1. Access "My Assessments" from Single Entry Point

Log in to the Single Entry Point and select My Assessments under Assessments in the main menu. See Expert login to EESCP and Assessment Module for step-by-step instructions. 

2. Filter your assignment(s) and open the expert assignment to work on

The My Assessments screen opens with the Search and filter and the Search results panels, displaying all your available assignments as per set, default, filters. Expert assignments requiring your attention will be having the status Assignment Ongoing. 

Use the available Search and filter options to filter the results list according to your needs. See the page My Assessments for details on the search and filter options as well as the basic functionalities of this screen. 

In our example, we search for ESC50, call year 2023, using an Active filter.

ESC50 applications for the Host and/or Support role can be recognised from the project code or by the information available in column Role(s) Requested .

The project code displayed in Assessment module for the ESC50 2023 assessments will display a suffixed indication of the quality role(s) requested (H and/or S), for example:

• 2023-1-RO01-ESC50-QLA-000000004 _H-S if the application is for the Host and Support role,
• 2023-1-RO01-ESC50-QLA-000000005 _S if the application is for the Support role only, or
• 2023-1-RO01-ESC50-QLA-000000006_H if the application is for the Host role only.

To open the assessment to work on, c lick on the hyperlinked Project Code , or click on the Actions button in the Actions column and select the option Open assessment .

In our example, we open the assessment for project 2023-1-RO01-ESC50-QLA-000000004_H-S, indicating it as an ESC50 Quality Label application for the Host and Support role, also displayed in column Role(s) Requested. 

3. The "Assessment details" open

The Assessment Details screen opens in a new tab. The Header (1), expanded in the image below, containing basic information about the selected assessment. Project information (2) is by default selected in the Navigation menu. 

The Application (3) section in the work area contains the PDF version of the application submitted by the applicant organisation and all annexes submitted with it in the supplied format. You have the option to view the application form online. 

4. Specifics of the ESC50 - Quality Label "Assessment Details" screen

4.1. Header

The header in the Assessment Details screen displays basic information about the Quality Label application under assessment. By default, it only shows key details. To expand and view further information, click the available down arrow. 

When you expand the header, using the down arrow, the table displayed for the overview of the assessment criteria shows:

1. Quality role column - displaying the Quality label roles requested and, if applicable, also the already existing Quality Label roles for the organisation
   • The requested roles are hyperlinked. Clicking on a hyperlinked role will open the relevant tab in the Award criteria section of the assessment.
   • Existing awarded roles are not hyperlinked.
2. Expert column(s) - initially empty. Will update automatically when the assessment is completed according to the information and decisions provided. 

One column for each expert, consolidator and/or editor involved may become available in this overview table during of the assessment cycle.

The content in the expert column(s) updates automatically as the assessment form is filled in.

This example shows the header in the Assessment Details for an application for Support role, where the Host role was already awarded in call 2022, indicated by a green check and Awarded displayed in the table. 

4.2. Navigation Menu

The Navigation Menu in the Assessment details for an ESC50 - Quality Label application for Host and/or Support role from call year 2023 onward consists of:

• Project information - provides access to general project information and documents relevant for the assessment, such as the application form.
• Site Visit - experts may perform on-site visits or remote interviews during their assessment of the Host and/or Support role. Experts must indicate in this section of the assessment if such on-site visit or remote interview was conducted. 
• Award criteria - experts must complete the required information and outcome of the assessment award criteria applicable to the application under assessment in this section.
• Typology questions - experts must answer a set of yes/no questions that concern specific details of the application under assessment in this section. 
• Comments - experts must provide overall comments on the application as a whole in this section. 

• Conflict of interest - experts must confirm that they have no conflict of interest with respect to the assessment of the particular application in this section.

  Information

  If there is a conflict of interest, the expert does not have to fill in the various sections of the assessment, and can declare the conflict of interest directly in this section. 

  

Click on an item in the navigation menu to access the specific details to complete the assessment.

An assessment can only be submitted if all items in the content menu, except Project information, are marked with a green check , indicating completion. Initially, all items, except Project information, are marked with a red X . 

4.3. "Award Criteria" specifics

When accessing the Award criteria of the assessment, sub-tabs within the expert specific tab are displayed, one per requested role. During the assessment, you must complete the required information per role within each available sub-tab. 

If the organisation applies, for example, for both the Host and Support role, the Award criteria screen shows two sub-tabs that both must be completed.

