Introduction

Welcome to User Guide for AdminProject. Here you can learn how to perform various actions in AdminProject. Take your time to look through those guides and keep an eye out for new ones. They will keep appearing as we introduce new functions to AdminProject. If you have questions visit our FAQ and if that didn’t help contact us directly using the contact form.

Starting a Project

You’ve just signed up, have a project to run and are probably wondering where to start. Let us give you a few hints on how to transfer your project details to AdminProject and start working. After your first log in, you’ll be taken to a welcome screen and invited to take a short orientation course on the user interface. When done, you may click on My projects link on the right sidebar.

The main work area is empty (unless you have been invited to participate in somebody else’s project) so the first thing you should do is Create a new project by clicking on the appropriate link on the right sidebar.

Depending on the type of project you are running, AdminProject will set up a customised workspace for you. The selection you are about to make influences the general layout of the system in terms of work packages, intellectual outputs, activities, multiplier events and other components. While you can adjust the workspace later in the project settings, this selection will facilitate a smooth start.

Currently the available project templates are:

  1. Erasmus+ (KA1, KA2, KA3 – centralised and decentralised),
  2. Other/General (customized).

Choose an easily identifiable name and click create. You will then see the created project in your workplace and a sidebar with a few options to choose from. If you need to add or remove components you can do so in the project’s Settings.

TIP: If you have very long project name, use acronym or try to shorten it to 20-25 characters, so each notification email will contain also short info about activity, not only project name itself.

 

Project Settings

Your project space is ready. You may need to fill in several details you deem necessary. Go to the Settings tab in the project’s main view to select start and end dates and choose its colour ID.

Invite People

To invite people who also work on this project, you need to know their e-mail address:

  1. Type their e-mails into the invitation field, separating them with space, colon or semicolon.
  2. When done, click Invite.
  3. After all e-mails are added, click save in the box at the top of the page.

TIP: Do NOT use redirected or forwarded email addresses. This will most likely cause problems and some emails might get lost or never delivered.

Their names will appear on the list after they have successfully followed the instructions in the invitation e-mail.

User groups

Users can be divided into three groups:

Owners – they have full rights over projects, they can create and change all projects’ settings, invite new people, add partners and upload their template.

Administrators – are nominated by owners and assigned full rights within the project. You can assign the administrator’s role to someone who has already accepted the invitation to the project.

Users – have rights to create project items like tasks, travel cards, upload files etc. and can’t change any of the project’s settings.

You can make a user an administrator by clicking on their name while in the Settings menu. Blue highlight indicates that they are an administrator. Do not forget to click save.

Partners

Here, you should add project partners, essential for financial and dissemination purposes when you need to assign expenses or activities. Give them a number (like P0, P1, or just 0,1 etc) they have in your project, put in their name, choose their country and assign an acronym which will be used throughout the project. Do not forget to click save.

In the lower section, match users with their partner organisations. It is worth noting that having a partner assigned to each user makes it easier to select people for tasks, timesheets and other modules, as their names will be accompanied with their organisation’s acronym.

Project Template

In this section you can upload your document template in .docx format, which will be used as a base for all documents generated by AdminProject. What we mean is a standard A4 page prepared in .docx format, with standard margins (each side 2,5cm/1in) and a defined header and/or footer.

How to prepare a template?

  1. Create a blank document in your word processor (Word or LibreOffice).
  2. Add a header and footer.
  3. Insert and format required text and images to the header and the footer.
  4. Do not insert anything into the main body of the document.
  5. Save the file as .docx

Such document can be uploaded to your project’s space. From now on, all exported documents will share the same header and the footer.

If you need to display your company’s or the project’s logo, it can be uploaded and displayed at the bottom of each page in the project’s workspace. Maximum dimensions for the footer are 120px (height) and 1150px (width). Your footer will be resized and centered if necessary.

Additional options (owner only)

Since not all projects share the same set of features, they can be turned on and off in the Customise project section. Tools that can be toggled are:

You can turn the modules off as well if you don’t need them. They can be switched on any time:

Project Archive

When the work on the project is complete it should be sent to the archive. It is important for users of AP Standard and AP Business packages, as it will allow them to free up project space for new projects. Archived projects do not count towards the total number of open projects.

An archived project will disappear from everyone’s workspace, it will only be visible to the project’s owner. They will be able to view the archived project in read-only mode.

Tools (General)

In the Tools module, each user will find elements of AdminProject that help in day-to-day project management. The three most frequently used – Discussion, Files and Tasks, are just below project name.

Tasks

When it comes to actual action, everything can be broken down into simple organic activities that are represented in AdminProject by Tasks. While tasks are not explicitly defined in any project proposal, they are the means of achieving your goals, producing deliverables and completing milestones. How does it work?

