Appendix 4 - Portfolio monitoring and reviews

The GRDC continued to actively manage and monitor projects across the portfolio throughout 2004-05. Portfolio monitoring includes a range of activities to ensure that individual projects achieve their objectives and scheduled milestones, and that the R&D portfolio as a whole continues to address priorities. The portfolio in 2004-05 included around one thousand projects, at various stages of development, spread across six output groups.

At the project level, portfolio monitoring includes an assessment of each project by way of an annual progress report identifying progress against the aims and milestones of the project. Progress reports must be submitted to the Corporation and meet minimum requirements before further payments are made to research partners.

The GRDC's portfolio monitoring activities were enhanced in 2004-05 by the introduction of new internal monitoring procedures to assess the performance and efficiency of administrative activities associated with managing the large investment portfolio. The improved portfolio monitoring system now includes internal guidelines and/or procedures for:

identifying and managing risks associated with individual projects during planning and implementation stages
evaluating progress reports for project performance against objectives
tracking the status of progress reports against internal performance targets and producing summary reports for management and staff. This contributed to a significant reduction in the number of progress reports remaining outstanding (unprocessed) at 30 June 2005
developing business cases, terms of reference and timeframes for a limited number of formal reviews of targeted investment areas from across the entire portfolio.

The GRDC visited over 150 projects throughout 2004-05. This includes reviews and visits listed below:

Output Group	Project no.	Project title
Winter Cereals Improvement	CIM11	Enhanced evaluation of CIMMYT spring bread wheat germplasm in Improvement
	DAQ00002	Novel approaches to In-head Frost Tolerence
	DAQ00045	SIP04 defect elimination in wheat
	DAQ483	Exploitation of the genetic resources of synthetic wheats – Queensland Department of Primary Industries component
	UA00034	SIP04 defect elimination in wheat
Crop Improvement	UA00037	SIP04 defect elimination in wheat
	UA00039	SIP04 defect elimination in wheat
	UA00063	Breeding for frost tolerance in barley
	UQ123	A strategic framework to model CIMMYT wheat breeding programs with application to Australia – University of Queensland component
	UQ157	Enhanced evaluation of CIMMYT germplasm for Australia (continuation) – Australian component
	UQ158	Development of ICIS for Australian wheat breeding programs
	US00026	The cell biology of cold-induced male sterility in wheat
	USQ00002	Evaluation of transgenic wheats for frost tolerance
	UT8	Australia China collaboration on barley genetic resources
	DAN00063	National Brassica improvement program – component 2, stage 3: Improvement NSW Agriculture
	DAQ00060	National mung bean improvement program
	DAQ00070	Australian peanut improvement program
	DAV00060	National Brassica improvement program - DPI Victoria and lead agency
	FLR00001	Canola yield decline: expanding the regional focus and disease emphasis using surveys, simulation studies and targetted soil/plant analysis
Crop Protection	ANU19	Development of specific microbial and transgenic technology to control fungal pathogens: a commercialisation project based on patent application no PP8394/99
	CRW5	CRC for weeds
	CSE00029	National invertebrate pest initiative
	CSE193	Grain protection genes
	CSV16	Biological control of mice – immunocontraception
	DAN485	Management of Fusarium diseases and common root rot of cereals in the northern cropping zone
	DAQ00074	Facilitating adoption of IPM in northern region broadacre farming systems
	DAW00106	Managing disease constraints in western region farming systems
	UM00016	Fungal pathology developments for management of diseases of oilseed Brassicas in Australia
	US315	Australian cereal rust control program
	UWA399	Western Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative (WAHRI)
Sustainable Farming Systems	CHC24	An investigation into the hydrogeological transport of atrazine in soils the Western Australian wheat-belt
	CWF00005	Combating subsoil constraints MFM1 Increasing cropping skills, yields and area in the South East of South Australia
	UCS00003	Sequencing crop rotations that best utilize lucerne biopores to control groundwater recharge and maintain dry catchments.
	UMU00003	National Rhizobium Program -developing and delivering high quality rhizobial inoculants to the Australian grains and pasture industries.
Value Chain	BRI00027	Objective grain quality testing
Product and Service delivery	CAS12	ACAS
	DAN00047	Cropcheck for Irrigated and Dryland Cropping
	DAV00044	Bestwool
	PNS00001	Southern Region Communicator 03–06
	UNE00007	Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Farm Production

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