In this case, an information message is displayed, informing you of the fact that the award criterion Relevance is considered a common criteria for both the host and support role, and that the information provided for this criterion in the assessment of one role (comment and decision) will be automatically transferred into the relevant fields for this criterion for the other role to assess. 

This example shows the available sub-tabs for an application for Host and Support role, including the information message. 

If the organisation already holds an active Quality Label from a previous year, for example for a Host role, and now applies, as in the example below, for a Support role, the tab for the existing role appears greyed out, stating Awarded. This sub-tab will be inactive and cannot be opened. In this case only the sub-tab for the Support role is accessible and must be completed. 

A closable warning message is displayed, informing you of this fact. 

If an organisation only applies for one role and has no Quality Label from a previous year, only one sub-tab is available for completion. In the example below, only the Host role is requested.

4.3.1. Award criterion "Relevance" specifics - Assessment for Host and Support role only

In an assessment for Host and Support role, after providing the comment for the award criterion Relevance for one role, a pop-up window will display, informing you of the fact that this criterion is common for both the host and support role assessment. The information provided in the Relevance comments field for the Host role, will be copied into the assessment for the Support role.

Click on OK in the pop-up to confirm. Clicking on Cancel will result in the information in the comment field of this criterion being removed. 

Any changes you make in the comment field of this criterion for one role will result in the confirmation pop-up being displayed and the information being transferred when confirmed. The same pop-up will display when you provide the decision for this criterion. 

5. Review the documentation of the application in the "Project information" section

When opened from My Assessments, an assessment always displays the Project Information by default. The information available here is relevant for the given assignment. 

Available subsections under Project Information for ESC50 include Application, Budget information, and Assessments, once the assessment was submitted. 

• Application - contains the PDF version of the application submitted by the applicant organisation and all annexes submitted with it, including the option to view the application form online
• Budget information - contains information about the budget linked to the project; for ESC50 the budget is always 0
• Assessments - only visible for completed expert assignments, as well as in consolidator and editor assignments; contains the PDF versions of already submitted assessments
  • Experts will have access to their own submitted assessment as PDF in this section after it was submitted

The following options may be available for the files: 

1. download each file individually, using the Download PDF button, 
2. view as a PDF in your browser, using the See PDF on line button, and
3. view the Application form online, by clicking on the yellow See Application Details button. This option is specific to the Application form.

6. Complete the "Site Visit" section

Select Site Visit from the Navigation menu. Select Yes or No using the available radio buttons to indicate if you conducted a site visit or remote interview with the applicant organisation. 

Once a selection is made, a success message displays and Site Visit in the Navigation menu is marked with a green check, indicating completion. 

7. Complete the "Award criteria" section 

Select Award criteria from the Navigation menu. This section contains the criteria to be evaluated for each requested role. 

The Award criteria opens on the expert specific tab, in our example Expert 1, and shows the sub-tabs per requested role. Any other displayed tabs, associated for example to the other expert(s) participating in the assessment of the same project and/or the consolidator, are greyed out. You do not have access to these. 

The available sub-tabs within the expert tab correlate to the Quality Label role(s) the organisation is applying for and/or already possesses. In our example, the organisation applies for Host and Support role. 

7.1. Provide "Comments" for Host and/or Support role, if applicable

Different supporting comments must be added in the available Comments field for each award criteria in each available sub-tab for Host and/or Support . All comment fields are mandatory. 

Provide the required information.

The minimum amount of characters is displayed below each comment field to complete. The maximum amount of characters that can be used, is displayed in a counter in the top right corner of each comment field. The counter will display a red 0 if the maximum amount of characters is reached. 

Remember:

In an assessment for Host and Support role, after providing the comment for the award criterion Relevance for one role, a pop-up window will display, informing you of the fact that this criterion is common for both the host and support role assessment. The information provided in the Relevance comments field for the Host role, will be copied into the assessment for the Support role.

Click on OK in the pop-up to confirm. Clicking on Cancel will result in the information in the comment field of this criterion being removed. 

Any changes you make in the comment field of this criterion for one role will result in the confirmation pop-up being displayed and the information being transferred when confirmed. The same pop-up will display when you provide the decision for this criterion. 

7.2. Provide decision per Award criteria

The Host and Support roles assessment is not based on points. Each award criterion must be marked as either Acceptable or Not Acceptable.

Provide a decision for each criterion available in the Award criteria screen for the Host and/or Support role. This is done using the decision buttons available in the top right corner of each award criterion. 

