ELECTRONIC EFFORT REPORTING GOES
LIVE!
As of July 17, 2015, Effort Reporting is now fully automated. Effort Reports for each semester will be available via
your WEBSIS Self-Service login.
Keywords:
Certifier– A certifier is one who certifies the effort repots. Administrative staff and Faulty working on a federally funded
project would certify their own effort.
Alternate Certifier– Someone other than the employee that is allowed to certify the employees effort.
Currently, the principal investigator has the ability to Certify the effort of each person working on his/her grant. The
principal investigator is responsible for alternately certifying undergraduate students, graduate students and other
Effort Reporting Overview
Effort Certification is Morgan State University’s process for reviewing, validating and certifying effort performed on a
sponsored project by its faculty and staff. The Effort Certification, now automated, Module of the Banner Financial System has
been implemented effective July 1, 2015 to accomplish this purpose.
Effort Reporting if a federally-mandated process by which the salary charged to a sponsored project is certified as being
reasonable in relation to the effort expended on that project. This process is a critical compliance issue, Signed Effort Reports are
considered legal documents in which one attests to the accuracy of the effort spent/expended on a sponsored project.
Sponsors use these reports to confirm that effort expended by an individual working the project supported what the sponsor paid.
Due to the sensitivity of effort reporting, effort reports should be certified by the employee or someone who has direct
knowledge of the work performed on the sponsored project. An employee may not always have direct knowledge of the funding
source associated with the sponsored project from which there are paid, therefore, the PI will act as an alternate certifier in place
of the employee.
MSU’s Effort Certification has two stages known as Periods:
The Certifying Period (30 days to certify &
The Post-Review Period ( reviewed by Effort Reporting Manager).
You will be working with effort reports mostly during the first period. As the PI, you will be an alternate certifier in order to
certify effort reports for employees who received salaries from your grants. If an employee was paid by multiple sponsored projects, one PI will be the alternate certifier while the other will be notified as a FYI only. You wil