Anyone can assign a task to a specific person or persons, it is usually done by the Project Coordinator or a Partner responsible for a specific Intellectual Output, Work Package or activity like dissemination or evaluation. This person will set task start and end dates, choose responsible users and mark priority. To make sure your task is clear and understandable, add a description explaining what people should do and what is expected as a result. People assigned to the task can attach files needed for completing the task, change task progress and leave comments. When the person assigned to the task completes their work or has made some progress, they can move the handle on their progress bar to reflect their actions and progress. Afterwards, the task “assigner” should approve the task to definitely close it. Now let’s look at the details.

TIP: Quite often it is advisable to select specific persons for the tasks, not all in the project. E.g. if the task is finance-related, it makes little sense to assign people normally working on technical aspects.

List of Tasks

To get started, click Tools tab and then the button labeled Tasks. By default, you will see the list of tasks assigned to the currently logged user, i.e. you, with several quick filters at the top of the list:

  • My tasks – tasks which are assigned to you. It means that you are responsible for working on those tasks or you are assigned to them as Observer;
  • Delegated – tasks which you have assigned to others. It means that you have some work to be done and have assigned the task to the people responsible for it completion. Very useful for checking your team’s progress on different activities;
  • All – displays all open tasks in the whole project, regardless of who owns them and who is responsible for completing them.
  • Approved – returns a list of tasks that were marked as approved/completed by their owners. It can be used as task archive.

In most cases, the list becomes very long. To find the tasks you are looking for click on the filters are inactive link in the top-right corner. It will allow you to see only those you are looking for.

Creating a task

Right, now let’s move on to create and assign a new task. We may give Richard a task to create a course curriculum. We shall give him a sample file and one week to complete the task.

  1. Click Create a new task link on the right sidebar.
  2. Fill in the Name field and pick the start and end dates.
  3. Select from the list which Work Package or Intellectual Output does the task belong to in Part of WP or Part of IO (depending on project type). This field is not available if WPs and IOs are disabled in this project. If the list is empty, define a WP/IO in tools.
  4. Set the Priority – the default is Normal, other choices are High and Low.
  5. Select users Responsible for the task. Click on – no people assigned – to see the list of all users working on the project. Select the ones you want to work on the task by clicking one on their avatar or name. Click twice to make them an Observer. Here is the list of roles available in tasks:
    • Owner – person who creates the task and assigns it to users.
    • Responsible – person who is responsible for completing the work required by the owner.
    • Observer – person who oversees and/or consults the progress of the task.
  6. Type in the description of the task.
  7. Add files that are a part of the task How to link files.
  8. Click save in the box above the task.

Working with tasks

When somebody assigns you to the task, you look at what needs to be done and get to work. Here are some good practices for using tasks:

  1. Update the progress meter to let the owner of the task know that you are working on it.
  2. Leave comments with questions and updates related to your work.
  3. Upload and link files with the requested results instead of sending them via e-mail.

As an owner of a task, pay attention to the progress bar. When it reaches 100% it means that the task is completed and awaits your approval. If you are happy with the results change status of the task to Approved: Yes.

Did you know you can reply to comments using only your e-mail? Whenever you receive a notification about changes in a task or about a new comment, hit reply in your e-mail client and type your message. Make sure that everything is placed above this message ** Please reply ABOVE this line to add your message to AdminProject **.

To-do list

To-do list is a helpful way of seeing all your tasks from various different projects. You may receive it by e-mail every day if you wish and set up the frequency and size in your Profile.

Since it is the best point of reference for everything you need to do or to have done, you can find the link to your to-do list on the sidebar menu in several places across AdminProject.

The list contains all tasks that are connected to your user account, so you will see both: tasks you created and tasks you have been assigned to.
At certain moments, the list includes five sections:

  1. Overdue tasks
  2. Tasks due today
  3. Future tasks
  4. Tasks pending your approval
  5. Tasks finished by you

Discussions

This tool’s function is similar to those of message boards and mailing groups. Users create threads, post replies, add files, links and citations. The philosophy behind it is fairly simple: to keep everyone informed and provide space for exchange of ideas and information. Unlike comments in Tasks, by default each new discussion topic is delivered to everyone in the project.

We know that there are issues that some people might not be interested in following and would like to reduce the number of e-mails delivered to their inbox (in heated discussions we are talking about tens or sometimes even hundreds of posts).

On the main view, you can see all discussions in the project. Each discussion entry displays:

  • start date,
  • author of the first post,
  • title,
  • new post label,
  • number of files attached,
  • views,
  • replies,
  • date of the last post,
  • author of the last post.

You can filter the discussion board by the number of post responses or views, date and unread posts.

Starting a Discussion

To start a discussion all you need to do is click Start a new discussion on the Actions sidebar or on the button at the bottom of the list.

  1. Enter the discussion’s title.
  2. Write your first post.
  3. Below the text field, click Deliver to all project members and select/deselect users you need/do not need to inform about the topic.
  4. Attach files that are relevant to the discussion.
  5. Click Post this message button below the text box.

