The main objective of the present study was to construct a comprehensive, easy-to-use tool for Greek NGOs, an add-on to “APOPLOUS”. An additional objective was to facilitate Greek NGOs to be certified under the ELOT 1429 & 1431-3 Standards for the “Certification of Project Management Competency of Organizations”, thus ensuring their candidature for European Union co-financed Projects. The authors based their study on the latest International Competence Baseline version in use of the International Project Management Association and specifically on the Austrian and the Greek National Baselines. The Guidelines and the standardised handbook were used in a pilot phase by a selected sample of NGOs and their feedback is included in the presented version.

1. PM-05 - Advancing Project Management for the 21st
Century
“Concepts, Tools & Techniques for Managing Successful Projects”
29-31 May 2010, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
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Guidelines and Project Management Handbook for Greek NGOs
Dipl.Eng. – MBA Triantafyllos Katsarelis1
(Scientific Associate, School of Civil Engineering, Centre for Construction
Innovation, National Technical University of Athens, Greece, IPMA Level C certified)
Dipl.Eng. Nikolaos Depountis
(Quality Advisor, Member of the BoD PM-Greece, Athens, Greece)
Iliana Adamopoulou
(undergr. Student, National Technical University of Athens, Greece, IPMA Level D
certified)
Abstract
“APOPLOUS” was the outcome of a project assigned by the Coordination Committee
of the Campaign of 800 Greek NGOs, with the purpose of constructing a set of
“Values, Organization, Conduct and Practice” for Greek NGOs. The main objective of
the present study was to construct a comprehensive, easy-to-use tool for Greek
NGOs, an add-on to “APOPLOUS”. An additional objective was to facilitate Greek
NGOs to be certified under the ELOT 1429 & 1431-3 Standards for the “Certification
of Project Management Competency of Organizations”, thus ensuring their
candidature for European Union co-financed Projects. The authors based their study
on the latest International Competence Baseline version in use of the International
Project Management Association and specifically on the Austrian and the Greek
National Baselines. The Guidelines and the standardised handbook were used in a
pilot phase by a selected sample of NGOs and their feedback is included in the
presented version.
Keywords
Standards, E.U. co-financed projects, APOPLOUS, Greek NGOs, Project handbook
1 Introduction
Three years ago the Coordination Committee of the Campaign of 800 Greek NGOs
assigned to the Scientific Committee the project of constructing a set of “Values,
Organization, Conduct and Practice” to be adopted and used by Greek NGOs. The
outcome of this project was “APOPLOUS”. This “Set of Values” is now being
established as a “Code of Conduct”, adopted by a large number of Greek NGOs. The
present study is the second add-on to “APOPLOUS”, providing a tool for Greek
NGOs for their continuous improvement under the very spirit of this Code of Values,
Organization, Conduct and Practice.
Meanwhile the Greek Organization for Standardization – ELOT developed and issued
the 1429 & 1431-3 Standards, which are maturity organization standards, for the
field of European Union co-financed Projects in Greece, which could also affect
NGOs’ candidature for such Projects. The additional objective of this study was to
facilitate Greek NGOs to be certified under these Standards.
1
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Bentouri 22B, Holargos 15561, Athens, Greece.
E-mail address: baikats@hotmail.com

2. PM-05 - Advancing Project Management for the 21st
Century
“Concepts, Tools & Techniques for Managing Successful Projects”
29-31 May 2010, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
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“APOPLOUS - Code of Values, Organization, Conduct and Practice” for Greek NGOs
and the ELOT 1429 Standard are briefly described. The “Project Management
Guidelines and Handbook” proposed by the authors are presented.
2 APOPLOUS: History and background
“APOPLOUS - Code of Values, Organization, Conduct and Practice” for Greek NGOs
(Katsarelis, Depountis et al. (2008)) was the outcome of a project assigned to the
Scientific Committee of the Campaign of 800 Greek NGOs by the Coordination
Committee. The final text was approved, went through the public enquiry procedure
and currently undergoes the procedure of formal acceptance by the interested
Greek NGOs, thus moving forward from a “Set of Principles” to a “Code of
Conduct”.
“APOPLOUS” is structured in six equally weighted “values”. In the “APOPLOUS
Code” a brief description of each value is provided. These Principles do not negate
the institutional articles of each organization, nor do they replace the additional
terms of function or their applied practices. In contrast they are additional to the
above, while enhancing them. Through the adoption of these Principles all
organizations are encouraged to use more sophisticated and standardized
instruments to ameliorate their performance, such as evaluation indicators,
mechanisms of internal control, prototypes and standards.
The first add-on was “Comprehensive Guidelines for the application of the principles
of APOPLOUS” and contained more detailed documentation and some examples of
application in order to clarify the concept.
Fig. 1: APOPLOUS
The authors have proposed the following graph, which depicts the continuum of
standardization for NGOs. This proposal was based on the approach for Corporate
Responsibility Codes (Leipziger (2003)).
FOCUS
on
EFFECTIVENESS
RESPONSIBLE
ORGANIZATION
& PRACTICE
CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT
& INNOVATION
PARTNERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT
& NETWORKING
VISION &
MISSION
INDEPENDENCE
TRANSPARENCY
& REPORTING

