Introduction
Federal agencies provide funding to EWU for a variety of research, scholarship and service activities. Appropriately certified effort reports provide auditable documentation to demonstrate that the funding agency received the level of effort described and expected by the proposal process, the award process and all subsequent communications with the funder during the period of funding.
Why is effort reporting required?
Since educational institutions employ a variety of staff who are not required to use hourly timesheets, the OGRD prepares a “Personnel Activity Report" or PAR to be used to document staff's time and effort worked on a federal agreement.
Who is subject to effort reporting?
All employees paid from or contributing compensated or uncompensated time to federal agreements are subject to effort reporting.
How is effort determined for the purpose of federal effort reporting?
Level of effort is based on the total salary for the month and will always equal 100%. It may represent more than one work activity (e.g. research, instruction, service) and more than one source of funding. Level of effort is not the same as full time equivalent (FTE).
How is effort reporting accomplished?
The OGRD prepares the “Personnel Activity Report” or PAR on federally funded projects and sends them out for signature. These reports are generated and issued one to two months after the date payroll was paid.
The reports must be:
- reviewed and signed by both the employee and the Project Director (PD)/Principal Investigator (PI) working on the project,
- the PI's report must also be reviewed and signed by the Department Chair or Dean
- and returned to the OGRD to be retained.
If the time actually spent on the project differs from the time paid from the project, the PI must contact Ruth Galm to determine whether a revision to the distribution of payroll needs to be made before returning the PAR to the OGRD.
