ZHAW-Checklist EU Projects (H2020) · PDF fileZHAW-Checklist EU Projects (H2020) Content . 1 Purpose of this document ... 4 von 26 President‘s Office ... This will require a lot

Z-CL-Checklist EU Projects H2020 engl.

Process: 3.00.00 Research and Development

Version: 1.0.3 Audience: Public Doc.-Owner.: Euresearch Contact Point ZFH F&E Support T

1. Approval date: 27.11.2014 by: Committee R&D Latest revision date: 18.11.2014 Seite 1 von 26

President‘s Office Research and Development International Affairs

ZHAW-Checklist EU Projects (H2020) Content 1 Purpose of this document .................................................................................................... 3

2 Ideation, Visibility, Credibility ............................................................................................... 4

2.1 Conferences ................................................................................................................ 4

2.2 Publications ................................................................................................................. 4

2.3 Sign-up at Euresearch .................................................................................................. 4

2.4 Sign-up on Participant Portal ........................................................................................ 5

2.5 Become an expert ........................................................................................................ 5

2.6 Complementary Partners .............................................................................................. 5

2.7 Project Ideas ................................................................................................................ 5

2.8 ZHAW / ZFH Euresearch Contact Point......................................................................... 6

2.9 Alternatives / complementary funding............................................................................ 6

3 Proposal ............................................................................................................................. 7

3.1 The consortium ............................................................................................................ 7

3.2 To coordinate or not to coordinate ................................................................................ 7

3.3 EU Portal Registration .................................................................................................. 7

3.4 Find a “call for proposals” ............................................................................................. 8

3.5 Submission of proposals .............................................................................................. 9

3.6 Tool for effective collaboration in the proposal phase .................................................... 9

3.7 Data Management Plan ................................................................................................ 9

3.8 Gender aspects .......................................................................................................... 10

3.9 Risk Analysis ............................................................................................................. 10

3.10 Budget .................................................................................................................... 11

4 Negotiation ....................................................................................................................... 12

4.1 Consortium Agreement ............................................................................................... 12

4.2 Grant Agreement ........................................................................................................ 12

5 Execution ......................................................................................................................... 14

5.1 Project administration ................................................................................................. 14

5.2 Processes and „tools“ for financial reporting ................................................................ 15






5.2.1 Administrative tasks during the project year (responsible: Projektleiter, Projektmitarbeiter, supported by institute secretariates): .................................................... 15

5.2.2 Administrative tasks per end of full reporting period (responsible: Projektleiter, HR, F&E Support, Controlling): ........................................................................................................ 17

5.3 Preparation for an EU Project Audit ............................................................................ 22

6 Closing of a Project ........................................................................................................... 23

7 ZHAW Reference Data and Contacts ................................................................................. 23

7.1 Reference Data .......................................................................................................... 23

7.2 ZHAW contact points .................................................................................................. 26

7.3 Links to original documents ........................................................................................ 26

7.4 Further links ............................................................................................................... 26






1 Purpose of this document This document should help ZHAW researchers to find their way through all phases of the lifecycle of a European research project under the 8. Framework Programme Horizon 2020 (H2020). The sections are designed to be self-contained. General information about the H2020 Programme can be found here: https://www.euresearch.ch/de/european-programmes/horizon-2020/ An Euresearch Contact Point ZFH was recently established to promote the participation of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZFH) in European research programmes. Dr. Suzana Atanasoski as responsible for the contact point is located in the Research & Development Unit in Winterthur (https://intra.zhaw.ch/forschung-dl-wb/forschung-entwicklung/support-und-hilfsmittel-zur-forschungsfoerderung/eu-horizon-2020.html). The focus of the Euresearch Contact Point ZFH is on ensuring a timely and adequate assistance for clients at the ZFH who are interested in EU funding schemes and in particular, the new Framework Pro-gramme on Research and Innovation 'Horizon 2020'. Euresearch Contact Point ZFH is part of the Euresearch network and works in close cooperation with the Regional Office (EU Grants Access) in Zurich and the Head Office in Bern. Some remarks: - This document is only partially covering the tasks of coordinators. The main focus are

researchers joining research consortia as participants in consortia. - The chapters Negotiation and Execution will be updated when the first H2020 projects will

enter these phases. - The possibility to join Horizon 2020 projects for swiss research units depends on political

processes. As of September 2014, the association looks as follows: https://www.euresearch.ch/en/european-programmes/horizon-2020/swiss-participation-in-horizon-2020/

https://www.euresearch.ch/de/european-programmes/horizon-2020/

https://intra.zhaw.ch/forschung-dl-wb/forschung-entwicklung/support-und-hilfsmittel-zur-forschungsfoerderung/eu-horizon-2020.html


https://www.euresearch.ch/en/european-programmes/horizon-2020/swiss-participation-in-horizon-2020/

https://www.euresearch.ch/en/european-programmes/horizon-2020/swiss-participation-in-horizon-2020/






The sections in this document are color coded for easy reference

2 Ideation, Visibility, Credibility This chapter covers strategies to sharpen the researchers profile, as well as to find project part-ners and project ideas.

