As of this Monday (8/30), more than 110 Institutions of the Federal Network of Federal Education will be able to rely on the ForPDI Platform for the creation, monitoring and better management of their Institutional Development Plans (PDI). The virtual environment has just been launched and is the result of a partnership between the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the National Education and Research Network (RNP). The solution aims to plan, implement and control strategic actions outlined by institutions such as Federal Universities, Federal Institutes (IFs), Federal Technological Education Centers (Cefets), Technical Schools linked to Universities, Colégio Pedro II and other institutions linked to the MEC.

ForPDI is an open tool for real-time management and monitoring of PDI, which contributes to achieving the institutions' internal objectives, as well as to the evaluation and external control by the public administration. With the adoption of the solution by federal institutions, the intention is to improve organizational processes, standardize administrative tasks and make financial management more efficient and transparent.

In practice, the tool allows for the creation of strategic plans, the monitoring of goals, the construction of the PDI itself, financial management and more. With the support of graphic elements, the dashboard makes it possible to monitor the PDI results and analyze data in a safe, fast and efficient way.

The launch of the solution took place in a virtual event, broadcast by MEC's YouTube channel. At the ceremony, MEC made it official that it is paying for the support of the system, made by RNP, and is now making the tool available at no cost to users. In addition to support, in cooperation with the Ministry, RNP adapted, evolved and migrated the platform to a cloud environment.

Another novelty is that public servants of interested institutions will be able to train themselves to use the platform, through a course available at the Virtual School of Government, certified by the National School of Public Administration (Enap).

The launching ceremony of the ForPDI Platform was attended by the Minister of Education, Milton Ribeiro; the executive secretary of MEC, Victor Godoy; the secretary of Higher Education, Wagner Vilas Boas; the secretary of Professional and Technological Education, Tomás Dias Sant’Ana; and the general director of RNP, Nelson Simões, who made up the ceremony table.

On the occasion, guests spoke about the importance of the platform for the education and research ecosystem in the country. “The popular saying goes that one who doesn't know where they’re going, any path will do. The planning of a direction is extremely important, especially when dealing with public education bodies such as universities, institutes and the like”, began minister Milton Ribeiro. “The PDI is an important tool that helps HEIs in the development of institutional planning, in addition to building a public management instrument”, he added.

Then, in a video, Sandro Amadeu Cerveira, rector of the Federal University of Alfenas (Unifal) – the institution responsible for the development of the platform –, highlighted what motivated the creation of ForPDI and highlighted its usefulness for users: “We, as public institutions, kept with the resources of the Brazilian people, we need to seek the maximum effectiveness and efficiency in meeting our public mission of contributing to the development of our country through quality education, excellent research and university extension. And to fulfill our social mission, we need planning. As public managers that we are, it is up to us to be clear about the objectives and goals that we dream of for our universities, always seeking the best way to manage our institutions, optimize the public resources invested to offer excellent public services to the population and other organizations in Brazil and in the world".

Then, Nelson Simões, general director of RNP, took over the microphones and argued that the platform is an essential instrument for better decision-making by managers. “We live in times when our visions of the future need to be unfolded and revised because at each moment they are called into question, due to the uncertainty and volatility that we live in the world. Therefore, monitoring and evaluating the steps of this strategy is essential, especially given the nature of higher education and research institutions, with an enormous contribution and impact for the country. Certainly, the institutions, through this platform, will be able to transform their aspirations and their plans into better and concrete results, in addition to transforming the reality where we operate”, concluded Nelson.

Watch the broadcast:

The solution

ForPDI was developed between 2016 and 2017 by Unifal, in partnership with the National Forum of Planning and Administration Deans (Forplad), the Federal University of Lavras (Ufla), and the R&D Center for Excellence and Transformation of the Public Sector (NEXT) of the University of Brasília (UnB), among other universities participating in the work group, which helped in the discussions and definitions of the system. The solution is based on familiar tools such as SWOT analysis, Balanced Scoredcard (BSC), Situational Strategic Planning (SSP), Canvas and scenario building. As of 2020, RNP assumed, together with the MEC, the support and evolution of the system's improvements.