Time & Effort

UNCW certifies effort through the Banner Effort System. If off campus, you will need to log in via VPN.

As an SHRA/EHRA employee on a sponsored program, you must certify your effort for all sponsored projects you worked on. The Certify My Effort page displays all the effort report periods that are available for you to certify or have already certified for yourself. You have to click "review or certify reports" to certify for any graduate students on your project, as the PI. Graduate students do not certify on their own behalf.

Because effort reports are processed after the end of a payroll period, the work details displayed during the certification process may have occurred months ago. You are required to review the information and confirm its accuracy by certifying all reports with a status of "awaiting certification."

Please see the below resources made available to help you complete outstanding effort reports:

• SSRS Report, "Salary Distribution by Individual," available to PIs and departmental RA staff
  • If you are an EHRA/SHRA employee, please reach out to SPARC and/or your departmental research administrator for assistance in accessing this report.
  • SSRS Report: How-To Guide Instructions
• How-To Guides
  • How to Access Effort Certification_UNCW.pdf 
  • How to Certify Effort_UNCW.pdf
  • Basics of Effort Reporting.docx
  • Calculating Effort.docx
  • 9M vs 12M effort.docx

The effort reporting period is the period of activity covered by the effort report being certified. There are two types of reports generated per period, ES (EHRA/SHRA) and GS (graduate student) reports. The corresponding dates for each period are as follows:

The university has three (3) effort reporting periods: fall, spring, and summer. This complies with the federal regulation 2 CFR 200.430(i) requirement that a system of internal controls be in place, which provide reasonable assurance that charges accurately reflect work performed.

All exempt SHRA, EHRA non faculty, faculty, and graduate students not completing a timesheet reflecting 40-hour work week worked are required to certify effort reports.

Effort Certifications reflect 100% of the employee’s paid effort; and includes instruction, scholarly, administrative, grant cost share, and that directly paid by grant or contract. Effort certification is required of all paid employees that have Sponsored Program awards but the certification is only applicable towards the sponsored effort section of the report, not the other non-sponsored effort section.

Employees requiring effort certification will be identified through the effort certification system. Certify My Effort percentages of effort are based on actual payroll expenditures posted in Banner HR and Finance. HR salary allocation and labor redistribution documents are approved based upon sponsored project award approved budget.

Effort Certificate reports will become available as close to the first day after the end of each period (January, May, and September). An email will be sent to individuals required to complete certification. It is preferred that all faculty, non-faculty EHRA and SHRA employees certify their own effort. When that it is not possible the Principal Investigator (PI), chair or dean will be required to certify for them.

All graduate student effort must be certified by the PI, chair or dean.

The university requires only a certifier; either the employee or someone with direct knowledge of the subject employee’s effort, for completing the certification process.

Effort reports are required to be certified within approximately 30 days after the effort reports are released for certification. Two weeks after the reports are released, weekly notices will be emailed out to the subject individual’s supervisor (i.e., PI, Chair or Dean) and Director of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance, as well as Associate Provost of Research and Innovation.If an effort report is still not certified at the end of the 30 days, the grant fund(s) applicable to that employee will be frozen by the university. At that time, any current HR actions will be moved to a state or trust fund designated by the Associate Provost of Research and Innovation.

To certify a report on your own behalf (as EHRA/SHRA employee on a grant and/or as PI):

1. Open the Effort Certification System by visiting the Banner Effort System
2. Login with your UNCW username and password (if off campus, ensure you are connnected via VPN)
3. On the Effort Certification dashboard, your individual reports should autopopulate

To certify a report on behalf of any employed graduate students:

1. Click Advanced Search in the top right-hand corner
2. Enter W into the Chart of Account Code box
3. Choose the relevant Effort Period Code - Example, for fall 2024, GS24FALL 
4. Select Go
5. Double click the row that that needs to be certified
6. Review and, if all looks good, click the Certify button at the bottom of the page
7. On the Certify Statement window click, "I agree," to certify the effort
   
   Note: The add funding feature is unavailable at this time

The Certify My Effort page displays all of your effort reports, both certified and those awaiting certification. You must certify any reports that are in the "awaiting certification" status.

Report Parts:

Effort Period Summary: Provides a monthly effort % breakdown.

Comments: Used to clarify any issues you have with the effort reported.

Routing Queue: Displays the roles assigned to individuals and holds the date stamps of when the record was certified, if applicable.

Column Headers:

COA: Chart of Accounts (W is the code for UNCW that should be used in any search)

Period Code/Period Description: This is the code and period description assigned for the Effort Period. 

E.g., ES24FALL represents EHRA/SHRA employees; 2024 is the fiscal year; FALL is the Effort Period.

Name: Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial

ID: This is your 850#

Effort Period: Can search by effort period by clicking the drop down menu and/or typing the period (e.g. ES24FALL, GS24FALL, etc.)

Start Date: This is first day effort report is available for certification

End Date: This is the last day effort reports are available for certification

Grant #: 6-digit grant fund number, usually starting with a 5

%: The % is the wild card character that can be used to find more search results.

SPARCEffortReporting@uncw.edu