The Basics of the Effort Certification and Reporting Technology (ECRT) System

Purpose The purpose of this course is to familiarize faculty and their administrative support staff with the University’s effort reporting system, in order to comply with Federal regulations and UTPB policies and procedures that govern effort on sponsored projects.

Purpose Completion of this course is recommended for: Principal Investigators with active sponsored projects (manage “26” accounts) Department administrative support staff who provide support to PI’s on their 26 accounts (e.g., make grant appointments) Administrators and other members of the campus research community may also find it useful.

What is ECRT? Effort Certification and Reporting Technology (ECRT) is a web based compliance technology to help research institutions minimize their risk of financial penalties for failing to meet federal regulation regarding effort reporting. ECRT is implemented at each UT System component.

Goals of Presentation Explain the requirements for effort reporting and certification Provide guidance on effort reporting and certification using UTPB’s effort reporting tool, ECRT Walk through effort reporting scenarios

Why do we report Effort? Effort reporting requirements After-the-fact confirmation of personnel cost charged to sponsored agreements The system must be incorporated into the official records of the institutions Certification which encompasses all employee activities on an integrated basis (i.e. 100% effort) Certification by an individual with suitable means of verification that the work was performed Independent internal evaluations to ensure the system’s effectiveness and compliance OMB Circular A-21, Section J.10 (Compensation for Personal Services)

Effort Reporting at UTPB Before: PERAfter: ECRT Method of distributionPaper-basedWeb-based Frequency of distributionMonthlySemi-annually Review periodN/ASix Months Certification window30 days

Who certifies effort? Every Principal Investigator (PI), Co-PI, Project Director and faculty member certify their own effort. Some individuals may also have to certify the effort of all persons working on their sponsored program as they have the best firsthand knowledge. Note: Student worker and consultant effort is automatically processed, do not need to certify effort.

How is effort related to salaries? The salaries paid by UTPB to its employees working on Federal grants are generally charged or allocated to those grant on the basis of effort expended For example, if 33.3% of an employee’s total effort is expended on a Federal grant, then up to 33.3% of the employee’s salary is chargeable to that grant A certified effort report confirms that charges are reasonable in relation to the work performed

ECRT-Navigation ECRT login is located under ECRT Certification page listed at the following link:

ECRT-Navigation Login Screen Select UT Permian Basin from the drop down list. Click on ‘Select’

ECRT-Navigation Login Screen Your username will be the same as your assigned account The password will be the same password you use to access your .

ECRT-Navigation Login Screen Important information listing changes will be found here Check this area for useful links to reference guides and external links Click ‘Continue’ to enter ECRT

Certification – Certifier Actions Certifiers have a limited number of links on the Welcome screen when logged into ECRT. In general, they can certify their effort and the effort of research assistants that work for them. They can also see reports related to their projects. To start the effort certification process click on the link that states ‘Certify/View My Effort’.

Certify My Effort The certifier is brought to the Effort Certification screen. The screen must be reviewed by the certifier and then approved to move to the “certification statement”. The Sponsored activity appears in the top part of the card and the Non Sponsored activity appears in the bottom part of the card. There are subtotals for each award as well as the Sponsored and Non Sponsored areas.

Certify My Effort This is the bottom of the certification screen. The text box at the bottom allows certifiers to enter comments and notes.

Certify My Effort A certifier enters the percentage of effort in the CERTIFIED EFFORT column and checks the CERTIFY CHECKBOXES for both sponsored and non-sponsored accounts, based on best knowledge and suitable means to verify effort. Review and edit effort to ensure accuracy. The certifier has the options to ‘Save to Complete Later’, ‘Certify’, or ‘Do Nothing’ to the effort card. When the certifier is ready to certify effort and submit, click on the ‘Certify’ button below. Note: Enter whole numbers Total must equal 100%

Certify My Effort T he certifier is then presented with a certification message reminding them what they are certifying to. After a final review of the information on the page and the certification statement at the top, the certifier will click the “I Agree” button under the message. After this, the user is returned to the Home Page. The effort card is sent on to the Effort Coordinator for processing, along with any entered notes.

Certify My Support Staff – Group View Some people also have the responsibility of certifying the effort of non-certifier’s working on their awards. In this process, the certifier should select “Certify My Support Staff – Group View,” which will display one continuous effort card for all support staff associated with their sponsored projects.

Certify My Support Staff The effort card displayed for the certifier is formatted to look exactly like the effort card they saw under “Certify My Effort”. The procedure here is the same, they must enter certified percentages, and click the check boxes before pressing the submit button.

Certify My Support Staff To finish the certification, the certifier must press the “I Agree” button. Once that is completed, the effort card is passed to the Effort Coordinator for processing.

Processing Certifications - Discrepancies If the PI or support staff member certifies to a percentage that is different than the computed effort, ECRT will notify the Effort Coordinator (Graduate Studies & Research) of the discrepancies. In this example, the PI has certified different amounts in each column.

Processing Certifications Once a member of support staff has certified his effort, it is the responsibility of the Effort Coordinator (Graduate Studies & Research) to review what has been submitted. The review is necessary to deal with any significant discrepancies between the computed payroll distribution and the certified effort. In ECRT, the Effort Coordinator will review the process by selecting the Manage Effort Tasks link on the home page.

Processing Certifications This is a snapshot of what the effort coordinator will see when effort certification is routed for processing discrepancies.

Processing Certifications If an individual certifies to a percentage that is different than the computed percentages, ECRT calculates the dollars related to the changes and shows them to the right of the changed lines. In this example, $20,052 has been cost transferred between the two sponsored projects the staff member worked on. Typically, the individual would include notes in the bottom section if the effort lines were changed. It is the effort coordinator's (EC) responsibility to review the appropriateness of the cost transfers and effort that has been certified. After review, the EC clicks the “Process” button at bottom of the page. If necessary, the EC can add notes in the box at the bottom of the screen for future reference. After processing, the item is removed from the task list and the status is set to “completed.”

Processing Certifications If after reviewing the certification the EC believes there is an error, he/she will indicate the reason why there is a problem in the notes box and click the “Do Not Process” button at the bottom of the screen. This action causes an to automatically be sent from the EC to the certifier indicating that the certification needs further review and to contact the EC. It also changes the status of the certification from “Certified” back to “In Progress”. The certifier would then reopen the certification, review the EC’s notes, and take appropriate action as needed and resubmit for processing.

Effort Recertification If a correction needs to be made to a certified and processed card, the effort coordinator will select effort recertification, and enter the name of the researcher to be corrected.

Effort Recertification The EC would select the period desired and click the button at the bottom right to “Open for Recertification”. This will cause an to be sent to the researcher saying she needs to recertify her time for that period.

For more information.... Check out our Research & Grants website at: For assistance relating to ECRT & Grants contact Roxie Chavarria (Effort Coordinator) at (432)