When faculty in Duke Department of Medicine receive funding from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, they are required to certify effort through a system called effort certification.
Effort is the percentage of time a person dedicates to an activity, which is quantified by actual time and payroll distribution.
Federal regulations require the University to report and certify the spending and activities of federally funded projects at the institution.
The Department of Medicine, for instance, has an estimated 1190 records pending for certification in every two-month period. Roughly 430 are auto-certified. The remaining 760 must be verified by one of the Department’s three official certifiers.
For FY17, the department achieved 100 percent effort certification requirements set by the School of Medicine. Seven hundred and sixty-two manual certifications and 428 auto certifications were verified on time.
“DOM has accomplished full certification by the deadline for four consecutive years and we hope the positive trend continues,” said Cathy Wood, vice chair for administration.
Managing Effort and its Role in University Spending
Effort certification for the Department of Medicine is managed by Effort Certification manager Dreama Cullipher, and her team. They are in charge of compliance management for funded projects across the Department of Medicine.
Quarterly and annual Effort throughout the fiscal year (July 1-June 30) is recorded on an online-based data management system called Effort Certification Reporting Technology (ECRT). The ECRT only contains the following information: project IDs, Title, WBSE (Work Breakdown Structure Elements) and the general ledger (how the effort expense was charged) account, Effort weighted average, and expenses that relate to the effort expended.
On the Duke Financial Services web page, faculty and staff can access registration information for Effort educational courses, an ECRT step-by-step user guide, the Effort reporting policies and procedures, and general information.
Cullipher is always available if they have any questions about Effort.
“Effort is difficult. Not everyone is sitting there with a stopwatch and timing themselves every time they work on their project,” said Cullipher, who is ready to take faculty or staff calls. “You just have to look at the overall reasons behind the process.”
Effort Certification is two categories: sponsored and non-sponsored.
Sponsored projects are funded by contributors and supporters outside the institution. Compared to non-sponsored projects, which are operated through divisional funds or general operating expenses, sponsored projects have more risks. Depending on the sponsor’s expectations, sometimes specific reporting mechanisms are required to ensure the personnel’s activities mirror the sponsored and federal guidelines.
Involved staff and faculty are expected to update the Effort team on their activity.
Cullipher said managing the Effort certification system “takes a team.” Working closely with the Principal Investigators, Grants and Contracts administrators and managers are responsible for financial project management and serve as a liaison for the Effort team with the faculty. Division Administrators oversee the divisional operational codes and Total Professional Effort (TPE) management while closely cooperating with the Effort team.
“It’s a matter of collaborating and working together,” said Cullipher. “We want to ensure the sponsor, the effort is correct, and the effort level is true and applicable to the project. We want to maintain compliance.”
While Effort certification is an efficient system, finding discrepancies in reporting isn’t impossible. Discrepancies are defined as (but are not limited to) the following: not meeting the sponsor’s expectations for the project, misinformation in project documentation, or the absence of reports from faculty and staff. To certify the Effort, audits are also required.
“If you’re truly not working on it, don’t report more than what you’re doing because if there was ever an audit, the auditors are going to come and talk to faculty, staff, and others to investigate your claims, schedules, clinics, and more to see if everything seems reasonable,” said Cullipher.
Cullipher advises faculty and staff to frequently check their Effort Card on ECRT. If needed, the effort team can assist faculty and staff with any effort reporting concerns.
According to Cullipher, the budget is pertinent to managing the grant but it should not drive the amount of effort expended on the project. Instead, the effort and time spent should always be recorded and expensed, regardless of the budget. If the budget cannot hold the effort expense then it will need to be cost shared, which mean a non-sponsored source will support the expense.
“There’s always a margin of error, obviously,” she said. “If you can come back to it and say exactly what you did and it’s reasonable, you’re okay. If you’re putting information on there because that’s what the budget says, then we have other issues we need to talk about.”
Upcoming Deadlines
The ECRT FY17 calendar’s next deadline is Dec. 1 for uncertified FY17 effort.