awareness, wide
representation in the
scientific and/or
policy-making
community, lobbying
towards the
sustainability of the
project results
(and/or
continuation).
Reporting
6-monthly internal reports
suggested + official EC
reports periodically (12/18
months)
Checking the submitted
deliverables, activity
and financial reports.
Uploading all relevant
information to the PP
and submitting to the
EC.
Sending warnings
about
reporting/delivery
deadlines.
Sending detailed
instructions.
Making sure that all
partners deliver in
time and quality.
Controlling budget
spending
(6-monthly) and
adapting as needed.

Distributing the
instalments once
received from EC.
Cross-checking the
submitted reports,
noting errors, etc.
Project meetings Initiating the meetings,
Sending out the agenda,
and then the minutes of
the meeting.
results and progress is
known by all.
Explaining clearly the
upcoming tasks (e.g. for
6-12 months).
Drafting the agenda,
chairing the meeting
together with the
organiser and the
coordinator.
Making the partners
active during the
meeting.
Setting the date for
the next meeting.
Preparing the
minutes.
IPR, Gender, Ethical issues All horizontal issues must be considered.
IPR is handled in the CA; still, additional tasks are needed to be handled if
IPR-linked results are developed in the project.
Gender issues must be reported if relevant they are considered relevant
by the EC in most projects.
Ethical issues might not come up, but if they do, the Coordinator has to
make sure that they are duly managed.

EVERYDAY
MANAGEMENT
OFFICIAL
COORDINATION TASKS,
SCIENTIFIC
COORDINATION
ADMINISTRATIVE
MANAGEMENT TASKS
GENERAL
Communication Setting up a
communication
system.
Suggesting the
communication
channels, tools, their
appropriate use, etc.
Reminding about the
deadlines.
Regular
communication
– scientific,
administrative,
financial.
Monitoring of progress,
quality
Review
(EC monitoring) Mostly
technical/ scientific, but
could be financially focused
on the whole project
Organising pre-
review meeting for
the partners.
Sending all the due
deliverables and the
draft report to
reviewers.
Introducing the
project at the
review.
Providing support to
partners (what are
the rules, how to get
prepared, etc.).
Preparing the
consortium for
scheduled or random
reviews,
Developing the draft
report.
Managing partners
Management system
Supporting less experienced partners; answering questions; handling
non-performance;
Making sure that the management system is set up – all decision-making
bodies have appointed representatives; Initiating decision-making
processes when needed by the relevant boards.
Closure of the project Organising the final
meeting focusing on
project closure and
continuation of
collaboration.
Communicating with
the partners – proper
farewell.
Distributing the final
payment.
Submitting the report
on the distribution of
EU contribution.
Final administrative
steps, informing all
partners about their
final duties.
public results are
available,
Website maintenance
is ensured for 5 extra
years.
All is archived,
administered.

Setting up a
monitoring and
quality control
system – both
Scientific and
Financial
Suggesting steps and
methods in
monitoring and
quality control and
administering the
activities.
Making sure that
monitoring is done –
both scientific and
financial.
Administration, archiving Ensuring internal
archiving.
Administering what
should be saved and
archived, and what
took place when in
the project.
Saving all
documents, results,
deliverables, saving
all communication
with the partners
and the EC printed or
electronically.
Managing unexpected
events
Communicating with
the EC and the
partners.
Safeguarding the
interest of the
project.
Supporting the
coordinator (rules,
options, etc.).
Dealing with
problems:
withdrawal of a
partner, a new
scientific trend or
legal change to
adapt to, force
majeure, etc.
Working with the EC
project officer
Keeping the
deadlines, answering
his/her e-mails.
Communicating the
messages of the
consortium.
Discussing changes
and modifications.
Checking deadlines.
Ensuring regular
communication.
Getting to know the
officer, his/her
interests and
demands regarding
the project.
Managing disputes Mediation, finding a
compromise –
safeguarding the
interest of the
project.
Explaining the rules,
options and
mediation.
Acting according to
CA, mediating
between the
partners.
Grant Agreement
modification
Initiating work
content changes and
discussing this with
the EC.
Explaining the
process, providing
relevant templates.
Coordinating with
partners the
modifications,
developing the new
DoA if relevant.

