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AGM: FO User manual

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion DG Resources, Communication Information Technologies

AGM

Front Office User Manual

Date: 09/02/2016

Version: 1.2

Software version: V0.28.4

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AGM: FO User manual

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 3

1.1. Definiton ................................................................................................................................. 3

1.2. Disclaimer ............................................................................................................................... 3

1.3. Using ECAS authentication ...................................................................................................... 3

2. Roles of users in AGM ........................................................................................ 4

2.1. Correspondent ........................................................................................................................ 4

2.1.1. Become a correspondent ....................................................................................................... 4

2.1.2. Prepare and Send the participants list ................................................................................... 5

2.1.3. Modify List of participants ..................................................................................................... 9

2.2. Participant ............................................................................................................................ 11

2.2.1. Login as a Participant ........................................................................................................... 12

2.2.2. Enter payment details .......................................................................................................... 13

2.2.3. Complete and Submit reimbursement request ................................................................... 20

2.2.4. Modify reimbursement request .......................................................................................... 26

2.3. Notifications ......................................................................................................................... 28

2.3.1. Notifications sent to a correspondent ................................................................................. 28

2.3.2. Notifications sent to a participant ....................................................................................... 29

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AGM: FO User manual

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Definiton

The objective of the AGM system is to increase the efficiency of expert meeting organisation and to reduce the delays linked to the reimbursement process of experts attending the meetings organised by the European Commission. AGM has been launched as a pilot for a limited number of expert groups and committees and will be extended to all expert groups as soon as the efficiency is demonstrated.

AGM allows experts to:

Receive meetings invitations (including meeting agenda and other info)

Confirm their attendance

Enter their bank account details

Create and sent their reimbursement request electronically

1.2. Disclaimer

The information contained in this manual is for guidance only and is a description on how to use the AGM application. There can be no guarantees as to the accuracy of the descriptions due to the evolving nature of the system. In no way does this information replace the regulations or could be considered as a legal interpretation of the Commission services.

1.3. Using ECAS authentication

AGM uses ECAS (European Commission Authentication Service) as unique authentication method.

Check our FAQ in the AGM portal to see how to create an ECAS account or how to reset an ECAS password.

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2. ROLES OF USERS IN AGM

2.1. Correspondent

As correspondent you are the point of contact of a member of the committee or expert group invited to a meeting. You are in charge of informing the Commission of the delegation (list of participants representing the member you correspondent of) that will attend the meeting using AGM. You may obtain the list of the participants outside AGM and once complete, you may enter it in the system. You will receive an e-mail containing the invitation, the agenda and other information about the meeting by the meeting organiser. In the e-mail you will be able to find a link pointing to AGM system that will grant you access as correspondent of the delegation. You should be careful distributing the link as it grants access to anybody as correspondent.

Using AGM you will be able to enter each participant's details to complete the list of participants of your delegation. Once the list is complete you should send it to the meeting organiser.

2.1.1. Become a correspondent

As mentioned above you will receive an e-mail containing the invitation and other info concerning the meeting but also a link to AGM.

In the print screen below you can see an example of an invitation sent to a correspondent, the e-mail has two main sections: 1) the invitation with attachments; 2) instructions on how to become the correspondent and other links for more information.

In the context of the e-mail you will be able to read the invitation text and the attachment attach to the invitation.

Via this link you will become a correspondent for this meeting. By clicking on this link you will login with your ECAS account to AGM and the meeting details will be displayed. You can then continue to enter the participants list.

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The links mentioned in the disclaimer text all route to the AGM portal. In this portal you will be able to find more information about AGM such as FAQ/support contact/legal notice etc…

Click on the link inside the e-mail to become the correspondent of the meeting, and get access to the AGM application for preparing the list of participants.

2.1.2. Prepare and Send the participants list

As you are appointed to be the correspondent of a meeting, you need to send the participants list of your delegation to the meeting organiser.

After clicking on the link to become correspondent the following screen will appear:

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In this screen you can again read the content of the invitation and find the documentation attached.

Pay attention to the "Navigation Menu", via this buttons you can go to different menus of the application.

Click on the Menu button Participants.

