Time and Effort
What is Time and Effort Reporting?
Effort is defined as the amount of time spent on a particular activity. It includes the time spent working on a sponsored project in which salary charged to a Project ID or contributed (cost-shared effort) from a Department ID.
Individual effort is expressed as a percentage of the total amount of time spent on work-related activities (instruction, research, patient care, administration, etc.) for which the University compensates an individual.
Effort reporting is the mandated method of certifying to the granting agencies that the percentage of payroll charged or cost shared to each award reasonably reflects the actual work completed on the project by each individual.
Effort Reporting & ECC
The federal and state government requires an effort report when an individual is compensated by or has agreed to contribute time to a federally sponsored project. All faculty who serve as investigators on sponsored agreements are personally responsible to certify the amount of effort that their employees spent on sponsored activities.
This guide provides an overview of effort reporting, including an explanation of why such a process is necessary and the minimum requirements for the process:
The University fulfills the effort reporting requirement through the use of Huron's Employee Compliance (ECC) system. The system is a web-based tool that captures the payroll distribution for all project employees paid from sponsored projects. The system generates and distributes the report electronically for review and certification for any employee paid on a sponsored project which requires effort reporting. The University certification cycle is quarterly, based on the calendar year.
For the current Fiscal Year, the certification schedule will be:
| Bi-Annual | Months Covered in Reporting Period | Effort Report Distribution Date | Effort Report Certification Completion Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st half | October-March | 4/29 | 6/15 |
| 2nd half | April-September | 10/31 | 12/15 |
FAQ
You can email ECC Certification for assistance.
Cost sharing represents that portion of the total project costs of a sponsored agreement that are not borne by the sponsor of the project, but by the University or other non-federal third parties. Since faculty salaries at UNT Health are, in most part, paid for by an individual's academic department, cost sharing of effort (salary) represents a redirection of departmental resources from teaching or other departmental activities to support sponsored agreements. Certain federal agencies require that institution cost share salaries that are above a "salary cap," the amount of salary paid to an individual above whom an agency will not reimburse an institution. The agencies that impose a salary cap on awards to the university include, but are not limited to:
- The National Institutes of Health,
- the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,
- Mental Health Services Administration,
- the Department of Justice,
- the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas
Salary cap is considered mandatory cost-share. Other cost-sharing can be required by the sponsor or volunteered by a principal investigator (PI). In any case, any commitment of effort referenced in the project proposal or the award document must be honored, reported and captured in an effort reporting system.