SKILLS OF A COORDINATOR
What skills does a coordinator need to have to be able to successfully coordinate
a project?
• Scientific/technical skills – to be able to understand the
project objectives, potential for innovation and technical risks.
• Administrative/financial skills – a general knowledge on the
administrative and financial (legal) rules of the funding
programme.
• Social skills – excellent ability to control and motivate the
partners, including self-confidence and power: The Coordinator
is always “More equal than the others”
• Leadership skills - project coordination is not a democracy, but
also not a dictatorship!
THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL SKILLS
IN PROJECT COORDINATION
In an ongoing project of ours, there were some changes in personnel at one of the key
partners. The newly appointed project manager had good knowledge on how to handle
things at a local level but lacked the same know-how in a European context, which he
tried to compensate by addressing us with frequent phone calls sometimes lasting up to
30 minutes. Much patience had been mobilised during these calls, while our input made
him realise slowly but steadily the main principles along which he needed to act. Cutting
corners early on by not giving him enough time to explain himself, his needs and ways of
doing things might have proved counterproductive in the long run, because of the distrust
this may have developed for him towards us, the coordinator. Now being confident of
what was expected from him and seeing his role within the whole of the project, he
started to realise how his immediate co-workers at the project partner institution
“suffered” from the same way of thinking he used to abuse us with for a while. Our great
deal of patience and efforts to understand his ways invested in him eventually paid off,
and now we have a very efficiently operating local manager fully capable of handling
most of his tasks on his own and requiring our assistance only once in a while. Remember;
patience is of key importance when it comes to dealing with your partners! And patiently
supporting your partners and “training” them pays off in the medium-/long-term.

If you do not have all these skills, set up a team, which would collectively have
these skills. You may find the right people within your organisation or within the
core project team (most crucial partners).
What are the tools you have in hand?
• ALWAYS use your charm!
• Be pragmatic!
• Sense of politics – Diplomatic skills may come very handy.
• Use your legal power: Management Bodies – Consortium
Agreement
Start with your charm and use legal powers only when absolutely necessary!
PROJECT TOOLBOX – SETTING
UP A SYSTEM
We call it a toolbox, you may call it differently. Here, we mean a folder of project
management tools, which you, as a coordinator, prepare for your partners to
support their everyday administration of work progress, financial and technical
reporting, archiving, etc.
Such a system allows the coordinator and all the partners to follow up the project
progress, eases the burden of administration, and enables the coordinator to
accurately react to the inquiries by the Commission about the project at any time.
A project toolbox normally includes:
• Official documentation: GA, CA, DoA
• Official guidelines: Reporting, financial and other guidelines
prepared by the EC
• Task list and schedule for 6-12 months – Gantt chart, a list of
results to be achieved, documents to be submitted, including
responsible partner(s)/person(s), deadlines, review stages – In
one document! – Regularly updated (min. quarterly)
• Internal Reporting Template (Technical) – a Word template and
maybe an online tool to upload documents, data, records,
images, etc.
Internal Report Template (for all partners)
Task Monitoring Table
• Internal Financial Reporting tool (online platform or Excel
sheet)
Cost Monitoring Table (to monitor the budget spending)

Cost Justification Template (to have justification for all major cost items)
Person-months status (to monitor the staff effort allocated)
• Dissemination Reporting Form (Excel or Word or Online
programmed)
Dissemination and Exploitation Report Form
• Excel pre-programmed is a good solution
Quality Assurance Plan
• Quality check process description – The Quality Assurance Plan
or the CA will define this process (see more later)
Minutes of the meeting
• Minutes of all meetings (at the end of the minutes there is the
list of common decisions, task schedule that partners should be
able to check anytime)
Contact list
• Contact list – emails/phones
Other:
• Communication Plan (normally the CA or the Quality Assurance
Plan includes it)
• Archiving, administration procedures (normally the CA or the
Quality Assurance Plan includes it)
Make sure that all the templates and guides you prepare contain detailed
instructions, explanations and REAL examples which the partners can build on.
In case you have inexperienced partners in your consortium, you may extend the
content of the toolbox:
• Guide to the Participant Portal with screenshots.
• Training material or links to online training on EU project
management

COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM
Tailored to Horizon 2020
The idea of having a collaborative platform for the consortium partners in
implementing EU projects is interesting. Before getting into it, we must admit that
we use online management platforms tailored to EU projects only if the
coordinator insists on using them. If we are the coordinating partner, we mainly
use Excel sheets and Word templates, without implementing online internal
reporting, but only the one to the European Union. Nevertheless, tailored online
reporting platforms might be useful if well used and used by all partners.
A collaborative platform offers certain benefits:
• The coordinator does not have to copy-paste the received
information from different sheets, but they automatically
appear in the online system.
• Comparisons or other calculations are made automatically, and
maybe even graphs, etc. are automatically generated.
• The system warns you automatically when a deadline is not
met/kept.
• E-mail notifications on admin tasks can be programmed and
sent automatically.
A collaborative platform also has certain disadvantages:
• It might be expensive and does not really save time for the
partners, only for the coordinator mostly.
• There are many different solutions available on the market,
partners do not want to use a ‘new’ one.
• Many partners take it as an extra administrative burden.
• A well-prepared Excel sheet provides almost the same functions
and effectiveness.
• The coordinator and WP leaders have to carefully check all
data, and bugs and mistakes can also happen.
• It works only if all partners fill in.
Project management platforms used in H2020 projects include EMDESK e.g.

