Electronic Effort Certification User Manual · Electronic Effort Certification (EEC) Page 8 v4.7 February 2020 . 5. Click on the Effort Certification hyperlink. 6. To take action

Electronic Effort Certification User Manual

Confidential Business Information This documentation is proprietary information of Ellucian and New Mexico State University (NMSU) and is not to be copied, reproduced, lent or disposed of, nor used for any purpose other than that for which it is specifically provided without the written permission of Ellucian or NMSU. Data Standards adapted from General Person Data Standards, Document Number GP001, by New Mexico State University’s Institutional Analysis Department. All rights reserved. The unauthorized possession, use, reproduction, distribution, display, or disclosure of this material or the information contained herein is prohibited. Ellucian, “Banner” and the Banner logo are trademarks of Ellucian. Third-party hardware and software product names and trademarks are owned by their respective third-party owners/providers, and Ellucian makes no claim to such names or trademarks. Use of this material is solely for the support of Ellucian Banner products and New Mexico State University.

http://www.nmsu.edu/

Table of Contents What is Effort Reporting? .............................................................................................................................................. 1

Effort Reporting Roles & Responsibilities .................................................................................................................... 2

NMSU EEC Business Rules .......................................................................................................................................... 4

Certification Timeline .................................................................................................................................................... 5

Process Flow .................................................................................................................................................................. 6

Logging on to Banner Self-Service ............................................................................................................................... 7

PI Portal Access ........................................................................................................................................................ 9

How to Locate Your Own EEC Report ....................................................................................................................... 10

How to Locate Other Individuals’ EEC Reports ......................................................................................................... 11

Search by ID ............................................................................................................................................................ 11

Advanced Search ..................................................................................................................................................... 12

Advanced Search Option A: ................................................................................................................................ 12

Advanced Search Option B: ................................................................................................................................ 13

Overview of the EEC Report ....................................................................................................................................... 15

How to Review/Certify an EEC Report ....................................................................................................................... 17

How to Verify Effort Percentages ............................................................................................................................... 21

Appendix A: Helpful Cognos Reports ......................................................................................................................... 25

Appendix B: Identifying Roles using Banner Forms ................................................................................................... 30

FRAGRNT .......................................................................................................................................................... 30

FTMFUND .......................................................................................................................................................... 31

Appendix C: Adding Comments ................................................................................................................................. 32

Appendix D: EEC Routing Queue ............................................................................................................................... 33

Glossary ....................................................................................................................................................................... 34

Buttons Glossary ......................................................................................................................................................... 36

This Page Intentionally Left Blank

Effort Certification (EEC)

February 2020 v4.7 Page 1

What is Effort Reporting?

Effort Reporting is a Federal compliance requirement. Federal Guidelines 2 CFR Part 200 §200.430 contains the

Federal regulatory requirements for certifying time contributed to sponsored projects. New Mexico State University

requires all individuals who receive Federal sponsored funding to comply with University policies and sponsoring

agency regulations regarding the proposing, charging, reporting, and certifying of effort for those awards.

University faculty and staff are required to certify effort in a timely manner for all sponsored awards commensurate

with the actual effort contributed to all activities they perform. At New Mexico State University, our practice is to

utilize an online Electronic Effort Certification (EEC) system to certify EEC reports. Certification occurs twice a

year to verify that salaries charged, or cost shared, to sponsored awards are reasonable and consistent in relation to

the actual work performed. Failure to meet Federal requirements could result in loss of funding, audit findings,

settlements, and damage to our institution’s reputation.

SPA strongly encourages departments to verify expenses frequently for both restricted and unrestricted funds to

identify any potential errors requiring Electronic Labor Redistributions. This will ensure that the labor percentages

on the EEC reports are accurate and will result in timely certification. SPA also discourages individuals with an

active role in the EEC process to share logins or delegate the certification role on their behalf. All effort reports are

subject to audit examination and require that only individuals with direct knowledge certify effort.

