Monitoring

One of the strengths of the ITEA 2 organisation is its rigorous monitoring and reporting process covering both strategic and technical aspects of the ITEA 2 programme.

The ITEA 2 monitoring system pursues two objectives:

1. to stimulate, organise and coordinate R&D activities for the realisation of the goals of the ITEA 2 programme, and if necessary, initiate changes in the programme or projects;
2. to be accountable to the partners, the Public Authorities and the contributing tax payers.

Clear procedures have been installed to monitor the progress and the coherence of the programme. The key procedures are:

• Project selection and labelling
  From a technical evaluation of the soundness of the project proposals, the organisation grants a label to the best ones in line with an agreed set of criteria.
  
  
• Project progress reporting
  A Project Progress Report informs the different levels of the ITEA 2 organisation on the project's progress with respect to the approved plans. This reporting must be carried out twice a year, under the responsibility of the project's Project Leader or Project Coordination Committee.
  
  
• Change requests
  A change request procedure is available for any necessary change in plans, due to technical, organisational or marketing developments in the environment of the project.
  
  
• Project reviews
  A Project Review aims to safeguard the progress and quality of the projects and, if necessary, to initiate changes. The review is performed by two assigned reviewers of the Steering Group together with an ITEA 2 programme coordinator and additional expert(s) assigned by the Public Authorities (as an external reviewer representing all Public Authorities whose countries are contributing to the project). The first Project Review takes place approximately one year after the official start of the project. Then a project is reviewed every year and concluded with a final review at the end of the project.
  
  In the Project Review meeting, the project team is exposed to in-depth presentations and demonstrations. After each review meeting, a list with conclusions and actions is prepared from the recommendations of the review team. In case of severe problems a Project Check-up Team may be installed. The results of the review meeting and/or Project Check-up team meeting will be reported to the Board Support Group, who will (delegated right from the ITEA 2 Board) approve the results or take the necessary actions.
  
  
• Project Leader post-mortem reporting
  It is essential to communicate to the Public Authorities the impact of the funding effort made by each country. In most cases, this impact, in terms of exploitation and dissemination, can't be visible at the time of the project. This is why, in the final Project Review, emphasis must be put on the exploitation perspectives and dissemination plans of the project results. Both must be published in detail in the last Project Progress Report. In addition, the Project Leader must inform, within two months after the completion of the project, the ITEA 2 Office on the latest developments on exploitation, standardisation and patents filed. 
  
  
• Programme reporting
  The ITEA 2 organisation publishes a Programme Report once a year (in Spring, covering the previous year). The programme report includes key information on the programme and call progress.