Certification for those who have no effort statement in ECRT

Certifiers who've left the UW

Certifying effort and...

•	Checking ALL the checkboxes
•	Cost sharing commitments
•	Sponsored projects that don't appear on the statement

Ignoring "extra effort" when certifying:

•	... if you devoted more effort than you were paid to devote
•	... if you devoted more than the sum of your paid and cost-shared effort
•	Extra effort is not required to be documented or tracked

Managing your workload:

•	How to know whose effort must be certified
•	How to know whose certifications you will process

PI's minimum commitment to a project

"Process Effort" screen:

•	A nonzero total in the Cost Transfer column
•	Deleting amounts in the Cost Transfer column
•	Dollar amounts due to rounding
•	Yellow highlighting

Report of Contributed Unpaid Effort/Activity on Sponsored Projects

Salary percentages cannot be greater than effort percentages

Salary reallocations reflected on the effort statement

Too many people on the PI's "Certify My Research Staff" list

TIP #1	Your ECRT "Department Summary" page does not tell you whose effort needs to be certified. It also doesn't tell you whose effort certifications you will process. To find out whose effort needs to be certified -- and who can do the certifying -- use the Certification Status Lookup Screens, custom built by RSP. This screen will also tell you whose certifications you will process. Be sure to search for both "Semiannual: Jan - Jun 2007 (Target Date = 1/30/08)" and "Quarterly: Jul - Sep 2007 (Target Date = 1/30/08)".
TIP #2	Q: Jane Smith was paid 40% from sponsored project X for January through June. She devoted 50% of her effort to that project for the same time period. How much effort should she certify for that project for the period? A: 40%. Explanation: The purpose of effort reporting is to assure the sponsor that (1) sufficient effort has been devoted to justify the salary charges, and (2) commitments have been met. The purpose is not to "create a record of how Jane spent her time." Jane should certify 40% on sponsored project X to indicate that "sufficient effort was devoted to justify the salary charges."
TIP #3	Q: If Jack Jones was paid 40% on a sponsored project, but had 10% cost sharing on that project, and devoted 50% of his effort to the project, how much effort should Jack certify for this project for the six-month effort period? A: 50%. Explanation: If Jack owed the sponsor 50% of his total effort, including 10% cost sharing and 40% paid effort, then yes, Yes, YES! Jack should certify that he met the sum of his paid and cost-shared commitments. It would also be good to have a note, in ECRT, that explains the difference between the "40% computed effort" and the "50% certified effort" -- because his "preprinted effort statement" (for Jan thru June 2007) will show only the 40% paid effort.
TIP #4	Q: Tom Smith is an academic staff member who is not listed in the "senior/key personnel" section of the proposal. Tom was paid 40% from Project X for Jan thru June, and devoted 50% of his time to the project. He had no cost sharing commitment on the project. Tom expects to do the same thing for July through December. Tom should certify 40% effort on this project. Why? A: Because "extra effort" is voluntary uncommitted cost sharing -- which is not required to be documented, tracked, or reported to the sponsor. University policy is that this kind of "extra effort" is, essentially, a contribution of your non-sponsored time. Because he is not listed in the senior/key personnel section of the proposal, Tom does not have a commitment to the sponsor. He does, however, have salary charges... and we want to provide assurance that sufficient effort was devoted to justify the salary charges.     Remember:     (1) Effort certification is to assure the sponsor that sufficient effort was devoted to justify the salary charges, and that commitments have been met.     (2) This is not the same thing as "certifying payroll." "Certifying payroll" would be looking at the payroll distribution and confirming that, yes, this is how I was paid. When you certify 40% effort on the project after working 50% (with no cost-sharing commitment), you are certifying that "I did, in fact, devote at least 40% of my effort to the project and therefore the salary charges are justified."
TIP #5	Q: In the proposal for Project X, Joe Badger (the PI) listed 10% effort for himself and requested no salary support. Joe got the grant. For January through June, Joe devoted 10% of his total UW effort to the project. How much effort should Joe certify for Project X for January through June? A: 10%. Explanation: Joe has a cost sharing commitment to the grant. Joe is obligated to meet this commitment. Joe should certify all effort that is devoted to satisfy a commitment. Here, Joe devoted 10% of his effort to the grant, and should therefore certify 10% even though he received no salary support from the sponsor.
TIP #6	Q: John's effort statement shows 16.84% effort on one project, and 83.16% non-sponsored effort. John certified 17% effort for the sponsored project, and 83% non-sponsored effort. On your "Process Effort" screen you see some dollar amounts in the "Cost Transfer" column. Does this mean you need to initiate a salary cost transfer? A: No. Any dollar amounts that are due to rounding should be ignored.
TIP #7	Recall this question from last week; the interesting part comes AFTER this: Q: Jane Smith was paid 40% from sponsored project X for January through June. She devoted 50% of her effort to that project for the same time period. Her overall effort commitment is 40% and she doesn't have a cost sharing commitment. How much effort should she certify for that project for the period? A: 40%. Because we don't certify "extra effort." Okay, no problem. Now: Q: What if Jane Smith's effort was only 30% in the previous performance period or plans to work only 30% in the next performance period? Wouldn't you want to certify at 50% and list a comment referring to the performance period that will be deficient in effort percentage? A: TIME OUT!!!! 1. To meet a commitment of 40% for a 12-month period, it's perfectly fine to devote 30% effort for six months and 50% effort for six months. 2. If you do this, it is not okay to charge salary at a constant 40% rate. 3. (Assuming there is no cost sharing:) It's okay to charge 40% and devote 30% for Two Months as long as you then charge 40% and devote 50% for The Next Two Months. This is an acceptable "short-term fluctuation." 4. When the salary percentage is greater than the effort percentage for more than two months, it's not cool. So, for the question above: Would it be okay to certify 50% for the current six-month period, and then certify 30% for the next six-month period? Yes -- but the salary charges would have to be consistent with this, because it is not okay to charge 40% salary for the next six months while only 30% effort is being devoted.
