Town Hall Summary - November 2007

What is Effort Reporting?

• Effort reporting is a federal reporting requirement. Non-compliance with this requirement has resulted in audit disallowances and significant fines to several large research universities.
• UCOP has developed a web-based Effort Reporting System to support compliance with federal requirements and reduce our risk of audit findings.

UC Berkeley Effort Reporting System

• Effort reports will be available online, significantly streamlining the certification and monitoring process.
• ERS roles will closely mirror existing PAR roles: PIs, Other Certifiers (Lab managers), Department ERS Coordinator, Reviewers (grant administrators/fund managers), and Viewers (department managers)
• Effort reports will be distributed to the campus within 45 days of the end of the reporting period.
• Certification of effort reports must be completed within 30 days of distribution.
• Effort Reports must be certified by someone with first hand knowledge of the effort.
• PIs review and certify:
• PI’s own effort report
• Other effort reports for those charged to the PI’s federal projects who do not have first hand knowledge (e.g. GSRs, Post-Docs, etc)

Benefits

• ERS is available 24/7 - accessible from anywhere via the internet.
• Ability to drill down to supporting payroll data for all effort charged to federal projects.
• ERS system maintains historical information and an audit trail.
• The new process will replace the paper PARs and eliminate the printing, separating, sorting, distribution, and filing of paper PARs.

Next Steps

• November 2007
  • Town Hall meetings for administrators
  • Launch Phase I: Presentations at department faculty meetings
• December 2007
  • Phase I Certification complete
  • Presentations at department faculty meetings
• January 2008
  • Online training for administrators
  • Online briefing for PIs and Self-Certifiers
  • Town Hall meetings for administrators
  • Presentations at department faculty meetings
• February/March 2008
  • Begin campuswide ERS system implementation for effort through the period ending 12/31/07
  • Drop-in Q&A sessions in computer lab

For questions, contact:

Rose Katsus, EFA Compliance Manager, 643-6277

Cynthia Kane, Director, Extramural Funds Accounting, 642-1371