1. Effort Reporting Principles Fall, 2007

2. Overview
Columbia’s Effort Reporting Initiative
Basic effort reporting concepts
Q&A

3. Effort Reporting at Columbia
For FY06, the University expended >$600M (excluding indirect costs) provided by government and other funders to conduct research, public service, and training projects
“Sponsored Projects”
Approximately 60% supports salaries of faculty and staff engaged in those activities
Through Effort Reporting, Columbia assures that the salaries charged are reasonable

4. The Effort Reporting Initiative – Key Elements
“Faculty” certify their own effort
Faculty = All Officers of Instruction and Officers of Research (other than postdocs)
Administrators still play an important role (“effort coordinators”)
PIs certify the effort of postdocs, graduate students, and staff funded by their grants
Except for work study students and casuals
New On-line, web-based effort reporting system – ECRT
New Training Requirements

5. Terminology Effort Total University Effort Effort Reporting
Proportion of time spent on any activity, expressed as a percentage of Total University Effort
Total University Effort
Total of all professional activity for which an individual is compensated by Columbia
Effort Reporting
Federally-mandated process
Salary charged to sponsored projects is certified as reasonable in relation to the effort expended

6. Estimates are permitted
“…it is recognized that, in an academic setting, teaching, research, and administration are often inextricably intermingled. A precise assessment of factors that contribute to costs is not always feasible, nor is it expected. Reliance, therefore, is placed on estimates in which a degree of tolerance is appropriate.”
– OMB Circular A-21
(Federal cost principles)

7. What is Total University Effort?
Total University Effort (TUE)
Total of all professional activity for which an individual is compensated by Columbia
Encompasses sponsored and non-sponsored activities (teaching, administrative duties, private practice)
Not limited by time (daytime, evening, weekends) or place (on campus, at home, while traveling)
No such thing as “voluntary effort” or “on my own time” for Columbia work
Not calculated on a 40-hour week or a fixed number of hours
The total time an individual devotes to Columbia activities constitutes 100% effort
See Reference Guides:
Definition of Total University Effort
Classification of Common Columbia Activities
Sponsored projects
# Teaching/departmental research (including writing competitive grant proposals)
# Clinical Activities (that is covered by University salary)
# Departmental /School Administration
# Other Columbia activities not included in the above categorie

8. Effort versus Payroll Effort distributions Payroll distributions
Allocation of time to individual projects independent of salary
Payroll distributions
Allocation of salary
Payroll distributions provide initial information regarding projects to which salary provisionally was charged

9. What is Institutional Base Salary?
Annual compensation Columbia pays for an individual's appointment
Includes base salary as well as most other compensation received from the University
Includes the guaranteed portion of private practice compensation (“A1”)
Does not include “incentive pay,” commonly known as “A2 Salary”
For annual effort certification, only IBS is used to establish the salary distribution to various activities

10. What is Cost Sharing? Cost sharing Payroll cost sharing
When the University shares a portion of the cost of a sponsored project
Can be payroll, equipment costs, F&A, etc.
Can be “Committed” or “Non-Committed”
Payroll cost sharing
When effort exceeds payroll charged to a particular project
Includes salary over the NIH salary cap
Funded primarily from departmental resources
Federal regulations prohibit the funding of cost sharing from other federal projects
See CU Policy on Cost Sharing

11. ECRT – Effort Certification and Reporting Technology

12. Questions?? Email us at effort-reporting@columbia.edu
Visit the Effort Reporting Website at