ARCHIVING
The following documents must be saved, archived and made available for all
partners:
• GA;
• DoA;
• CA;
• Deliverables, other major research results/documents;
• IPR agreements;
• Any other agreement;
• Copies of key correspondence with the EC (scanned letters, e-
mails -if you do not use the Participant Portal Communication
section);
• Reports (internal, EC);
• Financial summaries (updated, filled cost templates);
• Updated project planning document;
• Contact list(s);
• Amendment files (if relevant);
• Meeting minutes and presentations;
• Data Management Plan;
• Media files or other material (project logo, project PPT
template, project dissemination materials, press releases,
etc.).
Different versions might be available, so make sure that proper identification and
naming procedures are set. See below the Quality Assurance Plan section for
details. Archive electronic and paper versions as well.
The following must be archived at an organisational level by all partners:
• Timesheets;
• Payslips;
• Invoices;
• Contracts;
• Reports, data sent to the Coordinator;
• Procurement documents (offers or full procurement
documentation);
• Official letters;
• Proof on dissemination;
• Proof on event attendance.

QUALITY ASSURANCE PLAN
The purpose of a QA plan is normally to define a consistent set of working
procedures, quality check processes, common standards and guidelines to ensure
certain quality of the project outcomes.
The main objectives are to:
• Manage the interaction between the beneficiaries during the
execution of work;
• Define the procedures for monitoring progress on a regular
basis;
• Detail how and when the documentation and reporting have to
be done/exchanged by the beneficiaries and with the EC;
• Set editorial/quality standards for project deliverables and
document;
• Develop dissemination guidelines if a dissemination plan is not
available;
• Provide supporting templates.
RISK MANAGEMENT
Typical steps of risk management:
• Identify the risk;
• Evaluate the risk;
• Identify the suitable responses to the risk;
• Select the response measures;
• Plan and evaluate;
• Monitor and report (return to step 2).
The easiest way is to create and maintain a good Risk Register. This may include
initial risk estimates. The register should be updated quarterly or six-monthly
based on the input from the internal reports.

PREPARE THE PROJECT FOR
EXPLOITATION – IPR ISSUES
Definition of an exploitable result:
“Achieved and expected results of the project which have commercial/social
significance and can be exploited as a stand-alone product, process, service, etc.”
The Commission recommends doing the following exercise (before Grant
Agreement signature). It is not an easy process but may well prepare all your
partners and the project itself for a successful exploitation.
STEP1
Create and fill in a table of exploitable results (Task of the coordinator – partners may help).
EXPLOITABLE
RESULT
RESULT
MANAGER
PARTNERS
INVOLVED
RELEVANT
WPS
RELEVANT
DELIVERABLES
DATE OF
ACHIEVEMENT
Result No1
Result No2
...
STEP 2
You can characterise the results by replying to the following questions:
• Please describe the need(s) to be satisfied by this result.
• What benefits will it bring to the customers/end-users?
• What is the expected date of achievement / time to market?
• What costs need to be covered before exploitation?
• Who will be the customers/end-users of this result?
• What is the approximate price range of this result / price of
licenses?
• What is the market size in M€ for this result and relevant trend?
• How will this result rank against competing products in terms of
price / performance?
• Who are the competitors of this result in the market?
• How fast and in what ways will the competition respond to this
result?
• Which are the project partners from industry involved in the
implementation and exploitation of this result?
• What is the relation of the result to the industrial partners’
products?

• Have you protected, or will you protect this result? How and
when?
STEP 3
Collect the IPR information related to the exploitable results.
IPR ON BACKGROUND INFORMATION (B)
Information, excluding foreground information, brought to the project from
existing knowledge, owned or controlled by project partners in the same or related
fields of the work carried out in the research project.
IPR ON FOREGROUND INFORMATION (F)
Information including all kinds of exploitable results generated by the project
partners or third parties working for them in the implementation of the research
project.
EXPLOITATION CLAIMS (M, U, L, O)
The intention of the partners to exploit the results by:
• Making them and selling them (M)
• Using them internally to make something else for sale (U)
• Licensing them to third parties (L)
• Providing services such as consultancy (O)
Create a simple table, which is to be filled in by all partners.
RESULTS/PARTNER RESULT 1 RESULT 2 RESULT 3 ...
Partner 1
Partner 2
Partner 3
The partners need to fill in to which result they contribute by bringing in their
background and if they will be a co-developer of the results, hence, will be
involved in generating Foreground.
They should also tell what exploitation route(s) they plan to choose– no matter if
they generate Foreground or not.