2.1 Conferences To be accepted as a potentially capable partner in a H2020 project it is absolutely necessary to be present and active in international research conferences. If you are not yet regularly invited to international conferences, organizing your own conference at ZHAW is a recommended option. Informal meetings during conferences often lead to great proposal ideas. Social events during conferences are great contact possibilities, too.

2.2 Publications Publish in journals, newspapers, be present on TV, serve as an expert in your research area. Get-ting funding is about selling your research, so the appearance in less scientific media is at least as important as the presence in scientific journals. Please make sure your presence can also be seen and found. Example databases to check

• http://www.zhaw.ch/de/zhaw/die-zhaw/publikationen.html

• http://scholar.google.com

• http://www.researchgate.net/

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

2.3 Sign-up at Euresearch Subscribe to the Euresearch Newsletter and profile yourself at https://www.euresearch.ch/en/registration/full-registration/ to get tailored updates on your re-search topics and news concerning the Swiss status in European research. Euresearch also forwards invitations to formal networking events. https://www.euresearch.ch/en/events/. Moreover, Infodays on specific Calls and Work pro-

http://www.zhaw.ch/de/zhaw/die-zhaw/publikationen.html

http://scholar.google.com/

http://www.researchgate.net/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

https://www.euresearch.ch/en/registration/full-registration/

https://www.euresearch.ch/en/events/






grammes are being regularly announced on the EC Webpage under Events (http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/newsroom/573/).

2.4 Sign-up on Participant Portal Signing up at the “Participant Portal” is necessary once you are preparing a proposal. It is a good idea to sign up right now to get to know the portal. The sign-up is straightforward and takes only a few minutes. (see 3.3) http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html Note: Do not attempt to register ZHAW or your Institute. ZHAW is preregistered under the PIC 998291506. As long as you are not part of a proposal the tab “My Organisation(s) will remain empty.

2.5 Become an expert There is an Expert Area within the Participant Portal. Signing up as an expert is recommended to all researchers. If you’re chosen as an Expert you will be involved in evaluating the proposals in a call of your area. This will require a lot of reading and an invitation to spend a week in Brussels. The result for yourself is a great insight in the processes how European Research is organized and will directly improve your own proposals. Additionally, you’re representing and fostering ZHAW’s reputation as a viable, expertised project partner. https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/experts/my_expert.html

2.6 Complementary Partners Finding partners within your research area is achieved by networking. Finding partners comple-menting your area is trickier. There are a couple of search engines that could help:

• Partnering platforms offered by the EU http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/grants/applying-for-funding/find-partners_en.htm; with specific thematic areas (ICT, Nanotech, Health etc.), you will find also the link here to the CORDIS partnering platform https://cordis.europa.eu/partners/web/guest/home, probably the biggest data base for EU collaborations across all EU calls and thematic areas

• https://www.biotechgate.com/

• https://www.euresearch.ch/en/euresearch-services/we-connect/partner-search-platforms/ Mind also to collaborate with other ZHAW research entities. Once convinced of your project ideas benefits, they will most likely get you in touch with researchers of their own network.

2.7 Project Ideas • Scoping the research portfolio and the research projects portfolio, setting and achieving

the targets for internal and external funding – takes all a well-collaborating, striving and keen team. How can you get projects which will define state-of-the-art in the future? Oftentimes, a pre-

http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/newsroom/573/

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/experts/my_expert.html

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/grants/applying-for-funding/find-partners_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/grants/applying-for-funding/find-partners_en.htm

https://cordis.europa.eu/partners/web/guest/home

https://www.biotechgate.com/

https://www.euresearch.ch/en/euresearch-services/we-connect/partner-search-platforms/






vious research project has a few “open ends” that were not satisfyingly answered, and you could collect such open research questions to form the scope of a new project. Connecting a number of current state-of-the-art topics with relatively sparse “paper” coverage might lead to a new research question.