Participating in a Discussion

Discussions are open. They are available to all users within the project. Even if you have all notifications switched off, you can still follow topics in your browser and post replies in any discussion. To post a reply just click the Post a new reply button below the last post.

The Subscribe to this discussion and Unsubscribe from this discussion links allow you to manage your subscriptions. They are working only when you have notifications enabled in your Profile.

Files

AdminProject can store files related to all of your projects while keeping each project’s storage separate from another. There are many other cloud storage solutions available, but files uploaded to AdminProject can be easily attached to other modules e.g. tasks or discussions.

File storage in AdminProject has a traditional tree-like structure, without limits as for the number of folders or how many subfolders can be created. There’s a root folder and there are all your folders and already uploaded files. A brand new project space will have only root folder visible, described as “All files” and a symbol of “/” which is used in many operating systems.

Any user (of any class) can create new folders as needed.

TIP: Especially in larger partnerships, it is absolutely crucial to keep the folders and files organized. Everyone has a different idea what that means, but the coordinator – presumably owner of the project in the system, should create a first set of folders and remind everybody to follow some scheme. Otherwise, it is extremely difficult to find what is needed, some 2 years and 2000 files later – especially if most of them end up in “All files”. You have been warned! 🙂 

The main view of the module allows you to upload, move, rename your files and create folders. A single file looks like the one on the image below:

Below the name of the file, there is its size, by whom and when was its latest version uploaded, number of comments and number of versions.

You can sort files by name, last modification date, file type, size and by whom uploaded. On the right hand side of any file you’ll see a “…” symbol which denotes additional actions:

When you click on it, you will see available operations: to comment, rename, move, delete or download the file. You can also click on the file row to mark it and then download, delete or move the selected items all at once.

Uploading

To upload a file click on a sidebar link Upload a new file. The upload form gives you two ways of uploading a file. By clicking Select files, you open a system file browser to select a file or files. The other way to upload files is to drag and drop all files into the large gray box below.

The files upload automatically and, depending on your upload speed, you will see a progress bar for each file. Small files on fast connections will usually not display a progress bar.

The method of uploading files is the same across all modules, so when you want to link a new file to a task, you will see the same dialog box.

AdminProject supports files up to 1GB, larger files will need to be transferred using other methods.

TIP: Make sure to note where (which folder) you are uploading the files. The path is always visible under sorting links, just above “File upload” blue text.

Downloading

Files can be downloaded in several ways depending on the context and needs:

  1. Single file – click on the filename.
  2. Group file download – click on the rows with files you want to download to highlight them. You can also select folders to be included in the downloaded package. When ready click Download button that appears on the hovered row or click on Download selected items. A .zip file with requested files and folders will start downloading.
  3. Complete download – to download all files and folders (with files and folders inside them) visible on the list click Download current folder.

Renaming, Moving and Deleting

AdminProject’s file manager offers basic functionality in terms of moving, renaming and deleting files. Those options will appear when you click on a “…” button on the right, next to each filename.

Renaming

To rename a file, click Rename, type the new name in the field provided and click the blue button.

Moving

To move a file, click Move, select the target folder on a folder tree and click the blue button.

TIP: Click on a folder name to select target folder. Click on the folder icon to expand it. White icons show folder without subfolders in them, solid-blue icons denote folders which can be further expanded.

Deleting

To delete a file, click Delete and in the confirmation window click the red button.

This operation has been enhanced with soft-delete feature. It means that before a file (or a folder) actually gets deleted it will be still kept for 30 days. That’s right, if you delete any file on AdminProject, you’ll be able to restore it for another month. After that, the file will be removed permanently.

Deleted files can be viewed and restored by the Owner and Administrators. Find Show deleted elements link and click to toggle the view of deleted files. They are marked as (deleted) and are placed in red rows. There is no such thing as Trash or Recycle Bin, the files are just hidden from users’ view in the same place they were before deletion.

You can also perform these operations on groups of files and folders. Just click on the rows you want to delete/move/rename then select the desired option from the hover menu or from the Actions sidebar.

Versions

Whenever a file is uploaded to a folder, AdminProject checks if a file with an identical name already exists. If the check is positive (file already exists) the file is replaced and the old file is added to the version history available after clicking on the version icon.

Proper use of the versioning system can be key to efficient work. Forget about the increasing list of suffixes appended to every iteration of a file that is being worked on. It is a very simple process:

  1. Download a file.
  2. Edit the file.
  3. Save it under the same name.
  4. Upload the file to AdminProject.

Version history allows you to track the people who upload further revisions and to revert changes by downloading a previous version of the file.

TIP: If the file is linked to task or discussion, the link will be automatically updated to point to the newest version of the file.

