Reporting for Faculty and Exempt (Monthly) Staff

Federal regulations require that the University document and certify how effort and salary are spent in support of federally funded projects. Duke University meets this requirement using Effort Certification Cards available via the online system called Effort Certification Reporting Technology (ECRT).

Two Types Of Effort Certifications

1. Institutional Base Salary (IBS)
   IBS is referred to as “University Salary” in School of Medicine Departments and “9 month salary” for Campus
   
   Note that IBS is used for the Faculty Effort Certification AND in the calculation of grant budgets:
   
   
   1. must be based ONLY on University effort,
   2. and should NOT include PDC, VA, and other outside effort.
2. Supplemental and Extraordinary Pay
   
   Supplemental and extraordinary pay is for assignments that fall outside the faculty member’s primary responsibilities. Examples include: honoraria, teaching, course development, manuscript reviews, etc. that are paid through the University. This does not include pay for outside consulting.

Summary: IBS and Supplemental Pay must be certified separately.

Two Types of Notifications for Effort Certification

The following notifications are sent out by ECRT to qualified faculty and staff members:

Quarterly Effort Review Notices (September, December, March)

•  If effort is different than the Card indicates, contact your Effort Coordinator immediately for corrections to the payroll.
•  Effort Cards are not required to be certified quarterly.

Annual Certification (June)

• If effort is different than the Card indicates, make corrections immediately.
• Certify the Card. ECRT will automatically forward your Effort Card(s) to your Effort Coordinator for review and processing.  Be accurate!

Summary: Quarterly and annually, your Effort Card(s) needs to be verified and corrected immediately.

Remember: You are certifying how you spent your time, not how you are paid (although these two elements are usually related).

What If Your Effort Card Is Not Correct?

If your Effort Card is NOT in line with your actual effort, you need to inform your Effort Coordinator (to process payroll corrections) and notify your pre-award office (Office of Research Administration (Medical Center), or Office of Research Support (campus)) to inform sponsor if required.

Your Certification

The annual certification should be made by the individual named on the report. A person with first hand knowledge of your activities can certify if you are not available. First hand knowledge means the person certifying MUST have verifiable details and supporting documentation.

Summary: Your certification conveys personal and institutional obligations and should not be taken lightly. Your certification attests that the effort reported is true and accurate.