Electronic Proposal

Submission System

European CommissionResearch DG

Hubert van DELFTHubert-Yves.van-

DELFT(at)ec.europa.eu

• Note that the presentation is based on advance information on the EPSS. Actual implementation may differ

• Watch http://www.esp-fp7.org for more information

• 22 January 2006

EPSS for FP7

Agenda Scope of the EPSS, infrastructure needed, process

overview Achievements and lessons learned in FP6 Changes from FP6 Changes needed to comply with the rules of

participation Immediate planning EPSS phase two: further simplification Quick demonstration (if test system is available) Question time

EPSS for FP7 What is the EPSS ?

An electronic system enabling project coordinators to prepare and submit their proposal online through the Internet using a web site accessed seamlessly from Cordis or accessed directly once the participant is registered

Operating 7 days a week, operating 24 hours a day, free of charge to the participants, supporting most IT configs

Avoiding paper based submission costs and issues

What is needed to use it ? An access to the Internet – the faster, the better though

the system works even with dial-up connections A computer – most of the platforms are supported,

even old ones

EPSS for FP7

The FP7 proposal-project time line

EPSS closes

Evaluation finishes

Decision is taken

Projectstarts

EPSS for FP7

EPSS in the process chain

CONTRACTINGPROJECTMANAGEMENTFINANCINGREPORTING

ELECTRONICPROPOSALSUBMISSIONSYSTEM

PROPOSALS

EVALUATIONSUPPORTSYSTEM

RANKING NEGOTIATIONCOM DECISION

e

e

ee

CALLSPUBLICATIONCORDIS

PUBLICATIONOF RESULTSCORDIS

e

e:denotes electronic information transfer

EPSS for FP7

Achievements and lessons learned in FP6Submissions per month and Total for years

2003/2004/2005/2006

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Months

Re

gis

tra

tio

ns

2003

2004

2005

2006

2003 5 477 455 91 30 9 176 981 686 178 3088

2004 297 3441 464 948 982 130 78 13 1027 2110 466 1759 11715

2005 1091 3238 2054 1286 1208 127 373 20 4822 560 1260 299 16338

2006 4248 699 1147 852 727 23 147 5 7848

J an Feb Mar Apr May J une J uly Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total

> 38.950 proposals

EPSS for FP7

Achievements and lessons learned in FP6 Confidence has been built into the online version

Online registration percentage

50,89%

63,61%

81,63%91,86%

0,00%10,00%20,00%30,00%40,00%50,00%60,00%70,00%80,00%90,00%

100,00%

2003 2004 2005 2006

Online registrationpercentage

Over 350.000 uniqueusers during FP6

The offline preparationtool was identified veryearly as a trouble maker

EPSS for FP7

Similarities from FP6 to FP7• Registration, navigation, data

entry• One account for each

proposal• Multiple submission possible• Continuous, 24 hours a day,

7 days a week operation• Monitoring of issues at

submission stage by the Commission

• Telephone support operated from Brussels 08:00 to 18:00

• Stays identical

• Stays identical• Stays identical• Stays identical

• Stays identical

• Stays identical

EPSS for FP7

Changes from FP6 to FP7• Paper submission was a

valid submission method• Choice possible of off-line

preparation and online submission

• Break in the submission activity (disclaimer)

• Internet address pointed to the sixth framework program

• Paper forms present in the EC documents

• No paper submission without prior authorisation

• No offline preparation tool to download: everything happens online

• Streamlining of the submission process: no break

• Internet address will be: https://www.epss-fp7.org

• Focus on information collection, see EPSS documentation

EPSS for FP7

Changes needed to comply with the simplification and rules of participation Data entry screens have been changed to reflect the

changes in the rules for participation Participant identification code appears on first form for

later user. The PIC is equivalent to a participant account number

Extension of the participant information: all field must be completed, notably SME information is now imperative

Budgets are no longer a unique screen but are implemented as one screen for each participant: in other words the coordinator has to enter detailed budget information for each participant

• FP7

A3.1A3.1A3.1

A2A2

EPSS for FP7

Administrative forms changes from FP6 to FP7• FP6

A1A2

A2 A3

Part BPDF

Submit

A2A2

A1A2

A2 A3.1

Part BPDF

Submit

A3.2

Proposal coordinator actions

EPSS for FP7

Changes from FP7 phase 1 to FP7 phase 2• One account (user id and

password) for each submission

• Repeated (but simple) information submission in part A during the process cycle

• Limited reported facilities offered to end users

• No intelligence at the submission stage: only simple computation (additions) provided.

