Effort Certification Reporting System (ECRS)

University of North Texas Health Science Center

What is Effort Reporting? Effort Reporting is the method of certifying the

effort required as a condition of the award has actually been completed

Effort is defined as the amount of time spent on a sponsored research project in which salary is directly charged or contributed (cost-share) during a specified period of time

What is Effort Reporting? - Continued 40 hour/week IS NOT the definition of 100%

effort from which percentage of research effort is certified

100% effort is an employee’s total time actually spent completing all aspects of their position

Effort certification should reflect the distribution of activities are a reasonable representation of actual work performed

What is Cost-Sharing? Cost-sharing is the portion of the total

sponsored project’s costs paid by the institution, rather than by the sponsor.

There are 2 kinds of cost-sharing:– Mandatory Committed is required by the sponsor and

documented in the proposal. – NIH, CDC, DOJ, HHS

– Voluntary Committed is not required by the sponsor but was included in the proposal narrative.

Why is Effort Reporting Necessary?Compliance

♦ Comply with the State of Texas requirements – Uniform Grant Management Standards (UGMS)

♦ Comply with federal regulations (OMB circular A-21) Effort Certification Report System (ECRS) is the

tool we use to facilitate and document compliance

What is Effort Certification Reporting System (ECRS)? Part 1 – Monthly Management Reports

♦ Tracking system within EIS used to capture salary expenditures, committed effort, cost sharing and salary cap data.

♦ Management tool used to recap the % effort committed, actual amount of salary paid on a project, % committed cost share.

Part 2 – Effort Certification Process♦ Certify Effort Report

The Effort Certification Process

Certification process is complete

ePar processed to

charge salary to projects

End of semester rolls

around

System generates email

notification

PI logs ins to review the report

for accuracy

PI “disagrees” submits

comments

PI reviews monthly management

reports for accuracy

PI “agrees”

PI certifies online

Part 1 - Why use Monthly Management Reports?

Track payroll activity by project or by employee for amounts paid by sponsors (direct charge) and institution (cost share)

Easy way to identify people paid on wrong project or paid at the wrong percent

Track burn rate of committed effort on projid and deptid, if cost share was committed

Navigate to Campus Self Serve and Select Grants

EIS Tab Find an Existing Value

Required

Search by Project ID

Sample Project Commitment Report

Sample Employee Commitment Report

Part 2 - When do we have to certify? Three times per year

♦ Fall♦ Spring♦ Summer

Effort reports should be certified within a reasonable amount of time.

Reminder emails will be sent after 10 working days to PI and after 20 working days to PI and Department Chair.

What happens if we don’t complete the certification? Failure to complete the effort report leaves the

university in jeopardy of disallowance of the salary costs on Sponsored Agreements.

Erroneously certifying effort can be viewed as fraud and subject to penalties.

Who has to certify Effort? Effort report must be signed by a person having direct

knowledge of the work was performed and is consistent with the overall distribution of the employee’s compensated activities

♦ Principal Investigator Certification by a department administrator or other staff

member is NOT permitted. When you are not available to make your effort certification

in the appropriate time frame, you should designate a delegate for signing

Effort Report Notification

Navigate to Campus Select Serve and Select Grants

Sample of Cost Share Tagged

Sample of Payroll Detail Direct Charge - Sponsored

Sample of Certified Effort Report

Printable Copy of Certified Effort Report

Implementation Phase 2(a) Generate Monthly Management Reports –

May 2013 Phase 2(b) Generate Online Effort Report

Certifications – Spring 2014 Train PI’s and Other Key Personnel – February 2014 Online Training Available – March 2014

Questions?

Point of Contact Office of Grant and Contract Management

Kristi LemmonUNT Health Science Center

Senior Compliance ManagerKristi.Lemmon@unthsc.edu(817) 735-0424