Payroll Certification

NDSU utilizes a form of effort certification called Payroll Certification. Payroll Certification is an after-the-fact attestation of payroll charges to an award. Payroll Certification records are prepared in the Novelution system. Payroll Certification records indicate charges for personnel time to an award during the prior payroll period. Payroll charges should reflect reasonable costs for effort given to a project during the payroll period.

There three periods for Payroll Certification are:

Fall Term: August 16 – December 31

• Payroll Certification for Fall periods will be initiated Between February 1^st and February 16^th.

Spring Term: January 1 – May 15

• Payroll Certification for Spring periods will be initiated Between June 16^th and July 1^st.

Summer Term: May 16 – August 15

• Payroll Certifications for Summer periods will be initiated between September 16^th and October 1^st.

Who Completes Payroll Certification

Payroll Certifications are completed in steps.

1. The first step is a Departmental Pre-Review completed by the departments’ assigned Business Coordinator or appropriate designee with access to payroll records for department that the award is housed in.
   1. Department Pre-Reviewers may add an Additional Reviewer, such as a Pre-Reviewer from another department or a Principal Investigator from another department.
2. The second step is the PI Certification completed by the award Principal Investigator.

Corrections to Payroll Certification

Actual expenditures should be monitored throughout the life cycle of each award and significant changes to effort (and therefore payroll charges) should be made as soon as they are known. If, at the end of a certification period, the payroll charged does not reflect the effort expended, then the Payroll Certification record should be changed to “Retro Submitted” status. This will trigger a change in the record. The user’s task will be completed in Novelution.

It is imperative that the user initiates a Payroll Retroactive Distribution Request if the above status is selected. This is necessary to initiate a revised Payroll Certification Record once the payroll charges are processed.

Retroactive Distribution Requests (Retro)

Special consideration must be given to the timeliness of salary corrections in relation to effort certification. Payroll Retros, accompanied by appropriate explanations, are strongly encouraged prior to the certification of effort. In the rare instance, should it be deemed necessary to process a retro to correct a period that has already been certified, the Department Pre-Reviewer and Principal Investigator must contact Grant and Contract Accounting Office. If it is determined allowable to process a salary correction after certification, a detailed justification must be included, and the entire correction must be approved and signed by Grant and Contract Accounting Office.

Instructions for Completion & Help Documents

Detailed instructions for Department Pre-Reviewers and Principal Investigators can be found by accessing these Payroll Certification Help Docs. These same documents are included in emails sent via the Novelution system to each user when they have a task to complete.