Fundamentals of project planning and proposal preparation

Fundamentals of project planning and proposalpreparation Dr. Ákos Kukovecz University of Szeged Department of Applied and EnvironmentalChemistry

Outline • Differencebetween project and proposal • Preparationsfor a new project • Identifythetopic: whatdo WE (=person, company, groupetc) need? • Whatarethebestavailablesolutions? („state of the art”)? • Whereshallwegetmoney (funds) fortherealization of the project? (ownfunds / fundingwiththehelp of a proposal) • Project planningaids • Fundamentals of financialplanning • Whatmakes a winningproposalbesides a goodworkplan: • Whyshouldtheysupportus and notsomeoneelse? Demonstrateyourabilities! • Whatwill be thebenefitsforthefunding body iftheysupportus? Matchingbetweenour project and theirstrategicgoals • Whatguaranteesthatmoneyspentonus is notwasted? Project management planning, riskassessment, exploitation, dissemination.. • Importance of formalities: you MUST sticktotheproposalcallguidelines, no deviationsareallowed! Areweeligibleforsupportatall? Dowehaveallthesignatures, authorization, permissions? Didwerespectproposallengthcriteria? Canwemeetthesubmissiondeadline?

Differencebetween project and proposal • Project: • A planned series of actionsundertakeninourownorganization, • Has well-definedgoals / objectivesthatshould be metin a finiteamount of time • Assignscertainresources (human and material) tohelpinreachingthesegoals. • Projectsconsist of carefullydesigned series of activities. Theyhave a general life cycle: • Project planning • Project implementation • Project assessment (+ exploitation and dissemination of results) • Proposal is a document prepared with a very specific goal: to get resources (usually: financial) that will enable us to realize the project. • Proposal contains the project planning. • FIRST plan the project, THEN prepare proposal! Reverse order is a mistake! Projects are supported by proposals. Project should never be created solely because there is a possibility for proposal submission!

Identifythetopic of your project • It is MORE DIFFICULT toimplement a project thantodonothing! Planning, contracts, realization, audits, conflicts of interest etc. • Start a project ifyoucangain more byitsimplementationthantheinvestedtime/effort/money etc. • Fundamentalquestion: whatdoweneed? New instrument? Organize a conference? Start newresearchfield? Increaseworkforceinthelab? Findnewmarkets? Modernizeourprocesstechnology? … • Whatifyoufeelthatyouneedimprovementbutcannotexactlyidentifythefieldwhereyoushouldputthe project effort? • Flowchartoverview of yourresearchmethodology, company, processingtechnology etc. is veryuseful. • Paretoanalysis • Brainstorming • Ishikawa diagram • Radar diagram • SWOT analysis

Flowchart Steps Identifyprocess starting and ending points. Breaklongprocessesintoseveralsubprocesses. 2. Describeeachprocessas a series of verysimple, basicsteps and decisions. 3. Use standard symbolsto mark tasks. Rulesforflowchartpreparation 1. Flowchartsshould be compiledbythecolleagueswhoareactuallydoingtheanalyizedwork. 2. Makeitpossibleforeveryonetogetinvolved. 3. Allowenoughtimeforflowchartrevision, free thinking, criticism etc.

Flowchartexample

Pizzeriaflowchart Has cash? Open shop Takeorder no yes no Close shop Prepare pizza yes End of workinghours? Deliver

Paretoanalysis Goal:selectthereallyimportantfactorsfrom a largeset of potentialissues. Base: 80-20 rule. 80 % of allproblems (effects) arecausedbyonly 20 % of allpossiblecauses Works:onexistingtechnogies (software, experiment, processplant, group of people) where a largeamount of data is available Method:chart % distribution of problemoccurancesas a function of causes Example:Purchasedepartmentwastedtoomuchtimeonaskingforcorrections of orderformsfilledbyplantforemen. Theycollecteddataonthereasonsfor 1 month: The most commonerrorwasthatrequiredinformationwasmissing. A newParetostudyfocusedonthisissuerevealedthattheorderformsaretoocomplex. Theysimplifiedtheforms and this has spreadupordertimes.

