Harvard University

1
FAS FACULTY EFFORT REPORT ALLOCATION

• Harvard University
• OFFICE FOR SPONSORED RESEARCH
• Beth Mora, John Bain, Melba Abreu
• March 20, 2001

2
d e f i n i t i o n

• Effort reporting is part of the process the
  federal government uses to verify that direct
  salary charges made to sponsored projects are
  appropriate (including the salary provided by the
  University for effort that has been explicitly
  committed to, and expended on, sponsored
  projects by investigators)
• Commitments by the University to bear part of the
  costs of sponsored projects are labeled
  cost-sharing.

3
r e q u i r e m e n t s

• OMB Circular A-21 Cost Principles for
  Educational Institutions Section J.8
  Compensation for Personal Services
• Covers all amounts paid by institutions for the
  services of employees while they are conducting
  sponsored activities
• The first of these requirements is met by monthly
  salary certification for non faculty. This
  presentation deals with the second requirement.
• Section J.8.c(2)(e) After-the-fact Activity
• For professorial and professional staff, effort
  reports will be prepared each academic term, but
  no less frequently than every six months

4
t y p e s o f s u r v e y s

• Harvard has chosen to fulfill its obligation to
  report professional activities with two separate
  effort surveys - one for the summer months of
  June, July and August- one for the academic year
• These surveys generate reports for all Faculty
  with direct payroll charges to Sponsored awards
• Since academic year salaries of most FAS faculty
  members are not charged to Sponsored grants and
  contracts (faculty salary are paid from
  unrestricted or special receipt accounts), the
  salary certification system only provides FAS
  faculty with summer effort reports

5
f a s a c a d e m i c y e a r e f f o r t r e
p o r t

• The FAS Effort Report Allocation Schedule Form
  was created to meet the federal requirements that
  effort explicitly committed by faculty to
  sponsored projects during the academic year be
  recorded, and that cost-sharing be tracked.
• The HURIS system (OSRs grants database)
  generates a Form for each PI that includes all
  active sponsored awards bearing her/is name.
• The Form also includes all terminated awards
  against which transactions were posted in the
  General Ledger for the fiscal year

6
a c a d e m i c y e a r e f f o r t r e p o r
t f o r m

• The following data fields are displayed
• PI or Co-Investigator First and Last Name
• Academic Year
• Home Department
• COA segments Tub, Org, Fund
• Sponsors Name
• A21 Functional Attributes Code
• Project Title
• Earliest Start and End Dates

7
f i l l i n g o u t t h e f o r m

• The report requests data on of effort allocated
  to three broad categories
• I. Committed sponsored-project activities
• II. Departmental Administration
  
• III. All other Harvard Activities

8
f i l l i n g o u t t h e f o r m

• Under Section I. Sponsored Activities The
  faculty is requested to input the committed
  effort by award
• Committed effort is effort explicitly
  committed in the proposal budget or budget
  justification at the time of the award
• If the expended effort was less than the effort
  committed at the_time of the award, the PI should
  indicate the actually expended effort
• If the expended effort was greater than the
  effort that was committed at the time of the
  award the PI should indicate the committed at
  the time of the award. The additional volunteered
  effort is part of All Other Harvard Activities
• All awards are listed under the main account
  number. PIs whose work falls under a part of
  account number should indicate their percentage
  of effort next to the main account of the award

9
f i l l i n g o u t t h e f o r m
(continued)

• Under Sections II and III PIs should list the
  actual of effort spent on Departmental
  Administration and the spent on All Other
  Harvard Activities
• PIs should carefully read the reverse of the
  form Functional Definitions of Effort Types
  before filling in the percentages next to
  sections II and III
• The total of these 3 sections (section I, II, and
  III) must 100
• The PIs total commitment to Harvard is expressed
  as 100 of time spent during the academic year,
  regardless of the number of hours per week
• (e.g. 20 hours, or 35 hours, or 120 hours, etc)

10
p r o c e d u r e s

• Ordinarily the Office for Sponsored Research
  sends the Academic Year Effort Forms to FAS in
  the Fall, and they are due back within a month
• This year the forms will be sent early (August)
• The PI (in charge, with specific first hand
  knowledge of effort to the projects) is
  responsible for filling out and signing her/is
  report
• Summer effort is not to be included in the
  academic year form, since it is directly charged
  to the award it is certified in the Summer
  Report

11
p r o c e d u r e s (continued)

• Effort committed and devoted to sponsored
  projects by faculty on leave should be reported
  (please indicate in the remarks section the
  specific period on sabbatical)
• The percent of effort committed to all sponsored
  projects is converted to an Organized Research
  salary cost
• This salary expenditure is included in the direct
  cost of research base, over which the indirect
  cost rate for Organized Sponsored Research in
  the University area is spread (in other words the
  University must pay the indirect costs associated
  with its directly shared costs).