• Finding the topic(s) for a new research project might also happen in: o a lively exchange between newcomers and senior researchers, o prototyping with external/”industrial” customers, o questions and inquiries the students bring up, o recommendations from internal or external research colleagues, o smallscale prototyping workshops with fictitious/”black swan” scenarios

• Further resources: • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786312000221

o (numerous references) o http://www.slideshare.net/gaylecurtis/structured-ideation-and-design-thinking o https://dschool.stanford.edu/dgift/ o http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2013/02/04/making-ideation-a-part-of-the-

innovation-project-machine/

2.8 ZHAW / ZFH Euresearch Contact Point The Euresearch Contact Point can help you in finding the right call for your project (https://intra.zhaw.ch/forschung-dl-wb/forschung-entwicklung/support-und-hilfsmittel-zur-forschungsfoerderung/eu-horizon-2020.html). Our Website provides information on the services of the Euresearch Network for researchers in Switzerland. Moreover, information and advice on H2020 and other EU research programmes, such as COST actions, can be discussed directly with Dr. Suzana Atanasoski (http://www.zhaw.ch/fileadmin/php_includes/popup/person-detail.php?kurzz=atan).

2.9 Alternatives / complementary funding Consider alternative and complementary funding from sources such as foundations, KTI, SNF, D-A-CH or the “Ressortforschung des Bundes”. It is always advisable to fund your research from as many sources as possible. It is recommended to list successful funding by other funding sources. This demonstrates your network and the excellence of your research rather than giving a funding source the impression of being already financed sufficiently.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786312000221

http://www.slideshare.net/gaylecurtis/structured-ideation-and-design-thinking

https://dschool.stanford.edu/dgift/

http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2013/02/04/making-ideation-a-part-of-the-innovation-project-machine/

http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2013/02/04/making-ideation-a-part-of-the-innovation-project-machine/



http://www.zhaw.ch/fileadmin/php_includes/popup/person-detail.php?kurzz=atan






3 Proposal The EU offers a comprehensive manual for H2020, which describes the steps involved in prepar-ing a research proposal: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/index_en.htm An accessible step-by-step instruction in German is available here: Antragstellung in Horizon2020, Leitfaden des Deutschen BMBF There might be a possibility to provide insight into an approved H2020 grant, given the grant re-cipient agrees on this procedure.

3.1 The consortium The most important step in the lifecycle of a research project is the definition of the consortium. Points to consider:

� Are the participants balanced (Research Institutes/Schools/Public Sec-tor/SMEs/Companies)

� Is it the right consortium to tackle precisely the challenge defined in the call

� For applied research projects (technology readiness levels TLR>3): can the consortium credibly demonstrate its commitment to commercializing the project results

� Is the coordinator capable and experienced in organizing

3.2 To coordinate or not to coordinate If no experienced coordinator can be found, coordinating a European project at ZHAW is possible. However, please consider that coordinating a project will include a considerable amount of admin-istrative tasks. Coordination is easier if you have had previous experience in European projects as a project participant.

3.3 EU Portal Registration https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/eim/external/register.cgi ECAS (formerly “NEF”) is the European Commission's user authentication service. It allows au-thorised users to access a wide range of Commission information systems, using a single username and password. In any of the following project phases, ECAS is the central tool to interact with the EU; your regis-tration is thus a mandatory requirement. <!> Recommendation/Hint: <!> Use your ZHAW-shortname-email when you register your profile, i.e. [email protected].

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/index_en.htm

http://www.horizont2020.de/antrag.htm

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/eim/external/register.cgi

mailto:[email protected]






<!> Can’t with your existing account? Use the "password reset procedure" to receive a new/temporary password to your email

3.4 Find a “call for proposals” All EU funding opportunities are listed on the Participant Portal http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/index.html. To identify interesting calls, restrict the variety of shown calls using the filter criteria. Alternatively, if you have a project idea, but can’t find it using the filters, try the fulltext search under the "Search Topics page". It is also recommended to contact the Euresearch Contact Point ZFH (https://intra.zhaw.ch/forschung-dl-wb/forschung-entwicklung/support-und-hilfsmittel-zur-forschungsfoerderung/eu-horizon-2020.html) who will help you in identifying an adequate call.

The EU also works hard on improving the readability of their H2020 documentations – we can recommend to read at least screenshots and the straightforward explanation in the “Proposal Submission Service User Manual“, page 8-13. Please also read page 47 to get familiar with the different roles available. Once you found a matching call, read carefully the call documentation and the workprogramme to verify that your idea matches the scope of the call.

https://ecas.ec.europa.eu/cas/init/passwordResetRequest.cgi?loginRequestId=

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/index.html

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/search/search_topics.html



http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/support/sep_usermanual.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/support/sep_usermanual.pdf






