The Effort Certification Reporting Technology (ECRT) System is a software tool the University uses to facilitate the effort certification process. Payroll transactions processed in the University’s Human Resources Management System (HRMS) system interface to ECRT on a nightly basis. ECRT then generates an effort statement for any researcher/certifier who is paid from, or contributed effort to (cost shared), a sponsored project and provides a method to electronically certify these statements.
An effort statement is also generated if an individual is identified in the Enterprise Financial System (EFS) as being a principal investigator (PI) on a project, whether or not the individual is actually paid from the project.
Individuals paid from sponsored funds must review and certify their effort in the ECRT tool after which the individual assigned as the effort coordinator for the department must review and approve the statement.
To obtain effort coordinator access, the individual assigned to this task must complete the official SPECTRUM Effort Certification course and submit an Access Request Form.
Why We Certify Effort
The purpose of effort reporting is to certify an individual’s overall effort during a specific period of time and is included as part of the management of a sponsored project. Faculty and staff who are paid on sponsored projects or on companion cost share accounts must certify the accuracy of this time (i.e., effort) according to the procedures established by the University in order to meet standards found in OMB Federal Regulations 2 CFR 200.403.
The certified statement must reasonably reflect all of the employee’s professional effort during the reporting period. All faculty and nonfaculty PIs must certify their own effort. Nonfaculty personnel, such as professional staff, senior fellows, and lab technicians, may certify their own effort or the PI or other responsible officials can certify the effort using suitable means of verification that the work was performed.
More Information About Using ECRT for Effort Reporting
We provide periodic in-person training on using the ECRT system. See Training & Education for links to the Effort Certification Manual as well as a number of job aids.