Follow-up on the webinar of the 8th of February with NGOs and consulting companies

Many thanks for your active participation to the webinar of the 8^th of February.

You may want to share the webinar with your colleagues; it is available via the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkXRL-5r7W8&list=PLBSStrK-u_GXXiigZ8CpWMYewxIU5DNHx&index=5

The PowerPoint presentation used during the webinar is also attached to this email.

Within the end of the week, you will receive the answers raised in chat room to which we could not provide an answer online.

Test phase

When: 19-28 February 2018 (as planned for the time being). May be subject to changes.

What: You will test the first functionalities available in OPSYS, which mainly focus on Results and Monitoring. In particular, you will test the management of the logframe (create/modify/delete results and related indicators, add/modify/delete values).

The test will be carried out in pair with your Operational Manager (OM: person in charge for the European Commission).

This is the flow you will test:

1. The OM will assign you to your project, using your email address.
2. You will receive an email with all the instructions: if you already have an EU login linked to your email, you can directly access to OPSYS; if not, you will be asked to create an account.
3. Once you access OPSYS, you will be able to access the logframe of your project. There you will be able to add/edit/delete results and indicators.
4. Once you have completed your work, you will submit the logframe to the OM.
5. Once the OM approves the logframe, you will be able to add values to (i.e. to report on) the logframe.
6. The OM will be able to see the values once you have added them.

The aim is to the test:

- The workflow between the EC staff and external partner

- The functionalities of the logframe

User experience

For colleagues based in Brussels, we may ask you to participate in  a user experience session at your desk, according to your availability. Our colleague Alexis Gayraud might be in contact with you, as soon as the test phase starts.

Important

1. You will have access to your real project data to have a more meaningful test. Nevertheless, this is only a test: the data you encode/modify will not be saved, do not have any legal value, and only serve for testing purposes. Your reporting obligations remain unchanged, i.e. you cannot use the test phase to legally report on your project.
2. Some of the functions are not in their final status: for example, the review mode that the OM uses to approve your logframe has been simplified for the testing, as the full functionalities are not yet ready. In the future, the OM will be able to comment/edit/approve/ask for a revision of all the elements of the logframe.
3. We are testing the system with ongoing projects, for which the logframe has been obviously approved. For the sake of the test, you are asked to re-ask the approval of the logframe or of the modification that you make. Once again: this is only test data, the real logframe will not be modified by whatever actions carried out during the testing.
4. You will receive a very detailed guidance to do the test, with screenshots and a step by step scenario as well as a glossary to navigate through the system. 
5. The test period is 10 days, and it will start once the OM assigns you to the project. It can then be done in a few hours or extended over a few days: you can decide (in accordance with your OM) to do all the steps in one day or a bit every day according to your availability. The system gives you the flexibility to save and exit whenever you want.
6. You will be asked to answer a survey during and after the testing: it will include technical questions ("Did it work?"), as well as business questions ("Does it answer your needs?"). Please take the time to answer thoroughly as user feedback is essential. This is mandatory.