Effort Certification: The Basics
Erin Flathmann, CLA Fiscal Admin
Sponsored Project Symposium
February 21, 2017
What is Effort Certification?
• Effort is time spent on
certain professional activities.
– Sponsored time
– Non-sponsored time
• Effort Certification confirms the percentage of
time spent on these activities is accurate.
Why do we certify effort?
Federal regulation requires we must report
employee effort devoted to sponsored projects.
ECRT (Effort Certification Reporting Tool) is
used to ensure the University is meeting this
federal regulation.
Who is involved?
• Principal Investigators connected to the sponsored project
• Employees paid or cost shared on a sponsored project
during the effort period
• Effort coordinators
• Department payroll administrators
• SPA
ECRT view of involved parties
When does effort occur?
• Time spent on sponsored projects occurs year round at the
University.
• Effort may be calculated and applied to sponsored projects
during different times over the project life.
• Certification of Effort is completed twice a year in the ECRT
system.
– Period 1 : Pay Periods 1 – 13
– Period 2 : Pay Periods 14 – 26
ECRT system
• Reflects employee’s professional effort on all
sponsored and non-sponsored activities during the
period.
• Payroll distribution drives the distinction between
various sponsored and non-sponsored activities.
• Link: https://ecrt.umn.edu/ecrt
Effort certification timeline (Period 1)
December 21, 2016
Pay Period 13 post, Pre-Review Period begins
February 6, 2017
Effort statements available for certification in ECRT system
March 17, 2017
Effort certification due date; statements must be certified and approved
Find more: http://www.ospa.umn.edu/effort/
(FY 2017 Schedule for Effort Certification Cycles)
ECRT system navigation
• ECRT system displayed differently to certifiers (researchers,
PIs, etc) and approvers (effort coordinator).
• As an Effort Coordinator, you can:
– View effort data during the pre-review period.
– Once the statements are available for certification, view effort data
and approve statements certified by researchers and Pis.
• See Effort Manual for more detail on navigating ECRT:
http://www.ospa.umn.edu/documents/documents/EffortCertificationManu
al28Oct15.pdf
Sample ECRT view
How is effort determined?
How is effort determined?
• Sponsored project documents:
–
–
–
–
Notice of Award (NOA)
Notice of Grant Award (NOGA)
Proposal Routing Form
Approved sponsored project budget or budget
justification
• Effort may be expressed as a dollar amount, a
percentage of time, person days, or number of
summer months.
UMN Policy: effort requirements
• From UMN policy (https://policy.umn.edu/research/effortcertification)
– PIs must certify at least 1% effort during at least one effort cycle per
year to accurately reflect their leadership of the project.
• If no paid effort on grant, this 1% must be cost shared.
• This requirement does not apply to the following:
–
–
–
–
Equipment and instrumentation grants
Dissertation and training grants
Other awards intended as "student augmentation"
Limited purpose grants such as travel grants and conference support
Applying effort to projects
• Percentage of time on main payroll appointment:
– Salary base x Effort percentage outlined in budget/effort information
• 9-month employees additionally receiving summer salary
– 1 summer month of salary = 1/9 of salary base
• Spread calculated effort over related pay periods
– If 12 month appointment, may spread effort over all pay periods.
– If effort relates to 9 month appointment, only spread over the payroll dates of
the appointment (i.e. Fall/Spring payroll dates).
– Pay may be spread over other lengths of time, depending on budget/effort
information and appointment dates.
Tools in reviewing effort
• Current/future effort to be applied:
– Distribution Entry in HRMS
• Past effort on projects, use Reporting center
– Salary Distribution
– Employee MultiYear Payroll Detail
• Other tools:
– Department or accounting internal spreadsheet
processes may be used to track effort
How does ECRT calculate effort?
