Effort reporting definitions
Effort is the amount of time spent on any activity expressed as a percentage of total institutional activities for which an individual is compensated by the university.
Please note that under federal regulations, effort for salaried employees (those who have exempt status) is not calculated based on a 40-hour work week, but rather effort is based on the employee’s total hours actually spent on work within the scope of his or her employment. For example, if an individual averages 60 hours per week during the reporting period and spends an average of 15 hours on a sponsored project, that represents 25% effort. The other 45 hours, allocated to other institutional activities, represents 75% effort. Effort will always equal 100%.
Committed effort is the amount of effort proposed in a proposal or other project application that is accepted by a sponsor, regardless of whether salary is requested in support of the effort.
Cost sharing is the commitment of institutional resources contained in the proposal/application and resulting award, which is quantifiable and must be accounted for and reported to the sponsor. This policy only refers to effort of employees and does not cover every aspect of cost share (i.e., third party or non-payroll expenses).
Institutional base salary is the annual compensation paid by the University of Kansas for an employee's appointment, whether that individual's time is spent on research, instruction, administration or service.
Effort certification is a means of confirming that all the effort committed to a project, whether paid on the sponsored award account or expended in support of a project as cost share, has been performed, charged and documented appropriately.
Individual effort statement is the mechanism used for regular staff (faculty included) to certify the effort for a given reporting period.
Project statement is the mechanism used for project PIs to certify the effort for a given reporting period for temporary UPS staff, as well as non-hourly students (GRA/GTA/GA).
Pre-review period is a four-week (28-day) period in which effort coordinators are required to review for accuracy all individual effort statement and project statements in their associated departments.
Recertification is the certifying of effort that was previously certified but changed due to the processing of a Retroactive Fund Adjustment (RFA) or budget transfer.
Responsible official is determined on a case-by-case basis by the department or unit in consultation with the principal investigator. The responsible official may be the PI, Co-PI, or other individual who is knowledgeable of the work performed by the individual.
Reporting period is the actual dates in which the employee worked; this is the period in which we are looking to confirm the employee’s effort.
Certifier is the individual that must review and certify their effort report/statement. For KU, this includes all faculty and staff who were appointed to a sponsored project during the reporting period.
Effort coordinator is the individual at the Shared Service Center or Research Center/Institute who reviewed the effort reports/statements for their unit(s) during pre-review, assists certifiers during certification period, and are responsible for ensuring certification compliance.
Primary effort coordinator is the effort coordinator that is listed on the effort report/statement, is the primary contact for certifiers, and received effort tasks for processing.