• Click on the red X button to declare an award criterion assessment as not acceptable.
• Click on the green check button to declare an award criterion assessment as acceptable.
• If you want to remove an already made decision, click on the blue Deselect option button.

You must select an option (positive or negative) for each award criterion. 

7.2.1. Award criterion "Relevance" specifics - Assessment for Host and Support role only

After providing the decision for the award criterion Relevance for one role, in an assessment for the Host and Support role, a pop-up window will display, informing you of the fact that this criterion is common for both the host and support role assessment. The decision provided for Relevance, for example in the award criteria of the Host role, will be copied into the assessment for the Support role.

Click on OK in the pop-up to confirm. Clicking on Cancel will result in the decision selected being deselected for both roles.

Any changes you make to the decision of this criterion for one role will result in the pop-up being displayed and the decision being transferred to the same criterion for the other role, after confirmation.

7.3. Decisions provided

When the decisions for all criteria have been provided, the relevant sub-tab is updated with the outcome of the evaluation:

• Awarded if all criteria were acceptable or
• Not Awarded if at least one criterion was marked not acceptable. 

The outcome of the decision is only displayed in the sub-tab if all award criteria comments have been provided and all award criteria have been evaluated either as acceptable or not acceptable. 

Here is an example where the outcome for the assessment for the Host role is Not Awarded. One of the award criteria was marked as Not acceptable. The Host role sub-tab is updated, displaying Not Awarded in red. 

If applicable, access the next role sub-tab, Support role . Complete the Award Criteria comments and provide a decision per criterion as explained above.

In our example, the outcome of the assessment for the Host role is Awarded, and for the Support role Not Awarded, is displayed in the relevant sub-tab. 

In the header of the Assessment Details, the outcome of the assessment for each requested role is also updated. 

8. Access and answer "Typology" questions

8.1. Use the radio buttons to answer the available questions

Select Typology questions in the Navigation menu. 

This section contains a set of questions to be answered using the available radio buttons to select either Yes, No or NA, if available. The questions displayed vary depending on the roles the organisation applies for. 

Mandatory questions are marked with a red asterisk * .

8.2. "Typology questions" section complete

When all mandatory questions have been answered, Typology questions in the Navigation menu is marked with a green check.

9. Complete the "Comments" section

Use the Navigation menu to access the Comments section.

The Comments section of an assessment allows the expert to provide additional commentary for the applicant and/or National Agency. Some comment fields are mandatory. Different comment fields may be available. The following options are possible:

• Comments for the applicant 
• Internal comments for the NA

Comments that are mandatory are marked with a red asterisk ( * ) .

The maximum number of characters that can be used per available comment field in the Comments section is indicated in the top right corner of the text boxes, for example 5000 characters. The counter updates automatically while you type. If the maximum number of characters has been reached, a red 0 is displayed and no more text can be added. No minimum number of characters is required for the comments fields in the Comments section of the assessment.

The Comment field size will expand automatically while you type. When all mandatory comments are provided, Comments in the Navigation is marked with a green check.

10. Indicate if there is a "Conflict of interest" or not

10.1. "I declare absence of conflict of interest"

Click on Conflict of interest in the Navigation. 

If there is no conflict of interest, confirm this by selecting the radio button for I declare absence of conflict of interest . After you confirm there is no conflict, and if all menu items in the navigation now are marked with a green check, indicating completion, t he Submit button becomes active.

10.2. "I declare conflict of interest"

If there is a conflict of interest, you must indicate it by clicking the radio button I declare conflict of interest. This will result in the Submit button not being activated and the assessment results cannot be submitted. The Conflict of interest section in the navigation will not receive the green check. No further action is required.

11. Click the "Submit" button and confirm to submit the assessment results 

After you have completed the assessment, you have to submit the results. 

If no conflict of interest was declared in the previous step and all mandatory information for the assessment is complete, the Submit button (1) becomes active. Click on it to submit the assessment results. 

Confirm the submission by clicking on the Confirm and Submit button in the pop-up dialogue box (2). A success message (3) displays when the submission was successful. 

The expert assessment is completed, all information on screen is greyed out and no more changes are possible. 

In the Project information, Assessments section, the submitted assessment is now available as a PDF file for download or to view in your browser. 

12. Navigate back to "My Assessments" - Expert assignment completed

Navigate back to My Assessments. 

