Effort

Federal awards represent a majority of ECU’s sponsored project award activity. Salary expense is the largest direct cost component included in the budgets of sponsored projects. Paying salaries with federal funds requires an institution to have a system that provides records on how individuals participating in federally funded sponsored agreements spend their time.

Effort Reporting is the process of confirming that an employee’s payroll distribution reflects a reasonable estimate of the employee’s effort for all institutional activities. The ECU Effort Reporting System (ERS) compiles this data and fulfills the reporting requirements for federal funding regulated by the OMB’s Uniform Guidance.

CFR 200.430(h)(8) requires that charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. Records must be supported by a system of internal control and reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non­Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities.

Federal government regulations require grantees, including universities, to track and certify the time and effort of employees, including faculty, staff, and students, who are:

• Paid from grant or contract funds, or
• Contribute their time and effort to grants and contracts at no charge to the sponsor.

Please contact us or the School of Medicine Business Office (for medical school personnel) for information on how to maintain records of time and effort. The university currently has an automated system that can be used by faculty and departmental administrators to accomplish this process.

Effort Reporting System (ERS)

Login to ERS: https://ers.ecu.edu/GenericERS/custom/index.jsp

Note: Access to ERS when not on an ECU campus requires VPN (see remoteaccess.ecu.edu for additional support).

COVID-19 Updates

See our FAQ on changes related to COVID-19.

Effort Training