3. PM-05 - Advancing Project Management for the 21st
Century
“Concepts, Tools & Techniques for Managing Successful Projects”
29-31 May 2010, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
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Fig. 2: The continuum for standardization for NGOs
The authors have expressed their commitment and vision to help upgrade the
Code. With the presentation of the two add-ons – Guidelines this Code of conduct is
moving forward towards becoming a Standard.
3 The ELOT 1429 standard: Background and field of application
The ELOT 1429 Standard for the “Certification of Project Management Competency
of Organizations”, along with the linked Standard ELOT 1430 – series, addresses
the field of European Union co-financed Projects in Greece. NGOs must fulfill the
general requirements of ELOT 1429 and specifically ELOT 1431 - 3 Standards.
Disregarding the field of application of these Standards, the authors strongly
believe that Greek NGOs should adopt, implement and follow in all their projects
any comprehensive set of “Project Management Guidelines” under the requirements
of APOPLOUS. This set of “Guidelines” must follow specifically the values of
“Responsible Organization and Practice”, Focus on Effectiveness” and “Continuous
Improvement and Innovation”. The set of “Guidelines” proposed by the authors in
this paper is a step towards this goal.
4 Project management guidelines and handbook for Greek NGOs
4.1 Methodology
The scope of the study was to construct a comprehensive document, which would
be easy to use by the Greek NGOs who base their activity on volunteer work and
lack of trained full-time personnel. They actually are “Project Oriented”
Organizations usually supported by a “week permanent” Organization.
The authors based their study on the Project Management approach proposed by
the International Project Management Association – IPMA and specifically on the
latest International Competence Baseline – ICB 3 version in use and more
specifically on the Austrian National Baseline of PMA and the final draft of the Greek
National Baseline of PM Greece. Additional bibliography was used on project
management for NGOs.
The Guidelines and the Handbook were reviewed for consistency, clarity and
usability during the pilot phase by a selected sample of Greek NGOs: “European
Expression”, “Cell of Alternative Youth Activities”, “ARCHELON – The Sea Turtle
Protection Society of Greece”, “2nd
Holargos System of Sea Scouts” and “Gymnastic
Athletic Club of Holargos”. These NGOs are committed to adapt the Handbook to
their specific operational needs and use it in a future project, with the help and
guidance of the authors. More NGOs, members of the “Campaign of 800 Greek
NGOs” will take part in this implementation phase.
Values Principles
Codes
of
Conduct
Standards Models
Norms
&
Guidelines