From this screen you can read your name as correspondent. In case you see more than one name, it means that this invitation has been sent or forwarded to different recipients that have accepted the correspondent role. Please notice that only one correspondent can send the participants list, meaning the first one that takes action.

Under the section Delegation Participants you see the possibility to add participants.

After adding the participants they will appear in a list under this section.

Click on the option "as a new participant of this member".

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The following screen will appear allowing you to add the details of the participant.

Complete all the fields with the required information, the option Request for reimbursement only applies to some participants. You need to select this option only for the participants that are allowed to request reimbursement according to you the rules received in the invitation. After completing all the required fields click on the Add button.

The participant will appear in the section "Delegation Participants" and you can continue to add a new participant in the same way.

You can see the label "New" next to the participant's name meaning that this is a new participant added to the list.

In the column "Attendance" you see a question mark. Although a correspondent may know this information, the participant will confirm it in AGM

There is a button called Action next to each participant added, via this action you can edit the information of the participant or remove him from the list.

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After you have completed the participants list you can click on the button Send Participants for sending the list to the meeting organiser.

The following confirmation message will appear, click on Accept for sending the list.

Once the list is sent you cannot do modifications in this screen.

After sending the participants list you will receive a confirmation message that the participants list has been sent to the meeting organiser. The same e-mail is placed in the notification menu in AGM.

At the same time every participant added in this list will receive an e-mail informing him about he has been proposed to participate in a meeting.

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2.1.3. Modify List of participants

The list of participants has been sent for validation to the meeting organiser, the correspondent can now wait for news from the meeting organiser. The meeting organiser can decide to validate the list as it is without any remarks or request modifications to the list. In either case you will receive an e-mail and a notification in AGM.

In case the meeting organiser asks for modifications in the list of participants you will receive the following e-mail:

For starting the modifications in the participants list go to AGM and open the meeting mentioned in the e-mail.

Open the Participants menu, this screen will now appear in edit mode since the list has been sent back for modifications.

Choose the participant to remove and click on the Action button next to the participant to remove.

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AGM: FO User manual

You can immediately click on the button Remove to remove this participant from the list.

In case you notice that the encoded information of another expert is wrong, you can modify this by clicking on the button Actions next to the expert's name and choose Edit.

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Click on the button Update to save the modifications.

After making all the required modifications you can send the list of participants to the meeting organiser for validation.

You will receive again a confirmation message via e-mail and notification in AGM that the list has been send for validation to the meeting assistant.

At the same time an e-mail will be send to the removed participant stating that he/she is has been removed from the participant list.

2.2. Participant

A participant is an expert attending to a meeting. A participant can form part of a delegation (usually appointed by a correspondent) or attend on individual basis (directly invited by the organiser). The participant will receive an e-mail proposing to attend a certain meeting including a link to AGM.

It is via the AGM system that the participant will be able to access the invitation and check other information concerning the meeting.

The first information about an upcoming meeting the expert receives via an e-mail where it stands that he has been proposed to participate in a meeting. This e-mail includes also the link to activate the user profile for the particular meeting.

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2.2.1. Login as a Participant

Click on the link with the meeting invitation name and login with your ECAS account.

When opening a meeting for the first time, you need to activate the meeting to your user profile. Each meeting has to be activated to the user profile of the expert once.

Click on Activate my profile, the next screen appearing is the meeting invitation. In this screen the participant can read the content of the invitation check the document in attachments and has to confirm his attendance at the meeting. Under the meeting invitation title there is a message "Confirmation required."

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The participant should click on the number of days that he is going to participate. This buttons will appear in green colour and a message with "attendance confirmed" will appear.

2.2.2. Enter payment details

When the participants list gets validated by the meeting organiser, all participants, including also the correspondent, will be informed via an e-mail and a notification in AGM.

The participants who are not entitled to request reimbursement do not have to take any action; in the e-mail that they will receive there will be no mentioning about this procedure.

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The participants who are entitled to request reimbursement for their travel expenses will receive the same notification but with the message that they should enter their expense details in AGM.

The participant will login to AGM using his ECAS account and see the meeting list:

The Meetings List shows all upcoming or passed meetings to which the participant has been invited. For the meetings for which the expert is entitled for reimbursement the information will appear in the Reimbursement column.

