1. WritingEffectiveProposalsforFP7 Howtoimproveyouroddswith proposalsthatwork

2. Welcome Yourname Whoyouworkfor Experiencewithproposals Whatyouhopingtogetoutoftheday 3. Whatisaproposal? 4. Whatisaproposal? spendmoney takeacourseof action makeachange acceptanidea Atoolto 5. Exercise1:Analysingaproposal Listsomethingsthatcouldbeimprovedor thatworkintheproposalwehandout. 6. Thefivekeyelementsofaproposal Clearfocusayou focus Detailedsolution assumenothing Clearpicture explainbenefitsandvalue Provideproof explainwhyyouarethebest teamtodothejob Connect style,toneandlayout 7. Thecredibilitykillers Whatdoyouthinkwilldamageyourcredibility? Themajorcredibilitykillersinclude: noncompliance poorspelling incorrectgrammarandpunctuation cluttered,unattractive,orillogicallayout longwindedsentencesandcomplexlanguage toomuchinformationadatadump thewrongtone lackofconnectionwiththeclient. 8. Theyou focus connectingwiththe EU 9. Exercise2:Rationalandemotionalneeds Youworkastheprojectmanagerforasmallcompanythat specialisesinintelligenttransportsystemsandservices.You recentlyattendedanEACIinfoday,theEuropeanexecutive agencyforinnovationandcompetitiveness.Youtooklotsof notesatthemeeting.Now,yourepreparingtowritea proposalforthembasedonyournotes. ReadGarysnotesandusethemtoidentifydifferentneeds. 10. Theimportanceoftheright information 11. Exercise3:Gatheringinformation Listhereasmanydifferentsourcesof informationasyoucanthatmightbeuseful inpreparingyourproposal. Whatinformationdoyouneedtoknow,and wherecanyoufindit?Includeprinted, electronic,andinformalinformation. 12. Exercise4:Whatareyourrelevant policyareasandsocialpressuresthat areinfluencingtheEUandevaluator? 13. Howpeoplemakedecisionson proposals 14. Howpeoplemakedecisions Confirmationbias confirmourfirst assumption Inanexperiment,somesubjectswhereaskedif otherpeoplewereintrovertsorextroverts. Subjectsaskedquestionsforwhichayesanswer wasconsistentwithquestion. Doyouliketomeetnewpeople? Subjectsthusconfirmedanoriginalassumption 15. Howpeoplemakedecisions Joiningthedots thepredicableworldbias Welookfororderintheworld Thisismostobviousingamesofchance Weseekthefamiliar availabilitybias Werelyoninformationthatisreadilyavailableto us Weoverestimatebasedonrecentmedia 16. HowtheEUwillmakeadecisionon yourproposal 17. Practicaltipsonstyle:theimportance ofplainEnglish 18. PlainEnglish AplainEnglishdocumentconveys information clearly,concisely,and appropriately. Readerscaneasilyunderstand themeaningafteronereading. 19. Choosethebettersentence Herearetwoexamplesofwriting.Which exampledo youprefer?Why? Example1 Alargeportionofthisfundingisexpectedtobe accessedbytheschoolshortlytofacilitatethe developmentof aschoolhall. Example2 Theschoolwillprobablyusemostofthisfunding tobuildahall. 20. WhyusePlainEnglish? PlainEnglishmakesgoodsense. OrganisationsthatuseplainEnglisharemore likelytogaintheircustomers'satisfactionand loyalty,andsavetimeandmoney. 21. WhyusePlainEnglish? WhenyouwriteinplainEnglishyourreaders aremorelikelyto: understand yourmainmessages understandwhatyouwantthemtodo believethatyoumeanwhatyousay,andthatyou areconcernedwiththeirneeds actontheinformationwithoutneedingtocontact you. 22. PlainEnglish Whenyouwrite,paycarefulattentiontoyour choiceoflanguageandtothesentencesand paragraphsthatyouuse. Buildyourparagraphsaroundacentralidea Writeshortstraightforwardsentences Useappropriatewords 23. PlainEnglish Prefertheactivevoice Useactiveverbsratherthanpassiveverbswhenever youcan Intheactivevoice,thedoeroftheactionisin front oftheverb