• One account by participant, at the legal entity level

• Single information submission, occurring independently of the submission cycle (URF)

• Information consolidation possible (PDM)

• Better eligibility guidance and information, with computation of reimbursement of costs ceilings

EPSS for FP7

Quick demonstration – steps to submission Identify call and funding scheme on Cordis Register on the EPSS – give basic details on project EPSS mails the user id and password to the proposal

co-ordinator – Watch your electronic mail Go straight to the EPSS or go to the EPSS via Cordis Enter user-id and password Set up the consortium – or enter participant detail Enter the relevant information

see next slide Submit the proposal and log-out

EPSS for FP7

Quick demonstration – steps to submission Relevant information to enter in order to submit proposal

The object of the proposal – one entry screen – entered by the coordinator (A1)

The participants – one entry screen by participant – entered by the coordinator or the partner to the proposal (A2)

The budget – one entry screen by participant – entered by the coordinator (A3)

Feedback provided by the system Overall budget computation History of actions performed – audit logs Proposal submission status – ‘NOT SUBMITTED’ at this

stage – part B upload is needed

EPSS for FP7

Quick demonstration – steps to submission Uploading the proposal is not a submission action. A

transfer of the proposal document must be followed by a submission action.

The proposal file must use the Adobe PDF format, with embedded fonts, no password, no print prevention mechanism

The proposal file name must use the letters ‘A-Z’, the numbers ‘0-9’, the ‘-’ sign. All other characters, including the space, the point, the ampersand, etc. are may cause upload problems

At the end of the upload, you will be prompted to perform the submit

Feedback provided by the system History of actions performed – audit logs Proposal submission status “SUBMITTED”– completed

by an email sent to the coordinator of the proposal

EPSS for FP7

Quick demonstration – steps to submission Warnings issued by the system

do not prevent submission are potentially linked to the eligibility issues EPSS system requests information in the form of a text

box Errors issued by the system

prevent submissions are linked to missing documents and information must be corrected by the proposal coordinator

EPSS for FP7

Immediate planning of the EPSS System set-up Opening for testing

(identifying boundaries in terms of load expressed in concurrent users and performing cycle testing)

Opening to the public(actual use)

First closure of the system First eligibility committee First evaluation of proposals

EPSS for FP7

Using the EPSS successfully The submit button disappears at 17:00:00.000, CET In case of doubt, get support early. Phone. Do not wait No special characters in file names. Stick to ‘A-Z’, ‘0-9’, ‘-’ The system allows multiple submissions. Use the facility

but do not abuse. Do not change budgets at the last moment: this may

prevent you from getting the proposal submitted on time Do not upload the proposal at the last moment: this

invalidates the previous submission Monitor CORDIS, you email should the EPSS encounter

technical problems: the two systems are independent

EPSS for FP7 How should I proceed as a coordinator?

Access the Cordis website for a specific call, register on the EPSS Check your electronic mail for the EPSS access details & FAQ Login for accessing the online EPSS Change the passwords for the coordinator and the partners Send the partner’s username and password to the partners Set-up the proposal by indicating the number of participants, their

participant id, name and email addresses, once in the registration process and after in the proposal setup screen

Edit Part A forms (object, participants, budget) Upload the Part B file (detailed proposal text) Upload Part B annexes if needed or required Validate proposal to ensure basic checks are satisfied Submit the proposal – to modify, go back to step 6, 7 or 8 Verify that the system gives a proposal number Logout and check your email for a confirmation mail

More information on the EPSS will be available from the EPSS itself:• Electronic mail: support @ epss – fp7.org

To help the Commission in the initial testing of the EPSS or request a test account, please contact:• hubert – yves . van – delft @ ec.europa.eu