In the example displayed in the print screen above the reimbursement request is in status Draft and the Bank account details are not entered. This is the initial state of every reimbursement request.

Click on the link Go to reimbursement to enter the page of the reimbursement request form.

(The reimbursement request form is explained in details in Complete and Submit reimbursement here is explained only how to enter the bank account information.)

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AGM: FO User manual

The bank account information is stored in the second tab of the form. You can click on the tab "Bank account" or click on the button "Enter bank account" in the Status section as displayed in the print screen.

After clicking on one of this buttons the Bank Account screen appears.

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AGM: FO User manual

This screen shows the information of bank accounts used for different reimbursement requests. In the example above there are no previous bank accounts available as this is the first meeting that this participant is participating.

Click on the link Add new bank account to start entering the bank account details:

The field IBAN verifies whether the format of the IBAN number of letters and numbers is respected per country. In case you enter an incorrect IBAN or Account number that doesn't exist this will be communicated to you after verification from the financial department of the European Commission.

All the fields displayed in the form are mandatory except the field VAT number.

Click on the Add button after completing all the required fields.

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The next screen will appear immediately asking if you would like to use this bank account for this reimbursement:

If you click on OK, the bank account information will be transmitted to the EC financial department for validation as the one to be used for this reimbursement.

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If you click on Cancel the bank account information will appear in the list of available bank accounts, it will not be removed unless you click on the trash bin icon. This bank account can still be chosen to use by selecting it and clicking the Submit bank account button. In case you prefer to enter another bank account click on "Add new bank account" to start entering a new bank account.

2.2.2.1. Modification to bank account details

During the validation process of the bank account details the financial department can request modifications to the bank account submitted by the participant or request new bank account to be used.

In the example below it is requested by the financial department to update the account holder name from personal name to company. Here you can see that the expert entered her name instead of the company name when entering the bank account information.

This request will be communicated to the expert via an e-mail and a notification in AGM.

By clicking on the link in the e-mail the expert will login to AGM with his/her ECAS account and access directly the bank account details screen.

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After clicking the Edit icon the following screen will appear:

The screen is displayed in editable mode, all the previously encoded data by the participant is kept, now the participant can make all the needed modifications and click Save.

2.2.2.2. Make a bank account compliant

A bank account that has been validated and used for a meeting belonging to a meeting group can be used for reimbursement for another meeting belonging to same group without any need for a second validation. But in case you would like to use this bank account for a meeting that belongs to another meeting group, you need to request to make it compliant with this new meeting group.

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In the example above the participant has to transmit his bank account details for a reimbursement of the meeting "All United" that belongs to meeting group "Climate". In the available bank accounts the expert can see the bank account used in meeting group "Connections" and click the button "Submit bank account".

2.2.3. Complete and Submit reimbursement request

Reimbursable participants can submit their reimbursement request only after the meeting has been held and the meeting organiser has confirmed their attendance.

You will be informed via an e-mail and a notification that the meeting organiser has confirmed your attendance.

Open AGM via the link in the e-mail, login using your ECAS account.

Go to the meeting list and click on "Show reimbursement" which is in status Draft next to the meeting for which your attendance has been confirmed.

In case you haven't entered the bank account details a message "please enter bank account details" will be placed next to the reimbursement. You can see here how to enter the bank account details.

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The form to enter the reimbursement details is divided in three main sections:

Travel details

Expenses

Status

At the top of the right corner the attended sessions appear as confirmed by the meeting organiser.

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AGM: FO User manual

In the Travel Details the participant should enter the details of his/her journey completing the following fields.

Place of work

Country

Departure details

Arrival Details

Expert's comments (here the expert can enter any comments for explaining any issue).

Click on Save to save the information encoded.

In the section Expenses the expert can add expense types by clicking on the dropdown field "Select expense type" and click the button "Add expense".

The list of expense types might be different from the one displayed above depending on the settings of the meeting group.

Add different expense types:

Accommodation expense type; enter the number of nights; add supporting documents such as hotel bill (only not editable attachments are allowed PDF, JPG, PNG, TIF, TIFF, BMP and GIF, you should provide at least one supporting document per reimbursement request).

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After adding the expense type this will appear in the List of Expenses

Add Daily Allowance expense type: Enter the number of nights; supporting documents and click on Update for saving it.

