These Rules for project administration are adopted based on § 11 (9) of the Statutes of the Tallinn University of Technology.
1. Scope of application
These Rules for project administration (hereinafter the Rules) stipulate the principles for applying for, implementing and finalizing projects in Tallinn University of Technology (hereinafter the University).
2. Definitions
In these Rules, the following words are used in the following meanings:
1) project – study, research or development activities that are clearly distinguishable from other activities, conducted in a defined time frame and financed from Estonian or international programs or European Union structural funds; also, targeted investments or other activities for which the University has received funding on the basis of a contract or an administrative decision and which are subject to regular reporting on their budget use, the latter include cases where the University acts as a partner;
2) EDMS – electronic document management system;
3) application – description of a project that is submitted to the funding provider using the application form required by the funding provider;
4) report – a collection of data regarding a time period, submitted using a respective form that is required by the funding provider – interim report, final report, financial statement or payment application, audit report, protocol for on-the-spot inspection visit – approved versions of which are stored in the EDMS;
5) forecast of payment applications – an outline of planned payments of the support funds which is submitted to the funding provider and which, depending on the requirements of the respective funding provider, is either agreed on in the contract or submitted separately; approved versions of the forecasts of payment applications are stored in the EDMS;
6) work folder – folder for the documents of a project, kept in the shared work server of the University;
7) eligible cost – expenditure that is justified, reasonable and necessary for the implementation of the project and which is incurred and paid in accordance to the requirements stipulated in applicable legislation and in the grant decision;
8) self-financing – part of the eligible costs incurred by the beneficiary or partner, which is not reimbursed from the support;
9) project manager – the person who is implementing the project and is responsible for the necessity and completion of the project, adherence to funding requirements and achieving the results, and who is either appointed by the Vice-Rector for Research upon the proposal of a structural unit, or is acting on the basis of an employment contract, other contract or applicable legislation;
10) projects coordinator – an employee who is appointed by the Vice-Rector for Research upon the proposal of the Research Department, and tasked with organising training events and advising project proposal writers, project managers and those who draw up financial statements;
11) person who draws up financial statements – an employee who is appointed by the Vice-Rector for Research upon the proposal of the Finance Office, and tasked with drawing up financial statements.
3. General principles
3.1 The description of the tasks of the parties involved in projects is stipulated in annex 1 to these Rules.
3.2 The management of projects in the University is coordinated by the Research Administration Office, which advises the parties involved in projects and uses the intranet to publish guidelines on various relevant topics, including how to apply for, initiate, implement, and audit projects.
3.3 The implementation and finalization of projects is conducted in accordance to agreements that are related to the respective funding provider.
4. Applying for and initiation of projects
4.1 In case an interested person wishes to file an application in the name of the University, they must forward data regarding the content of the application to the Research Administration Office at least 3 working days prior to submitting the application to the funding provider. The interested person must obtain an approval to the data from the head of their structure unit before forwarding it.
4.2 In case the application is to be submitted using an online platform of the funding provider, the interested person must ensure access to the platform in addition to the authorised person also for the projects coordinator and for the area director.
4.3 The applications to the Estonian Research Council to receive project preparation assistance and the Baltic bonus for HORIZON 2020 and COST projects will be submitted by the Research Administration Office.
4.4 Upon receiving a grant decision, the recipient must immediately forward copies of all the decision documents to the Research Administration Office.
5. Implementing provisions
5.1 Rector’s directive No. 95 “Approval of the procedure for applying for and administration of projects” from 21st of June 2016 is hereby revoked.
5.2 This Directive enters into force as of the 1st of July 2018.
Annex 1 Tasks
| Project manager: | Projects coordinator: | Person who draws up financial statements: | |
| Rights | Receives advice from the Research Administration Office and project related accounting services from the Finance Office. | Receives information necessary for their advisory activities from the structural units of the University. | Receives information necessary for duly drawing up the financial statements from the project manager and the projects coordinator. |
| Obligations | a) Manages and implements activities related to the subject matter of the project;
b) Prepares and carries out procurement procedures; c) Organises the keeping of time sheets; d) Provides explanations to external auditors; e) Compiles reports on activities related to the subject matter of the project; f) Organises information and communication activities in accordance to the conditions set by the funding provider; g) Adds electronic copies of the documents that prove eligibility (procurement documents, time sheets, lists of event participants, event timetables, photos and other relevant documents) either to the platform of e-invoices or to the work folder, and adds reports approved by the funding provider to the EDMS; h) Ensures the storage of the paper originals of the documents indicated in clause g). Manages the storage and disposition of the originals of documents in accordance to the Rules for Record Management; i) Adds inquiries and replies regarding payment applications and other matters relating to the implementation of the project to the EDMS; j) Forwards copies of the decisions of the funding provider to the Research Administration Office without a delay. |
a) Advises the personnel of the University;
b) Organises training events on topics related to project implementation; c) Provides explanations to external auditors; d) Monitors the progress of projects in their domain of responsibility and reports the findings to the governing bodies of the University. |
a) Provides updates about the execution of the budget;
b) Adds electronic copies of accounting source documents to the work folder (employment contracts, payslips, contracts for services, instruments of acceptance of work, invoices, secondment orders, secondment reports, expense reports, additional remuneration notes and other documents proving costs and payments); c) Draws up financial statements using the forms required by the funding provider, and where required, using the electronic platform of the funding provider; d) Provides explanations to external auditors. |
| Outcome | Has implemented the project in accordance to the conditions of the grant and as described in the project application, inter alia has achieved the goals and performance indicators of the project, adhered to the budget and submitted the reports in time. | Has reported due information about the progress of the projects ongoing in their domain of responsibility to the governing bodies of the University and has advised the personnel of the University. | Has duly drawn up financial reports, assembled the required documentation and performed other tasks. |