Project Management

Budget control and time management

Project Management Team:
The applicant organization of this project appoints a Project Coordinator – PC, Assistant Project Coordinator – APC and Project Secretary – PS. Each of the partners should appoint their own Local Project Coordinator – LPC and Local Assistant Project Coordinator – LAPC.

The assignments of the project management team include:
- The PC will coordinate the overall implementation of the project, he/she will prepare reports and take care of the communication for the project coordination. The PC is responsible for the approval of the payout documentation according to the actual completion of the activities in his organization as well as in the partner organizations. The PC will also manage the risks.

- The ACP will be assigned to help with the communication and assist the preparation or reports.

- The PS will work on technical preparation of the documentation and recording and keeping of the project documentation.

- LPC will collaborate with the PC for coordination of the project activities, reports and documentation for his/her institution and for their timely and quality completion. LAPC will be responsible for the approval of the payout documentation in his/her organization.

- LAPC will assist in the report preparation and communication and will also assist in the organization of the activities.

The Project Management Team - PMT will be established at the kick-off meeting. Members of the PMT will be: PC, APC, PS and also the LPC и LAPC from each partner. The responsibility of the PMT will be the adoption of the activity plan, approval of the activity realization reports and approval of the financial reports. The adoption and approval of the plans and the reports will be carried out by voting. Only the PC and LPCs from all partners will have the right to vote, meaning that there is only one vote from each partner organization included in the project. The decisions will be carried out only if more than half of the partners’ representatives are present.

For a successful implementation of the project the PMT will meet in person every six months. In order to save funds, whenever it is possible the meetings will be held together with the planed project events. Meanwhile, at least once a month, online meetings will be held using audio/video conferencing tools (Skypе, Viber or similar). If there is a necessity to make certain decisions in between two PMT onsite meetings, system for online voting will be used (for ex. Doodle) For a successful and transparent realization of the project we will create online working environment where all necessary project plans, reports and working documents will be posted. Access to this resource will be available only for the members of the PMT.

Time management:
The PC will monitor and control the timely starting and ending of the project activities according to the proposed Gantt-chart and will report it to the PMT. If necessary, the PC will propose rescheduling of the terms for the activity finalization to the PMT. The PC is obliged, at every PMT meeting, to deliver and present a time management report that also have to be approved by the PMT.

Budget management:
The payments will be realized according to documented and finalized activities. The payment from the applicant towards the project partners will be realized after every six months according to the dynamics of payouts realized by the National Agency towards the applicant. The PC controls the payment approvals and reports to the PMT. If necessary the PC will propose to the PMT budget reallocation, but only if it is according to the rules and in the frame of the signed project agreement. At every PMT meeting, the PC is obliged to deliver and present a budget realization report. This report has to be approved by the PMT.
The report regarding the budget realization will be prepared by the Financial Reporters Team – FRT. This team will be appointed at the very beginning of the project by PMT and will consist of three of its members. The PS will supply the FRT with the necessary data for preparation of the financial reports.

Quality control:
The PMT will appoint three members that will be responsible for the quality control. The quality control will be carried out through questionnaires for the participants in the project after every event.
In order to achieve a successful quality control, a detailed quality control plan will be developed.

Involved staff profiles and frequency of quality checks

The PMT will be in charge for complete realization. The PC will be responsible before the PMT and he/she will report on the development and timely completion of the activities.
Three members of PMT will be appointed for the budget report and they will form the Financial Reporters Team – FRT. The PS will supply the FRT with necessary data for the financial report.
The PMT will adopt the activity delivery reports and the budget at their meetings.

Plans for handling project risks (e.g. conflict resolution processes)

The identified risks for the project include:

1. General risks, related to the project environment.
- timely agreement signing and payout of the funds;
- political crises or instability in any of the participating countries;
- absence of key members of the team for the project realization.

2. Risks related to the implementation of the activities.
- cancelation or postponement of an activity (due to any reason)
- insufficient inputs and/or instructions for activity realization
- lack of resources for activity realization
- absence of a key member for realization of activity

3. Risks related to the partners
- not signing the agreement by a partner organization
- change of the team members by a partner organization
- not paying costs and fees to the participants
- cancelation of participation in the activities

The risks will be managed by the PC, who will therefore notify the PMT. The reports for the occurred risks and their management will be adopted by the PMT. If necessary the PC and the PMT could authorize another member of the team or another organization to minimize the damage caused by the occurred risk.
In order to manage the risks efficiently there will be detailed risk management plan developed.

Activities and indicators of achievement (quantitative and qualitative)

creation and the number of the courses (trainings/workshops)
- number of participants on each of the courses (trainings/workshops)
- acceptance of the new technologies (innovations acceptance)
- project web page developed, uploaded and usable by interested parties
- number of visitors on the web page

implementation on operational level:
- developed, uploaded and number of implemented of OER at the project's web page
- improved number of school courses with integrated ICT
- number of visits on the web page