Effort Reporting

All university work — including research, teaching, service, clinical work, and administrative duties — performed by an employee over a defined period of time is the employee's "effort." When UCSD accepts a federally sponsored project award, a legal obligation is made to certify that the effort required as a condition of the award has actually been completed.

• The percentage of effort for a project is calculated as follows:
  Average weekly project hours / Average weekly UCSD hours = % project effort
• Effort reporting is the method of certifying to granting agencies that the required effort has actually been completed. All employee salaries charged directly to federal and federal flow-through funds must be certified according to Uniform Guidance Section §200.430 and Section §200.431.
• Effort reporting is important because salary expenses are the major source of direct charges to federal funds. Improper or incomplete effort reporting can cost the university money in the form of audit disallowances, penalties and can jeopardize future federal research funding.
• UCSD satisfies its effort reporting requirement through an effort reporting tool developed with other UC campuses and the Office of the President.  
• Effort reports are required for all personnel paid directly from sponsored projects funded by federal sources, including private and state federal flow-through funds.

New PI Requirement for Effort Reports Certified After the Certification Deadline

Effective July 2013, ECERT system requires a comment whenever our PIs Certify Effort Reports after the certification deadline. Certifications are due within 120 days after the end of each reporting period. See an example ECERT Certify ERS Report - Comment Required (PDF) and Best Practices for more information related to managing certifications.

Policy Limits Salary from Federal Awards

Effective July 1, 2012, Principal Investigators may receive no more than 97% of their salary from federal awards, including federal flow through-funding. This Policy applies to all Principal Investigators whose salary is derived entirely from federal awards. Read the full policy (PDF).

Certification of effort charged to federal awards is a critical compliance area with significant risk potential to the university and its federally-funded research.

Sponsored Projects Finance (SPF) facilitates Effort Reporting Best Practices & Process Improvements to help ensure timeliness and accuracy during the quarterly certification process of employees paid through federal research awards.

Recommended communication and distribution of roles within your department or Organized Research Unit (ORU)

Establishing and maintaining good communication and clear roles is essential between ECERT Coordinators and Certifiers. Good collaboration and communication between Departments/ORUs can ensure that Effort Reports are completed timely and accurately. Distribute labor between these 3 roles:

1. The intended certifier is the Principal Investigator (PI). PIs should certify their own Effort Report and Effort Reports for all non faculty members paid on his/her indexes.
2. Identify who will have the role of ECERT Coordinator/Fund Manager. This can be the fund manager(s) or other appointees. The ECERT Coordinator/Fund Manager will do the following:
   • Preview PI certification lists
   • Review Effort Reports
   • Perform any needed adjustments using the Direct Retro via UC Path system. Ensure that ECERT Coordinators/Fund Managers have a thorough understanding of ECERT data, and how it is affected by Direct Retro via UC Path.
   • Review Chart of Accounts (COA) and determine where COA overrides are needed to correct ECERT Coordinator/Fund Manager or PI assignments. Perform any needed Chart of Accounts (COA) Overrides. Please note: Overrides are currently unavailable in OFC.  A solution for a new COA Override is being developed and will be updated via the official communication channels
   • If needed - Check the Multiple Certifier box. This box may be selected for individuals who work on multiple projects for different PIs.
   • Email PI to notify them that the Effort Reports are ready for certification.
   • Monitor the status of certifications, ensuring certifications are completed timely [within 120 days after the end of each effort reporting quarter].
   • May train PIs on how to use the ECERT system.
3. Identify a Primary Compliance Manager. This can be the Management Service Officer (MSO), Department Business Officer (DBO), or other appointee. The primary Compliance Manager will:
   • Monitor certifications for the whole Department/Organized Research Unit
   • Provide statistical progress reports within the department

ECERT Coordinators and Primary Compliance Managers work with their Department/ORU to ensure that PIs, or other employees, leaving the University, have certified his/her effort prior to separation. An individual's Effort Report can be generated on demand. If it is not possible to get the PI's certification, another faculty member with first-hand knowledge or suitable means of verifying the effort should certify.

Delegated authority to certify on behalf of PI

A PI may delegate authority to someone else to certify on their behalf, such as another faculty member, lab manager, MSO, or another individual closely involved with the project. However, the designee must have sufficient knowledge of the project to be able to certify the effort appropriately. This can be demonstrated in the following ways:

1. The designee’s role involves regular presence in the lab, with in-depth familiarity with the staffing, such that they are as aware as the PI of who is working on the project (e.g., a lab manager or administrator who interacts regularly with the research staff).
2. The designee participates in regular meetings with the PI (weekly or bi-weekly), during which operational and financial matters are discussed, providing them with knowledge of the data in the effort tool. In such cases, the effort tool could be periodically reviewed with the PI during these meetings.