3.5 Submission of proposals Now that you’ve decided on your role, found your project partners (and coordinator), continue: -As participant: Your project coordinator should appoint you with tasks/subtasks in the proposal writing process. You might be invited in person or online to help with structuring the WBS. You might be asked to write essential chapters of the proposal or co-edit or proofread other parts. In any case, you’ll have to contribute the “EFFORTS” and “COSTS” you expect for your project con-tributions. <!>In this phase: Be as pro-active, demanding, eager, precise and concise as you can, both in contact with the coordinator and all your project partners: You’ll gain valuable reputation as “ac-tive” contributor, and you’ll likely be asked to partner again in the next project, even if this pro-posal fails. You’ll also gain the same insight from future partners – or the “avoid = passive” ones. A positive track record and some past successes in EU-research are very helpful in acquiring a new project. You can address Dr. Suzana Atanasoski ([email protected]; Tel 5284) and [email protected] (if your are a member of Departement T) if you have any question concerning your proposal. You may also send the proposal draft to the National Contact Point (NCP) in your field for proofreading. A list of Swiss NCPs can be found here: https://www.euresearch.ch/en/about-euresearch/contacts/ (filter for “Research Advisor”)

3.6 Tool for effective collaboration in the proposal phase Physical presence meetings are recommended to draft the overall goal of the proposal as well as the work distribution within the proposal. (Minor contribution partners may be involved via video-conference.) The content of the different Work Packages and rough estimates of the correspond-ing workloads should be also defined at an early stage. Effective writing can be achieved in

• either a collaborative manner (e.g. “Google Docs”), or via https://collab.zhaw.ch/

• or in a distributed way (i.e. the Coordinator distributes tasks and chapters, preferably in pre-defined templates and compiles the parts in a centralized document).

However, experience shows that collaborative proposals tend to be messy as the participants don’t use the same wording etc. and the proposal usually needs to be edited by the Coordinator in the end. Note: http://www.emdesk.com/ proved to be an effective tool especially for the planning and cal-culation of budget / workpackage / task distribution even if only used by the coordinator.

3.7 Data Management Plan All project proposals submitted to "Research and Innovation actions" as well as "Innovation ac-tions" include a mandatory section on research data management which is evaluated under the




https://www.euresearch.ch/en/about-euresearch/contacts/

https://collab.zhaw.ch/

http://www.emdesk.com/






criterion “Impact”. The manual can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf A novelty in Horizon 2020 is the Open Research Data Pilot which aims to improve and maximise access to and re-use of research data generated by projects. The legal requirements for projects participating in this pilot are contained in the optional article 29.3 of the Model Grant Agreement Scope of the Pilot: For the 2014-2015 Work Programme, the areas of Horizon 2020 that partici-pate in the Open Research Data Pilot are:

- Future and Emerging Technologies - Research infrastructures – part e-Infrastructures - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Information and Communication Technol-

ogies - Societal Challenge: 'Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy' – part Smart cities and communities - Societal Challenge: 'Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw materials' –

except raw materials - Societal Challenge: 'Europe in a changing world – inclusive, innovative and reflective Societies' - Science with and for Society

Projects may at any stage opt out of the Pilot for a variety of reasons (see p9 of http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-guide_en.pdf) Proposals will not be evaluated more favourably because they are part of the Pilot and will not be penalised for opting out of the Pilot.

3.8 Gender aspects There is a collection of gender specific inputs at http://www.yellowwindow.be/genderinresearch/ Gender aspects must be addressed in a proposal even if it might seem difficult in your area. At ZHAW, you can contact Dr. Nadja Ramsauer, [email protected] (ramu), Tel. 058 934 89 36 for specific questions.

3.9 Risk Analysis A detailed risk analysis including planned reaction (e.g. consortium partner fails to deliver) is part of a proposal. This is included in the implementation plan and has to be mainly discussed and as-sessed with the coordinator of a proposal.

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-guide_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-guide_en.pdf

http://www.yellowwindow.be/genderinresearch/







3.10 Budget Personnel hours for the workpackages need to be planned and calculated; for this, please refer to the „interne Kostensätze“ for the budget phase. These cost rates are averaged rates for each ZHAW personnel category. The actually paid amount will be your actual personnel cost rate. If you are unsure, please ask Dr. Suzana Atanasoski ([email protected]), the financial controller of your department or [email protected]. Audit costs should be budgeted as „other direct costs“ with EUR 1‘200 (kantonalen Fi-nanzkontrolle: CHF 1450/day). Audits are mandatory if ZHAWs share in the project is ≥ EUR 325K actual direct costs; however, audits are also performed randomly on smaller project and can happen anytime. Please check back the financial aspects of your proposal with your department’s financial control-ler no later than 2 weeks before the audit deadline.

https://gpm.zhaw.ch/GPMDoc/GPMDocProdZStaff/6_Services/6_03_Finanzen/Z_CL_Kostensaetze_ZHAW_2016.pdf