At the end, you will have a table that looks like this:
RESULTS/PARTNER RESULT 1 RESULT 2 RESULT 3 ...
Partner 1 U F M U L O F M B F U
Partner 2 B F M U U L O U L O
Partner 3 B F M U L O B F M
... F M U L O B F M U L O
This is a complex situation as you see. Commercialisation matters have to be
discussed as well as other issues such as a partner who wants rights to licence but
does not have any B/F linked to the results, which can cause problems.
STEP 4
Discuss all problematic issues in advance and include suggestive conclusions in the
Consortium Agreement. Encourage signing bilateral or multilateral co-ownership
agreements between partners.

GENDER ACTION PLAN
By integrating the concept of gender mainstreaming into EU projects, the EC aims
to ensure that gender aspects are taken into consideration during the whole
research project, from its inception to delivery, and to ensure that the scientific
research is gender-aware, addresses gender-related needs, and contributes to
eliminating gender discrimination. To monitor the career progress of female
scientists’ participation in Framework Programmes, the EC collects statistics on
gender distribution, showing whether the situation is improving, and how it differs
across scientific disciplines and countries. Further information with respect to EC’s
activities and policies to promote gender equality in science can be found at the
following link:
EC website on Science with and for Society (Swafs)
The Gender Action Plan, which an increasing number of projects have in place
nowadays, is not primarily about how many female researchers work in the
consortium. You may provide sex-disaggregated data on the workforce involved in
the research proposal, but that is only the beginning.
If possible, when recruiting researchers, the project partners can try offering
gender sensitive working conditions and culture; but that also requires a gender
strategy at the participating organisations. Horizon 2020 should support
organisational changes in research institutions and in the content and design of
research activities. More importantly, the project should address gender dimension
of the research activities within the project considering target groups, using
different channels or tools to address female/male researchers, etc.
To increase female participation, you may consider:
• Collecting gender statistics on the workforce employed by the
consortium and monitor the progress made in terms of gender
balance;
• Establishing a Gender Awareness Group or equivalent structure
to encourage networking and mentoring amongst women
researchers;
• Organising outreach activities such as girls’ days;
• Organising incentives (fellowships and training awards) that
really fit the needs of women beneficiaries.

Regarding the gender aspects of a specific research field, we suggest
using the following document for guidance:
• This report published by the European Commission
provides scientists and engineers with practical tools for
gender analysis which help them rethink concepts,
formulate relevant questions and develop appropriate
methods.
The report also offers recommendations to research
funding agencies, research institutions, heads of higher
education establishments, industries, journal editors and
other interested parties
Gendered innovations (2013)
Gender Equality Strategy (2020)
• FP7 supported the promotion of gender equality in
scientific research through several projects. The Gender
Toolkit is a practical tool for integrating gender aspects
into research projects, including equal opportunities for
women and men and the gender dimension of research,
thereby contributing to excellence in research. The
project finished in 2012. Check the toolkit’s downloadable
sections in your research field:
https://www.yellowwindow.com/genderinresearch

TAKING GENDER ASPECTS INTO ACCOUNT
Gender equality is a tough issue not just only in project development but also during
project implementation. Gender issues may arise unexpectedly and you have to know
how to deal with them. At the beginning of an earlier FP7 Science and Society project of
ours, the consortium prepared a Gender Action Plan with meticulous care where we had
committed ourselves to pay special attention to the involvement of female researchers
in the project activities, and to monitor their contribution. The overall aim of the project
was to identify new approaches to engage the public in science, thereby building a
scientific culture and raising awareness to scientific careers. A few months after the
project started and the consortium became a good team - thanks to the successfully
completed tasks and deliverables - we had a project meeting to monitor progress in the
implementation of the project’s activities. At the end of the meeting one of our Advisory
Board members wanted to take a look at the monitoring data on the women researcher’s
contribution in the activities. Somehow, the partners and the coordinator overlooked this
aspect of the completed tasks and a proper assessment was not done. After we discovered
that the measurement was missing, the partners had to review the forthcoming activities
and find a way to involve female researchers and measure their contribution – certainly
without any major modification of the original tasks. We were lucky that we were really
at the beginning and the forthcoming activities were flexible enough to ensure the
involvement of female researchers although some partners had to change their original
implementation plan in order to fulfil their shared commitment. Lesson learned: Gender
Action Plan is not just a document that you complete and then put into the drawer;
completed tasks must also respond to the requirements/measurements established in the
Action Plan. Although the partners have joint responsibility, in this case the coordinator
should be the one to remind partners to ensure their compliance with the objectives set
out in the Gender Action Plan.