Themanagerapproved theprocedure. Inthepassivevoice,thedoeroftheactionis after theverb(orismissingaltogether). Theprocedurewasapprovedbythemanager Theprocedurewasapproved 24. PlainEnglish Foreachsentence,decidewhetherthesentence usestheactiveorpassivevoice. (Askyourself: Is thedoerinfrontoftheverb, aftertheverb,or missingaltogether? Thearchitectdrewupplansforanewfoyer. Wecannotserviceyourovenuntiltomorrow. TheinvitationsweresentoutbyLucylastweek. Thereceptionistwillshowyouthetrainingroom. Yourphonehasbeendisconnected. Thestudentswereinformedoftheirgradesin December. 25. Useprecise,familiarwords Avoidusingcomplexwordsorphrases. Changethemtosimpleralternatives wheneveryoucan. articulate say ascertain findout utilise use withthepossibleexceptionof except duetothefactthat because untilsuchtimeas until 26. Useverbsinsteadofnouns Manywritersuselongabstractnounslike decision,application,compliance.Suchwords endwithance,ence,ion,ment,andancy. Theyaredifficultforthereader.Trychanging themintoverbs:decide,apply,comply. 27. Useverbsinsteadofnouns Before Theparishhavemadeadecisiontoundertakethe developmentofaconcreteparkingarea. After Theparishhasdecidedtodevelopaconcreteparkingarea. Before Thiswillleadtoa reductionoftrafficflowproblemsbefore thecommencementofchurchservices. After Thiswillreducethetrafficflowproblemsbeforechurch servicescommence. 28. Avoidredundantwords PlainEnglishremovesredundant,or unnecessary,words. Trytoavoidwordyphasessuchas: withregardsto bymeansof untilsuchtimeas 29. AplainEnglishstandard Bigpicture Thepurposeofthedocumentisclearfromthe start Thecontentsupportsthepurpose Theorderofthecontentisclearandlogical 30. AplainEnglishstandard Languageelements Theheadingsareinformativeandsignpostthe content Theparagraphsaremostlyshortandfocusonone topic Thesentencesaremostlyshortand straightforward Thewordsarepreciseandfamiliar Thetonesupportsthepurposeofthedocument 31. AplainEnglishstandard Presentation Thelayouthelpsthereaderabsorbthemessage quicklyandaccurately Thedocumentiserrorfree 32. AplainEnglishstandard Documentsandyourwritingshouldfollowa MADEstructure Mainidea Actionstatement(youorthem) Detail Extra 33. Theprocessforwritingaproposal 34. Settingupyourproposalteam Yourteamwilloperateonthreedifferent levels: 1.thecoreteamforadministration, writing,andediting 2.theworkpackageleaders 3.theotherparticipants. 35. Exercise6:Identifyingtherequirementsfor settingupaproposaldevelopmentteam. Whatrequirementsandchallengesdoyou thinkyouwillhavetoconsiderwhenyou buildaproposalteam? Thinkaboutcommunications,structure, administration,andmotivation. 36. Proposalteamsrolesand responsibilities 37. Managingavirtualteamand collaborativewriting 38. Exercise7:Motivatingavirtualteam Youarerunningavirtualteam,youareateam leader.Therearetwothingsthatyoucando. 1.Startoffbypullingallthegrouptogether,by beinghighlysociable andthenmovingtothetask. 2.Startbyreallyfocussingonthetaskfirst,getting themtostartworkingtogether andthen socialisingandbringingtogether. 39. TheFP7proposaldevelopmentprocess 40. Thingstothinkabout Donottrytofityourprojectintothecalltext. Smallerfocussedconsortiaarepreferred STREP612 IP1017 Readtheguideforapplicantscarefully 41. UsingtheFP7partBtemplate TheFP7partBtemplateisthetemplatethat youmustusetodescribeyourproposal.In thissectionwelookat: specificadviceforpresentingcomplex information howtofitpersuasivewritingintothetemplate anoverviewofthesectionsofanFP7proposal eachsectionindetail. 