4 Negotiation Some important changes have been made to the grant negotiation process under H2020. If your proposal has been proposed for funding, it will be implemented as it has been submitted (no addi-tional negotiation and proposal improvement is planned under H2020 - i.e. also no budget reduc-tion). This is different from FP7 and results in a faster negotiation phase. The exceptions to this rule are when corrections are needed:

• as a result of an ethical review or security scrutiny

• to ensure the project conforms to the applicable rules, e.g. legal and financial rules

• to remove clerical errors or clear inconsistencies

• when, under exceptional circumstances, a participant is removed from a consortium dur-ing grant preparation

Please NOTE: under H2020, the Grant Agreement (see chapter 4.2 below) for an approved pro-ject has to be signed no later than 3 months after starting the grant preparation (i.e. from the moment the project Coordinator is notified by the EC to start the negotiation) – otherwise you risk losing the funds.

4.1 Consortium Agreement The Consortium Agreement defines how the project results are shared by the consortium partners and is hence a crucial document clarifying the collaboration modalities . Consortium Agreements for EU projects are often based on the template called “DESCA model” which can be found here: http://www.desca-2020.eu/ NOTE: at ZHAW, the Consortium Agreement has to be verified by the legal service (https://intra.zhaw.ch/rektorat-hs-leitung/rektorat/rechtsdienst.html) before it is signed; please contact Matthias Schweizer ([email protected]; Tel 7664) for such verifications. The legal service has a very good knowledge of the DESCA model consortium agreement and can also advise on its adaptation.

4.2 Grant Agreement Signing the Grant Agreement is the last step of the grant preparation phase. It shows that both the project consortium and the European Commission formally approve the agreement and its annexes. The Grant Agreement is signed by the coordinator, while all consortium partners sign the “Accession Form to the Grant Agreement”. Under H2020, Grant Agreements are generally signed electronically. NOTE: The ZHAW has implemented an eSignature-Process.

http://www.desca-2020.eu/

https://intra.zhaw.ch/rektorat-hs-leitung/rektorat/rechtsdienst.html


https://gpmpublic.zhaw.ch/GPMDocProdZPublic/3_Forschung_und_Entwicklung/3_01_Initialisierung_FundE/Z_MB_eSignatur_H2020_Projekte.pdf






The following schematic from the Horizon 2020 Online Manual illustrates the signature process of the Grant Agreement:

Please refer also to the annotated Model Grant Agreement: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/amga/h2020-amga_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/amga/h2020-amga_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/amga/h2020-amga_en.pdf






5 Execution

5.1 Project administration Key points for EU project administration:

• All ZHAW Researchers can contact Forschungssupport T (mailto:[email protected]) to receive your project-specific set of templates and for questions related to these templates

• If you require support on the financial aspects of your project, please contact your depar-tement’s financial controller (see controller contact information on page 26)

• EU research projects must be registered in ZHAWs SAP system as PSP Element “Pro-ject”. To permit EU-mandatory fine-granular reporting on workpackage level, also each of the project workpackages must be registered as a PSP-Element “Subproject”.

• Any project contract documentation has to be scanned and attached to the project PSP-Element in ZHAW SAP.

• Monthly, or at least 3-monthly project status check-ups are highly recommended (per WP: actual hours booked ZEUS vs. plan, sum of expenses vs. budget)

• Changes and “corrections” of bookings in SAP after the end of any month (ZEUS Sperrdatum) are not permitted.

• If you are in a project where the Swiss part is funded by SERI (pillars 2&3 of H2020), please organize the reimbursement with Dr. Suzana Atanasoski ([email protected]; Tel 5284). She will sign you up at http://www.h2020.ch

General remarks: Horizon 2020 projects are commonly set to produce interim research progress reports every 6 month, and to deliver full reporting every 12 months to check whether research progress, effort plans, cost budgets are on track in comparison to the original plan as in the “de-scription of action”. After a thorough check and approval by the EU Project Officer, the project co-ordinator then reimburses the eligible costs to the project partners. In case of deviations, which could put the project success at risk, the coordinator will have to work out a replanning with EU PO and the consortium, resulting in an amendment with timing- and/or financial consequences. Regulation and policy remarks: Any project documentation such as contracts, invoices and re-ceipts have to be kept in immutable state (or having a nonrepudiable log of change) for 10 years as required by the “Aufbewahrungspflicht Obligations-Recht Schweiz”. The EU may request pro-ject documentation audits until 5 years after the project end. Further information: See project phase Closing of a Project Since any original documentation has to be archived in “Zentrale Buchhaltung” of the ZHAW, to handle “day-to-day” business such as the yearly financial reporting, ensure to file photocopies of any invoice and receipt concerning your project.




http://www.h2020.ch/






5.2 Processes and „tools“ for financial reporting 5.2.1 Administrative tasks during the project year (responsible: Projektleiter, Pro-jektmitarbeiter, supported by institute secretariates):

• Recording efforts in ZEUS (monthly): EU research project regulations require efforts/hours to be recorded on base of “at least monthly, or more frequent”. Within ZHAW, hours need to be recorded before the mainte-nance window at “ZEUS deadline” on 3rd workday of any following month. After the month-ly maintenance, it is not permitted to change or “correct” recordings in SAP ZEUS anymore (ZEUS Sperrdatum). As the project lead, ensure that your project team knows in ad-vance/ahead of time in which workpackage(s) they’re expected to work (thus, which WP to book their efforts onto).