ETHICAL ISSUES
As H2020 Manual states: „There is clear need to make a thorough ethical evaluation from
the conceptual stage of the proposal not only to respect the legal framework but also to
enhance the quality of the research.”
Ethical issues are getting tough. Do not forget to tackle ethical issues when
relevant. Make sure that you monitor ethical issues throughout the whole project
duration.
From the PP Online Manual: “All proposals above threshold and considered for
funding will undergo an Ethics Review carried out by independent ethics experts
and/or qualified staff working in a panel. The Review starts with an Ethics
Screening and if appropriate a further analysis called the Ethics Assessment is
conducted. The Ethics Review can lead to ethics requirements that become
contractual obligations.”
Some typical issues you consider for sure as Ethical issues in Section 5 of the proposal:
1. Research with Humans – do you do a survey? interviews? field work?
– informed consent procedure should be described,
2. Protection of Personal Data – data processing, data security, data
use principles need to be defined,
3. Research in Third Countries – anyone outside EU? include their
ethical principles, regulations to keep. etc
4. Other Ethics Issues – misuse of research data is normally handled in
this section
In any of these apply, also decide on management procedures for handling ethical issues in
the project.
A few useful readings may help:
GDPR regulation – handling personal data
Ethics in H2020 (Online Manual)
Ethics Self-Assessment – EC publication

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Where does it all start? – At the budget development phase of proposal preparation.
If you prepare a good budget – a well-planned one - you will have an easy job
during the implementation of your project.
Personnel costs calculation – the basis for the budget
1. Ask your partners to calculate with different staff categories. For
instance, 40% of the time of a PhD student, 20% of a senior
researcher, 30% of a research manager, 10% of a financial manager
(minimum of two categories should be considered). Take into
account their average monthly salaries, multiply with the % of their
time estimated to be allocated for the project and base your one
average person month calculation on this.
AN EXAMPLE:
A project with 8 work packages
A university partner in Germany
A key partner in WP3 and WP4
36 months project period
Person 1: One senior researcher will be the main contact person and overview all activities,
20% of his time is dedicated to the project in a year. She/ He will be mainly working in WP3
and WP4, but his/her time is also dedicated to WP1 and WP8
2,4 PMs/year; Salary: 8000 EUR
Person 2 and 3: Two PhD students will work on the every-day scientific tasks, 80% of their
time is allocated to the project in WP3 and WP4
19,2 PMs/year; Salary: 4500 EUR
Person 4: One manager will be overlooking dissemination, administrative and management
issues, involved in WP1 and WP8.
3PMs in three years; Salary: 5000 EUR
CALCULATION
Person 1: 3 x 2.4 PMs x 8,000 = 19,200
Person 2 and 3: 2 x 3 x 9.6 x 4,500 = 259,200
Person 4: 3 x 5,000 = 15,000
Total = 293,400 EUR
Average PM rate: 293,400 / 67.8 = 4,327 EUR

2. A 2. How to calculate one person-month? Well, no recipes here. One
person-month can mean 135-170 hours in one month. If you
calculate with the average monthly productive hours of the previous
year, you will be fine. The budget is only an estimate.
3. Overestimating your budget by 10-15% is still better than
underestimating it. Your person months calculated should be
sufficient to allow your organisation to finalise the tasks foreseen.
Other costs
• One of the basic and most common mistakes is forgetting to
budget a task. During implementation you should not end up
realising that you do not have enough budget for a travel, an
event, a software purchase, etc.
• To be able to be flexible and make reallocations when needed,
make sure to allocate budget in each cost category.
• We all know that the EC does not like subcontracting; but
having such strict rules on translations, printing and other
things that the auditors do not like, we advise to plan with
minor subcontracting as well.
Budget Planning
Prepare a simple template or use ours from our website.
Horizon 2020 Budget Template
Budget monitoring
Prepare a simple template or use ours from our website.
It compares the planned budget with the actual, but also considers adjustments
such as costs accepted/rejected after a review, etc.
Cost monitoring table
You should also monitor the status of the person months spent on a work package
by work package, or even task by task basis.
Person months Status
Eligibility
Let’s continue with a very basic list of eligibility rules. You think that you know
these already by heart, right?
OK; think about the exceptions then.