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&ty=HTML&h=L&n=2y1.1.2.2.1&r=PART#se2.1.200_1430



http://spa.nmsu.edu/

http://spa.nmsu.edu/elr_training/

http://spa.nmsu.edu/

Electronic Effort Certification (EEC)

Page 2 v4.7 February 2020

Effort Reporting Roles & Responsibilities Reviewer: This required role is held by the fund’s Research Administrators, Principal/Primary Investigators (PIs)

and/or Department Heads. Reviewers are assigned using the New Fund Number Request Form.

Action Required: All Reviewers listed on an EEC report are required to verify data on the employee’s EEC report

before completing the Review Action. Reviewers should work with appropriate personnel to verify all data is correct

and make any necessary changes prior to the Certification Period.

Review Period –

o (Spring: August 1 - August 31)

o (Fall: February 1 - February 28)

• Email Notifications - Reviewers will be notified via email the 1st day of the Review Period and an email

notification will be sent every Tuesday thereafter and every day during the last week of the Review Period until

the Review process has been completed.

NOTE: Delinquent notices will follow every business day after the Review Period deadline until the Review process

has been completed. Notices will include the Reviewer’s supervisor, department head, and/or the dean of the

college.

Certifier: This required role is held by any employee who charges a percentage of their time to sponsored grants

and/or contracts and is required to complete an effort report according to the NMSU Business Rules (page 4).

Certifiers are automatically determined within the Banner system through their payroll funding source(s).

Action Required: Certifiers are required to verify the data on their own EEC report before completing the Certify

Action for themselves.

• Certification Period –

o (Spring: September 1 - September 30)

o (Fall: March 1 –March 31)

• Email Notifications - Certifiers will be notified via email the 1st day of the Certification Period and an email

notification will be sent every Tuesday thereafter and every day during the last week of the Certification Period

until the Certification process has been completed.

NOTE: Delinquent notices will follow every business day after the Certification Period deadline until the

Certification process has been completed. Notices will include the Certifier’s supervisor, department head, and/or

the dean of the college.

• The assigned Financial Manager of a fund is listed as an Alternate Certifier on the EEC Routing Queue. • The employee should certify their own EEC report unless SPA contacts the Alternate Certifier to take

certification action.



NOTE: Refer to Appendix B for instructions on identifying Reviewers and Financial Managers using Banner forms.



NMSU EEC Business Rules The following business rules are followed in the Electronic Effort Certification process. Effort is only certified for: • Employees that are paid on grants and/or contracts.

• Regular payroll based on the following earn codes:

o REG – Regular Staff Earnings o RGA – Regular Academic Earnings o RGG – Graduate Student Earnings o RGO – Temporary Staff – Other o RGT – Temporary Staff Earnings o RSF – Regular Student Flat Rate o ASR – Adjustment – Special Rate o DFA – Deferred Amount o SAB – Sabbatical ½ Year Full Pay o SAP – Sabbatical Full YR 60% Pay

• Salaried Employees based on the following employee classes:

o A1 – Faculty FT Reg – Academic o A2 – Faculty PT Reg – Academic o A3 – Faculty FT Temp – Academic o A4 – Faculty PT Temp – Academic o AD – Faculty FT Reg – Deferred Pay o B1 – Faculty Reg FT – Annual o B2 – Faculty Reg PT – Annual o B3 – Faculty FT Temp – Annual o B4 – Faculty PT Temp – Annual o B5 – Faculty FT Federal – Annual o C1 – Faculty FT – Other o C2 – Faculty PT – Other o E1 – Staff FT Reg – Exempt o E2 – Staff PT Reg – Exempt o E5 – Staff FT Federal – Exempt o SG – Graduate Assistant (RA/TA)

• PSL Employees will not certify effort but will enter time sheets in the Web Time system. • Percentage of effort charged to each fund for an employee must be verified.

o Variances of 5% or more must be corrected. o Once effort has been certified, the payroll records will be locked and Electronic Labor Redistributions

cannot be processed unless approved by SPA.