• Recording of expenses in ZEUS (monthly): Well-structured filing of expenses both as copy of the paper originals and in electronic form (scans and on excel template) streamlines/simplifies the processing of expenses for the yearly full reporting. To support this, the project lead can download the “expenses excel template” from the ZHAW central process documentation portal at https://gpmpublic.zhaw.ch/GPMDocProdZPublic/3_Forschung_und_Entwicklung/Z_FO_Formular_Reisespesenabrechnung_EU_Projekte.xlsx and hand this out to the project team members.

https://gpmpublic.zhaw.ch/GPMDocProdZPublic/3_Forschung_und_Entwicklung/Z_FO_Formular_Reisespesenabrechnung_EU_Projekte.xlsx

https://gpmpublic.zhaw.ch/GPMDocProdZPublic/3_Forschung_und_Entwicklung/Z_FO_Formular_Reisespesenabrechnung_EU_Projekte.xlsx






The intention is to let the travelling employee record their set of expenses per “one travel event”, choose the applicable foreign currency rate and credit card fees. Expense descrip-tions, dates, values can all be copied over to ZEUS. VAT: Under Horizon2020s funding model, VAT is now also an eligible cost (always set VAT rate to 0%! The form is also used for FP7 projects, with VAT ineligible). Remind your team to register their expenses especially in the month before a full / finan-cial reporting, or they can only be claimed in the next full/ financial reporting period. Example: Full reporting due for project month 12 per end of September, expenses incurred in early August, but only recorded on 6th of October = not eligible for reimbursement within this reporting period! Ensure not to forget claiming it – or the institute loses that money!

• Expenses are reimbursed to the team members in CHF. First set the ZEUS recording date for the “travel event”. Only then search and set the “foreign currency exchange rate TO CHF” for that date. Per one day after date of the full/financial reporting period, the sum of expenses again need to be converted CHF to EUR. Historical exchange rates are available from the European Centralbank on http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/eurofxref-graph-chf.en.html or http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-hist.xml (slow and large list with many currencies available).

<!> Reminder: EU financial guidelines (Article II.14.1 – Eligibility criteria, Page 33) state explicite-ly that “Costs must be actually incurred (actual costs). That means that they must be real and not esti-mated, budgeted or imputed.”. Efforts, personnel cost rates, expenses, invoices, services, equipment costs ... are each only eli-gible if attributable solely to this project, and they must match the recorded values in SAP.

http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/eurofxref-graph-chf.en.html

http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-hist.xml






5.2.2 Administrative tasks per end of full reporting period (responsible: Projektleiter, HR, F&E Support, Controlling):

The reporting tasks have not yet been specified by the EC and the corresponding sections of the H2020 Manual are still empty. The following section takes this into account and outlines the tasks based on FP7 processes and currently known information. After the end of a full reporting period1, the project coordinator requests the project participants to submit: -detailed research progress reports and deliverables (responsible: project lead) -financial reporting (coordination: F&E support, responsible: Projektleiter, supporting: HR. Con-formity & compliance check before submission: Financial Controlling.) A declaration of the actual direct costs2 and indirect costs3 accrued within the period:

• Personnel costs: Details uncertain, but the process is probably similar to FP7. After ZEUS deadline and the completion of SAP system processing on the 8th of the follow-up month, F&E Support requests the actual personnel costs from HR:

1 full reporting period usually consisting of 12 months, on occasions also 18 months 2 personnel costs & expenses 3 indirect administration & services costs to support the project






With calculations of periods eligible personnel costs done, the area marked blue can be copied over to the project lead’s “Financial Report” file.

• Project leads “Financial Report” file: “Financial Reporting” and “Use of Resources explanation”: Details uncertain, probably sim-ilar to the process in FP7. Financial reporting consists mostly of collecting the figures of:

expenses (see monthly tasks in section 5.2) other invoices, i.e. consumables, third party services effort recordings by the project team in ZEUS actual personnel costs provided by HR

into a customized excel file (Footnote: In return for the DoW, F&E Support (mailto) pro-vides this file to the project lead) with the project specifics (number of WP’s, activity types of WP.). The file consists of interconnected sheets with formulas calculating in accordance to the EU financial guidelines relevant to both the project type and ZHAW organisation status.

