Effort Reporting System (ERS) Summary

What is Effort Reporting?

• Effort reporting is a federal requirement for certifying that the effort charged or cost-shared to each award has actually been completed. Non-compliance with this requirement has resulted in audit disallowances and significant fines to several large research universities.


• The University has developed a web-based Effort Reporting System to support compliance with federal requirements and reduce our risk of audit findings.

UC Berkeley Effort Reporting System

• Effort reports will be available online to streamline the certification and monitoring process.


• Who can certify the reports -- individuals with first hand knowledge of the effort:  
  
  
  • PI’s can certify their own effort and that of those working in their labs (e.g. GSRs, lab technicians, etc.)
  
  
  • Other certifiers may include lab supervisors or researchers who have first-hand knowledge of effort charged to federal projects
  
  
• Effort reports will be distributed to the campus within 45 days of the end of the reporting period.


• Certification of effort reports must be completed within 30 days of distribution.

Benefits

• ERS is available 24/7 - accessible from anywhere via the internet.


• Ability to drill down to supporting payroll data for all effort charged to federal projects.


• ERS system maintains historical information and an audit trail.


• The new process replaces PARS, providing a paperless method for processing and record retention.

For questions, contact:

Brad Fuchs, MCB ERS Coordinator ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Nancy Bucy, Manager Research Administration and Extramural Fund Accounting ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Your MCB Fund Administrator (http://mcb.berkeley.edu/downloads/directory_lists/faculty_pi_staff_assign.pdf)

More information available at:

ERS web site: http://extramuralfundsaccounting.berkeley.edu/ERS/index.htm
PI briefing: http://extramuralfundsaccounting.berkeley.edu/ERS/PI-ERSBriefing.pdf
Job aids: http://extramuralfundsaccounting.berkeley.edu/ERS/jobaids.htm

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is effort reporting and why is it necessary?

Effort reporting is the mandated method of certifying to granting agencies that the effort charged or cost shared to each award has actually been completed. Effort reporting is required by OMB Circular A-21 which requires certification of effort spent by all employees whose salaries are charged directly to federal and federal flow-through funds, as well as for reporting committed cost sharing. Effort reporting is intended to ensure that individuals confirm “after-the-fact” for effort expended on federally funded activities. The confirmation certifies that they have received compensation from federal fund sources and that they have expended effort on the federally funded project, at a minimum, in the same percentage they are paid. Effort reporting must be completed and certified on a regular basis in accordance with the terms stated in OMB Circular A-21. Failure to meet these requirements puts the University at risk for audit disallowances resulting in significant financial penalties.

Summary of rationale

Because the federal government mandates effort reporting, it is incumbent upon institutions that receive federal funding to maintain accurate and auditable systems and records to adequately document how individuals participating in federally funded sponsored agreements actually spend their time. For many years the University has relied on the Personnel Activity Report (PAR) to satisfy federal effort reporting requirements. The decision to implement a different system is a response to increased scrutiny by the federal government and its auditors in their review of effort reporting requirements for recipients of federal grants and contracts. Several recent audits of academic research institutions highlight the implications of inadequate effort reporting systems, e.g. audits at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Northwestern University resulted in findings of non-compliance, and multi-million dollar settlements for audit disallowances and fines. In order to reduce the risk to the University, several campuses supported a project to design, build, and deploy this new effort reporting system. Representatives from the campuses’ research community were consulted during the requirements definition and design phases to ensure a fully-automated, web-based system that is as user-friendly as possible for the faculty and department users. ERS has already been implemented at several campuses including UCSF, UCLA and UCSD. ERS provides effort reports, supporting detail, and online routing; making it easier to track certification status.

Highlights of the UC Berkeley Effort Reporting System

PIs review and certify:

• Their own effort report(s)


• Other effort reports for employees charged to the PI’s federal projects who do not have first-hand knowledge of their effort allocation (e.g. GSRs, lab technicians, etc.)

Other certifiers may include lab supervisors or researchers who have first-hand knowledge of effort charged to federal projects

Certification of effort reports must be completed within 30 days of distribution.

 

Effort Reporting System (ERS) Glossary

Committed Cost Sharing:
Mandatory or voluntary cost sharing that is pledged in the proposal budget, budget justification, or stated in award documents.

Cost Sharing:
The terms "cost sharing," "matching," and "in-kind" refer to that portion of the total project costs not borne by the sponsor.

Effort:
Work or the proportion of time spent on any professional activity and expressed as a percentage of total time. Total effort for an employee must equal 100% (+ or - 1 due to rounding). The appointment serves as the basis for an individual's total effort. In other words, for a 50% appointment, 100% effort is the 50% appointment. Likewise, for a 75% appointment, 100% effort is the 75% appointment.

Effort Report Coordinator (ERC):
Effort reporting administrators at the department level who facilitate the distribution and submission of Effort Reports and help others in the department understand the effort reporting system and effort reporting requirements.

Mandatory Cost Sharing:
Sponsor-driven, i.e., cost sharing that is required by the sponsor as a condition for proposal submission.

Notice of Award:
A document that provides information regarding the award's important terms and conditions. It should be referred to by PIs and departments to provide guidance in managing the project.

Office of Management and Budget Circular A-21, Cost Principles for Educational Institutions:
Section J.10 provides guidance for the required documentation for the distribution of salaries, wages, and fringe benefits recognizing the principles of after-the-fact effort certification. The document is available online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a021/a21_2004.html.

Sponsored Projects:
An externally funded activity that is governed by specific terms and conditions. Sponsored projects must be separately budgeted and accounted for subject to terms of the sponsoring organization. Sponsored projects may include grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements for research, training, and other public service activities.

Uncommitted Cost Sharing:
Voluntary cost sharing funds not pledged in the proposal and subsequently not stated on award documents. This type of cost sharing is above that which was agreed to as part of the award. This is commonly referred to as voluntary uncommitted cost sharing and should not be documented or reported.

Voluntary Committed Cost Sharing:
Cost sharing funds are not required by the sponsor as a condition for proposal submission, but are nevertheless committed by the investigator in the proposal or ORU sponsor document. This type of cost sharing must be reported in effort reports.