Please make sure to:

1. Add a comment in the Effort Report’s Comment field, which will be recorded in ECERT and available to auditors. The comment should state: “(Insert name) has delegated authority to certify on behalf of PI (insert PI name).”
2. Retain documentation (e.g., an email from the PI or other relevant document) at the department level as a record of the delegated authority.

Best practices for reviewing reports

• Review ECERT data for completeness as soon as it becomes available:
  • Ensure that all participants on federal awards have effort reports.
  • Verify that all Direct Retro via UC Path adjustments are reflected.
  • Notify the faculty/ researchers when you are ready for them to certify.
• If an Direct Retro via UC Path is necessary, adjust the "Adjusted Payroll %" column percentages in ECERT for the anticipated payroll change prior to PI certification, if possible.
• Identify areas of concern and, if necessary, contact Business & Finance Services & Support portal, select Related to: Post Award Financial

Best practices for communication with Principal Investigators

• Ask the Director or Chair to speak at a faculty meeting about the importance of effort reporting.
• Develop PI training strategies. (For example, target the PIs with the most employees to certify first, or PIs who are the most technologically savvy.)
• If a PI is unfamiliar with a Business Systems account, enter their UCSD email address as their username and choose "Reset your password." The researcher will receive a password via e-mail to access ECERT.
• Meet with Principal Investigators individually, especially the first time you ask them to certify.
• Point the PIs to the Quick Reference Guide for Certifiers (PDF).
• Establish internal deadlines for the PIs. (Certifications are due within 120 days after the end of each quarter.)
• Develop e-mail templates for communication (and re-communication) with PIs.
• Ask PIs to certify the report "as is" if the effort shown is within +/- 5% of the actual effort expended.
• Ask PIs to consult with their ECERT Coordinators/Fund Managers if adjustments to Effort Reports are needed.

Best practices for staying in compliance

• Appoint a Primary Compliance Manager who will review ECERT Status regularly. Use Effort Reporting Easy Queries to identify problem areas.
• ECERT Coordinators should alert Managers to situations of noncompliance and remind them to communicate directly with the respective PIs to address any actions required for compliance.
• Hold biweekly meetings between ECERT Coordinators, Fiscal Managers, Fund Managers, Payroll and Personnel Managers, and other fiscal staff to discuss ECERT compliance and other key issues.
• Set up an appointment with the PI to certify in person if an e-mail notification is not sufficient.
• Collaborate and communicate with other Department/ORU colleagues to facilitate the certification of Effort Reports for personnel appointed to your Department/ORU working for a PI in another Department/ORU, or the capture of multiple certifications, if necessary.
• Establish an internal accountability plan for your Department/Organized Research Unit.

SPF Forums offer opportunities to:

• Share best practices, build partnerships and collaboration between SPF and Campus Departments/ORUs in order to achieve 100% Timely Effort Reporting (within 120 days from the end of each reporting period) and minimize re-certifications (due to cost transfers and late pays);
• Share knowledge and provide helpful tools (Blink, Direct Retro via UC Path, ECERT and Queries) for UCSD Campus Departments/ORUs; and
• Assist in the training of new or existing Fund Managers, ECERT Coordinators, and department personnel in the cost transfer and/or effort reporting areas.

• Key controls for ECERT
• Documenting your department's key controls

1. Access the ECERT system.
   • Go to ECERT.
   • Log in using your UCSD Business Systems account.

   If you don't have a Business Systems account, contact your Departmental Security Administrator (DSA) or self-register.

2. Display the desired saved search.
   • Click the down arrow at the top left of the screen to access the Effort Report List page.
   • Click the Manage Searches menu box, and select the search you want to track.
3. Monitor the status of the report using one of 2 options.
   • Filter the list by a specific status (e.g., only display reports with status "certified"):
     • Click the down arrow at the top left of the Effort Report List.
     • Select the desired status you want to display.
     • The display changes to only those reports with the status you selected.
   • Sort the list by status:
     • Click the column header in the Status column.
     • The display now shows all reports grouped by status.

Effort Reports are available electronically to departments as follows:

Note: To assist our campus enhance customer service and improve effectiveness, the FY15 OCT-DEC quarterly effort reports were our last quarterly effort reporting period. Effective with the FY15 JAN-JUN effort reporting period, the Electronic Certification of Effort Reports will be required every 6 months instead of every 3 months.

• The Electronic Certification of Effort and Reporting Tool (ECERT) replaced the paper Personnel Activity Reporting (PAR) system in 2007.
• ECERT system

General information

Q. What is effort reporting and why do we do it?
A. Effort reporting is the method of certifying to granting agencies that the required effort has actually been completed. Learn more about Effort Reporting.