4. PM-05 - Advancing Project Management for the 21st
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“Concepts, Tools & Techniques for Managing Successful Projects”
29-31 May 2010, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
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4.2 Guidelines’ construction
The “Guidelines and Project Management Handbook” is a bilingual tool (in greek
and in english), as many Greek NGOs have volunteers not fluent in the greek
language, or collaborate with NGOs from other countries in common bilateral
issues, or even undertake projects abroad. The tool consists of two parts: the
Project Management Handbook and the Guidelines for the implementation of the
Project Management methods introduced in the Handbook.
The Project Management Handbook contains easy-to-use templates for all the sub-
processes of a project (start, controlling, coordination and closedown, together with
the continuous marketing task). It also addresses the issue of risk management, in
a project risk register and with further risk analysis and alternative scenarios, which
need to be monitored constantly during the project, and could be very useful in
case the crisis management sub-process needs to be launched. A special and rather
innovative contribution, associated with the risk management but also with the
closedown sub-process, is the “Non-completed project stop” template, which
inevitably has to replace the normal “Project closedown report”, in case a project
ends abruptly before its completion. The templates can be filled using low cost
software or even freeware, therefore the tool represents an affordable solution for
even small NGOs.
Distribution list Project list of dates
Project assignment Project communication
structures
Project objectives Project risk register
Pre-project and post-
project phase analysis
Risk analysis –
Alternative scenarios
Project objects of
consideration
“Professional” liability
insurance contract
Project rules Relationship to other
projects
Project cost plan Connection to the
Organisation’s strategy
Project resource plan To-do list
Project organisation
chart
Approval of work
packages
Work breakdown
structure
Minutes of meeting
Project interested
parties
Project status report
Project work package
specifications
Project score card
Project responsibility
matrix
Project close down
report
Project milestone plan To-do list: Remaining
work – Post-project
phase
Project bar chart Non-completed project
stop
Table 1: Project Handbook contents

5. PM-05 - Advancing Project Management for the 21st
Century
“Concepts, Tools & Techniques for Managing Successful Projects”
29-31 May 2010, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
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The Guidelines, apart from helping with the implementation of the proposed Project
Management methods, contain basic Project Management glossary and databases
(e.g. risk management register and potential interested parties register).
Examples of the Handbook templates and the Guidelines are shown below.
The Project Interested Parties Analysis and Graph
 The project Interested Parties analysis considers the relationship of the project
to its relevant Interested Parties (Stakeholders). These are the parties that have
an effect on, or are affected by the project and its results.
 This project Interested Parties graph is structured as: Project internal area:
Project organization (Project Owner or team + Project Manager + Project
Team), and Project external area: All relevant Interested Parties.
 The distance from the Project figure depicts the importance of the Interested
Party within an arbitrary scale: Critical – Important – Other.
 The correspondent mark depicts the assessed relationship “attitude” of the
Interested Party within an arbitrary scale: Negative – Neutral – Positive.
 The Analysis and corresponding Chart enables the Project Team to design the
actions to be planned in order to improve the relationships with each Interested
Party, using an “Importance/ Attitude” matrix.
Figure X: Typical Project Interested Parties Analysis graph
Fig. 3: Guidelines extract: Interested Parties Analysis

6. PM-05 - Advancing Project Management for the 21st
Century
“Concepts, Tools & Techniques for Managing Successful Projects”
29-31 May 2010, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
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<Ονομασία Έργου>
<Project name>
<Κωδικός Έργου>
<Project No.>
ΑΝΑΛΥΣΗ ΚΙΝΔΥΝΩΝ
ΕΝΑΛΛΑΚΤΙΚΑ ΣΕΝΑΡΙΑ
RISK ANALYSIS
ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS
<Λογότυπο ΜΚΟ>
<NGO’s logo>
Κίνδυνος Risk
Κόστος κινδύνου Risk cost Κόστος πρόληψης κινδύνου Cost for preventing risk
Προληπτικές ενέργειες Preventative actions
Ενέργειες ενδεχόμενης εμφάνισης Contingency actions
Εναλλακτικό σενάριο 1 Alternative scenario 1
Υπεύθυνος Responsible
Κόστος Cost Χρονική καθυστέρηση Delay
Αποτελέσματα Results


Εναλλακτικό σενάριο 2 Alternative scenario 2
Υπεύθυνος Responsible
Κόστος Cost Χρονική καθυστέρηση Delay
Αποτελέσματα Results


