Electronic Effort Certification User Manualhr.nmsu.edu/spa/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2014/01/Acknowledge… · Appendix E: How to Get “Stuck” Effort Reports “Unstuck”

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 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 ....................................................................................................................................... 14

How to Review/Certify an EEC Report ....................................................................................................................... 16

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

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

Appendix B: Identifying Roles using Banner Forms ................................................................................................... 29

FRAGRNT .......................................................................................................................................................... 29

FTMFUND .......................................................................................................................................................... 30

Appendix C: Adding Comments ................................................................................................................................. 31

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

Appendix E: How to Get “Stuck” Effort Reports “Unstuck” ...................................................................................... 34

Glossary ....................................................................................................................................................................... 36

Buttons Glossary.......................................................................................................................................................... 38

This Page Intentionally Left Blank

Effort Certification

July 2018 v4.5 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/


Page 2 v4.5 July 2018

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 1st –August 31st-deadline)

o (Fall: February 1st –February 28th-deadline)

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 1st –September 30th-deadline)

o (Fall: March 1st –March 31st-deadline)

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.

What it will look like in the

Electronic Effort Certification (EEC) system

What it will look like in Banner

Reviewer:

EEC Pre Review: FRAGRNT –Personnel Tab

EEC Administrator: FRAGRNT –Personnel Tab

Certifier:

Individual who’s effort is reflected on the EEC report Remember: The employee should certify their own EEC report unless

SPA contacts the Alternate Certifier to take certification action.

Alternate Certifier:

Financial Manager (Restricted): FTMFUND



NMSU 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 1st through June 30th

Fall: FALL20XX = certification for effort performed July 1st through December 31st

o EEC Review Periods:

Spring effort review: August 1st –August 31st deadline

Fall effort review: February 1st –February 28th deadline

o EEC Certification Periods:

Spring effort certification: September 1st –September 30th deadline

Fall effort certification: March 1st –March 31st deadline



Process Flow

NMSU – Electronic Effort Certification Process:

Sponsored Projects

Accounting

College/VP/CC and

Principal Investigators ReviewersEmployee

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 Internet Explorer web browser and press Enter.

a. Using a browser other than Internet Explorer may lead to errors or display issues.

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. Click on the Employee hyperlink.

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4

https://my.nmsu.edu/



5. Click on the Effort Certification and Labor Redistribution hyperlink.

6. To take action on EEC reports, click the Effort Certification tab.

NOTE: If you need to Review or Certify an EEC report for another individual, you will need to click the Review or

Certify Reports hyperlink in the EEC system:

The above link will appear between the Certify My Effort and the Proxy or Superuser hyperlinks on the Effort

Certification tab. If it is missing, send a request to SPA for “Web Tailor Access”. The link will appear when 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 Internet Explorer web browser and press Enter.

a. Using a browser other than Internet Explorer may lead to errors or display issues.

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 and Labor Redistribution hyperlink.

5. Click the Effort Certification tab.

NOTE: If you need to Review or Certify an EEC report for another individual, you will need to click the Review or

Certify Reports hyperlink in the EEC system:

The above link will appear between the Certify My Effort and the Proxy or Superuser hyperlinks on the Effort

Certification tab. If it is missing, 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.

1. Launch the Electronic Effort Certification system.

a. Click Here for more information on Logging on to the EEC system

2. 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.

3. 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.

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

Period Code Report Period

SPR20XX January 1st through June 30th

FALL20XX July 1st through December 31st

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.

a. Click Here for more information on Logging on to the EEC system

Search by ID 1. Click Review or Certify Reports from the left menu.

2. Enter the individual’s Aggie ID into the Search by ID field and click the arrow to the right or hit the Enter

Key on the keyboard to start the search.

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




EXAMPLE:

1

2



Advanced Search 1. Click Review or Certify Reports from the left menu.

2. Click the Advanced Search drop down arrow.

Advanced Search Option A:

Click the Select Attribute drop down menu.

Select Last Name and First Name from the list of drop down options then enter this information into the fields.

o Search criteria must include both names or at least the first three characters of each followed by an asterisk.

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:

1

2



Advanced Search Option B:

Click Advanced Search drop down arrow.

Click Select Attribute and select Chart of Account Code then enter N into the search field.

Click Select Attribute and select Effort Period Code; the selector Button can be used to view a list of

values available for selection.

For effort performed January – June, the effort period code is “SPRXXXX” (XXXX= year being evaluated)

For effort performed July – December, the effort period code is “FALLXXXX” (XXXX= year being evaluated)

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 Report Period column displays the month range and the year of the period the EEC report belongs to.

The Last Name and First Name columns display the last name and first 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).

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

o Awaiting Certification – 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.



Double-click on the name of the individual to view the EEC report.

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

# Item Description

1 Tabs (also

known as

Modules)

The main tab at the top of the Effort Reporting workspace allows you to access different

types of information. The Effort Certification tab allows you to access information about

EEC reports.

2 Links The left navigation pane contains a series of navigational links.

3 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.