• Individuals that meet the Effort Certification criteria will need to certify their effort. • “On the Fly” queue members cannot be added to the EEC Routing queue.



Certification Timeline The Effort Certification process occurs twice a year and covers 6 months of effort. It is comprised of two major periods, the Review Period and the Certification Period, that last about a month long each.

Effort Reporting Periods (naming convention):

• Spring: SPR20XX = certification for effort performed January 1 - June 30 • Fall: FALL20XX = certification for effort performed July 1 - December 31

o EEC Review Periods: Spring effort review: August 1 - August 31 Fall effort review: February 1 - February 28

o EEC Certification Periods:

Spring effort certification: September 1 - September 30 Fall effort certification: March 1 - March 31



Process Flow

NMSU – Electronic Effort Certification Process:

Sponsored Projects Accounting

College/VP/CC and Principal Investigators Reviewers Employee

Start

A

Run Extract Process to Create

Effort Reports

Review Period Email Notification

Sent

Effort Reports Reveiwed

Corrections Needed?

Approve Request Labor Changes

No Yes

A

Certification Email

Notification Sent

No Yes

Effort Reports Reviewed

Corrections Needed?

Certify

A

Request Labor Changes

End

Review or Certification?

B

Certification

Review

C

C

B

D

Review Certified Effort Reports

D

All Certified?

Yes

Reminder Email Sent

C

No



Logging on to Banner Self-Service Banner Self-Service provides access to the Electronic Effort Certification system. If you have access to the Research tab, skip to the PI Portal Access section on page 9. 1. Type https://my.nmsu.edu in the address bar of your web browser and press Enter.

a. Supported browsers include Chrome, FireFox and Safari (for Mac users).

2. Enter User Name and Password then click the LOGIN button.

3. On the my.nmsu.edu home webpage, click on the Employee tab. 4. Under Banner Self Service, click on the Employee hyperlink.

3

4

https://my.nmsu.edu/



5. Click on the Effort Certification hyperlink.

6. To take action on your EEC report, click the Certify My Effort tab.

NOTE: If you need to Review or Certify an EEC report for another individual, click the Review Or Certify Reports tab in the EEC system.

If the Review Or Certify Reports tab is missing and does not appear to the right of your Certify My Effort tab, send a request to SPA for “Web Tailor Access”. The link will appear when access Web Tailor Access is granted.

5



PI Portal Access Directions for individuals that have access to the Research Tab 1. Type https://my.nmsu.edu in the address bar of your web browser and press Enter.

a. Supported browsers include Chrome, FireFox and Safari (for Mac users).

2. Enter User Name and Password then click the LOGIN button.

3. On the my.nmsu.edu home webpage, click on the Research Tab.

4. Under the Finance section click the Effort Certification hyperlink.

5. The EEC System reflects the Certify My Effort section and the user’s EEC report.

NOTE: If you need to Review or Certify an EEC report for another individual, you will need to click the Review Or Certify Reports tab in the EEC system.

If the Review Or Certify Reports tab is missing and does not appear to the right of your Certify My Effort tab, send a request to SPA for “Web Tailor Access”. The link will appear when access is granted.

https://my.nmsu.edu/



How to Locate Your Own EEC Report Remember: The employee should certify their own EEC report unless SPA contacts the Alternate Certifier to take certification action. • Launch the Electronic Effort Certification system.

o Click Here for more information on Logging on to the EEC system

• Select Certify My Effort. If you have an EEC report, it will appear here automatically. NOTE: EEC reports for other employees will not be found here.

• If you do not see your EEC report, contact SPA. NOTE: Depending on your role and payroll allocations, you may/may not see data displayed. See the NMSU Business Rules on page 4 for more information. • Select the correct EEC report based on the information within the Period Code and/or Report Period columns.