ImprovepizzeriaefficiencyusingParetoanalysis Problem: onbusyeveningssomeorderstookunacceptablylongtimetocomplete. Toavoidthis, theystartedmakingpizzasinadvance. Thisimprovedspeedbutalsoincreasedwaste and reduced profit. Data: number of pizza slicesineachorderonThursdayevening: 0 2 1 2 2 4 1 3 1 2 1 2 2 4 3 4 1 4 3 2 2 3 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 4 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 3 1 4 2 2 3 2 2 2 1 2 3 2 2 4 2 2 4 4 1 2 2 2 3 2 2 1 2 2 4 2 1 2 4 2 1 7 2 1 2 2 3 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 4 2 4

ImprovepizzeriaefficiencyusingParetoanalysis Number of orders Number of slicesin an order

ImprovepizzeriaefficiencyusingParetoanalysis Has cash? Open shop Takeorder no yes no Close shop Prepare pizza Refilloven no yes End of workinghours? Deliver 2 more slicesavailable? yes

Ishikawa (fishbone) diagram and brainstorming • Usefulforuncoveringthecauses of a problem (phenomenon) • No quantifications! Listsallpossiblecausesbutnottheirprobabilities. Ishikawa diagram preparation is easierwhen(brainstorming): • Objective is tocollecttolargestpossibleamount of ideasin a giventopicsothatnew, alternativesolutionscanemerge. • One of the most frequentlyutilizedcreativeaids. • Simplemethod. A brainstorminggroupcancollectlots of ideasin a shorttimewithoutinterferingwiththeconcernedprocessitself • Possibledisadvantages: participantsmay be frustratedbythe status, prestige, behavior and moraljudgements (evennonverbal) of theothers. Brainstormingsessions MUST be free of criticism and evaluation!

Howtoprepare an Ishikawa diagram? • Identifytheproblem and writeittothe right (head of thefish). • Brainstormonthe major potential causes. Arrange them around a horizontal line (backbone of the fish) and draw the first lines (big bones).When inlack of ideas, usethegeneral categories: Method Manpower Material Metrics Environment Equippment 3. Brainstorm on each major cause. Ask yourself: „How could this happen?” Write answers as smaller bones connecting to the corresponding major bone. Repeat.

Ishikawareal life example: paediatricnutritionerror Bonnabry P et al. Qual Saf Health Care 2005;14:93-98

Radar (spider web) diagram Uniform, strong performance Oneweakness Severalweaknesses Uniform, bad performance Comparison of small and middlesizedmultivariatedatasets Veryusefulwhenyou must compareproducts/processesonthebasis of verydifferingvariables Usefulforrevealingdeviations of theactualstatefromthedesired/plannedstatues, and identifyingweakpoints Drawback: doesnotassistsimple „better / worse” typedecisions

Spiderweb diagram example: healthcaresystemcomparison

SWOT analysis Inner Outer Positive Negative SWOT = Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats Situationanalysistool, notfordirectproblemsolving. Veryusefulfor project planning. MUST HAVE in a goodproposal! Short, compact, interesting. Summary of thedetailedinformationgatheredpreviously.

SWOT real-lifeexample: carbon nanotube based chip cooling FP7 project

SWOT basedstrategicalplanning Ourorganization (researchgroup, personetc) canalwayschoosefromvariouspossiblestrategies Valid project goal: development, investment, research etc. requiredbythe most important/beneficialstrategy. It is veryeasytodemonstratewhyyour project is necessaryifyourproposalcontains a good SWOT analysis.

State of the art: thebestavailablesolution • New ideasalwayshavetheirrootsinexistingones. Previoussolutions, existingproducts, existingbutnotyetsatisfiedneeds, industrialorscientifictrends etc. • Don’treinvent hot water! Ifthere is a workingsolutionthatsuitsyourneedsthanit is unnecessarytodoresearch. • HOWEVER: adaptingtheexistingsolutiontoour local conditions, introducingitintoourtechnology, introducing a productortechnologyintoourown country etc. Areallvalid project goals. • Yourproposal (project) will be reviewedbyexpertswhoknowtheliterature, thetechnology and the market. Ifyoucan’tdemonstratethemthat YOU alsoknowthefield, itwill be difficulttoconvincethemthatyour project would be anygood…. • Howtogetonoverview of thestateofthe art? • Ideally, youshouldreallyknowyourfield of course…. • UseGoogle! Searchforexistingtechnologies and products, market analysisreports, consumersurveys. • Consultothers: instrumentmanufacturers, solutionproviders, etc. • Scientificliterature: e.g. ISI Web of Science • Patent literature: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/ • Searchthe project databases of fundingagencieshttp://cordis.europa.eu/

