1. Effort Certification and Reporting Technology (ECRT)
Faculty Presentation
Chris G. Green, CPA
Director, Sponsored Programs

2. Topics What is ECRT? Why ECRT? What has Changed from the old system?
The ECRT Process.
How to access ECRT.
How to certify you effort.
How to certify the effort of your Support Staff.

3. What is ECRT?
The ECRT (Effort Certification and Reporting Technology) system is a on-line effort certification system that supports the requirements of the federal government and The University of Texas System (UT System).
Pilot group was involved in the testing, was also used to bounce of ideas and provided recommendations on how to improve system as well as training.
OSP – Chris Green – SME
PMO – Ulises – Project Manager
IMIS – Sherlie Schickedanz – Tech Lead
Pilot Group:
Regina Pease – Barshop Institute
Diana Hottle - Physiology
Natalina Martinez - Pharmacology
Daniel Anzak - Psychiatry
Mary Rowe - Medicine

4. Why ECRT?
To help eliminate compliance risks and to bring system wide uniformity, The UT System has required that each health component use ECRT for its Effort Certification system. UT System Policy 163, Guidance on Effort Reporting and Certification requires Primary Individuals to certify Effort Certifications for all Supporting Individuals who have expended effort on his/her Sponsored Programs.
With ECRT, faculty self-certify their own effort. In addition, faculty must also certify all Support Staff that were funded from a sponsored project for which they are the principal investigator. The Certification process takes place twice each fiscal year and covers the performance periods of September-February and March-August.

5. What Has Changed? Effort Report is now called Effort Card in ECRT.
Departmental Effort Coordinator's can access ECRT at any time.
Exempt and Non-Exempt Support Staff will no longer self-certify.
Faculty/PI will certify for themselves online.
Faculty/PI will also certify for Support Staff paid on their sponsored projects.
After certification by the Faculty/PI, departmental Primary Effort Coordinator must process effort card. The effort card can be sent back to the Faculty/PI for updates/edits if necessary.
With ECRT, faculty self-certify their own effort. In addition, faculty must also certify all Support Staff that were funded from a sponsored project for which they are the principal investigator. The Certification process takes place twice each fiscal year and covers the performance periods of September-February and March-August.

6. The ECRT Process
Monthly payroll data is loaded into ECRT on the 1st day of each month.
Commitments are loaded into ECRT at the end of the Certification Period.
Review Period for Department Effort Coordinators (15 days). Department Effort Coordinators will verify payroll and make any necessary updates to the effort card.
Certification Period (30 days). Faculty will certify their effort and that of their Support Staff. In addition, the Primary Departmental Effort Coordinator will process all certified effort cards.
Fosters a simplified and standardized approach to effort reporting!
Standardized: UT Arlington, El Paso, San Antonio, Dallas, Pan America, Brownsville, Tyler, Permian Basin,
Health: UT Houston, UT Tyler, UT San Antonio
Simple for an end-user to quickly and easily complete the certification task!
The web-based ECRT system serves as the system to facilitate the university's effort reporting and certification process
3. Manages institutional compliance! (
Estimated Risk Avoidance: $750k – 7.5m, in potential federal fines for non-compliance in Effort Reporting (Estimates based on min to max fines levied when federal False Claims Act has been violated. Min fine is 5K per violation and max of 10k per violation); UTHSCSA has approx. 750 grants, dollar amount calculated assuming 20% - 100% violation count)

7. ECRT Access

8. ECRT Login Screens
To enter the ECRT system, please go to the Time and Effort Certification section of the OSP website ( Or The direct link is: tem.edu/ecrt/redirect Login.do?ecrtAction=init

9. ECRT Login Screens
Since the ECRT system is Shibboleth-enabled, the UT System login page will be displayed. Make sure to always use the drop down to select our institution.

10. ECRT Login Screens
Enter your UTHSCSA domain “username” and “password” to log in.

11. ECRT Welcome Screen
Click here to enter ECRT

12. ECRT Home Page

13. Certifying your Effort

14. Certifying your Effort
Start the effort certification process by clicking on the link “Certify/ View My Effort”.

15. Certifying your Effort
The effort card will be displayed.
The sponsored activity projects appears in the top part of the card and the non-sponsored activity projects appear in the bottom part of the card.
Faculty/PI reviews and if necessary makes updates to the “Certified Effort” column based the worked they performed during the performance period.

16. Certifying your Effort
Once the “Certified Effort” column has been reviewed/updated, you must click each individual Certification checkbox for each project line or click the “All” link followed by clicking the “Certify” button.
Please note that if you update the “Certified Effort” column, a whole number must be entered.
In addition, you will receive an error message if the total certified effort in the “Certified Effort” column is either greater then or less than 100%.

17. Certifying your Effort
The Certification Attestation Effort page will be displayed. Click the “I Agree” button under the attestation message.
Once the “I Agree” button is pushed, a pop-up message will be displayed letting you know you will be sent back to the Home page:
The effort card is sent on to the Departmental EC for processing.

18. Certifying Effort for your Support Staff

19. Certifying your Support Staff
All Faculty/PI’s also have the responsibility of certifying the effort of Support Staff that were paid from their sponsored projects.
To certify Support Staff select the “Certify My Support Staff – Group View” link.

20. Certifying your Support Staff
This page will display the Support Staff that have been paid on your projects.
This page displays 10 Support Staff effort cards at a time. If you have more than 10 Support Staff, they will be shown on additional pages.

21. Certifying your Support Staff
You are only able to certify for projects for which you are listed as the PI.
Projects that are shaded in the color blue must be certified by the PI of that project.
There is an indication at the bottom of each effort card that states whether multiple PI’s are associated with each Support Staff or whether you are the only PI that must certify.

22. Certifying your Support Staff
You can review project details by clicking the project link.

23. Certifying your Support Staff
Project Details will be displayed.

24. Certifying your Support Staff
Review and only if necessary update the “Certified Effort” column for each Support Staff you would like to certify and mark the “Certified Checkbox”. Only Support Staff whose checkboxes are marked will be certified.
IMPORTANT: If Project Details are reviewed after any Certification Checkboxes have been check, the checks will clear once the Support Staff page is reloaded. As such, please review all Project Details before clicking any “Certified Checkboxes”.
If you are ready to complete the certifications, click the “Certify All” button.

25. Certifying your Support Staff
Click the “OK” button.

26. Certifying your Support Staff
You will be return to the Certify Group View Page. If you have additional Support Staff to certify, they will be displayed. If all Support Staff have been certified, it will indicate that no certifications need to be completed.

27. Logout
You can now logout of the system.

28. Questions or Assistance?
OSP Effort Certification website:
Contact Valerie Hutchison in OSP at or via at