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COST Office Update

COST Office Update. Monica Dietl, Director COST Office. CSO meeting – Brussels , 15-16 May 2013.

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COST Office Update

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  1. COST Office Update Monica Dietl, Director COST Office CSO meeting – Brussels, 15-16 May 2013

  2. Motivated by the opportunities COST offers European researchers, the COST Office staff members are committed to honesty, discipline and work to provide the best services to the scientific community. Tomorrow their future is at stake. COST Office Staff Members Keystone of COST

  3. Changes in management: • Previous Financial Controller left in January 2010 • Previous Legal Affairs Officer left in February 2010 • Previous HoSO left in March 2010 • New Legal Affairs Officer started in May 2010 • New Financial Controller started in July 2010 • Previous Director left in August 2010 • New HoSO started in September 2010 Facts before 1st April 2011

  4. Consequences: • Disruption in the Management Team from January 2010 to April 2011 (14 months) • Lack of guidance and instructions • Impact on trust from the team, structure, progress in projects and daily operations • Impact on procedures, workflows and practices • Impact on the implementation of the COST Grant System (CGS) Facts before 1st April 2011

  5. Challenges: • Adaptation to new Management Team and change in management methods • Establish guidance and directions • Restore confidence among the teams • Solve legal issues: labour regulations, travel policy, delegation of authority, contracts, etc. • Assessment and improvements of CGS Facts after 1st April 2011

  6. Positive developments: • Additional EUR 30 + 10 Mio from EC • COST mentioned in the H2020 proposal • Development of procedures, revision of processes (HR, Finance, IT) • Increase in budget and in number of Actions • Impact on SOs & AOs tasks and need for adaptation of Action allocation Facts since 1st April 2011

  7. New challenges: • Announcement on the future of ESF while new perspective and projects for the COST Office • CSO preparation of the NIS • Separation and transition Roadmap exercise • Council Secretariat activities transferred to COST Office • Potential risk of staff leaving the COST Office due to • significant increase of workload • uncertainty for the future Facts since 1st April 2011

  8. Increase of workload vs staff

  9. Average number of Actions

  10. Human Resources Data

  11. Information Systems Manager – June 2012 • Inclusiveness & Excellence Policy Officer – May 2012 • Data & Impact Analysis Officer – April 2013 • Several new AOs & SOs – 2012-2013 • Head of Communications & Conferences – May 2013 • Head of Science Operations – June 2013 • COST Office still attractive – stable turnover New staff members 2012-2013

  12. Staff turnover has been stable since 2004 (average 18%) with a small pick in 2006 Stable staff turnover

  13. Emptied position being replaced by new comers; all leaving staff members have been always replaced! Staff replacement rate

  14. Organisational Chart • 60% staff interviewed – Summer 2012 • Final report MGC – September 2012 • Validation phase – March 2013 • Revision Job Profiles & appointments on-going • Envisaged date of implementation – June 2013 • Current Organisational Chart

  15. New Organisational Chart

  16. Mobile Policy in place since June 2012 • Trainings to staff on-going as of April 2013 • Labour Regulation entered into force May 2013 • Travel Policy in place as of June 2013 • Offices reorganisation to cope with additional staff and increased meetings in July 2013 Human Resources on-going work

  17. Finance

  18. COST Budget Overview

  19. COST Evolution of Science Activities expenses

  20. COST Office prepared Annual Report • ESF submitted the Annual Report 2012 the 1st March 2013 • Minor comments received from the EC on 24 April 2013 • Revised version sent by ESF to the EC on 30 April 2013 • Final approval in expectation Annual Report No. 6

  21. COST Office already drafted the Amendment • Meeting with the EC-ESF 6 May – possible decommissioning costs agreed to be added to the Amendment • Amendment to be submitted by ESF to the EC once the Annual Report has been approved • Some questions are still under development: • Transition scenario • Cut-off rules Amendment N. 6

  22. Auditors thanked the ESF/COST Office for the well prepared exercise • New internal guidelines and procedures in place demonstrate an improvement in the quality and efficiency of the work • Auditors will transmit outcome to EC • EC will send letter with the recommendations to ESF ECA Audit 2012

  23. COST Rules for CSO approval • Vademecum for ESF approval • Internal guidelines in progress • Improvement of BCT and Iris performance and stability • Revision of Action Model Grant Agreement and Amendment • Sample Agreements (external service/product providers) IT tools adaptation Other Finance and Legal Items

  24. Information Systems

  25. COST Rules & Vademecum • Online TRR (paperless) • e-COST enhancements • BCT and Iris improvements • Enterprise content management (DMS) • TDP Pilot updates on-going Tight collaboration with all Office teams Current Developments in ITS

  26. Science Operations

  27. Open Call Evolution TDP No of pre-proposals Total number of pre-proposals: 775 (612 + 163 TDP)

  28. Pre-proposals Distribution by Domain

  29. Funded COST Actionsper OC

  30. Roadmap

  31. 2013 2014 April October July July October Jan Jan April Reporting Reporting Last Amendment of FP7 NIS Statutesapproved EC-NIS Agreement Extension of EC-ESF Grant Agreement NIS Established NIS Operational Milestones End of EC-ESF Grant Agreement Workflows, Job Profiles, Duties Additional Employment Budget, Training Needs Start Double Accounting Finance Financial and Budget Analysis DefineCutRules Elaboration of Scenario on COST Action Transfer SOP & Finance Implementation of Chosen Scenario: COST Action Management Plan Selection of Chosen Scenario Accountant 1 IT Developper HR Additional Staff Recruitment and Consultants Transfer of Knowledge to Accountant Consultants (Legal, Finance, IT) Accountant 2 Training Training Finance Team Transfer of Knowledge Separation of IT Tools IT Plan Transfer of IT Tools Preparation for Transfer of Contracts Contracts Inventory Contracts Transfer of Contracts

  32. A year from the end of FP7 COST II GA • COST Office staff members are doing their upmost to responsibly accomplish their duties • To support they need support, trust and future • Decisions are needed: • The NIS statutes must be established now • The transfer scenarios are needed to avoid disruption of COST Actions • The transition has already started Conclusion

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