TIP #8	Q: Jack Swift, a PI, looks at his "Certify My Research Staff" list. He contacts you and says that there are people on the list who shouldn't be there, because during January through June they didn't have effort on his projects. What's going on here? A: The "Certify My Research Staff" list isn't specific to an effort period. If a person did not have effort on Jack's projects from January through June but they're on the list, it's because they had (or currently have) effort on his projects at some other time. Unfortunately, a quirk with our current version of ECRT is that you can't limit the list to the people you need to pay attention to "right now." Jack should just ignore the people who don't have effort on his projects for January through June (or July through September, in the case of classified employees).
TIP #9	Q: Jack Black is the PI on an active federal research project (not a clinical trial!). During January through June he wasn't paid from this project, and his statement shows a zero in the Cost-Sharing column. He certified 0% effort for this project for the period. What should you, the effort coordinator, do when processing the certification? A: First, have a conversation with Jack Black. A PI has a commitment to a project, and should devote effort to fulfill that commitment, and should certify that he fulfilled it. If the proposal and award documents do not indicate a specific commitment for Jack, the UW recognizes a 1% commitment to the project for Jack. He should devote at least 1% effort to the project during the period. He should then certify at least 1% effort for the period. You should click the "Do Not Process" button and send the effort statement back to Professor Black.
TIP #10	A certifier asks: Q: I got a reminder saying I need to certify, but I'm pretty sure I did this. What's up? A: If you checked some but not all of the checkboxes, the certification is not complete. ECRT requires a check mark in every checkbox on the effort statement, even if you are certifying zero percent effort for that line on the statement. Explanation: I think we are about to get lots of questions about this! The reminders went out on Friday afternoon. 3200 reminders, total. As of Sunday night, we have received 118 real questions about the reminders. We will follow up with each individual as quickly as we can, but it will take us a while to work through them all (and we'll get even more).     When someone says they think they're done certifying:     1. If the statement is still "not certified, not processed" -- go to the Transaction History at the bottom of the statement. Here you will see whether they certified every line on the statement. They may have missed one or more lines.     2. They may not have completed the certification for some of their grad students, postdocs, or classified staff. To determine this, view their Certify My Research Staff list. A "red X" indicates someone whose statement still needs attention.
TIP #11	A certifier asks: Q: I need to certify effort on a project that is not listed on my statement. How do I do this? A: Write a note in the Notes field. Identify the project number, and indicate the effort percentage for the period. Include this amount in the number that you enter on the "All Non-Sponsored Effort" line.     Example: "My non-sponsored effort line includes 5% voluntary committed cost sharing to 144-PQ71 -- a project where I'm a key person but not the PI."
TIP #12	Regarding "salary allocations" for academic staff who were paid 100% on sponsored projects from January through June: Q: I know that some of these were "fast-tracked" and it looks like they are now showing up in ECRT. Can this be true? A: Yes. Many, if not most, of them will now be reflected on the effort statements. They won't only if (a) they haven't been processed yet or (b) the effort statement has already been certified and processed. When the latter is true, new salary transactions are not reflected on the certified, processed statement.
TIP #13	Q: Some of my certifiers have left the UW. What do I do? A: Please see Page 69 of the Effort Coordinator's Guide for the steps to follow in this situation. If you don't have your Guide handy, check the PDF version.
TIP #14	Q: I see the "Report of Contributed Unpaid Effort/Activity on Sponsored Projects" on the RSP Web site. When should I submit this? A: Another name for this form might be "Effort Certification Form for Those Who Have No Effort Statement in ECRT." This is for people who devote committed effort to UW projects, but they have no UW Payroll. As in, they don't get a UW paycheck. Unpaid emeritus professors fall into this category, as do a few others. Most people don't.     Don't confuse this with "The form you send to RSP to report voluntary committed cost sharing."
TIP #15	Q: When I process an effort statement, some of the projects are highlighted in yellow. What does this mean? A: For now, ignore the yellow highlighting. This is related to commitments. But because we're not yet loading REAL commitment info, the yellow highlighting serves no useful purpose. It will become important as we start to load real commitment info. At that time, we'll explain what this is supposed to mean.
TIP #16	Q: On the Process Effort screen, the "Cost Transfer" total is $0.01 and the "Process" button won't let me click it. Can I do something to fix this? A: Yes. Change any of the Cost Transfer amounts by one cent to make the total equal to zero. Then, the "Process" button will become active.
TIP #17	Q: I see some amounts in the Cost Transfer column but I know I don't need to do a cost transfer. Should I delete the numbers in the Cost Transfer column? A: No, you don't need to. Those numbers are intended to help you know how much to transfer IF you need to do a transfer, but otherwise they don't affect anything. They will not show up on any kind of report or anything. And they don't automatically feed into the payroll system.