Characteristics of a good „state of the art” intro Good state of the art (SotA) introduction: • Doesnotgetlostindetails • Non-chronological! Referstotheorigin of thefield and discussescurrentsituation • Usesvisualaids (figures, • Usesdatasources, citesdata, gives credit toreferences • Doesnotfocusontheownresults of theapplicant. However, significantpersonalaccomplishmentsinthefieldshould be mentioned. • Gives a correctintroductiontoallavailablesolutionsincludingthosethatrivalthe project. Whydoingso, itdirectsattentiontothe market gap/missingknowledge/develomentopportunitythatour project aimsat. Objectives and „progressbeyondthestate of the art”: • Clearlydefinesthegoalswewanttoachievebythe project • Whatdowewanttoaccomplish? Whatresultsdoweexpect and onwhattimescale? • Usesquantitativeindicatorswhereverpossible. E.g. „…a chip 40% smallerthanpreviousones”, or „GC detection limit decreaseby 2 orders of magniture” • Makesitclearwhy WE willsucceedwhereotherhavenot. What is the extra knowledge/novel idea/cooperationopportinutythatwecan input totheSotA?

Whereshallwegetmoneyforthe project? 100% self-financed project: • Nem függünk a pályázat sikerességétől, a támogatási szerződéstől, nincsenek extra törvényi kötelezettségeink (pl. közbeszerzés, fenntartás, disszeminációs kényszer stb). • Doesnotdependonproposalsuccessorsupportcontracts. No extra obligations (e.g. publictenders, disseminationrequirements, project upkeep phase etc) • Allows faster response to new challenges • HOWEVER, you still need to plan the project! Scheduling, work planning, cash-flow, risk analysis etc. are all mandatory for your own sake. Funded project: • Funding intensity is seldom 100%. You will still need some funds of your own! • Opens up huge possibilities that are out of your self-financing reach • Huge administrative load, long upkeep phase after funding is stopped, more possibilities for error. You may have to pay back the support and thus go bankrupt  • Funding agencies: university, foundations, municipalities, goverment bodies, national scientific or R&D funds, Academy of Sciences, European Union etc.

Fundamentals of project planning Workplan Financial plan Project Riskanalysis Management structure Exploitationplan Publicity Formalrequirements Mandatoryforproposals

Toolsusedfor project workplanning Problemtree, objectivetree, logicalframeworkmatrix Identify project start and endpoint Distribute project workbetweenlargelogicalunits (workpackages) and distributeactualto-do’swithinworkpackagesintotasks Project planningoverview: Pert diagram Project schedulingoverview: Gantt diagram Identifyinternalprogress monitoring tools: products (deliverables) and decisionpoints (milestones)

Identifying key problems, constraints opportunities; Determining cause/effect relationships Constructing the problem tree Problem analysis

Objective analysis • Developing solutions fromthe identified problem • Identifying meansto end effect relationship • Building the objective tree

Logframematrix

Logframematrix Quantitativeresultindicator Means of verification Assumptions: out of ourcontrol Description

Whatdoyouwanttoachieveinyour project? Highlevelgeneralobjectives linking your project tothestrategicgoals of thefundingagency. ÁTFOGÓ CÉLOK (overall objectives ) The goalthatyouwanttoachievebythe end of the project. PROJEKT CÉLJA (project purpose ) VÁRT EREDMÉNYEK Results of the project: direct, measureable ( Expected results v. output) Activitiesyouwilldoinyour project. TEVÉKENYSÉGEK ( Activities ) Logframestrategylevels (firstcolumn)

Logframeresultindicators (2nd column) • Choose SMART indicators • Specific Konkrét • Measurable Mérhető • Achievable Elérhető, rendelkezésre áll • Realistic Reális • Time-based Időhöz kötött

Sources of verification (3rd column) Enter activitycostestimation here (bottomrow) Planthemeans of verification (reports, audits, etc.) Verifiedresultsconfirmthatthecorrespondingassumptionholds and thatthe project contributesto overall objectivesasplanned

Importantrequisite? Howlikely is thattheassumptionwill hold? Leave out yes no Sure Leave out Probable Exercisecaution Improbable Canwechangethe project? Add instrumentsthatcaninfluencethisassumption and increaseitsprobability yes no Killer. Stop project planning! Assumptionsinthelogframe (4th column)

Logframematrix design order

Howtoread a logframematrix? Objektíven igazolható eredményességi mutató Ellenőrzés forrásai és eszközei Projekt leírás Feltételezések ÁTFOGÓ CÉLOK (overall objectives) PROJEKT CÉLJA (project purpose) VÁRT EREDMÉNYEK (Expected results v. output) TEVÉKENYSÉGEK (Activities) Pre-requisites

Logframematrixexample

Howto design theactualtasksundertakeninthe project? • Divide activities into work packages. • A work package should contains: • partial goals, indicators, activities, responsible and participating partners, costs, timing • do not forget to plan for internal project activites: meetings, project related communication, report preparation etc. • Workplan should be both easily understandable and detailed enough. Visual planning aids (tables, time charts, Gantt and Pert diagrams etc) should be used!