Period Code Report Period SPR20XX January 1 - June 30

FALL20XX July 1 - December 31

EXAMPLE:



How to Locate Other Individuals’ EEC Reports Locate individuals who have EEC reports that need to be reviewed or certified. The employee should certify their own EEC report unless SPA contacts the Alternate Certifier to take certification action. Launch the Electronic Effort Certification system.

o Click Here for more information on Logging on to the EEC system

Search by ID • Click the Review or Certify Reports tab. The Advanced Search options window will automatically display.

• Enter the individual’s Aggie ID into the Search by ID field then click the Go button.

• Select the correct EEC report based on the information within the Period Code and/or Period Description columns.



EXAMPLE:



Advanced Search Click the Review or Certify Reports tab. The Advanced Search options window will automatically display.

Advanced Search Option A:

• Enter the First Name or Last Name of the employee into the Name field.

• Click the Go button or hit the Enter Key on the keyboard to perform the search.

• Select the correct EEC report based on the information within the Period Code and/or Report Period columns.



EXAMPLE:



Advanced Search Option B:

• Select Chart of Account Code then enter N into the search field.

• Click on N, New Mexico State University to apply it to the field.

• Select Effort Period Code;

o For effort performed January - June, enter the effort period code as “SPRXXXX” (XXXX= year being evaluated)

o For effort performed July - December, enter the effort period code as “FALLXXXX” (XXXX= year being evaluated)



• Click on the desired Effort Period Code to apply it to the field.

• Click Go to perform the search and display results.



Overview of the EEC Report

*Names & ID numbers have been removed to protect the privacy of the individuals used in the creation of this user manual. *The search results will display a list of individuals with EEC reports.

• The COA (Chart of Account Code) column displays an “N”.

• The Period Code column displays either Spring (SPR) or Fall (FALL) and the year of the period the EEC

report belongs to.

• The Period Description column displays the month range and the year of the period the EEC report belongs to.

• The Name column displays the first name and last name of the individual the EEC report belongs to.

• The ID column displays the Aggie ID of the individual the EEC report belongs to.

• Start Date and End Date columns display Certification Period dates.

• The Status column displays the status of the record.

o Awaiting Refresh/Unlocked – This state is active after an Electronic Labor Redistribution (ELR) has been

completed but the EEC report has not been refreshed (nor has it been reviewed or certified). Contact SPA

for information.

o Under Review/Unlocked – This state is active when a report is awaiting review.

o Awaiting Certification/ Unlocked – This state is active when a report is awaiting certification from the

employee.

o Completed/Locked – This state is active after the individual has certified the EEC report. No changes to

payroll allocation for the effort period can be made without SPA approval.

• The Unlocked/Locked columns display the state the EEC report is in.



• Click a line of info to highlight it then click the Open button to view the EEC report.

• The numbers on the window above correspond to the descriptions in the following table.

# Item Description

1 Tabs The tabs at the top of the Effort Reporting workspace allow you to access different types of information including; Effort report (main workspace shown above), Pay Period Summary, Comments and Routing Queue.

2 Main Workspace This is the main workspace window. A summary of the report period allocations between Sponsored and Non-Sponsored funding and the various funds charged can be viewed.

3 Right Sidebar Contains an overview showing the EEC report status, important dates, pay dates, and a funding chart.

4 Buttons Context-specific buttons can appear below the main workspace window if applicable. Only the Review and Certify buttons should be used.

5 Scroll Bars If more information is available than can be displayed in the workspace window; horizontal and/or vertical scroll bars are available.

6 Close Button The close button closes the current EEC report and returns the user to the previous page.

7 Sign Out The sign out button is used to log out of the system. Failure to sign out properly may result in all EEC reports being locked from other users.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7 3



How to Review/Certify an EEC Report The employee should certify their own EEC report unless SPA contacts the Alternate Certifier to take certification action. Effort percentages are determined by taking the six months of payroll for a particular Effort Reporting period (Spring or Fall) and averaging this payroll by fund. The system will take into account Electronic Labor Redistributions prior to and during the Electronic Effort Certification process. The Reviewer will need to work with their Principal/Primary Investigators (PIs) and/or Financial Managers (FMs) to determine if the reported percentages are correct. 1. Examine all EEC report information for accuracy. Percentage variances of 5% or greater must be corrected.

