Certification of Effort

Find instructions on accessing and certifying electronic effort reports through MyDU.

The purpose of our Standard Operating Procedures are to document effort in direct support of sponsored programs or cost-share towards sponsored programs. Details can be found here.

• Definitions

  2 CFR § 200.29 Cost-sharing:  Cost sharing or matching means the portion of project costs not paid by Federal funds (unless otherwise authorized by Federal statute)

  Effort:  The percentage of time that is expended in fulfilling one’s obligations to the University.  The total must equal 100%, no matter how many hours are worked.

  Mandatory cost-sharing:  Costs that have been committed by the University towards the support of a program or project.  This may be a requirement of the sponsor to be eligible for the award, or it may be voluntarily proposed by the PI/University and accepted by the sponsor as a condition of the award.  

  OMB Uniform Guidance 2 CFR § 200:  The uniform administrative requirements, cost principles, and audit requirements for determining costs applicable to grants, contracts, and other agreements with educational institutions.

  Principal Investigator:  The DU employee (usually a faculty member) who is responsible for the proper conduct of research or other activity described in a proposal, grant, contract or other agreement. 

  Responsible Person/Official:   Person who has sufficient and verifiable knowledge (direct knowledge) of the work being performed, including an understanding of the individual’s regular duties and responsibilities.

  Sponsored Programs:  Programs or projects that are funded by an external entity through an award (grant, contract, etc.) to the University.  Sponsored programs include research, instruction, and other sponsored activities.

  Suitable Mean of Verification:  Written documentation that is sufficient to confirm or support the effort expended by an individual on a sponsored program.  Examples include (but not limited to):  teaching schedules, leave reports, calendars and correspondence, award work products, grant timesheets.  Oral verification from a faculty member to an administrator is not suitable means of verification

• Policy

  The Office of Management and Budget requires that each grant recipient document time expended towards a sponsored program. Recognizing the unique nature of universities and in the absence of timecards, OMB requires documentation and certification of percent of effort, totaling 100%, in support of one’s total commitment to the university. In order to meet this requirement for documentation and certification, each individual paid on a monthly basis and who has some commitment towards a sponsored program shall certify their effort based on the distribution of total compensation paid to the individual during that month.

  OMB Uniform Guidance requires that an individual’s effort must be certified by a responsible person with suitable means of verifying that the work was performed. Each faculty member, academic staff member, and PI is responsible for certifying his/her own effort. PIs can certify for graduate students, postdocs and non-PI classified staff in their absence. Exceptions are allowed for practical purposes if an individual other than the PI has more suitable means of verification of the work performed.

  The full policy can be found here.

• Procedures

  The University receives federal funding and is, therefore, subject to the requirements established by the Office of Management and Budget within Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.  Uniform Guidance requires that institutions maintain a system of internal controls that provide reasonable assurance that charges to sponsored projects are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated.  Uniform Guidance 2 CFR § 200.430 requires that each grant recipient document time expended towards a sponsored program.  Recognizing the unique nature of universities,

  Uniform Guidance 2 CFR § 200.430 requires documentation and certification of percent of effort, totaling 100%, in support of one’s total commitment toward sponsored programs.  To meet this requirement for documentation and certification, individuals paid monthly and who has some commitment towards a sponsored program, shall certify their effort based on the distribution of total compensation paid to the individual during that month.   

  Uniform Guidance 2 CFR § 200.430 requires that an individual’s effort must be certified by a responsible person with suitable means of verifying that the work was performed.  Each faculty member, academic staff member, and PI is responsible for certifying their own effort.  PI’s can certify for graduate students, postdocs, and non-PI classified staff in their departure from the University.

• Roles & Responsibilities

  Employee is responsible for submitting payroll documents that reflect the actual distribution of effort as accurately as possible, reviewing the effort distribution report, and certifying to its accuracy.  For more information surrounding the specific roles and responsibilities, please follow this link