Eligible costs must be:
• Actual, except…
• Incurred during the project duration, except…
• Incurred at/by the beneficiary, except…
• In accordance with the beneficiary’s usual accounting and
management principles, except…
• Recorded in the accounts of the beneficiary, except…
• Used for the sole purpose of achieving the objectives of the
project –
NO EXCEPTION!
All known? Check:
Eligible costs must be:
• Actual, except…
Average personnel costs – check the conditions!
• Incurred during the project, except…
Ticket to kick-off meeting bought before the start of the
project (date of completion of the mission counts)
Equipment purchased before the project start but the
depreciation period and eligibility period overlap
After the project closure and within 60 days for
reporting and reporting only!
• Incurred at/by the Beneficiary, except….
Incurred at a third party
• In accordance with the beneficiary’s usual accounting and
management principles, except…
Your ‘jolly joker’ sentence. Do not change your
principles just because you joined an EU project.
• Recorded in the accounts of the beneficiary, except…
Recorded in the accounts of a third party
• Used for the sole purpose of achieving the objectives of the
project – NO EXCEPTION!

What cost categories are applicable?
✓ Direct Costs (that can be attributed directly to the project)
• Personnel costs (can also include “in-house consultants”)
• Sub-contracting/Third Party Assistance
e.g.: Costs for Financial Certificates
• Other Direct Costs
Travel costs for personnel working on the project
Costs for consumables
Other costs
Purchase costs/renting costs of durable equipment
(depreciation)
✓ Indirect costs
All those costs which cannot be identified as attributed directly to the project (the
“running” costs: electricity, heating, telephone, internet etc. – also called
“overheads”).
Typical mistakes in financial reporting (provided by the EC)
Typical mistakes in personnel cost calculation:
• Costs claimed for people not directly employed nor paid by the
beneficiary.
• Personnel costs claimed based on budgeted, standard,
estimated rates.
• Average hourly rates used which differ significantly from actual
ones.
• Billable hours are used instead of number of workable hours.
• For the calculation of the number of productive hours on the
project, including time spent related to maintaining general
expertise, administration and/or sales.
• Absence of timesheets.
• Timesheets not approved by a project leader.
• For the calculation of the hourly personnel rate, by dividing the
payroll costs by the number of productive hours on the project
(only) instead of by the total number of productive hours.
• Personnel costs claimed include overtime hours for which staff
have not been paid.
• Personnel costs claimed include the remuneration of an in-
house consultant hired through a contract with a consultancy
firm (no labour contract, no direct instructions, not 100% on the
premises, commercial rate, etc).
• Overhead costs included in the personnel cost calculation.

Other mistakes:
• Incorrect conversion in EUR.
• Costs claimed include elements not incurred and recorded
during eligibility period.
• Costs include excessive costs and uneconomical expenditure
(travel).
• Costs not relevant to the project (hospitality costs,
entertainment costs).
• Costs cannot be substantiated by proper audit trail and full
supporting documentation (Invoices, tickets, timesheets).
So how do you make sure that your partners do not make these mistakes? Well,
you cannot really. Each partner is individually responsible for their spending and
reporting. You may only check their financial reports and warn them if you notice
a discrepancy. The cost justification table – if it is detailed enough - will give you
a very good basis to discover any discrepancy. Another way to discover
discrepancies is to carefully cross-check the activity and cost reporting.

UNWANTED PROCEDURES
Actions against non-performance
Let’s assume you have an excellent communication strategy in place that works
well, and your monitoring procedures are also good; still, you may face the
problem of a non-performing party.
The first thing you need to understand is “why”. What happened? To get a full,
satisfactory justification for any action you may initiate, you need to know exactly
the reasons behind. If e-mail and phone do not work, travel to the premises of the
non-performing partner and communicate with the decision-makers. Do not allow
the partner to come up with half answers; you need to protect the whole project
and the consortium’s interests as a coordinator.
NON-PERFORMING PARTNERS
In a closed project of ours, in which we were a partner supporting the coordinator and
leading the dissemination activities, there was a common task, namely the establishment
of an online stakeholder platform, to be implemented with all the partners’ contribution.
Such tasks which require the joint efforts of ALL the partners are tricky – especially in
case of larger consortia with more than 10 partners. In the case of our project, this online
platform task was not taken seriously by some of the partners who were focussed more
on research activities and kept on postponing providing their input for the platform. We
should emphasise here that the EC pays as much attention to such horizontal activities
(dissemination, promotion, communication, etc.) as it does to research activities in such
research and innovation projects. For the EC and the EU in general, it is important that
the project activities and their results are successfully delivered, but it is equally
important that they are appropriately communicated and conveyed to all relevant
audiences. Therefore, when the stakeholder platform development was delayed in our
project, our Project Officer was not happy. When the delay became longer (and although
the other activities of the project were all going well), official warnings started to arrive
from the EC and we had to take corrective action within the consortium, urging partners
and making them aware of our joint responsibility arising from the GA and of the possible
negative consequences including a suspension or even an eventual GA termination by the
EC. Fortunately, these internal warnings have worked out and soon the platform was
launched and populated by the partners’ input. Of course, from then on the Project
Officer kept a much closer eye on the project as the project already received a red flag.
Obviously, this is an undesired situation and the best solution would be to avoid this from
the beginning by possibly making the partners aware of the importance of the common
tasks, setting an internal deadline within the consortium to produce a draft/test version
of the deliverable or similar. Lesson learned!

