Forest Investment Reporting System (FIRS) May 2017 User Manual

Transcription

1 Forest Investment Reporting System (FIRS) May 2017 User Manual

2 First time registration 1. Navigate to Click register on the top right of the screen. 2. Enter your address and click send verification code. 1

3 3. Use the verification code ed to you to enter in the Verification code field and verify your address by clicking on the Verify Code button. 4. When address is verified, enter a password twice and click create button. 2

4 5. You are taken to the Create New Account page. Enter your first name and last name for your User Account. 6. Enter your Recipient Contact Information. Enter your Recipient Organization. If your organization is not in the drop down list, click on click here to add new organization and enter the details of your organization. Please do not enter a duplicate organization, or create a separate record for a different division of your company. Once you have finished, click submit at the bottom of the Create New Account page. 3

5 7. Once your User Account is successfully created you will be taken to the home page of the FIRS website. 8. To edit your User Account information click on the proponent icon on the top right of the home page screen. 9. Once finished with editing User Account information click on Submit button at the bottom of the page. Please notify PwC once you have created your user account. PwC will then assign your Investment Schedule and/or Project Plans to your user account so you will have access in the system. 4

6 Creating a Project Plan under Investment Schedule 1. Ensure you are logged in to the FIRS website. On the FIRS home page click on Investment Schedule tab and select Investment Schedule from the drop down menu. This opens the Investment Schedule Listing page. 2. Click on the Investment Schedule number in order to open your Investment Schedule. 3. Click on Create New Project Plan button to load a project plan template. 5

7 4. Click on Project Contact Information section and enter the required contact information. Click on Save as Draft button when finished entering the contact information. 5. Click on project plan section in order to open up the Milestone Table. 6

8 6. Click on Add Milestone button to include the first milestone for your project. Milestones should represent the different work stages of your project. For example, a survey & prescription development project can be divided into several milestones: 1) project planning and contract tendering, 2) field surveys, 3) prescription development, and 4) reporting and Results submission. It is up to a Recipient to organize a project into milestones that represent distinct work stages of the project. Payment claims can only be made against completed milestones and must be supported by invoices. Once the work in a given milestone is complete you will be required to complete the taks in FIRS and submit your request for payment form PwC by completing a Milestone & Task Completion Form and submitting a payment claim. 7. Enter milestone information: Provide a descriptive name for the milestone, Provide expected start and end dates for the work activity Select the correct output category for the work activity. PwC will review the output categories to ensure they are capturing the performance information required by the Program. If in doubt, please contact your investment manager for clarification. Please note the Recipient will be expected to complete the work activity by the milestone end data and report to PwC the completion of the milestone (i.e., actual outputs and expenses, and 7

9 explanation for any variances). This is done by completing and submitting a Milestone & Task Completion Form and a payment claim. 8. Complete the Requested Funds table in the milestone, providing amounts for each expense category. The delivery allowance will calculate automatically based on the DA % defined for the investment schedule. Once completed, click on Insert Milestone button to save the milestone information. (Please note you must click Insert Milestone before submitting the project or clicking Save as Draft to avoid losing the Milestone information you have just entered) 9. To add the second and all subsequent milestones click on Add Milestone button and repeat the process. 8

10 10. To edit the information in an existing milestone, click on Select button to re-open that milestone. 11. Complete the Detailed Project Information section of the project plan. Please follow the instructions in the tips boxes which appear when you hover over an input field. Mandatory fields are marked with a red asterix. 12. Note recipients can request an advance payment under certain circumstances. If an advance is required, please enter the advance amount and rationale for the advance in the Other Recipient Comments section. 9

11 13. Continue filling out the Detailed Project Information section. Please note that the website allows you to upload approved prescriptions and treatment maps. 14. Review and select applicable FFT Work Standards for you project. FFT Activity Standards can be located at the following URL: When finished with entering all required information into Detailed Project Information section, click on Save as Draft button to save the entered information. 10

12 16. External Partnership section offers opportunity to include any information related to contributions from other funding sources and coordination with other funding organizations such as the Forest Enhancement Society of British Columbia (FESBC). If not applicable to your project please enter N/A in both boxes, and click Save as Draft button. 17. Once you complete all sections of the project plan, click on Validate button to check if all required information is entered in the project plan template. 11

13 18. If validation has failed a warning appears that indicates sections that are missing required information. Please revisit those sections and fill in the required information. 19. You can either save the project as draft ( Save as Draft button) for future project plan edits, or if you are ready to submit project plan for approval, click Submit button. The Cancel button (immediately to the right of the Submit button) will close your project plan and return you back to your Investment Schedule page. 12

14 20. Once your project plan is submitted an automatic notification is sent to PwC. We will review your project plan submission, and contact you if we need further information about your project. PwC can either decline your project for your further updates, or approve your project plan. You will receive an notification informing you about PwC review decision. 13

15 Completing a Milestone and Submitting a Payment Claim 1. To complete a milestone open your approved project plan and click on Planned Task tab. Click on Go to Milestone & Task Completion Forms button. 2. Select a milestone you want to complete by clicking on select. 14

16 3. Fill out Milestone & Tasks Completion Form by entering actual start and end dates. Provide actual outputs for the project. Provide actual project expenses. 15

17 4. Attach any deliverables in the proof of Milestone completion field (optional) and attached any invoices associated with the Milestone (mandatory). 5. Once complete click on Save as Draft button. Once you are ready to submit a milesone completion click on Complete button. 6. When you complete a milestone by clicking on Complete button you will be taken to Claim Funds form. 7. In the comments fields, provide rational for any variances between planned and actual outputs, funds and milestone completion dates. These will be considered by PwC in approving your claim. 16

18 8. Once the required information has been entered, click on Save as Draft button. If ready to submit a claim click on Submit Claim button. 9. When a claim is submitted an automatic notification is sent to PwC. We will review your milestone completion and claim submission and contact you if we need further information. PwC can either decline your milestone completion/claim submission for additional information, or approve it. You will receive an notification informing you about PwC review decision. Once approved PwC will process your fund claim request and issue a payment either by Cheque or Electronic Funds Transfer. 10. As per the Recipient Agreement, please note that a 20% holdback will be applied to all claims. Once the project has been completed and all deliverables received or deposited in the correct repository, the holdback will be released and a final payment will be made. 11. Once all milestones are completed, approved and paid, your project will transition to Completion Approved and no further editing will be allowed. 17

19 Amending Approved Project Plan 1. To amend an approved project plan open up your project plan. Under Project Information tab, in the right bottom corner of the page, you will find Amend PP button. 2. Confirm that you intend to submit an amendment. Clicking the Amend PP button will change the status of your project to PP Amend Pending. At this point an archived version of the previously approved Project Plan is saved in the system, and you can then make edits to the Amended project plan. 3. You will then be able to open the project plan and make any edits to the various sections you want to amend. You can either save the project amendment as draft ( Save as Draft button) for future project plan edits, or if you are ready to submit the amendment for approval, click the Submit button. 18

20 4. When amendment is submitted to PwC, your project plan status changes to PP Amend Submitted. 5. An amendment submission triggers an automatic notification that is sent to PwC. We will review your amendment submission and contact you if we need further information. PwC can either decline your project plan amendment for your further updates, or approve it. You will receive an notification informing you about PwC review decision. 19

21 Contact details for further queries: Phone: Additionally you can contact individual PwC team members: Colin Campbell Phone: Goran Vajistanac Phone: Laura Wilimovsky Phone: ext