Linking files to other modules

In AdminProject, files are an integral part of other modules and can be linked to them. Files can be linked to:

  • Discussion posts,
  • Tasks,
  • Travel Reports,
  • Dissemination actions.

To link a file:

  1. Locate the Link a file button or click to see the available files and folders.
  2. Select the files you want to attach by clicking on their names.
  3. Click save in the alert box.

Now the files can be accessed from the module and if no longer needed they can be detached.

If the file you want is not on AdminProject you can always upload it without leaving your current module. If you click New file button it will bring up the dialog box described earlier.

Remember, it will be uploaded to the current folder and linked to your task or report. Please double-check if the current folder is the one where the file needs to be.

TIP: Linking is dynamic, meaning that file linked to a task or discussion can be moved to different folder, but the link will still be kept.

Meeting Planner

Making arrangements for each project meeting can be an arduous task, having to include all your partners’ schedules and plans and trying to squeeze the meeting right after the completion of a work package. Debates on dates can often take a lot of time. This little tool should help you see what dates are most feasible for all invited participants.

Plan a meeting

The main view of the Meeting Planner shows all planned meetings. To plan a new meeting look for the proper link on the sidebar.

  1. Enter the name of your meeting or event.
  2. Create a pool of dates that are available for the meeting.

    • Select dates by clicking the days you want to select.
    • Type the dates into the text box provided (more useful if you want to select the whole month). The format for dates is DD.MM.YYYY, different dates should be separated by a comma and if you want to select a range of dates use hyphen “-” e.g. 05.05.2014-20.05.2014.

    If you type the dates manually, the dates selected on the calendar will be overwritten.

  3. Select users who are to be notified about the new planner. They will receive an email and be asked to respond by selecting suitable days.

  4. When everything is set click Save and share button.

The first stage is complete.

Respond to a meeting planner invitation

When a user has been invited to give a response to a meeting planner they will see a prompt on the sidebar under Pending Items. They can access the planner by clicking show button or reject the invitation by clicking ignore.

Everyone (not only the invited users) can access the planner by navigating to Tools > Meeting Planners and clicking Fill in next to the meeting.

They will be taken to a screen with all possible dates chosen by the creator of the meeting planner. Clicking on a day will change its colour into green – this indicates that you are available for the meeting on that day. Click all days that suit you and end by clicking Save my availability button.

See what the best dates are

Once everyone responds (or at any time before that) you can check what days are conflicting with peoples’ plans and which are good for the meeting. Users can make alterations in their choice of days available for the meeting in the case of change in plans.

The module will compare available dates and will suggest such days that are suitable for all (and for some) users.

When the time for decision is over, put the best date into the calendar and inform every one of the necessary details. Delete out of date planners by using the link on the sidebar.

Gantt Chart

Gantt Chart is a well-known method of graphic presentation of a project schedule. AdminProject takes almost everything that indicates work progress in your project and generates visual representation of the project, which includes:

  • Tasks,
  • Intellectual Outputs,
  • Work Packages,
  • Multiplier Events,
  • Learning/Teaching/Training Activities,
  • Events,
  • Optionally milestones and deliverables, if defined in Work Packages.

It gives you a better overview of what is going on in your project, how long till it needs to be done, when do next activities start and where you should speed up because deadlines are due too soon.

Left sidebar represents the list of all available elements. When first opened you will only see the names of the parent and unassociated elements. Work Packages and Intellectual Outputs with sub-elements can be expanded to reveal associated tasks, milestones, deliverables or activities.

How to figure out which is which?

  • WP/IO are the grey-blue line at the top of cells with each end wrapped by a triangular bracket.
  • Tasks are the blue boxes spanning their whole working period.
  • Milestones are represented by dark blue diamonds.
  • Deliverables are represented by small stacked boxes.
  • Events are striped blue bars.

It may look a bit unclear without descriptions, but if you hover your mouse pointer over an element you’ll see its name and start/end date in a tooltip.

Double-clicking on the name on the list of all elements will scroll the view and centre on the element. The top bar has three sections representing years, months and days. Clicking on each of those elements will zoom in or out to make it fully visible and centre the view on it. For instance, when you want to see the whole year just click on it and see the image zoom out to show you all 12 months of the given year.

Galleries

The main purpose of the Galleries is to document project meetings and project related events like dissemination actions or conferences. Your photos can be grouped in albums and viewed as a slideshow. Larger images will be scaled to the size of your window.

To create a new gallery:

  1. Click Create a new gallery.
  2. Enter the name of your gallery.
  3. Click on the blue tick box.
  4. Click Upload photos button and select files to upload.

Once they upload, you will be taken to the thumbnail gallery with your photos. Here you can click and view them manually or start a slideshow.

At any time you can manage your gallery and decide to either upload more photos or delete selected ones. Galleries can be downloaded to your computer.