When the reasons are clear, you may initiate/suggest changes, such as:
• Partner should employ an assistant, hire new workforce;
• Partner should change the appointed manager for the project;
• Partner might reallocate some budget to subcontracting to
perform adequately a task (if possible);
• Other partners might offer help in finalising specific tasks;
• You may ask the help of the EC to sort out legal/financial
matters more quickly;
• You may initiate a full project meeting and take a decision on
the next steps;
• Your last chance is to give an official written notice (also to be
reported to the EC) to the partner and follow the procedures
defined in the CA.
As the Consortium Agreements normally define:
Defaulting Party means a Party which the Steering Committee has identified to be
in breach of the Consortium Agreement and/or the Grant Agreement as specified
in Article x.x of the Consortium Agreement.
In the event the responsible Management Body declares a party to be
a Defaulting Party, the consequences may include:
• Termination of the participation of the Defaulting Party
• The Coordinator may require fulfilling new reporting tasks or
work plan related requirements from the Defaulting Party and
withhold any interim payment from the Defaulting Party until
the requirements are met.”
But again, good communication and monitoring procedures are needed, and they
need to be followed by all partners, so that such cases are noticed in time and
solutions can be quickly recommended and implemented.
"In the event a responsible Management Body identifies a breach by a Party of its
obligations under this CA or the GA (e.g. a partner producing poor quality work), the
Coordinator or the party appointed by the responsible Management Body if the
Coordinator is in breach of its obligations under this CA or the GA will give written notice
to such Party requiring that such breach be remedied within 30 calendar days. If such
breach is substantial and is not remedied within that period or is not capable of remedy,
the responsible Management Body may decide to declare the Party to be a Defaulting
Party and to decide on the consequences thereof".

GA suspension (Beneficiaries)
The beneficiaries may suspend the action (in full or in part), on the ground set out in Article 49 of the GA.
GA suspension may be used exceptionally if it is necessary to stop the action implementation, to fix specific
problems. It should NOT be used in situations that cannot be resolved through a temporary interruption; in
these cases, it may be better to terminate the GA (see Article 50).
Ground for GA suspension (beneficiaries):
Action can no longer be implemented (or becomes excessively difficult)
Example: A fire devastates a beneficiary’s laboratory, with most of the technical equipment and computers
used for the action and containing the research results. The beneficiaries therefore request that the part
of the action that is affected by this is suspended until the laboratory is restored.
Suspension starts on the day the Commission/Agency receives the notification (and ends on the resumption
date specified in the amendment after resumption).
Information obligation — Depending on the reasons for suspension, the beneficiaries may also have to take
other measures under the GA (e.g. inform the Commission/Agency under Article 17.2; notify a situation of
force majeure under Article 51)
Procedure
The coordinator must immediately formally notify the Commission/Agency (via the Participant Portal)
GA suspension (Commission/Agency)
The Commission/Agency may suspend the action (in full or in part), on the grounds listed in this Article.
Grounds for GA suspension (Commission/Agency):
• Substantial errors, irregularities or fraud OR serious breach of obligations (in this grant)
The Commission/Agency may suspend the action, if a beneficiary has committed or is suspected
of having committed substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or serious breach of obligations—
either during the award procedure or under the GA
Example: false declarations in the proposal form, in order to obtain EU funding
• Substantial errors, irregularities or fraud OR serious breach of
obligations (in other grants)
The Commission/Agency may also suspend the action, if such
substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or serious breach of
obligations were found in other grants, if
– the other grants were awarded under similar conditions and
– the substantial errors, irregularities or fraud or serious breach of obligations:
– are systemic or recurrent and
– have a material impact on this grant.
Example: During an audit of other grants, the Commission detected systematic irregularities in the
calculation of personnel costs that also affect all other GAs signed by the audited beneficiary. The
Commission may suspend the audited beneficiary’s part of the action until the issue is resolved.
Suspension

