Time and Effort

• University of Massachusetts Guidance on Effort Reporting Policies
• Report Time
• Precision of Reporting and Terms
• Allowable and Unallowable Allocations

Effort Reporting

Effort reporting is the federally mandated process for documenting that the salary charged to a sponsored project is reasonable in relation to the effort expended on that project.

Throughout the year, the University charges salaries to sponsored projects and other accounts based on allocation instructions (i.e., the percentage of salary to be charged to one or more sponsored projects or other accounts based on committed effort) provided by academic department personnel following guidance from Principal Investigators (PIs) and others who oversee those sponsored projects.

Federal regulations and University policy require these salary charges to be monitored throughout the year. Any significant change in effort or workload must be reflected in the corresponding salary distribution.

Certification Requirements

Effort certification is completed annually in the fall for the previous academic year. You will receive an email notification when the certification period begins, including the deadline for completion.

All faculty and full-time benefited staff who receive any portion of their salary from a federal sponsored project or provide effort on a federal sponsored project must self-certify their effort. In some cases, a PI may also be required to certify the effort of staff working on or charged to the PI’s federal sponsored projects.

The University requires faculty and full-time benefited staff to certify their own federal sponsored effort and, when applicable, the effort of project staff. This approach reflects University best practices and federal requirements that salary charges be reasonable in relation to the effort expended.

If you have questions or concerns about effort reporting, please contact the assistant director of Financial Research Administration in the Office of Sponsored Research: Joseph_Squires@uml.edu.