In sheet „Personnel Costs“, first check again if the financial reporting period is correctly entered, i.e. 01.10.2013 - 30.9.2014. Next, match the CHF to EUR currency exchange rate with the ECB rate on the date one day after the reporting period end (1.10.2014):






Copy the project team names and the sum of their eligible personnel costs from HR’s “Personnel costs” excel file (area marked in blue):

Effort hours recorded per WP in ZEUS then need to be filled in for each project team member, and the total effort hours should match with the effort hours named in the HR file:






In the sheets „Expenses“, „Consumables“ and „Subcontracting“, fill in the costs accrued within the reporting period:

o travel expenses best based on the excel template – one row per “travel event”.

Start with the Workpackage (important for costs attribution), date, travel reason, travelling employee, fill in the name of the detailled “travel event” file as reference, copy over the sum of eligible travel costs in CHF (blue area in the travel expense template).

o consumables and subcontracting based on invoices - under Horizon2020s funding model, VAT is also eligible for reimbursement.






Sheet „Use of resources“ forms an explanation on what the direct costs were accrued for: - abbreviative two-sentence description of the research results per WP, - detailed description of effort hours - per person - per WP, - furthermore, the costs.






Sheet „Total Costs“ combines the totals of all other sheets. H2020 simplifies the adminis-trative processes significantly by reducing from previously four “activity types” (FP7: RTD, DEMO, MGMT, OTHER) and their respective funding level… to only one activity type and funding level. Next the values marked in green ought to be copied into the ECAS Portal page of the pro-ject (financial reporting area named "Form C" in FP7) and saved as DRAFT.

At this stage (all costs accrued in the reporting period, DRAFT version saved in ECAS) the collection of all files must be examined for errors by the controlling of your departement. Only after receiving their approval, you may proceed on ECAS and click “Verify by FSIGN” (electronic signature process) or “send to coordinator” (paper signature process).

The FSIGN appointed to the project will then cross-check with department controlling, whether the FormC financial reporting was approved, and it can be sent to the coordina-tor/EU for processing.

Please notify controlling once you receive reimbursement notification from the coordinator (up to 2 months after reporting the figures.)

5.3 Preparation for an EU Project Audit If you’re requested by the project coordinator to conduct a project audit, please contact Financial Controlling of the ZHAW and F&E Support (Dr. Suzana Atanasoski [email protected] or [email protected] if you are a member of Dept. T) right away. They’ll then perform the extensive preparations with already prepared tools & templates, liaise with the external Audi-tor, support you as the Project Lead with collection of necessary “evidence” material, and monitor requirements stated in the EU Financial Audit Guidelines and set by Kantonale Finanzkontrolle Zürich.

https://ecas.ec.europa.eu/cas/login?








6 Closing of a Project At the end of the execution phase, a final full reporting, a final project review meeting with the consortium, perhaps a final financial audit will be performed. Beyond that, closing of the project in project lifecycle terminology should also include:

- Archiving: Any key project documentation such as contracts, invoices and receipts have to be kept in immutable state (or having a nonrepudiable log of change) for 10 years as re-quired by the “Aufbewahrungspflicht Obligationsrecht Schweiz”. The EU may request pro-ject documentation audits until 5 years after the project end. Evaluate physical and digital products of the project together with the project team, label and name the “keep-ers”/”gemstones”.

- Documentation: Write a conclusive internal report on the project successes both from in-ternal and external perspective, note “lessons learned”, the newly achieved “state of the art” etc.

- Cross-reference unclear project findings, remaining open research questions, potential fol-low-up project material… into the institute’s project independent “idea repository”. It might lead and inspire follow-up projects (see section 2.7, Project Ideas) or help in avoiding fu-ture “learned errors”.

7 ZHAW Reference Data and Contacts

7.1 Reference Data

ZHAW PIC: 998291506

Reference Data4:

Organisation legal name

Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften5 (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)

Organisation short name

ZHAW

Status validated

4 Most of this data is already safed on the EC Servers. 5 “legal name” is the german version (English can be added in brackets) (Info Rechtsdienst 10.10.2007)






Organisation legal adress

Gertrudstrasse 15, Postfach 805, CH-8401 Winterthur, Switzerland, www.zhaw.ch

Cost method Special transition flat rate of 60%

Legal Status (in RIA):

Public body, Non-profit, Higher education, Research organisation, Legal per-son, alles: yes

Legal Status (in MSCA):