– Loss of scientific or technological relevance
The Commission/Agency may suspend the action, if it needs time to assess whether the
action has lost scientific or technological relevance.
This may in particular be the case:
– if a complete revision of Annex 1 is necessary to assess the impact of a request for
amendment
– if work has significantly deviated from the original work plan
– if a key beneficiary leaves the action and the consortium needs time to find a
replacement
– after a check, audit or review of the action.
Example: There are technical problems with implementing the work under an action as described in
Annex 1, so the consortium proposes changes to the work to be carried out. This may jeopardise its
technological relevance and the Commission decides to suspend its implementation and to carry out
a review.
Suspension starts 5 days after it is notified to the coordinator (or on a later date specified in the notification)
and ends on the resumption date specified in the amendment signed by the Commission/Agency).
Procedure
Before suspending the GA, the Commission/Agency will follow a contradictory procedure (for the basic
contradictory procedure, see Article 42) with the:
• coordinator or
• beneficiary concerned (e.g. for confidentiality reasons or simultaneous suspension of several
grants).
If it is directed at the coordinator, the coordinator must inform the other beneficiaries offline, via its usual
communication channels (e.g. e-mail, registered letters with proof of delivery, etc.) and ask for their
comments.
If it is directed at the beneficiary concerned, the Commission/Agency will inform coordinator separately
(in a way that preserves confidentiality).
Information obligation — Beneficiaries normally do not have to inform their coordinators or ask them to
submit comments. However, they should inform them, if there is the risk of a significant impact on the
action (see Article 17.2).”
(Annotated Model Grant Agreement)

Suspension of a project is normally initiated by the EC and rarely by the consortium. As a
Coordinator, you have a crucial role to survive the process and ensure a positive outcome.
You need to develop a “small new project” for the duration of the suspension. The time and
efforts are not co-financed, yet, the tasks have to be performed and you need to make sure
that they are done in excellent quality. So, as in a traditional project management scenario,
set your goals, define the results to be developed and create a detailed implementation
plan. Identify the responsible people for each task, set strict deadlines, and monitor the
activities on a daily/weekly basis. Remain a strict coordinator as long as needed. You may
use the same templates as previously, but they need to be more detailed.
What you need to clearly explain to the partners:
• Extra efforts and work are needed that are not paid by the
project, it is their own investment;
• Tight deadlines will need to be kept, the project should be
lifted on their priority list;
• Close monitoring will be implemented by you and all partners
need to comply with the stricter reporting rules.
Termination of the participation of a partner
You need to follow the rules and guidelines of the programme. A few extra things
to consider:
• Personal, face-to-face discussion of the situation with the
project officer might be advisable. Discuss also the actions you
have planned in order to avoid any problems in the project.
(introduce already a new partner, show the re-organised tasks,
etc.);
• The terminated partner’s exit report and financial statement
needs to be carefully checked. You may consider asking for the
timesheets and invoice copies;
• Consider the initiation of a suspension if the termination of the
partner creates risks in implementation. Suspension might give
you enough time to re-organise the project;
• Be aware of the bad scenarios that may come true (partner
does not send the reports, partner does not transfer the
balance needed from the advance payment, EC initiates
sanctions because of non-accepted reports/deliverables from
this partner, etc.) and make sure that you have a Plan B.
Problems with the transfer of the Foreground
IPR issues may lead to sensitive legal conflicts and may jeopardise the exploitation
of the project’s results. In case you have implemented the four simple steps
described earlier (before or after GA signature), you should be able to see clearly
if and when a transfer of Foreground will happen.
Your role will be:

• To make sure that all beneficiaries are notified (and the EC if
the Foreground is transferred to a third country not associated
to Horizon 2020);
• To check that the access rights of the other beneficiaries are
protected and remain so after the transfer, so that the transfer
does not create a security risk or breach of EU market
conditions (e.g. creating a competitive disadvantage for the EU,
unavailability on the EU market, etc.)
• To make sure that the transfer does not breach any ethical
rules and principles.
If your management structure contains an IPR committee, these tasks would fall
under its responsibility.
Do you need any other template? Is there any case which is missing here, and you
would like to discuss it? Contact us:
Email: info@europamediatrainings.com
Website: www.europamediatrainings.com

Coordinator's Guide to Horizon 2020 projects

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