Calendar

Calendar module is used to plan events and display them on a calendar grid and Gantt Chart. To create a new event:

  1. Click ‘Add a new event’ on the right sidebar.
  2. Fill in the name of the event and its description.
  3. Select dates using the date-picker bubble.
  4. Click save in the box above the task.

The calendar can also display milestones and deliverables if they are defined in Work Packages. The calendar is shared among users across the project space and is another way of viewing your dates and deadlines.

Additional Tools (for EU projects)

Work Packages

Projects can be divided into smaller pieces of work called Work Packages (WP). They represent specific blocks of work and each WP needs deliverables which represent – an effect or result of a particular WP. AdminProject has a specific module which allows you to define all your WP “belongings” – like deliverables, milestones and tasks needed to achieve the former. Let us guide you through the basics of WPs.

Depending on the project, you can have a different number of WPs with a different number of deliverables and various timelines. It is a good idea to fill that in at the beginning of the project. To start working with Work Packages, head to Tools tab and then click the Work Packages button.

You should see the list of all Work Packages. If nothing is there, decide on creating one.

Defining a Work Package

To define a Workpackage follow these steps:

  1. Click on Create a new work package link on the sidebar.
  2. Fill in the name, start and end dates.
  3. Add an acronym (acronyms allow you to identify the work package in other modules of AdminProject).
  4. Fill in the description.
  5. Click save.

Now, with the Work Package saved, we can add milestones and/or deliverables. Click on the Work Package and then choose one of the links on the sidebar or the blue button that appears after you expand the sections Deliverables or Milestones.

You need to type in the name, the deadline – meaning: when it has to be done, and a description. Then click save. Both Deliverables and Milestones will be visible in your calendar and Gantt Chart.

Defining these items takes only a moment, but will help you track your project’s progress and quickly find out what should be available and when, as opposed to scrolling through the project proposal.

Tasks and Work Packages

In addition to milestones and deliverables there is a third section – Tasks. It displays all tasks that are assigned to this particular Work Package. You can start adding tasks relevant for this WP by clicking Add a new task available on the Actions sidebar. Then you can set deadlines, assign persons responsible for the task, match task to part of WP (or IO), decide on priority, add description and link files.

When everything is completed it will help you track your project’s progress and quickly find out what should be available and when, as opposed to scrolling through the project proposal.

Spend some time on setting up the Work Packages. Take your application form and create work packages in AdminProject. If there is a result, add it as a deliverable. If achieving a deliverable requires going through certain stages, add them as milestones.

Intellectual Outputs

Intellectual Outputs were introduced in Erasmus+ programmes and they replaced Work Packages in Strategic Partnerships. They represent the most important results/tangible deliverables, such as curricula, pedagogical materials, open educational resources, IT tools, etc.

Users can define Intellectual Outputs in accordance with the grant application form and as a result have an overview of activities that need to be completed to achieve a particular Intellectual Output.

To create an Intellectual Output:

  1. Click Create a new Intellectual Output.
  2. Insert the title for the IO, as in the Application.
  3. Copy the identification code from the project’s proposal (in format O1, O2, O3).
  4. Choose start and end dates for this IO, as in the Application.
  5. Copy and post IO description from the Application.
  6. Type and select the languages this IO will be delivered in.
  7. Type and select types of media used for delivery of this IO.
  8. Provide a short task description.
  9. Click save in the alert box above the IO form.

After you save the Intellectual Output click on its name. You can then choose from three actions on the right sidebar: Show list of IOs, Delete IO and Add a new Activity. Click Add a new activity to create and add new activities based on the information in the project’s proposal. You will be taken to an IO Activity form:

  1. Enter the Activity title, as in your proposal.
  2. Enter the Activity code found in your proposal.
  3. Select Project phase from the dropdown menu.
  4. Pick start and end dates.
  5. From the list of partners select Leading organisation to lead this Activity.
  6. Participating organisations who assist in this Activity are selected from a similar list. You can select more than one organisation.
  7. Fill in the description of the Activity, as submitted in the proposal.
  8. Fill in the role of each organisation in this Activity, as submitted in the proposal.
  9. When done, click save.

LTT Activities

LTT is an acronym for Learning/Teaching/Training within Erasmus+ projects. This tool helps in registering LTT Activities within the project.
To create a new LTT Activity:

  1. Enter the LTT Activity Number, as in the proposal.
  2. Click Create a new LTT Activity.
  3. Select Activity type from a dropdown menu.
  4. Define the length of the activity by selecting if it is a Long-term Activity and type its duration in days.
  5. Complete the number of participants, participants with special needs and accompanying persons.
  6. From the list of partners select Participating organisations.
  7. Provide a description of the activity, as in the application.
  8. Click save in the alert box above.