42. Proofreadingtips ConcentrationisKey PutItOnPaper WatchOutforHomonyms WatchOutforContractionsandApostrophes CheckthePunctuation ReaditBackwards ChecktheNumbers GetSomeoneElsetoProofreadIt 43. Specificadviceforpresentingcomplex information Threethingsmakeinformationcomplex, difficultyofconceptortopic volumeofmaterial Terminology. 44. Difficultconceptortopic FP7proposalswillcoverhardtopics,hardtopics willbemoredifficulttounderstandthanones thatusesthesamelanguageandconstructionto coveraneasiertopic.FP7topicsinclude, ideasorconceptsthatarenotfamiliartothereader topicsthatbuilduponotherconcepts topicsthatrequirespecialistknowledge(suchas universitylevelscienceknowledge,orspecialist industryexpertise) 45. Volumeofmaterial Themoreinformationtheevaluatorhasto wadethrough,themoredifficultthe evaluatorfindsittofollowthemeaning,orto extracttherelevantinformation. Lastsubmittedproposal38,759words 46. Terminology FP7projectsareonspecialisttopicsandwill oftenusetechnicallanguageorjargon. Technicallanguage Technicallanguageissometimesnecessary. However,technicallanguagepresentsabarrierto areaderwhoisnotfamiliarwiththetopic. Jargon Jargontendstocreepintoproposals,particularly whenwrittenamongasmallcircleoffamiliar readers. 47. OverviewofthesectionsofanFP7 proposal Scienceandtechnology conceptsandobjectives progressbeyondthestateoftheart S/Tmethodologyandassociatedworkplan Implementation managementstructureandprocedures individualparticipants consortiumaswhole resourcestobecommitted 48. OverviewofthesectionsofanFP7 proposal Impact expectedimpactslistedintheworkprogramme disseminationand/orexploitationofproject results,andmanagementofintellectualproperty Ethical anyethicalissuesortopicstheprojecttoucheson 49. Exercise Canyourememberthe5keyelementsofa proposal? HowdothesefitwithintheFP7partb template? Isitaperfectfit? 50. Askyourselfthesequestions Whatarethemainobjectives(objectivesmustbemeasurable)? Doesitfitthetopicdescribedinthecall? Howisitunique? Whoseproblemdoesthissolve? Whydoesithavetobeyourconsortiumworkingonthis?Whycant othersdoit? Whichconsortiummemberwillprovidewhichskills? Howwillyouknowifyouhavesucceeded mustbeableto demonstrateresearchdeliverables. Thinkabouthowthecoordinatorwillmonitortheworkandhow successfulitis. Howwillmeasureyourprogress?Needtoincludeclearmilestones whendoingtheplanning. 51. Casestudyreviewing2different proposals 52. SECTION1:SCIENCEAND TECHNOLOGY 53. Section1.1:Scienceandtechnology Firstdraftcomesfromyourshortsummary sheet. Coordinatorleadsthedevelopmentofsection 1.1 Fromyouinitialmeetingonwardsyouare developingthissectionindetail Keepyourfocusonthecalltextandscope 54. Measurableobjectives Projectobjectivesneedtobesetoutclearly andbemeasurable.Toachievethis,objectives needto: bespecific includequalitativeandquantitative measurements beagreedandunderstoodbyallpartners betimebound. 55. Settingobjectives Toimprovetheresilience forcommunicationandinformation accessnotjustforprocessinganddatastorageinclouds Toenabletheeffectivemanagementofmobilitycontexts from themobileobjectsthemselvesthatcanbeaggregatedand customisedinformationviews,notjustrelyingoncontextsfroma fewfixedinfrastructuresensors,e.g.,toshowthisroutetendsto havethistrafficspeedonaverageatthistimeofdaybuttoday itis different; Toenhanceprivacyandtrustinsharingmobilitycontextsand profiles becausetheinformationcollectedabouttravellershasthe potentialtobuilddetailedprofilesoftravellerbehaviourwhichhas bothbenefitsanddrawbacksthatneedtobebalancedacross differentstakeholders; Tosupportdataprovenance toprovideevidencethatdataisfrom areliablesource,tocontrolaccesstoinformationtosupport commercialservicesetc. 