Joint Research Center of the European Commission

Entities composed of one or more legal entities

Commercial Enterprise

alles: no

Main area Higher education

Registration data Legal registration number (leer lassen), Place: Bern, Date: 01.01.2008, VAT CHE-116.041.896, Legal Form: BA2

LEAR (Legal Entity Appointed Repre-sentative)

Dr. Martin Jaekel, Phone1: +41 58 934 78 17, Phone2: +41 58 71 71, Fax: +41 58 935 78 17, E-mail: [email protected]

Number of employees (FTE)

2095 (2013)

Annual turnover (mil-lions)

418 CHF (2013)

Autonomous legal en-tity

Yes

Individual participants (Text, der die Institu-tion beschreibt)

The ZHAW is one of the leading universities of applied sciences in Switzerland. Teaching, research, continuing education, consulting and other services are both scientifically based and practice-oriented. Graduates of the ZHAW hold their own on national and international

http://www.zhaw.ch/







markets and in the intercultural working world. Students benefit from an internationally oriented university that places a special focus not only on conveying practical and specialist competen-cies, but also on developing social and personal skills. The eight schools of the ZHAW cover a broad range of subjects: Archi-tecture, Design and Civil Engineering, Health Professions, Applied Lin-guistics, Life Sciences and Facility Management, Applied Psychology, Social Work, Engineering, and Management and Law. About 11,100 students are enrolled in 26 Bachelor’s and 14 Master’s degree pro-grammes. The ZHAW also offers a wide variety of continuing education pro-grammes in many areas and thus serves as a partner for life-long learn-ing. There are some 40 Master of Advanced Studies programmes, over 150 Diploma and Certificate programmes and various continuing edu-cation courses. The ZHAW is one of the largest universities of applied sciences in Switzerland and thus offers a wide range of specialist knowledge. All of its Schools carry out disciplinary and interdisciplinary research. The re-sults of ZHAW research projects are both scientifically sound and prac-tice-relevant. All of the ZHAW campuses – in Winterthur, Zurich and Wädenswil – are located in the Greater Zurich Area, which is economically strong and well connected by public transport. The campuses offer a study and work environment with excellent quality of life.

Authorised represent-atives to sign the grant agreement

Following the eSignature procedure

Person in charge of administrative, legal and financial aspects

Projektleiter ZHAW (sofern niemand speziell hierfür zuständig ist)

Person in charge of scientific and tech-nical/technological as-pects

Projektleiter ZHAW oder Forschungssupport (z.B. Dept. T)

Account holder siehe oben: Organisation legal name

https://gpmpublic.zhaw.ch/GPMDocProdZPublic/3_Forschung_und_Entwicklung/3_01_Initialisierung_FundE/Z_MB_eSignatur_H2020_Projekte.pdf






Contact person of the account holder

Michael Bischofberger, Tel: +41 58 934 74 07, FAX: +41 58 935 74 07, [email protected]

Bank name: Zürcher Kantonalbank,

Postfach,

8010 Zürich

IBAN CH79 0070 0110 0012 1721 8

BIC / SWIFT Code: ZKBK CH ZZ 80A

7.2 ZHAW contact points (We can also get you in contact with other researchers experienced in EU projects) Name Kürzel Tel Dept. Support area

Suzana Atanasoski atan 5284 R Euresearch Contact Point ZFH

Andreas Binkert bink 4964 T Coordination Dept. T

Patrick Real real 4713 T H2020 financial reporting, administrative support

Johanna Zuberi zubj 4295 L Coordination Dept. L

Cathy Kroll krol 5498 N Coordination Dept. N

Martin Jaekel jaek 7817 R Ressort F&E, LEAR

Beatrix Weber wbbr 7144 T Coordination Controlling Departemente

Nadja Ramsauer ramu 8936 S Gender Aspects

7.3 Links to original documents http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/funding/reference_docs.html Supplier Quality Assurance Questionnaire

7.4 Further links Antragstellung in Horizon2020, Leitfaden des Deutschen BMBF (in german) Euresearch Contact Point ZFH EU Grants Access (Regional Office) Bern (Headoffice). IPR Helpdesk mit guten Fact-Sheets (https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu/library/fact-sheets)


http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/funding/reference_docs.html

https://intra.zhaw.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/40_Forschung/_Dokumente/Supplier_Quality_Assurance_Questionnaire.pdf

http://www.horizont2020.de/antrag.htm

https://www.euresearch.ch/en/about-euresearch/contacts/regional-office-zurich/

http://www.grantsaccess.ethz.ch/

http://www.euresearch.ch/

https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu/library/fact-sheets

Documents

ZHAW-Checklist EU Projects (H2020) · PDF fileZHAW-Checklist EU Projects (H2020) Content . 1 Purpose of this document ... 4 von 26 President‘s Office ... This will require a lot