2. Click on the Pay Period Summary link in the left navigation pane to view the allocations by pay period.

1 1



3. Click on the Pay Period link to view additional details about the pay period allocations including; Sequence Number, Position and Suffix, Effective Date, Earning Code, Shift, COA, Index, Fund, Organization, Account, Program, Activity, Location and Percent details.

a. Use the Close button to close this window.

NOTE: In accordance with Federal Guidelines 2 CFR Part 200 §200.430, only percentages are reported on effort reports. Cognos report HR-LD-287B Labor Expense Detail shows how dollar amounts are allocated. Refer to Appendix A for further details on this report. NOTE: Comments are not required for the effort certification process. Appendix C contains instructions for adding comments if necessary. 4. Click the Effort Report link in the left navigation pane to return to the Effort Report main page.




NMSU implementation team opted to not utilize the “Add New Funding” and “Request Changes” buttons as there was no value added. PLEASE DO NOT USE. Refer to the below instructions to correct.

5. The Add New Funding button is not used at NMSU. If this button is clicked accidentally, click the Cancel button to close it. DO NOT ADD NEW FUNDING INFORMATION TO THE EFFORT REPORT.

Contact SPA immediately if you have added information in this manner. Remember, all information is subject to audit.

6. The Request Changes button is not used by NMSU. If clicked it opens an e-mail message with the email

subject line populated and prevents further changes from being made to the EEC report. 7. The EEC record will become available again if the requestor releases the record with the Clear Changes button

(this button will appear after the Request Changes button has been selected even if the email is not sent).

8. If the Clear Changes button is clicked, the following message will be displayed; click Yes.

9. A confirmation pop-up will let you know if your actions were successful:

10. Once the information on the EEC report has been verified, click the available button to complete the Review or Certify Action pending. The name of this button will vary depending on your role. a. Review – available to Reviewers b. Certify – available to Certifiers

-OR- Remember: The employee should certify their own EEC report unless SPA contacts the Alternate Certifier to take certification action. NOTE: Certifiers will receive a pop-up certification statement. Read the entire statement then click the I Agree button if applicable.



NOTE: Comments are not required for the effort certification process. Appendix C contains instructions for adding comments if necessary. 11. After the Review/Certify button is clicked, it will disappear from the EEC record main page display and a

confirmation pop-up will be displayed:

12. The EEC report status will change upon successful completion of an action. See #Overview of the EEC Report for more information.

a. Under Review-Unlocked: The status of the EEC report will stay as “Under Review” and unlocked until the Reviewer has completed the Review Action.

b. Awaiting Certification – Unlocked: After the Review Action has been completed, the status of the EEC report will change to “Awaiting Certification” but the EEC report will remain unlocked.

c. Completed – Locked: After the Certify Action has been completed, the EEC report will display as “Completed” and will be locked to prevent changes.

13. If the report status does not change, review the Routing Queue for more information. #Appendix D: EEC Routing Queue

14. Click the X icon to return to the search results page.

15. Close the browser window to exit the EEC system or the click the icon next to your name to sign out of my.NMSU.edu.



How to Verify Effort Percentages 1. Before completing the Review/Certify Action on the EEC report, launch Cognos and sign in with your

Aggie ID and password. a. (to get access to Cognos: http://af.nmsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/01/ICT-Cognos-Portal-

Access.pdf)

2. In the search field enter HR-LD-287B, and then click the magnifying glass to initiate the search.

3. Click the HR-LD-287B Labor Expense Detail (Admin) hyperlink to open the prompt page for this report. If there are multiple reports, choose the (Admin) report with the most recent date.