56. Settingobjectives Providean architecturallyresilientreferencemodel usinga federatedcloudtomanagetheinteroperabilityofIntelligentITS acrossmanydevicesinanInternetofThings.Thismodelwill outlinethetechnicaloperationofahighavailability,resilient, secure,andinteroperablefederatedITScloudframework. Assess therequirementsoftheInformationcollectors/provider communityanddatausers.Thisassessmentwilltakeintoaccount existingandnewrequirementsandanynewhardwareand softwareservices.Itwillproducedetailedspecificationsof developmentprocesses,systemarchitecture,andtheservices framework. DevelopandspecifyaCoreCloudsharedresourceframework that enablescloudbasedITSservicesandresourcestobeelastically interoperable,integrated,shared,andaccessedondemand. 57. Settingobjectives ResearchthechallengesinClouddevelopmentthatcurrentlylimit thetransferofInternetofThingsITStoafederatedCloudbased model. Solvingtheseproblemswilladvancethestateoftheartof Clouddevelopment.Itwillincreaseresilienceandperformance, Cloudinteroperability,securityandprivacy,andthecontext awarenessofusercentredserviceprovision. Validatethearchitecturalreferencemodelagainstthederived requirements byimplementingreallifeusecases.Theseusecases willbeimplementedthroughaFederatedCloudpilotand developerzone workspace.Thisworkspaceprovidesa programmingmodelthatenablescostefficientdevelopmentand panEuropean(considerTransNational)deploymentofservices. Effectivelydisseminateandexploitthedevelopedarchitectural FederatedCloudreferencemodel throughcommunity engagementandstructureddisseminationactions,includingthe developmentofasustainablebusinessmodel. 58. Settingobjectives Bymonth6,Providean architecturallyresilientreferencemodel usingafederatedCloudtostimulatetheinteroperabilityofITS acrossmanydevicesinanInternetofThings.Thismodelwill outlinethetechnicaloperationofahighavailability,resilient, secure,andinteroperablefederatedITSCloudframework. Bymonth12,assess therequirementsoftheInformation collectors/providercommunityanddatausers.Thisassessment willtakeintoaccountexistingandnewrequirementsandanynew hardwareandsoftwareservices.Itwillproducedetailed specificationsofdevelopmentprocesses,systemarchitecture,and theservicesframework. Bymonth18,developandspecifyaCoreCloudsharedresource framework thatenablesCloudbasedITSservicesandresourcesto beelasticallyinteroperable,integrated,shared,andaccessedon demand. 59. Settingobjectives Bymonth36,researchthechallengesinClouddevelopmentthat currentlylimitthetransferofInternetofThingsITStoafederated Cloudbasedmodel. Solvingtheseproblemswilladvancethestate oftheartofClouddevelopment.Itwillincreaseresilienceand performance,Cloudinteroperability,securityandprivacy,andthe contextawarenessofusercentredserviceprovision. Bymonth22,validatethearchitecturalreferencemodelagainst thederivedrequirements byimplementingreallifeusecases. TheseusecaseswillbeimplementedthroughaFederatedCloud pilotanddeveloperzone workspace.Thisworkspaceprovidesa programmingmodelthatenablescostefficientdevelopmentand panEuropean(considerTransNational)deploymentofservices. Bymonth36,effectivelyhavedisseminatedandexploitedthe developedarchitecturalFederatedCloudreferencemodel through communityengagementandstructureddisseminationactions, includingthedevelopmentofasustainablebusinessmodel. 60. Exercise Indentifytheneedsfromthecalltexthandout Readsection1.1oftheSmartfusionproject DoesthesectionfollowtheMADEstructure? Canyoueasilyindentifytheneedsstatedin thecalltextwithsection1.1? Havethe5elementsbeenimplementedin section1.1?Trytomarkthemifpossible. Anyareasthatarelacking? 