4 Right Sidebar Contains an overview showing the EEC report status, dates for review and certification, a

funding chart and role of the user if logged in as a Proxy or Superuser.

5 Help Contains system help for the current open view.

6 Buttons Context-specific buttons can appear below the main workspace window if applicable.

7 Scroll Bars If more information is available than can be displayed in the workspace window;

horizontal and/or vertical scroll bars are available.

8 Expansion

Bar

The arrow on the expansion bar feature allows you to open or close the sidebar to view the

main workspace window in a larger view.

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

10 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.

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2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 10



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.

The Pay Period Summary shows the allocations made during each pay period of the reporting period.

3. Use the Scroll Bar to view all pay periods included in the Effort Reporting period.

1

2

3



4. Click on the Pay Period link to view additional details about the pay period allocations including Sequence,

Position, Effective Date, Earn Code, Shift, COA, Index, Fund, Organization, Account, Program, Activity,

Location and Percent details.

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.

5. Click the Effort Report link in the left navigation pane to return to the Effort Report main page.

4

5




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 below on how to correct if accidently selected.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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).

6 7



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

10. Following the completion of any necessary Electronic Labor Redistributions, the Report Status will be

“Awaiting Refresh – Unlocked”.

11. Click the Update Report button to update the EEC report and verify the new effort percentages listed.

NOTE: If the EEC report will not update, Click here for Appendix E: How to Get “Stuck” Effort Reports

“Unstuck”.

12. 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.

10

11

11

1



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.

Remember: The employee should certify their own EEC report unless SPA contacts the Alternate Certifier to take certification action.

13. After the Review/Certify button is clicked, it will disappear from the EEC record main page display.

14. The EEC report status will display as:

a. Under Review: The status of the EEC report will stay as Under Review 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 – 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.

15. Click Close to return to the search results page.

16. Click Sign Out to sign out of the EEC system.

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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 1st

b. FALL Effort Reporting Period: enter July 1st

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 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.



RA-SPA-EEC Tracking Report (Admin) – This report monitors the progress of the Effort Certification

process. The report lists individuals with EEC roles (First 4 columns), the current status of each EEC report

(Status), the date the last action was taken on the EEC report (Date Approved), and the locked/unlocked state

of the EEC report (State).



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 Next Block icon.

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

1 1 2

3

3

4



FTMFUND

Using Banner form FTMFUND, you can find the name of the Financial Manager for a grant.

1. Open form FTMFUND and click the Enter Query button.

2. Enter the Grant number in the Grant field or the Fund number in the Fund field.

3. Click the Execute Query button to populate data.

4. The Financial Manager is listed in the Financial Manager field.

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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 Comments in the left navigation pane.

2. Click the Add Comment button.

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3. Enter your comment in the space provided.

4. Once you start typing, the Save button will become active. Click Save to save your comments.

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

deleted or edited.

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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 link from the left navigation pane.

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

include:

a. The person’s name

b. The action required by the person – Example: Review or Certify

c. The status of the person’s action – Example: Pending, Reviewed

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

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

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Appendix E: How to Get “Stuck” Effort Reports “Unstuck”

Update report doesn’t work when all restricted funds have been moved to unrestricted funds: Verify that

the funds on the EEC report are still restricted. If the department has submitted ELRs that will move all

restricted funds to unrestricted funds, the EEC report will be stuck in the EEC system and error messages will

be displayed. Contact SPA immediately to inform them of this problem ([email protected]).

Request Changes/Clear Changes: If the EEC report is displaying the status Changes Submitted, changes

have been requested and the report is no longer accessible to individuals in the routing queue. It will be

accessible again once the record has been changed via an Electronic Labor Redistribution or the requester

releases the record with the Clear Changes button (this button displays after the Request Changes button has

been selected, even if the email is not sent).

Click here to see the entire section on Request/Clear Changes or see pages 18-19.

Changes Submitted Examples:

mailto:[email protected]



ELRs in progress: When Electronic Labor Redistributions (ELRs) are in process, an EEC report cannot be

reviewed or certified until the ELRs have been processed. If ELRs change effort percentages more than 5%, the

EEC report will require a new review and certification.

Individual not in the same Org: Verify that the EEC report relates to your organization (Org). Reviewers and

Certifiers will only have access to view EEC reports for individuals that pertain to the same Org.

If the effort report is associated with the Org and still cannot be accessed, review the funds. If all restricted

funds have been moved to unrestricted funds an EEC report will no longer be necessary and will not be

available to view.



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 1st – deadline September 30th) (Fall: March 1st – deadline March

31st)

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 1st – deadline August 31st) (Fall: February 1st – deadline February 28th)

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.

Update Report (pg. 16): Click this if the status of the effort report is Awaiting Refresh. This status is a result

of ELR changes to an effort report. Updating the report will update effort percentages (if changed) and will give

access back to the Review and Certify buttons.

Documents

Electronic Effort Certification User Manualhr.nmsu.edu/spa/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2014/01/Acknowledge… · Appendix E: How to Get “Stuck” Effort Reports “Unstuck”