Q. Who receives an effort report?
A. You are subject to effort reporting if you are an:

• Employee who works on federally sponsored projects (the sponsor reimburses the university)
• Employee who works on sponsored projects (funded by the university)

Q. What are "other sponsored activities" and "non-sponsored activities"?
A. Sponsored activities are projects funded by non-federal sponsors, such as state agencies and private organizations. Employee pay on these projects does not require effort certifications.

Non-sponsored activities are funded by the university and include university-funded research, instruction, departmental research, and administration.

Q. Why is "By Agreement" compensation not allowed to be paid on Federal or Federal Flow-through funds?
A. Visiting Scholars, and Other Visitors, are ineligible for compensation, whether in the form of salary or wages, from the University of California. When Departments and Visiting Scholars, and Other Visitors, engaged in research activities agree upon a dollar amount, not tied to time/effort, the individual may receive payment for his/her "By Agreement" "Supplemental Income" compensation. (DOS Code BYA)

"By Agreement" "Supplemental Income" compensation payment(s) are just a way to distribute the individual's supplemental income and are not true effort.  These types of payments are not allowed to be charged on Federal or Federal Flow-through funds because federal funds require true effort for reporting.

Q. Why can anyone with ECERT access view payroll details?
A. Anyone designated certifier or preparer has access to the "View Payroll Detail" screens in ECERT. It's essential that those supervising effort certification can see all pay detail, whether or not the effort calculations include it because researchers may work on a grant or contract outside their home department. If pay information has been miscoded, the payroll details provide the evidence to make a correction.

All manner of compensation paid by the university is public record. However, due to the sensitive nature of this information, financial managers must use discretion when assigning employees access to ECERT.

ECERT and Direct Retro via UC Path

Q. If I have to process a Direct Retro via UC Path, how will it affect Effort Reports in ECERT?

A.
 .

Q. When will I see my Direct Retro via UC Path, Late Pay and Chart of Accounts Overrides reflected in ECERT?
A. ECERT automatically reflects changes on a monthly basis after ledger close.

Once the Direct Retro via UC Path is processed and the data is uploaded into the ECERT system, it automatically changes the Original Payroll percents. If the report has already been certified for a different amount, it re-opens and the status becomes Open/ Reissued. This means it requires recertification and the previously certified amounts in the Adjusted % column need to be manually adjusted to reflect confirmation of the change.

If a Direct Retro via UC Path is in process, but not yet reflected in ECERT, you can adjust the effort in the Adjusted % column in anticipation of the Direct Retro via UC Path. After certification these reports, the status becomes Certified/ Adjustment Required until ECERT receives and PPS data. Once this occurs, the status changes to Certified and no further action is needed.

Review the information for PPS entry and update deadlines

Handling special situations

Q. How does ECERT handle K Awards?
A. K Awards require 75% effort. The recommended way to handle certification when K Award funds a portion of the employee’s salary is to:

• Modify the adjusted Pay % column to reflect the actual effort performed.
• Allow the status to remain "Certified/ Adjustment Required" when the report is certified in this case.
• Enter a comment. Ensure it contains the following:
  • "Please note that actual effort performed on the K award was ___%. The differential between the paid percent and effort percent is considered voluntary, uncommitted cost sharing and therefore no payroll adjustment is necessary."

If the 75% of the employee’s salary exceeds what the K award supports, set up their payroll to pay the non-K Award professional salary at the true rate and the K award salary at an adjusted (lower) rate to utilize the K Award. You then set up a By Agreement for the difference, since By Agreement pay doesn't impact effort percentages. This is similar to the way UCSD pays employees with an NIH salary cap

Q. When do I add an additional sponsored project to an effort report?
A. Occasionally, an employee has no salary charged to a project but needs to report cost sharing because he/ she has expended effort on that project. In this case, you need to process retroactive payroll charges.

Q. How can an effort report total 100% when the employee doesn't have a full-time appointment with the university?
A. Effort is not based on a 40-hour work week. Instead, it's based on the total time spent on university activities, no matter how many hours are worked.

• UCSD Cost Transfer and ECERT Focus Group Meetings.
• Customized training for each department/ORU by the ECERT team.
• Contact Business & Finance Services & Support portal, select Related to: Post Award Financial 

For questions that can't be answered by your department's ECERT Coordinator, contact Business & Finance Services & Support portal, select Related to: Post Award Financial

• Add additional employees to the database
• Edit the Cannot Certify list
• Update the employee PI indicator
• Update effort report status
• Please contact your Department's DSA/ECERT User Administrators to create permission and roles

PI Requirement for Effort Reports Certified After the Certification Deadline

Our ECERT system requires a comment whenever our PIs Certify Effort Reports after the certification deadline. Certifications are due within 120 days after the end of each reporting period. See Best Practices for more information related to managing certifications.