61. Progressbeyondthestateoftheart RememberMADE Summarisehowyouwilltaketheartforward Carryoutacompleteinformationgathering informationexercise Currentandpreviousprojects,nationaland international Relatedthistoyourproject,discusstheprevious SoAandhowyoutakeitforward AlistofSoAisnotgoodenough. 62. Section1.3workplan Yourprojectstructurecomesfromyour objectives. Considerthenormalprojectcycle, Initiation,Delivery,closure Ensureyourworkpackagesdeliveroneortwo objectivesatthemost. Clearlysayhoweachworkpackageworksto deliveryourobjectives Clearlyshowhowtheyaredependant 63. Section1.3workplan YourGanttchart resisttheurgetomake manytasksandworkpackagesinparallel. Milestones arekeypointsintheprojectthat needtobecompletedtocontinue Deliverables nomorethat2,maximum threeperworkpackage 64. Section1.3workplan Definingtasks Youmustdefinecleartasksinyourworkplandescriptions.Donot writesolutionstatements.Instead,makesureyouareusingverbs andactionstatements: wewilldo partnerAwillbuild wewilldesign. Showanyoutcomesordependenciesclearlyinyourtask descriptionsandincludewhowillworkonthetaskandtheirrole. Wewillbuildahousebasedonthearchitecturaldrawingcoming fromworkpackage1.Manfredconstructionwilloverseethe buildingworks.Joneselectricswillprovideallthewiringmaterial 65. Approachtoriskmanagement Maintainregister Assignanowner Assignastrategytomanageeachrisk Followupconsistently 66. Section2:Implementation Withintheimplementationsectionyouwill needtospecify: managementstructureandprocedures individualparticipants consortiumasawhole resourcestobecommitted. Rememberitiseasytolosemarksinthis section 67. Section2:Implementation Whatmanagementgroupsdoyouthinkyou willneed? Howwillyouresolveconflictandchange? Howwillyoumakedecisions? Howdoyouapproachqualitychecking? Howdoyoukeepontrack? 68. Section3impact Covers2areas Expectedimpactslistedintheworkprogramme Disseminationandexploitationofprojectresults, andmanagementofintellectualproperty 69. Buildingabudget TheprinciplebehindEuropeanfundingiscofinancing.Notallyour projectcostswillbereimbursed. Themaximumrefundratesforthecostsofaprojectdependonthe fundingscheme,thelegalstatusoftheparticipants,andthetypeof activity. Legalstatuswilldictatefundingrate Thestandardrefundrateforresearchandtechnologicaldevelopment activitiesis50%.Certainlegalentitiescanreceiveupto75%(non profitpublicbodies,SMEs,researchorganisations,andhigher educationestablishments). Activitiesarealsofundeddifferently Fordemonstrationactivities,therefundratemayreach50%.For otheractivities(consortiummanagement,networking,training, coordination,disseminationetc.),thereimbursementcanbeupto 100%oftheeligiblecosts. 70. Buildingabudget Budgetitems Salarycosts Overhead Travel Subcontracting Equipment Fundingrequested Auditcosts DonotincludeVAT,taxes,companyaccounting 71. Buildingabudget Workingouttheamountoffunding. Directcosts(salary,travel,equipment)+indirect costs(Overhead)multipliedbythefundingrate (10,000+2000)X75%=9000 Overheadmodels Flatrate,STFR,Actual 72. Buildingabudget Balancingresources Abudgetalsohastolookbalanced Coordinatorwillalwayshavethelargestamount ofmanmonths Thenworkpackageleaders Thenparticipants Avoidsmallmanmonths 73. FinalwrapupandQ&A 74. Thankyou Contactus: HodosConsultingBelgiumSPRL 3RueAbb Cuypers 1040Brussels Tel:+32(0)27412494 Forgeneralinformation contact@hodosconsulting.eu Fortrainingschedule Jannah.jabil@hodosconsulting.eu Technicalquestionsonprojectmanagement gary.bridgeman@hodosconsulting.eu