The status of the assignment is updated to Assignment completed . The Assignment submission date and Conflict of interest columns are filled in with the respective data. 

The ESC50 specific columns Site Visit, Decision Host Role, and Decision Support Role display the relevant information as per outcome of your submitted assessment. If the columns are not displayed, click on the Customise button and select them for your view. See My Assessments for details. 

If you now open the assessment, it opens in a new tab in read-only mode. 

13. Consolidation assignment specifics

When working on a consolidator assignment for an ESC50 - Quality Label 2023 application for the Host and/or Support role, the basic functionalities are the same as described under How to complete a consolidation assignment. 

The Award criteria section for the assessment of an ESC50, call year 2023 onward, application will display sub-tabs per requested role to complete, Host role and/or Support role. 

For an assessment for the host and support role, an information message is displayed, informing you of the fact that the award criterion Relevance is considered a common criteria for both the host and support role, and that the information provided for this criterion in the assessment of one role (comment and decision) will be transferred into the relevant fields for this criterion for the other role. 

Here is an example of the displayed sub-tabs if the assessment is for the Support role only, where the organisation attained the quality label for the Host role in a previous year. Only the information in the Support role sub-tab can be accessed and must be consolidated. 

The expert assigned as consolidator inserts the experts' comments using the dedicated functionality to complete the award criteria comments per requested role during the consolidation. 

If the application is for both roles, consolidating the expert comments for the award criterion Relevance results in a pop-up window displayed, informing you of the fact that this criterion is common for both the host and support role assessment. The comment provided for this criterion for one role will be copied into the consolidated assessment for the other role.

Click on OK in the pop-up to confirm. Clicking on Cancel will result in the information inserted being removed from the comment field of this criterion for both roles. 

For the Host and/or Support role, the consolidator must decide if the outcome of the assessment is acceptable or not acceptable, using the available buttons to the right of each criteria:

• Click on the red X button to declare an award criterion assessment as not acceptable.
• Click on the green check button to declare an award criterion assessment as acceptable.
• If you want to remove an already made decision, click on the blue Deselect option button.

You must select an option (positive or negative) for each award criterion. 

You must select an option for each award criterion. 

When all award criteria have been marked as acceptable or not acceptable, the outcome of the assessment for a role is indicated in the relevant sub-tab, displaying Awarded or Not Awarded. The overview table in the header is also updated with the outcome of the consolidated assessment.

In our example, the Host role is indicated as Awarded and the Support role as Not Awarded. 

13.1.1. Award criterion "Relevance" specifics - Assessment for Host and Support role only

After providing the decision for the award criterion Relevance for one role, in an assessment for the Host and Support role, a pop-up window will display, informing you of the fact that this criterion is common for both the host and support role assessment. The decision provided for Relevance, for example in the award criteria of the Host role, will be copied into the assessment for the Support role.

Click on OK in the pop-up to confirm. Clicking on Cancel will result in the decision selected being deselected for both roles.

Any changes you make to the decision of this criterion for one role will result in the pop-up being displayed and the decision being transferred to the same criterion for the other role, after confirmation.

Continue with the consolidation by accessing the Typology questions, the Comments and Approval section. See How to complete a consolidation assignment (from Step 6. Complete "Typology Questions") for the next steps and details.

14. Editor assignment specifics

When working on an editing assignment for a Quality Label application, the basic functionalities are the same as described under How to complete an editing assignment. 

In an ongoing editing assignment for ESC50, call year 2023 onward, only the Comments fields in the Award Criteria (1) and Comments (1) sections can be updated by the expert assigned as Editor (2). 

In ESC50 - Quality Label applications, the Award criteria will display sub-tabs per role requested by the applicant organisation. The editor can access the available sub-tabs, Host role and/or Support role (3), and make the necessary changes in the Comments (4) fields available. 

No changes can be made on the assessment outcome.

Here is an example of the available Award criteria sub-tabs in an editor assignment, where the applicant organisation attained the Host role in a previous year. The Host role sub-tab is inactive. Only in the sub-tab for the Support role can editing changes be made. 

In editing assignments for applications for the Host and Support role, any changes made in the comment field for the award criterion Relevance will result in a pop-up window, informing you of the fact that this criterion is common for both the host and support role. The changes made in the comment field for this criterion for one role will be copied into the comment field for this criterion in the other role. 

Click on OK in the pop-up to confirm. Clicking on Cancel will result in the changes being discarded for both roles.