Multiplier Events

Multiplier Events are national and transnational conferences, seminars and other events for sharing and disseminating intellectual outputs of the project. They need to be directly related to IOs. This module helps logging and planning a Multiplier Event. To begin:

  1. Click Create a new Multiplier Event.
  2. Insert the title for the ME.
  3. Copy the identification code from the project’s proposal.
  4. In the IO(s) covered type, put in the identification code of Intellectual Outputs shared during the Multiplier Event.
  5. Choose the county of venue for the ME.
  6. Set ME start and end dates.
  7. Provide a short description, as in the proposal.
  8. Click save in the alert box above the form.

To add new activities within MEs, proceed as instructed in the Intellectual Outputs.

Activities

These activities are related to Key Action 1 of Erasmus+ programme. The main focus is mobility for education and this module is ready to register all such activities. Start with creating your first activity.

  1. Click Create a new Activity.
  2. Enter the Activity’s number, as in the proposal.
  3. From the dropdown menu select the type of activity.
  4. Type in the number of participants.
  5. Select whether it is a Long-term activity or not which will determine whether to break down trips into Flows, given in months or days.
  6. Complete the fields with the number of participants, participants with special needs and accompanying persons.
  7. When done, click save.

Now the activity is ready and you can add flows. Flows represent mobilities within the project. Each Activity can include multiple flows. Click on the Activity to add a new flow:

  1. Click the arrow on the right to expand the field and click Add a new flow.
  2. Add the flow number, as in the proposal.
  3. Fill in the row with origin and destination countries, duration of activity and the number of participants.
  4. After all fields are completed, click Save.

Finances

Under the Finances tab you will find four sections devoted to managing your expenses. Due to the requirements of EU projects, everyone has to deliver a proper report to their financing body. There is always more than you’d think is enough and it has to be done properly if you want your funding, no excuses. Every person who’s ever managed an EU project will probably agree that apart from time and task management (we have yet another article on that matter), reporting is something that can make you cry.

That is the reason for inclusion of exporting tools in AdminProject’s financial tools. All the sections of Finances have an engine that generates a report in a .docx. format and if you are happy with it, just send it to your financing organisation.

Unless otherwise stated, all amounts should be given in Euro (EUR).

Timesheets

Timesheets are a way of recording the amount of time each person spent working on a project to determine staff costs. They are normally filled by a project manager or coordinator, though in AdminProject everyone can create and fill in their own timesheets and keep them up-to-date as the project progresses.

Before you start working with timesheets, make sure all people working in the project are invited and have active accounts, second – make sure they all are assigned to their organizations. This can be done by project owner or administrator. 

When you want to enter Timesheets there are two options. One is to Add a new employee and the second Check my timesheets – both available on the sidebar.

If this is first time you opened this module, this is the workflow:

  1. Add a new employee
  2. Click on the newly added employee and then click on the Add a new timesheet button
  3. Choose a month for which you would like to add a new timesheet and click Save
  4. Click on the employee name to report a new activity within chosen month
  5. Now click Add a new activity
  6. Select the date, the IO (if applicable) and type in what was done during this day and for how long.
  7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 to add more timesheets and actions.

Each user has a personalized view of all their monthly timesheets. The information here is collected from all projects you are participating in at any given moment. Clicking Show my timesheets will unfold into a breakdown of your timesheets across all your projects, by dates. You can come back to the main view by clicking Employees list. You can also Check timesheet by IO to see how many days are currently reported for each IO in the project.

Adding an Employee

Before you start working with Timesheets you need to fulfill two requirements:

  1. Make sure the person you want to add is on the users list (Project’s Home > Settings).
  2. Check if the user has a partner assigned (Project’s Home > Settings > Project partners).

With those two confirmed start by clicking Add a new employee to create a personnel file. The fields you need to complete are:

  1. Employee – pick one from the dropdown list. If you are a regular user you can only pick yourself. The partner field will be filled automatically.
  2. Position – name the role a person plays in the project (usually its Technical, Administrative or Managerial).
  3. Daily rate – how much does this person cost for a day’s work on the project (in EUR).
  4. Click save.

Adding a Timesheet

Timesheets are added to employee files. Click on the name of the person you have just added and click Add a new timesheet.

  1. Select the month for the new timesheet and click save.
  2. The timesheet is ready to be filled with the employee’s activities. Click on the timesheet.
  3. Click Add a new activity.
  4. Pick a date for the activity. If an activity spans more than one day it is good practice to add it as a separate activity.
  5. Select WP or IO for the activity.
  6. Type the name for the activity.
  7. Enter the time spent on the activity. The time is in fractions of a full-time day of work, its length depends on the country (e.g. 8 hours or 7.5 hours), i.e. if an activity took 4 hours in an 8-hour-day type 0.5.
  8. Click Save.

Timesheets can be exported individually or in bulk. From the employee view, you can export selected or all timesheets in one file. The activities in them will be grouped together. The button to Export selected timesheets will appear if you select at least one timesheet.

A sample filled timesheet looks like this, except it is exported as editable .docx file, so still can be changed as needed.