Add Airplane expense type: enter the price paid; select the currency. In case the expert has bought a Business class ticket for this trip he/she should attach supporting documents for justifying this action. Add supporting documents and click on Update for saving it.

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AGM: FO User manual

List of Expenses; all the added expense types will appear listed in this section. Next to each expense type there is an Edit button for making modifications to the expense type. Every column corresponds to the information entered to each expense type. In the column Request for Modifications will appear eventually any comments entered by the organiser during the validation process.

Status

This section gives an overview of the pre-conditions to fulfil before submitting the reimbursement request. In red text are displayed the pre-conditions that are not fulfilled yet. In green - the pre-conditions that are already fulfilled. In the example below only the first and the last pre-conditions are fulfilled meaning the bank account is valid and the attendance to the meeting was confirmed by the meeting organiser. There are still three pre-conditions in red - the travel details, the expense(s) and the supporting document(s).The status is Draft as long all the pre-conditions are not fulfilled.

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AGM: FO User manual

When all the pre-conditions for submitting the reimbursement request are fulfilled they appear in Green text and the status is Ready to Submit. The button Submit reimbursement is available:

Click on the button Submit reimbursement to submit the reimbursement request for validation.

The following screen will appear with a Declaration on Honour statement

Click on the checkbox to agree with the Declaration on Honour and click on the button Submit reimbursement.

A green message will appear at the top of the screen confirming that the reimbursement has been submitted and the status of the reimbursement will be submitted.

In the meetings list screen the reimbursement also appears as submitted:

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AGM: FO User manual

2.2.4. Modify reimbursement request

The Reimbursement request undergoes a validation procedure; during this procedure in case the organiser finds any inconsistency with the reimbursement, he will send the reimbursement back for modifications to the expert.

The expert will receive an e-mail that points to the reimbursement request to be modified:

In the example above the organiser has requested modifications for the reimbursement request related to meeting "All United". The reason why he is asking this is mentioned in text marked in yellow.

Click on the link provided in the e-mail to access the reimbursement request.

The reimbursement request is in status Ready to submit, meaning that the expert should submit this reimbursement.

Click on the link Go to reimbursement and scroll in the expenses section.

In the Column Request for modifications it displays the reason for modification.

Click on the Edit button to perform the modifications:

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AGM: FO User manual

Click on select files to upload a file.

Click on Update for saving it.

Submit the reimbursement again for validation.

After the organiser validates the reimbursement request, in the meetings list the corresponding status under the Reimbursement column will change to VALIDATED:

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2.3. Notifications

As a correspondent or a participant you will receive several automatic notifications in AGM system. Notifications are addressed to individuals (actual users of the system). For each notification you will receive an e-mail in the address configured in your ECAS account information.

The notifications are placed in the notifications tab when certain actions are performed.

List of notifications sent to a correspondent.

List of notifications sent to a participant (expert).

2.3.1. Notifications sent to a correspondent

Open the AGM application; choose the Notifications tab in the main screen:

In this page are listed all notifications that have been sent to the correspondent after certain actions were performed:

Confirming that you have sent the list of participant to the meeting organiser. You receive

this notification immediately after sending the participants list to meeting organiser.

Informing that the meeting organiser has requested modifications in the list of participants,

immediately after the meeting organiser requests modifications on the list.

Informing that the meeting organiser has validated the list of participants, immediately after

the meeting organiser validates the list.

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2.3.2. Notifications sent to a participant

Open the AGM application; choose the Notifications tab in the main screen:

In this page are listed all notifications that have been sent to the expert after certain actions were performed:

Informing that you have been proposed to participate in a meeting, immediately after the

correspondent has sent the participants list to the meeting organiser.

Informing that your participation has been validated, immediately after the meeting

organiser validates the list.

Informing that it is time to submit your reimbursement request in case you are reimbursable,

immediately after the meeting organiser confirms your participation in the meeting that in

the meantime has terminated and opens the process for reimbursement requests.

Asking you to make modifications to your reimbursement request, when the organiser of

your reimbursement requests finds any inconsistency with the request.

Informing that the transfer order has been requested to SWIFT, immediately after the

request has been requested to SWIFT)