2.2. Initiating a project and opening (a) financing source(s)

If a proposal has received a positive funding decision, the project is registered in the document management system as a contract:

• The project manager shall note the positive decision of the application in the list of applications and adds additional data according to the guide 6. Actions of the applicant when receiving a funding decision

The information must contain the following:

• Project title and acronym
• Proposal reference or, as far as is known, contract number
• Funding period
• Budget (incl. the total budget, the amount of the grant, the university’s budget, our support, own contribution, breakdown by item of expenditure)
• The financing source for own contribution
• Name of the structural unit and the included structural unit
• Name of the project manager
• Names of the employees who must have access to the project folder (e.g. the project administrator, assistant, etc.)
• Data required for entering project information into ETIS

Once the project contract has been approved/signed or the funding decision has been received, the Research Administration Office starts the workflow for opening a financing source in the document management system.

Each project gets a unique financing source code to which all the project related expenses, including salaries, must be linked.  The source code consists of numbers and a combination of letters that refers to the funding scheme or funder. The names of the sources with explanations can be found HERE

If necessary, sub-sources of funding will also be opened for the project by participating structural unit. Information on the distribution of the budget between the structural units must be provided together with the decision on the project or the contract.

NB! As a rule, no adjusting entries are made regarding project objects and no transfers of expenses from one source to another are made.

The workflow for opening a financing source in the document management system:

• the head of the structural unit who also appoints the project manager;
• the Head of the Research Administration Office (in the case of Erasmus projects, the Head of the Office of Academic Affairs, previously the Erasmus coordinator at the university) who will indicate the contact person in the Research Administration Office;
• the Director for Finance who appoints an employee responsible for the financial statements;
• approval by the vice-rector of the respective field (if the grant amount exceeds EUR 100,000);
• the Budget and Analysis Division opens the financing source;
• automatic notification to the project manager and the signatory on opening of the financing source, indicating the title of the source.

NB! The Research Administration Office manages only the financing sources of research projects, the Technology Transfer Office registers contracts entered into with companies and procurement and service contracts with public sector bodies.

After opening of the financing source, the Research Administration Office will arrange opening of a separate work folder for the project documents, which can be accessed only by the persons designated by the project manager in the initial round of approvals, the Project Accounting and Reporting Division and the Research Administration Office. To add access rights, please contact the project’s contact person at the Research Administration Office.

Subfolders are created in the project’s work folder by report, whereto an employee of the Project Accounting and Reporting Division saves all the financial records and employment contracts related to the project. The project manager or a person authorised by the project manager can upload the timesheets and other evidence of project activities into the same folder.

In the initial phase of the project, the project manager should organise a kick-off meeting for the project team, presenting the objectives of the project, the schedule and the roles and responsibilities of the various participants for the substantive and administrative activities of the project. The Research Administration Office welcomes the opportunity to participate in kick-off meetings and, if necessary, their preparation in order to introduce the internal work procedures of the university and funding rules and to give an overview of the support provided by the various departments in the implementation of the project. At the beginning of the project, the Research Administration Office also sends an e-mail to the project manager with the information necessary for the successful implementation of the project.

For a project to be successful, each project partner must be aware of the following:

• own budget, the workload related to the university by project work package (person months in the case of European Commission funded projects), the volume of eligible activities and time frame in the case of structural funding and the tasks of the members of the research group and time frame in the case of state funding;
• the rules on eligibility of expenditure and activities;
• the reporting periods (content and financial reports);
• the reporting requirements;
• any additional requirements set by the funder or the lead partner if the university is not in the role of the lead partner.

The rules on eligibility of expenditure are laid down in the grant agreement (the AMGA – Annotated Model Grant Agreement in the case of European Commission funded projects), the decision granting the application and regulations on grant schemes. The Research Administration Office has appointed contact persons for grant schemes (the contact details can be found  HERE), who provide advice on the eligibility of activities and expenditure in all projects.

At the beginning of the project, all procedures under which the project will be implemented must be negotiated and defined by the project manager. All materials that provide evidence to the funder of the implementation of the contract in compliance with the requirements and the activities completed must be saved consistently. A sample of a list of possible documents can be found here.

After approving the tasks for the project participants, the tasks must also be recorded in writing - a note must be made in the employment contracts of the project staff or a financial allocation decision must be made. This is described in more detail in the chapter “Entering into and amending employment contracts”