Staff Costs

This is another section for controlling your project finances. Sometimes, the planned budget in the proposal is not accepted entirely, so this is a good place to record the real, accepted numbers, divided by partner and by Intellectual Output. Click Add a new staff cost to start creating a list. You must select the partner, a relevant IO, company position and then number of days. The cost will be automatically calculated according to countries defined in the settings. Don’t forget to click save.

Travel Reports

Generally, reporting for EU funded projects includes travel expenses. That is, if you want them covered by the grant they need to be well documented and justified. Right after you click Travel reports you will see the list of all trips under this project. Reporting travels can be tedious, so AdminProject will help in keeping the documents in one place and generating a report.

Creating a new Travel Report

After clicking on Add a new travel a travel form will appear where you should fill:

  1. The meeting title.
  2. Destination city and country.
  3. Start and end dates of the trip.
  4. Select the partner whose expenses are documented.
  5. Insert number of people travelling.
  6. Select the distance band.
  7. If applicable, select the work package related to the trip.
  8. If applicable, link any relevant files.
  9. Click save.

You will need see the list of reported travels with cost per trip at the end of each row. Travel data can be edited at any time.

Other/Exceptional Costs

This section covers costs incurred from realisation of activities that are not covered by the previous sections. These may be expenses arising from a Grant agreement or budget shifts. The difference is that Other costs were a part of LLP projects and Exceptional costs are a part of Erasmus+ projects.

Click on the Add a new exceptional cost button. Then choose relevant partner, item description, justify cost purpose, select cost date (from invoice), enter cost in currency, currency code and exchange rate. Afterwards, click save.

Dissemination

Dissemination is always one of the fundamental elements of every European project. The EU governing bodies want project beneficiaries to reach out to individuals and organisations concerned and inform them about the progress of the project and its results. Dissemination activities are actually informational campaigns within the project and a designated module within AdminProject will help you record when they were done, who was the recipient and what was the method used.

On the main Dissemination screen you see list of reported actions – one by one, or you can switch to summary per partner.

Here is the workflow on how to register a dissemination activity.

New dissemination activity

To report a dissemination activity:

  1. Click Add a new activity.
  2. Fill in the basic field: Activity name (required)
  3. Choose reporting partner – Who? (required)
  4. Choose between types of dissemination activities from the dropdown menu – How? (required)
  5. Select date of dissemination activity – When? (required – default date will be today)
  6. Choose the level – reach of the activity.
  7. Make a note of the location of the activity – Where?
  8. Enter the number of people who were targeted by the activity and received information about the project and/or its results. (required)
  9. Provide a short description in Activity description.
  10. Describe the Target groups.
  11. Provide short information in the Impact of the activity.
  12. Include information on Feedback received.
  13. Upload files that will serve as evidence of the activity, this could be screenshot, scans of the attendance sheet, pictures from the meeting, etc.

The dissemination actions reported can be edited afterwards, if e.g. number of social media interactions changed – it could be easily amended later.

Dissemination report

The main purpose of recording all dissemination activities is to generate a report. In the main Dissemination module view, there is a list of all dissemination activities undertaken by all partners. Each report will summarise activities of only one partner.

  1. Click Show summary on the sidebar. The new list shows every partner and the number of their activities.
  2. Click download in the Report column for the selected partner.

AdminProject will generate one report per partner. Each report will include every logged dissemination activity with all provided in this respect in AdminProject data and recognized files. You can still attach other types of files, though they will not be compiled into the report.

File types that will be added to a dissemination report: jpg, gif, png, docx and pdf.

TIP: Please make sure to have active template for your project, this way the reports will be much better looking.

Evaluation

Under this label, we have hidden a powerful editor and survey tool that can help in the evaluation of the project and its activities. Each user can create surveys, fill them with questions, publish them online and collect the results.

After clicking on the Evaluation tab you’ll see several boxes:

  • New survey – starts completely new survey
  • Copy survey – copies existing survey (from all the projects you are participant) into the current project. This is very useful and time saving when you need slightly different survey to the existing one – e.g. meeting evaluation.
  • Unpublished – contains all the surveys which are ready or partially ready – but never been published.
  • Published – list of all active surveys in the project. Contains various options to preview, notify users, export results, etc
  • Results – list of finished (closed) surveys. Allows you to preview and export results.

Design a survey

Successful evaluation depends on the accuracy of the surveys, as the way they are prepared can determine the answers received from respondents.
To create a new survey click on New survey button and follow the steps displayed:

Step 1 – Name the survey
Step 2 – Fill the optional fields.
Step 3 – Add questions to your survey

AdminProject currently has 8 types of questions that can be included in your questionnaires:

  1. Yes or No question – where a simple and clear binary answer is required.
  2. Scale – where a question in each row requires one answer from a fixed set of columns. You can ask your respondents to provide a different answer for each row.
  3. Matrix – a deeply structured question where for each set of conditions determined by one column and one row, there is a drop down menu with a set of possible answers.
  4. Multiple choice – where several answers can be ticked to answer one question.
  5. Single choice – where a respondent picks one answer from the options given.
  6. Text – for short text answers that would not exceed one line of text.
  7. Paragraph text – for longer text answers.

