Staff (Non-faculty) and Students

Definition of "Research Staff": This term is used to describe all employees, other than PIs, who provide paid or unpaid effort (in the form of cost sharing) for sponsored research and other scholarly activities such as instruction, training, and service. Researchers are involved in varying degrees with the development and execution of NSU’s sponsored projects. In some instances, researchers may be faculty members and will certify their own effort.

RESPONSIBILITIES (per NSU's Effort Reporting Policy) of Research Staff (non-faculty staff and students)
Research staff must follow NSU’s policies and procedures when reporting their effort on sponsored projects. These individuals are responsible for reviewing the quarterly effort certification card and verifying that all activities for which they are compensated are included and that the percentages of effort expended on each assigned activity account are correct. The research staff completes certification activities for each sponsored project and enters the actual percentages for the time he or she spent on all activities and saves the effort card. For non-faculty research staff or students, the Principal Investigator/Project Director will certify the effort card.  If the researcher is a faculty member, they enter the actual percentages for the time they spent on all activities and certify the effort card.

Effort Reporting Course for Research Staff (Non-Certifier): A course is available in Blackboard for all employees who work on sponsored projects. The goal of this course is to give users the tools needed to understand NSU's effort reporting policy, process and system and also, how to fulfill their responsibilities in the effort reporting system. The course consists of a presentation on effort reporting and NSU’s process, "how to" videos for using the ECRT system, and helpful handouts (including step-by-step guides on using the ECRT system). This course should be completed by all employees who work on sponsored projects, regardless if they are new or existing users. If you have not yet completed the course, please login to Blackboard.

Principal Investigators/Project Directors

Definition of "Principal Investigator": The Principal Investigator (PI), also referred to as Project Director, is the senior researcher, scientist, doctor, or faculty member who is designated as the lead scientific or technical director of the sponsored project. The PI for each sponsored project bears the ultimate responsibility for the administrative and programmatic aspects of that project. Therefore, the PI certifies his/her own effort and the effort of his/her non-faculty research staff.

Definition of "Research Scientist": A specialized NSU employee who is in charge of one or more research projects and is thus, treated as a PI/ or Certifier for certification purposes.

RESPONSIBILITIES (per NSU’s Effort Reporting Policy) of Principal Investigators
The PI (or Project Director) for each sponsored project bears the ultimate responsibility for the administrative and programmatic aspects of that project. The PI is responsible for identifying the correct sources of funding for each employee on his or her sponsored projects. The PI and the individual employees are the most qualified individuals to verify the effort on their sponsored projects and, therefore, PIs certify their own effort and the effort of their non-faculty research staff. The PI is responsible for ensuring that:

• Each researcher/research staff paid by a sponsored project devoted the indicated proportion of his or her time and effort to the project(s),
• The certification activities are appropriate for the sponsored project(s),
• The work occurred during the indicated time period,
• Any transfers of salaries to/from the project(s) reflect the actual effort performed by the employee on that project, and
• Any changes on effort commitments are communicated to the Office of Sponsored Programs before the change occurs.

Unless the researcher is a faculty member, the PI must certify a research staff’s effort on the sponsored projects of the PI.

Effort Reporting Course for Principal Investigators and Faculty Certifiers: A training course is available in Blackboard for all PI's and faculty certifiers who work on sponsored projects. The goal of this course is to give users the tools needed to understand NSU’s effort reporting policy, process and system and also, how to fulfill their responsibilities in the effort reporting system. The course consists of a presentation on effort reporting and NSU’s process, “how to” videos for using the ECRT system, and helpful handouts (including step-by-step guides on using the ECRT system). This course should be completed by all employees who work on sponsored projects, regardless if they are new or existing users. If you have not yet completed the course, please login to Blackboard.

Faculty (non-PI/PD)

Definition of "Research Staff": This term is used to describe all employees, other than PIs, who provide paid or unpaid effort (in the form of cost sharing) for sponsored research and other scholarly activities such as instruction, training, and service.  Researchers are involved in varying degrees with the development and execution of NSU’s sponsored projects.  In some instances, researchers may be faculty members and will certify their own effort.

RESPONSIBILITIES (per NSU’s Effort Reporting Policy) of Research Staff
Research staff must follow NSU’s policies and procedures when reporting their effort on sponsored projects. These individuals are responsible for reviewing the quarterly effort certification card and verifying that all activities for which they are compensated are included and that the percentages of effort expended on each assigned activity account are correct. The research staff completes certification activities for each sponsored project and enters the actual percentages for the time he or she spent on all activities and saves the effort card. If the researcher is a faculty member, they enter the actual percentages for the time they spent on all activities and certify the effort card.

Effort Reporting Course for Principal Investigators and Faculty Certifiers: A course is available in Blackboard for all PI's and faculty certifiers who work on sponsored projects. The goal of this course is to give users the tools needed to understand NSU’s effort reporting policy, process and system and also, how to fulfill their responsibilities in the effort reporting system. The course consists of a presentation on effort reporting and NSU’s process, “how to” videos for using the ECRT system, and helpful handouts (including step-by-step guides on using the ECRT system). This course should be completed by all employees who work on sponsored projects, regardless if they are new or existing users. If you have not yet completed the course, please login to Blackboard.

Deans

RESPONSIBILITIES (per NSU's Effort Reporting Policy) of Deans
The Dean, or his/her designee, is responsible for ensuring that PIs, research staff, and ECs comply with this policy. He or she reviews the quarterly effort cards of all employees within the college/center/department, verifying that they have properly certified their effort cards. The Dean, or designee, ensures that all employees charged or cost-shared to sponsored projects receive training and maintain up-to-date knowledge on the time and effort reporting and certification process. Once the Dean, or designee, has reviewed the effort cards, a record of his or her review is created in the ECRT system. He or she may take adverse personnel action against college/center staff who fail to comply with this policy.

For questions, concerns and training, please contact NSU’s Central Effort Administrator at ECRT@nova.edu.

Effort Coordinators

Definition of "Effort Coordinator (EC)": The individual who administers effort reporting and ECRT use in each college/center/department. One primary effort coordinator is designated for each college/center/department with the option of having secondary effort coordinators, if appropriate as determined by the Dean.

RESPONSIBILITIES (per NSU's Effort Reporting Policy) of Effort Coordinators (EC)
ECs are designated for each college/center. He/she will monitor, review, verify, and resolve discrepancies and ensure corrections are made to the effort reports for all personnel assigned to sponsored projects within his/her college/center/department. The EC should have knowledge of all sponsored and non-sponsored activities within the college/center. The EC may need to coordinate with other colleges/centers/departments when activities are outside of their college/center/department. The EC reviews the effort cards to:

• Verify that the research staff and PI’s have certified and the Dean or his/her designee has reviewed the effort of all personnel assigned to sponsored projects within the prescribed time frames,
• Verify that the percentages of effort on the non-sponsored activities (other university commitments) of personnel is reasonable,
• Ensure that any significant changes (greater than 5%) for any assigned activity on the effort card is reflected in the Banner financial system (An example of a significant change: if the payroll percentage for a sponsored project is 5% and PI certifies 7% effort, the percent change would be 40% [(7-5)/5*100],
• Ensure that effort cards are fully processed within the certification period.

The EC notifies the Central Effort Administrator whenever their respective college/center repeatedly fails to meet the requirements of this policy.

For questions, concerns and training, please contact NSU’s Central Effort Administrator at ECRT@nova.edu.

Help

Please contact NSU's Central Effort Administrator at ECRT@nova.edu or your college/center effort coordinator:

Effort Coordinators: