ENSEMBLES_year4_annual

Guidance notes for completion of ENSEMBLES fourth year reports (1 September 2007-31 August 2008)

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Timetable
Partners
RT leaders
WP leaders
Forms
Further info

Timetable for year 4 reporting

Please note that, due to the timing of the General Assembly, any information sent to the Project Office after 1 October is unlikely to be included in the reports.

Acronyms: RT=Research Theme, WP=Work Package, PAR=Periodic Activity Report, PMR=Periodic Management Report, DIP=Detailed Implementation Plan, DoW=Description of Work

Date due by	Item/Report	Person Responsible
mid-Jul 08	Draft input for PAR and DIP to RT leaders	WP Leaders
31 Jul 08	First draft PAR and amendments to DIP (including deliverables/milestones to month 60)	RT leaders
31 Aug 08	Complete PAR, DIP and all deliverables/milestones (including cover sheet) due by month 48	RT leaders
22 Sep 08	All information for PMR (including tables 3 and 4), Form C, audit certificate (if applicable), DIP budget	Partners
29 Sep 08	All information to be with RT0	RT leaders/Partners

Tasks for Partners

Guidance for financial/admin departments

Please also consult the Lessons Learned document for answers to frequently asked questions.

All partners listed in the contract including zero cost partners (but not affiliated partners) need to provide the information detailed below directly to the Co-ordinator. This information is in addition to the items that your WP and/or RT leaders will request. Please provide all information as soon as possible after 1 September and by 21 September 2008.

Please e-mail the PMR, Form C and financial DIP to ensemblesfp6@metoffice.gov.uk

1. Periodic Management Report
Use the Periodic Management Report template (PMR) to report on months 37-48, (1 September 2007-31 August 2008):
•Section 1.1 "Work performed": brief one-paragraph summaries of the work performed. Provide separate paragraphs for every RT your institute was involved in from September 2007 to August 2008. Also include an explanatory note of any major cost items.
•Section 1.2 "Summary explanation of impact of major deviations from budgets": brief descriptions of any major deviations from cost budget and/or person-month budget, explaining which RT the deviation relates to. This section should be consistent with information provided to RT and WP leaders for Sections 1.3 and 2.c of the PAR.
• Table 3, Budget vs Actual costs. Complete the column labelled "Period 4" for year 4 to record the actual costs of your institute as a whole (not separated into RTs) for year 4 using the Budget vs Actual Costs template. See further guidance.
•Total person-months for your institute. Provide the total person months used for each WP for your institute in year 4. For AC partners please also include your own staff numbers (i.e. the "additional cost" bit). The form provides an example of the sort of information needed, but it doesn't have to be in a table - as long as we can identify how many person months for each WP. Table4_months_37-60 shows your intended person months for the 24month period Sep07-Aug09 for reference.

2. Form C
Complete the financial statement for the contractual reporting period (year 4 = 1 September 2007-31 August 2008) using the Form C template. Please read the following important points:
• Follow the guidance notes for completing Form C.
• Send two signed copies by post. Only print out the "Participant 1" sheet, not the "Summary Report".
• E-mail an electronic version of the Form C spreadsheet to ensemblesfp6@metoffice.gov.uk

3. Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) budget
Complete an updated 12 month Detailed Implementation Plan budget (whole figures only), for months 49-60 using the Section9.4_DIP spreadsheet. AC partners: Indirect costs cannot exceed 20% of your direct costs. See further guidance.

4. Audit Certificate
An audit certificate to accompany Form C is required once a partner's total requested EC contribution from the start of the project to date reaches or exceeds €150,000. Please read the EC audit certificate guidance notes (pay particular attention to Annex I: Frequently Asked Questions). Please use the audit certificate template as a model. This is not compulsory but it is recommended that the model is used particularly with regards to the "checklist" of conditions relating to the eligibility of costs declared on the financial statements. Several audit certificates have recently had to be resubmitted due to missing paragraphs. See further guidance.

AC Partners: Please also include the paragraph "As such, they are also exclusive of any additional direct eligible costs covered by contributions from third parties defined in indents a) and b) of Article II.23 of the contract with the Commission of the European Communities" (see page 23 and footnotes 25 and 27 of the template).

Tasks for RT leaders

By 31 July 2008 please provide your amendments/additions to the milestones and deliverables submitted last year to RT0 so that we can assess consistency across RTs. Please also submit a draft version of the PAR (months 37-48) and updated DIP (months 49-60) if necessary to RT0. Please contact RT0 if it will be a problem producing a first version by 31 July.

