Análise de não conformidades em projectos co-financiados pelo Fundo Social Europeu em escolas públicas portuguesas

Abstract

This report aims to analyze the detected nonconformities (cuts to funding) on projects co-funded by the European Social Fund in Portuguese public schools. In order to analyze these cuts a database was created with 233 projects for 69 clients of the SInASE, a company that provides services, among other areas, in investment projects and in the improvement of co-funded projects. This database contains over a dozen variables, which were analyzed together allowing satisfactory conclusions to be drawn. Factors such as the number and value of cuts to funding sorted by rubrics, year, type and teams, among others where used. To this end, several techniques and methodologies were used, including Pareto analysis, histograms and analysis of variance. It further suggests the implementation of some measures to improve the quality of the service, in order to decrease the number of existing cuts in this type of co-funded projects. The implementation of a database with periodic updates would be of added-value to SInASE in the sense that a thorough examination of the data would certainly lead to a decrease in both the number of cuts and their value. It is hoped that this document serves as an incentive to the already existing practice of continuous improvement implemented by SInASE and that, along with the database proposed, will provide healthy changes. The relationship with customers and their satisfaction has been, for many years, one of the main concerns of SInASE, so these tools can serve not only to retain current customers but also to get new ones. Globally, and particularly in this very specific market, customer loyalty is a growing concern, as it is much more expensive to acquire new customers than to satisfy the existing ones. Customer satisfaction leads to a natural positive word-of-mouth, which has proven to be the most effective way of attracting customers in the current market, where SInASE is a national reference.

Date of Award	18 Dec 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Silva (Supervisor)