Effort Reporting
Uniform Guidance 2 CFR § 200.430 requires Institutions of Higher Education to track and report employee time and effort on sponsored projects.
NDSU meets this requirement through Related Policies and by completing Payroll Certification procedures via Novelution.
Effort Reporting Overview
Reason for Effort Certification
The University receives federal funding on sponsored project agreements and is required to comply with OMB Circular A-21 relocated to the Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR 200, which states that the University has a system in place for certifying salaries and wages associated with federally sponsored agreements. The Circular stipulates that the certification reports should reasonably reflect effort allocated to the activities for which the employee is compensated and that they are to be signed by the employee, principal investigator or responsible official(s) using suitable means of verification that the work was performed. At North Dakota State University, effort is certified on sponsored projects with the use of an after-the-fact report called a Payroll Certification form. These effort certification forms detail effort shown on sponsored projects, and are generated each semester for all NDSU awards by the Grant & Contract Accounting Office. It is required that Departmental Pre-Reviewer and Principal Investigator who receive a Payroll Certification review the record to confirm that all activities are reported correctly. The PI completing the certification attests that effort, as certified, reasonably represents the effort expended and paid during that time period. If the information shown on the Payroll Certification is incorrect, then the Pre-Reviewer or Principal Investigator will have an opportunity to amend the payroll charges.
Who Needs to Know About Effort Certification?
Employees who are compensated in whole or in part by sponsored projects or who are involved with the administration of sponsored agreements should be familiar with effort certification. This includes central and departmental sponsored project administrators, deans, chairs, principal investigators and other sponsored research personnel.
Explanation of University Compensated Effort
University compensated effort includes research, teaching, administration, clinical activity, service, and any other activity for which an individual receives compensation of salary, wages, supplementary salaries and overloads from the University. University compensated effort must be reasonable, allowable and allocable to the sponsored research in order to be properly charged and certified to the sponsored program. For example, it may be inappropriate to charge or certify costs to a sponsored agreement for time spent preparing a proposal for an unrelated or competing agreement because such costs would not be allocable to the sponsored agreement.
Frequency of Certification
NDSU has three effort reporting periods which follow the University’s semester and payroll period schedule:
August 16 – December 31
January 1 – May 15
May 16 – August 15
Between 31 and 45 days after each effort reporting period concludes, the NDSU Grant and Contract Office will generate Payroll Certification reports which are to be reviewed and completed within 30 days if there are no corrections required, and within 60 days if corrections are required.