• ECRT calculates effort using a percentage of
pay method
Dollar amount paid on project
during effort period
÷
Total dollar amount paid on all funds
during effort period
ECRT effort calculation
Cost Share paid on
Project 00039022
÷
Total pay for
effort period
$424.28 / $24,043.50
= 1.76%
Purpose of effort – time, not dollars
Quick review:
Effort is time spent on certain professional activities
• ECRT’s calculation based on percentage of pay may equal
amount of time spent on sponsored activities for traditional,
12-month payroll appointments.
• For some types of payroll appointments, a recalculation
from the perspective of time, not pay, must be completed.
What complicates effort certification?
• 9 month appointments paid over 12 months
• Retroactive pay, paid out in an effort period
separate from when the effort occurred
• Changes in pay rate during effort period
• Employee holding multiple positions with different
rates of pay
Effort complications – 9 over 12
Example details for Effort Period 1:
Base salary rate = $100,000
Grant effort per project budget = 20%
Effort based on time: 20%
Total pay over effort period = $38,462
Amount charged to project = $7,692
Total pay over effort period = $50,000
Amount charged to project = $7,692
ECRT effort based on pay: 15%
Effort complications – Different rates of pay
Example details for Effort Period 1:
Graduate student held two jobs during effort period, both at 20 hours/week.
- Sponsored summer position paid @ $20/hour
- Non-sponsored fall position paid @ $25/hour
Summer job – sponsored
Fall job – non-sponsored
Worked 220 hours
Pay = $4,400
Worked 300 hours
Pay = $7,500
Effort based on time: 42% (220 sponsored hours / 520 total hours)
ECRT effort based on pay: $37% ($4,400 sponsored pay / $11,900 total pay)
ECRT and Effort Calculation differences
• Calculated effort and ECRT effort must be
equal or within a 1% (rounded) difference.
– Includes both direct pay on sponsored projects
and cost share
Calculated Effort
ECRT Effort
Allowed?
8.94%
8.94%
9%
10%
YES
8.94%
11%
RETRO OR MANUAL
STATEMENT NEEDED
YES
How to make changes to ECRT effort figures
• Retro may be needed:
– If effort per grant documents was not applied correctly
– To meet UMN 1% requirement for at least one effort
period
• Manual effort statement
– If complicated effort situations are recalculated based on
time, and it is not within 1% of ECRT-calculated effort
Manual Effort Statement
Keep an eye on sponsor restrictions
• NIH has salary cap limitations
– Calculation must be completed to determine how much salary can be
placed on project; remainder must be cost shared.
– Caps apply both to the PI and other individuals on the project
– Learn more at:
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/salcap_summary.htm
• NSF restricts summer salary to 2/9 of academic year salary
– Can be measured as 2 summer months per grant year or 2 summer
months per fiscal year.
– Learn more at:
https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/manuals/gpm05_131/gpm6.jsp
Best practices
• Monitor effort throughout the fiscal year; don’t wait
to review until Effort Certification deadlines.
• Gather and review grant documents/budget
information at the start of the grant; have payroll
distribution information ready when each grant year
begins.
• Meet regularly with PIs to discuss expected and
past effort.
Best practices
• Use consistent methods within your department or
college to calculate and approve effort.
• Review reports on a monthly basis to ensure effort
continues to be applied appropriately.
• Find a key co-worker or certified approver who has
a wide experience with effort certification; are they
willing to be a resource?
Resources
• ECRT website: https://ecrt.umn.edu/ecrt
– Left side of screen contains links to policy, job aids, training, etc.
• SPA Effort Reporting website: http://www.ospa.umn.edu/effort/
• Effort Certification manual:
http://www.ospa.umn.edu/documents/documents/EffortCertificationManu
al28Oct15.pdf
• Certified Approver continuing education and past SPA Symposiums
– Effort discussed at one to two sessions per year
Questions?
Erin Flathmann
Finance Professional 3 and CA, CLA Fiscal
[email protected]
5-4388
Don Hammer
Analyst, Sponsored Project Administration
[email protected]
4-8044