Fig. 4: “Risk analysis – Alternative scenarios” template

7. PM-05 - Advancing Project Management for the 21st
Century
“Concepts, Tools & Techniques for Managing Successful Projects”
29-31 May 2010, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
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<Ονομασία Έργου>
<Project name>
<Κωδικός Έργου>
<Project No.>
ΑΝΑΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΩΤΙΚΟ ΔΕΛΤΙΟ
ΚΑΤΑΣΤΑΣΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΕΡΓΟΥ
PROJECT SCORE CARD
<Λογότυπο ΜΚΟ>
<NGO’s logo>
Στόχοι και πλαίσιο του Έργου
Project objectives and context
<Ημερ.1>
<Date 1>
<Ημερ.2>
<Date 2>
<Ημερ.3>
<Date 3>
<Ημερ.4>
<Date 4>
Στόχοι Project objectives 1
Αντικείμενα θεώρησης Project objects of consideration 2
Στρατηγικές Οργανισμού Organisation strategies 3
Άλλα έργα Other projects 4
Σχεδιασμός, έλεγχος
Planning, controlling
<Ημερ.1>
<Date 1>
<Ημερ.2>
<Date 2>
<Ημερ.3>
<Date 3>
<Ημερ.4>
<Date 4>
Πρόοδος Project progress
Χρονοδιάγραμμα Project schedule
Κόστη Project costs
Πόροι Project resources
Οργάνωση του Έργου
Project organisation
<Ημερ.1>
<Date 1>
<Ημερ.2>
<Date 2>
<Ημερ.3>
<Date 3>
<Ημερ.4>
<Date 4>
Ρόλοι Project roles
Επικοινωνία Project communication
Κουλτούρα Project culture
Ομαδική εργασία Project teamwork
Σχέσεις περιβαλλόντων του έργου
Project environment relationships
<Ημερ.1>
<Date 1>
<Ημερ.2>
<Date 2>
<Ημερ.3>
<Date 3>
<Ημερ.4>
<Date 4>
…
…
…
…
Γενική κατάσταση
Overall
<Ημερ.1>
<Date 1>
<Ημερ.2>
<Date 2>
<Ημερ.3>
<Date 3>
<Ημερ.4>
<Date 4>
<Ονομασία Έργου> <Project name> 3
Πολύ καλή 1 Very good
Καλή 2 Good
Μέση 3 Ok
Κακή 4 Bad
Πολύ κακή 5 Very bad
Fig. 5: “Project Score Card” template

8. PM-05 - Advancing Project Management for the 21st
Century
“Concepts, Tools & Techniques for Managing Successful Projects”
29-31 May 2010, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
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5 Conclusions
A comprehensive “Guidelines and Project Management Handbook” tool, which would
be easy to use by the Greek NGOs who base their activity on volunteer work and
lack of trained full-time personnel, is proposed by the authors. The authors
targeted mostly the medium and small NGOs with the above characteristics, but the
proposed tool can also be used by the larger NGOs with more experience. These
“Guidelines” may support Greek NGOs to be certified under the ELOT 1429 and
1430-3 Standards and ensure their candidature for European Union co-financed
Projects. But, most of all, these ‘Guidelines” are a tool for their continuous
improvement – kaizen, into their “journey towards excellence”, under the very
spirit of “APOPLOUS - Code of Values, Organization, Conduct and Practice”.
6 References
European Commission – EuropeAid Cooperation Office (2004), “Aid Delivery
Methods – Project Cycle Management Guidelines”.
Depountis, N. and Katsarelis, T. (2008), “APOPLOUS – Code of Values,
Organization, Conduct and Practice for Greek NGOs”.
Depountis, N. and Katsarelis, T. (2008), “Standards and Certification of NGOs”,
Proceedings of the 3rd
National Conference on Standardization, Standards and
Quality”, Thessaloniki.
Depountis, N. and Katsarelis, T. (2009), “Project Management Guidelines for Greek
NGOs”, Proceedings of the 6th
Conference “Standardization, Prototypes and
Quality: A means of Balkan Countries Collaboration”, Thessaloniki.
Gareis, R. (2005), “Happy Projects”, MANZ Verlag, Vienna.
Gaskin, K. (2006), “Risk Toolkit: How to take care of risk in volunteering – A guide
for organisations”, The Institute for Volunteering Research & Volunteering
England.
Gower (2000), “Handbook of Project Management”.
Harrington, H. and McNellis, T. (2006), “Project Management Excellence”, Patton
Press.
International Project Management Association – IPMA:
http://www.ipma.ch/Pages/default.aspx
Leipziger, D. (2003), “The Corporate Responsibility Code Book”, Greenleaf
Publishing Limited, Sheffield.
PMI (2004), “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge – PMOBK”.
Project Management Association Austria – PMA: http://www.p-m-a.at/content.php
Project Management Association Greece – PM Greece: http://pmgreece.gr/