Work Package 1 - Project management

WP description:

The Coordinator Dr. Rudy Rossetto (SSSA), the Steering Group (SSSA, TEA, TUDa and IDAEA-CSIC), the Core Group (Including all WP leaders and PARAGON), along with the FREEWAT General Assembly, are responsible for the overall implementation of the project as stated in Grant Agreement, Consortium Agreement and Work Plan. Project management will ensure that all project partners fulfil their communication, reporting and cost statement commitments, also verifying that scheduled reports and deliverables are submitted on time.
Management activities include technical coordination by supervising the progress of the work, as measurable by the completion of milestones and deliverables, and guaranteeing the required reporting.

Specific tasks include:
- Preparation and facilitation of rotational project meetings, starting with the project kick-off meeting;
- Set up of a comprehensive Project Manual (D1.1) to ensure that all partners are familiar with the management procedures and terms of reporting and expenditure claim;
- Set up of a World Wide Web project site (D 1.2) for the dissemination of project activities, progress and results, to the general public and stakeholders;
- Guaranteeing thorough internal communication flow between the project partners by adequate means.
- Contributing, if necessary, to any conflict resolution;
- Organizing contacts to other EU projects working in similar or related fields, including formal clustering effort if useful or if requested/required by the Commission.
Project management will be facilitated by the following roles and structural elements:
1. Steering Group (SG: SSSA, TUDa, TEA, IDAEA-CSIC): to support and assist the Coordinator (SSSA) and help
streamline decision making and conflict resolution;
2. Core Group (CG: SSSA, TUDa, TEA, IDAEA-CSIC,NTUA/AMDC,UNESCO,METCENAS and PARAGON): group of WP leaders, which act as sub-coordinator for any WP;
3. Dissemination and Innovation Manager (PARAGON): to coordinate dissemination activities towards stakeholders, and to deal with innovation management issues;
4. Expert Advisory Board: to inform, critique and validate the project directions, work and outputs. This panel would consist of named independent individuals having a wealth of experience in the field, one of whom would chair the group.

Operational Project Management is the operational backbone of the project. It consists in:
1) Maintenance and update of the project plan, 2) Definition and maintenance of project-internal processes, 3) Tracking of milestones and deliverables, 4) Document management, including revision management, 5) Preparation and consolidation of project-internal, 6) Preparation of cost statements, 7) Preparation of project document templates, 8) Monitoring of resource utilization (including financial/budget info) and preparation of interim reports to Steering Group, 8) Monitoring of project work adherence to EC rules and regulations.
Partners will be required to follow specific rules on data management, that will be collected and presented in a specific Report (Deliverable D1.5) stating : (i) different classes of data used in the project or coming from project results; (ii) for each class, the different level of usability and replication (data license).