Workpackages: the building blocks of the project report Results of previousWPs Task 1 Materialorproductto be passedtolaterWPs Task 2 Human resources Task 3 Financial resources prototype Time Workpackage ## Product(deliverable) Some WPs include milestones. Do NOT mix up milestones and deliverables! Milestone: allows the assessment of overall project progress. At a milestone you must decide if the project has made the targeted progress in the given time (e.g. „device should be 60 % ready”) and make a decision that affects forthcoming project implementation: shall we continue the project or stop? Should we work on research direction ‘A’ or ‘B’? Milestones are very important for proposals, because the funding agency will decide on the continuation/stopping of our funds on the basis of our milestone realization progress.

Example: details of a workpackage Start date Participantsinvolved Objectives of the WP Detaileddescription of theplannedwork down tothetasklevel. Outputs of the WP: deliverables and milestones

Example: workpackageoverviewin a real project

Relationshipbetweenworkpackages: Pert diagram „light”

Scheduling of workpackages: Gantt diagram Project timemeasuredincalendarmonths Workpackages Gray lines mark theduration of workpackages. Deliverables (D) and milestones (M) arealsomarkedonthechart.

PERT method PERT: Program Evaluation and ReviewTechnique • Allowscalculation of: • earliestpossible start of project • latestpossiblefinish of project • timereserve • critical project path Earliest start time Duration Earliestfinishtime Activitycode and identification Maximumtimereserve Latest start time Latestfinishtime

Fundamentals of financialplanning • Assignadequateresourcestoeachworkpackage and each partner, otherwisethe project cannot be implemented. • Resources: • Human • Stationery (e.g. instruments) • Consumables (e.g. chemicals, gases, paper, AFM tip) • Services and othercosts: travel, conferenceregistration, post, representation • Payattentionto: • Overheadcostsclaimedbythehostorganization (e.g. universityoverhead • Eligibility and calculation of taxes (e.g. VAT), bank costs and customsfees • Rulesforpersonnelcosts: allowedcontracttypes, dailyallowances, socialsecuritypaymentsbythehost and bytheperson etc. • Compulsory service fees: audit costs, tendering costs, banking costs • Whenpurchasingstationery (e.g. newinstrument), checkifthefullcost is eligibleinthe project ornot? It is possiblethatthe project canonlypaydepreciationduringprojectlifetime, takinginto account the % usagedistributionaswell • Whataretheeligiblecosts? Shouldnon-eligibleones be includedinthetotalbudget? What is thefinancingintensityforeligiblecosttypes (e.g. R&D 75 %, demonstration 50 %, management 100 %)

Human resourceplanning Person month (person day, person hour etc): the amount of work expected in the specified timeframe from a person working full time on the implementation of the project. If you don’t have a detailed project budget, person month planning is a good starting point for estimating the other cost types proportionally and come up with a reasonable project budget. a. Hungary: 7000-10000 EUR/person month is generally acceptable for EU projects. Personnel cost is the most crucial part of project budgets usually! Considerthepersonnelcosts of a verysmall 3 yearresearch project: 48293 EUR or 51827 AZN

Personmonthplanningaids Workload diagram basedon PERT: Personmonthoverviewtable:

Proposalimpact: whatshall WE gainbyimplementingthe project? • Ifyoucannotdemonstratethatthe project will be beneficialforyou, noonewilltakeyouseriously! Don’t be shy, identifyyourexpectedbenefitsclearly! • Useaidstosupportyourargument: • Demonstratescientificnoveltybyliteratureresearch, preliminaryexperiments (fundamentalresearch) • Demonstratefeasibility of conceptbyprototype, pilot study, preliminaryexperiments (applied R&D) • Demonstratethelack of suitableinstrumentation AND theexistingmeasurementneedsinyourregion (whenapplyingfornewinstrument) • Presentreturn of investmentcalculations (technologicaldeveloment) • Present market research and analysisdata (newproduct)

Fundamentals of project planning and proposal preparation