1. The following sections of the Periodic Activity Report (PAR) from your RT for months 37-48. Last year's report will be a useful starting point:
•Executive Summary: Brief input is needed from RT leaders for each sub-section which will summarise the status/progress of each RT. RT0 will collate.
•Section 1 "Project objectives and major achievements": this is a 1-2 page summary of Section 2 "RT progress" for the whole RT.
•Section 2 "RT progress": full details for each WP, including WPx.0. As a guide, each WP could aim to provide 1-2 pages of text plus figures to the RT leaders, but write as much as is needed.
•Section 3 "Consortium management": please provide any relevant information, in particular for Section 3.6 "Co-ordination activities and communication".
•Appendix 1 "Plan for using and disseminating the knowledge": information is needed for "Section 2 - dissemination of knowledge". For publications, only list those that acknowledge ENSEMBLES. Do remember to acknowledge ENSEMBLES when appropriate (see guidance). We don't have input for the other two sections of Appendix 1, Section 1 "Exploitable knowledge and its use" and Section 3 "Publishable results" for each exploitable result.

2. Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) for your RT for months 49-60.
• Last year's reports included a detailed implementation plan for months 37-60 (i.e. to the end of the project). This year's report provides the opportunity to revise your remaining deliverables/milestones for months 49-60 and to add any new deliverables/milestones. Bear in mind that a deliverable is a tangible "thing" such as a report, a training course or piece of software, it is not an aim or objective. Please use the template to complete section 8.6 for any revisions/new information in addition to the current text supplied for the year 3 reports. Even if there are no amendments for your RT you should still submit a new section 8.6 with the current information. This will ensure that all RTs are included in the annual report submission. Please also remember to update your partners' funded/unfunded person months to reflect the planned effort for months 49-60

3. All deliverables with cover sheet (and milestone reports where appropriate) that are due by month 48 (including delayed/postponed deliverables).

Tasks for WP leaders

Your RT leaders should contact you requesting much of the above information for the PAR and DIP. Please send the information to your RT leader, not to RT0. RTs might have different deadlines, so liaise with your RT leader. The simplest way to complete the WP reports is to get each partner in your WP to complete the Periodic Activity Report for Partners

Summary of forms required

Further guidance

Table 3 "Budget vs Actual Costs"

Partners need to take into account what money they have already received, what they have claimed on previous Form Cs and what their total five year budget is. This information is contained in the summary spreadsheet (please note that this is a working document).
All figures are for total eligible costs, not "requested EC contribution"
The "BUDGET" column shows the total eligible costs for the 5 years, taken from the DoW
The "ACTUAL COSTS" column corresponds with the costs reported on your Form C, but with slightly different categories. In particular, check that the total costs under column "Period 4" is the same as the total eligible cost in cell L38 of your Form C
The note in red "*) total budget figures - not EC funded" means all figures should refer to each partner's total eligible costs. For FC/FCF partners this will be at least double the requested EC contribution. For AC partners this will be at least equal to the requested EC contribution.
The EC's guidelines don't specify what constitutes a "major cost", so please use your best judgement.

Detailed Implementation Plan

Remember that each RT and each partner have total budgets for the 5 years which cannot be exceeded without Management Board approval (see Contract Preparation Form A3.1 in the Dow for partners' budgets). Refer to the summary spreadsheet for your institute's budget and expenditure (please note this is a working document).
All figures should be given to the nearest Euro (i.e. no decimal places).
For AC partners, indirect costs cannot be more than 20% of direct costs.
Please make sure that the total (orange) box at cell L8 is completed if you are requesting money.

Audit certificate

As an example, if your requested contribution for year 1 was €80,000 and the contribution for year 2 was €80,000 then you would need to provide an audit certificate with your year 2 Form C, and in all subsequent years.
Those partners who have not yet requested €150,000 or more do not have to provide an audit certificate (this is Special Clause 39 to the ENSEMBLES contract), but you are strongly encouraged to consider providing one for the following reasons:

All partners receiving an EC contribution will need to produce at least one audit certificate by the end of the project.
Submitting an audit certificate early on will help you to uncover any FP6-accounting problems as soon as possible, and make subsequent annual accounting easier. Correcting problems from previous years will be difficult, and avoiding the problems is the best strategy.
It has been agreed by all partners that the cost of the audit certificate shall not be charged to the ENSEMBLES project (please see the Consortium Agreement).

Working notes for contractors and certifying entities are available from the Cordis website. Please follow the instructions contained within the notes very carefully, particularly the wording in Annex 2. The EC advised that several audit certificates needed revising after years 1 and 2.

The Commission's Guide to Financial Issues states in several places that "the expenses needed to implement the indirect action shall be certified by an external auditor or, in the case of public bodies, a competent public officer". Page 94 is slightly more informative, and hopefully will tell you what the rules are in choosing an auditor for your organisation.