Faculty and Staff

ECERT: Reading an Effort Report

Last updated September 7, 2009 8:57:54 PM PDT
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Learn about the different areas of an effort report in the Electronic Certification of Effort and Reporting Tool (ECERT).

Note: The checklist below shows an overview of the complete process. If you need more detailed ECERT training, see ECERT Job Aids, or attend the Effort Reporting class.

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Access the ECERT system.

If you don't have a Single Sign-On account, contact your Departmental Security Administrator or self-register.

Display the desired saved search and select an effort report.

  • Click the down arrow down arrow at the top left of the screen and select the Managed Saved Searches page.
  • Find the saved search you want and click the view iconView icon to see a list of effort reports for that search.
  • Click on the appropriate line to select the report.

View the 5 sections of the report.

  • Sponsored Projects: Employee received pay on these projects that require effort certification.
    • Effort calculations are displayed for each project.
    • For more information about a project, place your mouse pointer over the Project Name and see PI, Award Title, Fund Manager and Sponsor Award Number.
  • Other Sponsored Projects: Employee received pay on projects that do not require effort certification.
    • This section displays a cumulative effort calculation for all projects in this area.
  • Non-Sponsored Activities: Employee received pay on non-sponsored funding.
    • This section displays a cumulative effort calculation for all projects in this area.
  • Report options: Allows the user to specify whether different sponsored projects need to be certified by multiple people (such as more than one PI on different indexes).
  • Add a Comment: Area designated for users to input comments related to the effort report.

Explore the report's 6 columns.

  • Original Payroll %: Estimate of effort based on payroll distributions.
    • Percentages are systematically adjusted to reflect exceptions, such as the NIH Salary Cap.
  • Adjusted Payroll %: User can manually enter the effort percent dedicated to each activity.
  • Original Cost Sharing %: This column is not used by UCSD.
  • Adjusted Cost Sharing %: This column is not used by UCSD.
  • Original Total %: Estimated total effort % for each activity as generated by the ECERT system.
  • Adjusted Total %: This is the column being certified.
    • It reflects the amount in the Adjusted Payroll % column plus any amount in the Adjust Cost Sharing % column.

Check the Payroll Details.

  • To view the lines of payroll used to generate the estimate percentages in the Original Payroll % column, click the View Payroll Details button.

Navigate between 3 tabs.

  • Edit Report: Modify the current version of the report you're viewing.
  • View/ History: View previous version of the report.
  • Comment Log: View a compilation of previously saved comments.

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Need help? Submit a request to ECERT help with one of the following requests as the subject line:
  • Create permission and roles
  • Add additional employees to the database
  • Edit the Cannot Certify list
  • Update the employee PI indicator
  • Update effort report status