Effort reporting and certification

An effort report is a statement that certifies that the payroll distribution accurately reflects the expended effort. Effort reporting and certification is a requirement for most sponsored research. Organizations must certify to their sponsors the effort that is expended on various projects. Effort reporting applies to employees who are working on sponsored projects. Effort must equal 100% for the employee and the period in order to be certified.

This list contains the types of effort that can be certified:

• Committed Effort: The proportion of time committed to the grant sponsor for the specific project employee.
• Planned Effort: The default value for committed effort is the planned effort. Planned effort is the proportion of time the project employee plans to spend performing duties on the sponsored project. Planned effort is used as the basis for salary encumbrance amounts.
• Actual Effort: The proportion of time that is spent on a project. The value is expressed as a percentage of total time spent performing duties for an institution for the reporting period. The actual effort is a derived field that is changed as each labor period is processed.
• Certified Effort: The process of certifying the effort that is reported for employees reflects the actual work performed. Effort certification is a verification of 100% of effort for the reporting period. The effort percentage for the reporting period must equal 100%.

Labor is generally distributed on a schedule or reporting period that is aligned with the payroll period. Effort is certified for multiple payroll periods. Labor schedules are generally specified as weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly. Effort schedules are generally specified as quarterly or semi-annually. All percentages are average percentages from the processed labor distribution records. The labor distribution for each period and how many labor periods are in the effort period are displayed on the certification form. For example, an employee’s labor is distributed monthly and effort is certified quarterly. Then the labor distribution actual percentages are added together and divided by 3. The average actual percent is displayed by project to be certified. The average actual percent may be less than 100%. The effort percent for the effort period must be 100% to certify.

There is a value on the posting project Labor Distribution tab that indicates whether the posting project requires effort certification. The default value is No. The field is displayed as a Certification Required column on the effort certification forms. The projects that are federally sponsored and require effort certification are indicated by the column. A derived Certification Required column is displayed on the open effort periods list. A value of Yes is displayed if any project or assignment effort certification is required. After the effort certification for the period is opened, a column is displayed for the project to indicate whether certification is required.