4. All prompts on the prompt page are optional; the following are suggested but not required prompts.

http://af.nmsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/01/ICT-Cognos-Portal-Access.pdf

http://af.nmsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/01/ICT-Cognos-Portal-Access.pdf



5. Enter the first day of the Effort Reporting Period into the From: field

a. SPRING Effort Reporting Period: enter Jan 1

b. FALL Effort Reporting Period: enter July 1

6. Enter today’s date into the To: field or select the Latest date radio button (this will allow the system to include any ELRs that have occurred between the beginning of the effort reporting period and now).

7. Enter the Aggie ID of the employee on the EEC report then click the Insert button.

8. Select the Labor option and the Labor Expense Detail option.

9. Click the button.

10. When the information is retrieved, extract the data into an Excel spreadsheet.



11. Complete the following adjustments on the Excel spreadsheet: a. Filter the headings on the spreadsheet.

b. Sort the data by fund.

c. Delete rows from the ECLS column that do not appear on the NMSU Business Rules under Employee Class.

d. Delete rows from the Earnings column that do not appear on the NMSU Business Rules under Earn Code.

e. Delete pay periods from the Payno column that do not pertain to the Effort Reporting period in question. For

pay schedules see https://hr.nmsu.edu/payroll/pay-schedule/

EXAMPLE: SPRXXXX (Spring Effort Reporting Period) PICT Salary Current (SC) only keep Pay no 13-24 PICT Salary Lag (SL) only keep Pay no 14-24 and Pay no 1 from the following year

EXAMPLE: FALLXXXX (Fall Effort Reporting Period)

PICT Salary Current (SC) only keep Pay no 1-12 PICT Salary Lag (SL) only keep Pay no 2-13

12. Subtotal the Excel spreadsheet as follows:

13. Subtotals for each fund will populate on the Excel spreadsheet.

https://hr.nmsu.edu/payroll/pay-schedule/



14. Use the totals from each fund to determine what percentage of effort was contributed to each fund during the Effort Reporting period. Follow the color coded example below:

NOTE: To preserve the privacy of the individual, some columns and cells not necessary to this example have been hidden. 15. Review the effort percentages on the EEC report. Variances of 5% or more must be corrected.



Appendix A: Helpful Cognos Reports RA-SPA-EEC Certifiers Tracking Report (Admin): For status of Certifiers • Log into Cognos • Enter EEC Certifiers Tracking into the search field. Click the magnifying glass to start the search.

• Choose the report with the most recent date:

• Choose the Print Certifier Tracking Lists radio button. Enter the Effort Reporting Period into the search field.

Click the drop down next to options. Choose contains any of these keywords. Click the Search button.

• Highlight the Effort Reporting Period. (To run for your department only: click the Refresh Summary Orgs for

Effort Period Selected button. Select your department from the options. Example: Arts and Sciences).

• Click the Finish button to run your report.



RA-SPA-EEC Tracking Report (Admin): For status of Reviewers • Log into Cognos

• Enter EEC Tracking into the search field. Click the magnifying glass to start the search.

• Choose the report with the most recent date:

• Enter the Effort Reporting Period into the search field. Click the drop down next to options. Choose contains any of these keywords. Click the Search button.

• Highlight the current Effort Reporting Period. (To run for your department only: choose your department from the summary organizations listed. (Example: Arts and Sciences).

• Click the Finish button to run your report.



RA-SPA-EEC Effort Report (Admin) – A summary of effort for a specific individual for the selected Effort Certification Period; this report is similar to the EEC Report in the Electronic Effort Certification system.



RA-SPA-EEC Pay Period Summary Report (Admin) – Summary of effort by pay period for the selected individual and Effort Certification Period. This report is similar to the Pay Period Summary page in the Electronic Effort Certification system.



HR-LD-287B Labor Expense Detail (Admin) –Used to find effort percentages and provides detail of payroll labor expense and fringe expense.



Appendix B: Identifying Roles using Banner Forms The following Banner forms can be used to identify individuals with responsibility for restricted funds. For access to these reports, you will need appropriate Banner security access or may need to seek assistance from your Research Center for this information.