The last option is not really a question. Section header helps with organising your questionnaires and divides blocks of questions into sections.
Each question has two options that can be used optionally:

  • You can choose if an answer to the question is required to complete the survey.
  • A longer description can be added to the question (especially useful if you want to provide a broader context).

To reorder your questions use up and down arrows next to each question number. Questions can be removed by clicking remove this question link near the right margin of each question.

If you want to preview your questionnaire use Preview survey in a new window link on the Action sidebar. When the survey is ready or you want to take a break from designing your questionnaire, click save.

Available types of questions

As mentioned above, AdminProject has 7 types of questions, we’ll discuss them in detail below. Each question can be mandatory – or can be marked as optional. For easier editing, questions can be duplicated and moved up and down

Yes / No question. Fairly self explanatory, it’s a question where user has to choose one of the two answers.

Scale. It is Likert-type question, where user can answer questions by using answer defined by author. This type of question can have longer description and also there is possibility to force different answer for each subquestion.

Matrix. Question where answers are given using dropdowns, each horizontal sub-question can have multiple answers for each column. This type of question can have longer description and also there is possibility to force different answer for each subquestion.

Multiple choice. User can select one or several answers to a question.

Single choice. Only one answer can be selected.

Text. Question can be answered by typing a single line of text.

Paragraph text. Similar to above, but the answer can be much longer.

Additionally there is Section header which is not really a question, but rather a separator for longer questions.

Publishing a survey

Questionnaires that are still in development and those that are completed but not available to the public can be found under Unpublished Surveys. Here the following options are available:

  1. Editing – click on the survey’s name to continue editing the questionnaire.
  2. Preview (new window) – displays a new window to see what it would look like for respondents.
  3. Publish – makes the questionnaire available to the general public. It is going to be available to those who are given a link to the survey.
  4. Remove – deletes the draft.

Published surveys are listed under the third button Published. Each survey here also gives you four options:

  1. Preview (new window) – displays a new window to see what it looks like for respondents.
  2. Notify users – Shows a selection box for users who are to be notified about the new survey. Click on the avatars to select those you want to be notified. They will see this notification on their dashboard.
  3. Show survey link – Displays a unique link to the survey. You can copy the link and distribute it to your respondents. They don’t have to have an account on AdminProject.
  4. Finish the survey – Locks the survey and no new responses can be added.

Viewing results

The last button in the Evaluation module takes you to the list of all surveys. There are both unpublished and published surveys and both closed and those still open for responses. The results of each can be viewed by clicking on the name of the survey.

User Profile

The link to your user profile is located in the top-right corner. In General tab, one can complete their profile with details like: website, contact details and a few words about oneself.

This is also the place to change your password and view the list of projects that you have been invited to or are owning – projects listed according to project duration, your role and insight into the list of involved staff.

Finally, this is also where you can view your current subscription plan with information on subscription starting date, remaining days and ending date. Here you will also view Billing history.

Notifications

The Notifications tab lets you configure what e-mails are sent to you by AdminProject. This is the command center for all messages that you receive from AdminProject.

There are several types of notifications delivered to your e-mail box and you can decide to switch them on or off as you see fit. The first three options will keep you up to date with tasks and discussions. Here is what happens when each of them is on:

  1. Discussions. You will receive an e-mail whenever a new discussion is created and the author included you in the subscribers list (everyone is selected by default, the author can deselect people he does not want to bother). You will also receive an e-mail every time someone replies to a topic you are following.
  2. New comments. Works in a similar way. You will receive an e-mail each time somebody comments on a task with you in any role (owner, person responsible, observer).
  3. Tasks. Whenever anything is modified in a task (change of dates, description, new files, change of participants, change of progress) an e-mail will appear in your inbox with information about the changes.

Keep in mind that by default you are not notified about your own actions. If you would like to receive instant feedback on your activity, you may change it in the next two fields:

  1. Don’t send me notification when I respond via email – when you use e-mail as your way of interacting with your team via AdminProject. If No is selected the e-mail will not only appear under a discussion or task, it will also come back to your inbox as a notification.
  2. Don’t notify me about my actions – if switched to No, you will start receiving e-mails reflecting your activity in tasks or discussions you participate in.

The next option is a subscription to AdminProject’s newsletter about updates. We use it mainly to communicate important changes or planned outages.

The remaining four options and the weekdays concern to-do list notifications. You can decide when should these notifications arrive (time and days of the week) and what should they include.

 

GOOD LUCK!