FRAGRNT Using Banner form FRAGRNT, you can find the name of an award’s Fiscal Monitor, EEC (Pre-) Reviewer, and/or EEC Administrator. 1. Open form FRAGRNT and enter the Grant number. Click the Go button.

2. Click on the Personnel tab. 3. The name, ID, and email will be displayed for each personnel indicator listed. 4. Use the scroll bar on the right to view other personnel assigned.

a. Indicator 002: Fiscal Monitor b. Indicator 003: EEC (Pre-)Reviewer - Department Head c. Indicator 004: EEC Administrator - College/VP/CC President Representative



FTMFUND Using Banner form FTMFUND, you can find the name of the Financial Manager for a grant. 1. Open form FTMFUND and use the F7 key to start a query, 2. Enter the Grant number in the Grant field or the Fund number in the Fund field. 3. Press the F8 key to populate data. 4. The Financial Manager is listed in the Financial Manager field.



Appendix C: Adding Comments Adding comments is not required when examining an individual’s EEC report. However, if deemed appropriate, comments can be added using the following steps. 1. Click the Comments tab.

2. Enter your comment then click the Add Comment button.

a. Add Comment button will be greyed out until you begin your comment.

3. Your comments will appear on the Comments page with a date/time stamp. Once entered, comments cannot be

deleted or edited.



Appendix D: EEC Routing Queue The EEC Routing Queue logs actions pending/completed for EEC reports. For more information, click here for Appendix B: Identifying Roles using Banner Forms. 1. Access the routing queue by clicking Routing Queue tab.

2. Each person having a role in the effort certification process is listed in the routing queue. Each listing will include:

• The person’s name • The status of the person’s action – Example: Pending or completed • Remember: The employee should certify their own EEC report unless SPA contacts the

Alternate Certifier to take certification action. NOTE: The Financial Managers of funds listed on EEC reports are assigned as Alternate Certifiers. An Alternate Certifier should have direct knowledge of the work that was performed and should verify that the EEC report reflects the correct effort percentages. By clicking this, you are certifying that the EEC report belonging to the employee has been examined by you (the Financial Manager) and all information has been verified to be accurate.

3. The e-mail link will open a blank email to the individual.

4. The Add Member button is not used by NMSU.



Glossary • Effort – Amount or percentage of time an individual has charged to a sponsored award for a specific

Certification Period. Individual effort is expressed as a percentage of the total amount of time spent on work-related activities (instruction, research, patient care, administration, etc.) for which NMSU compensates an individual.

• Effort Certification – A required electronic assertion using the Certify button in the Electronic Effort

Certification system. This assertion is the understanding that the salaries charged to sponsored projects as direct charges or cost sharing reasonably reflect the effort contributed and work performed during the particular Certification Period. o This main process includes the distribution and certification of effort reports to designated Certifiers. This

process will be set-up based on institution defined Certification Rules. Labor redistributions can happen during this process.

• Effort Certification Period – The month-long interval reserved to certify semi-annual effort of the individuals that work on sponsored projects. o Certification Period - (Spring: September 1 - September 30) (Fall: March 1 - March 31)

• Effort Report – Electronic or paper records that reflect the percentage of effort an individual has contributed to

each sponsored project worked on within a specific six-month Effort Reporting period.

• Effort Reporting – The mechanism used to provide assurance to Federal or other external sponsors that salaries charged or cost shared to sponsored awards are reasonable in relation to the work performed. o For more information see: Federal Guidelines 2 CFR Part 200 §200.430.

• Effort Review – A required electronic assertion using the Review button in the Electronic Effort Certification

system. This assertion is the understanding that the salaries charged to sponsored projects as direct charges or cost sharing reasonably reflect the effort contributed and work performed during the particular Review Period.

• Effort Review Period – The month-long interval reserved to review semi-annual effort of the individuals that

work on sponsored projects. o Review Period - (Spring: August 1 - August 31) (Fall: February 1 - February 28)

• Electronic Effort Certification system – Online system utilized by NMSU via my.nmsu.edu to process and

ultimately certify effort reports electronically.

• Electronic Labor Redistribution (ELR) – A process that changes applied labor expenses and may impact the effort percentages reflected on the EEC report. Future changes to an employee’s job labor distribution must be done via a Labor Personnel Action Form. Visit the Human Resource Services forms page at: https://hr.nmsu.edu/forms/ to obtain the form. o Labor Distribution pertains to funds (Indices/FOAPALs) that pay for an employee’s salary. If the original funds (Indices/FOAPALs) to which an employee’s pay were charged need to be changed after-the-fact, an Electronic Labor Redistribution Form using Banner Employee Self-Service will need to be processed within 90 days of the pay date. ELRs submitted more than 90 days from the pay date will only be approved if there is an external contractual reason why the transfer must be processed.


https://hr.nmsu.edu/forms/



• Direct Knowledge – Knowledge that comes from personal experience whereas indirect knowledge comes from someone else.

• Non-Sponsored Project – Research conducted departmentally without sponsor funding (also known as

“unrestricted funding”). • Percentage of Effort – Percentage of effort is determined by taking the 6 months of payroll and averaging

payroll by each fund. Regardless of employee status (Part-Time/Full-Time) all effort contributed and reflected on the EEC report equals 100%. This includes sponsored, non-sponsored, and gift funds.

• Sponsor – Someone who provides the funding for research.

• Sponsored Projects – Research funded by a sponsor (also known as “restricted funding”).



Buttons Glossary • Add Comment (pg. 21): Click this to open a text box that will be added to the Comments section of the EEC

report. For more information - Click here to see Appendix C: Adding Comments.

• Add Member (pg. 23): Do not click this because this button is NOT used at NMSU.

• Add New Funding (pg. 15): Do not click this because this button is NOT used at NMSU. NMSU implementation team opted to not utilize the “Add New Funding” and “Request Changes” buttons as there was no value added. PLEASE DO NOT USE. DO NOT ADD NEW FUNDING INFORMATION TO THE EFFORT REPORT.

Contact SPA immediately if you have added information in this manner. Remember, all information is subject to audit.

• Certify (pg. 16): Remember: The employee should certify their own EEC report unless SPA contacts the

Alternate Certifier to take certification action. Click this only if the EEC report reflects your individual information and you are ready to complete the Certify Action on your own EEC report. By clicking this button, you are certifying that you have verified your EEC report and it reflects the correct effort percentages, and all other information is accurate. o Completing the Certify Action on an EEC report is required.

NOTE: The Financial Managers of funds listed on EEC reports are assigned as Alternate Certifiers. An Alternate Certifier should have direct knowledge of the work that was performed and should verify that the EEC report reflects the correct effort percentages. By clicking this, you are certifying that the EEC report belonging to the employee has been examined by you (the Financial Manager) and all information has been verified to be accurate.

• Clear Changes (pg. 15): (If the button Request Changes has been clicked, the Clear Changes button will be

displayed immediately after and individuals in the routing queue will not be able to access the EEC report.) Click this button to allow individuals in the routing queue access to the EEC report. Clicking this button will not actually clear any changes in the same way that the Request Changes button does not actually create any changes (just an email).

• Request Changes (pg. 18): Do not click this because this button is NOT used at NMSU. NMSU

implementation team opted to not utilize the “Add New Funding” and “Request Changes” buttons as there was no value added. PLEASE DO NOT USE. Opens an email message that can be sent to the appropriate ELR initiator. This button does not populate any information besides the email subject line. Clicking this button will not actually create/request changes; only generate an email heading.

• Review (pg 16): Click this only if you are a Reviewer with direct knowledge of the work that was performed

and the EEC report reflects the correct effort percentages. By clicking this, you are signifying that the employee’s EEC report has been examined by you and all information has been verified to be accurate. o Completing the Review Action on an EEC report is required.

Documents

Electronic Effort Certification User Manual · Electronic Effort Certification (EEC) Page 8 v4.7 February 2020 . 5. Click on the Effort Certification hyperlink. 6. To take action