Effort Reporting Roles

Each of these roles has its own system permissions/access. The ERS Security page provides information on how to add standard and customized roles and permissions in ERS for those situations where an ERS user does not automatically have all the access rights they need.

Your department ERS Security Administrator is able to assign/modify ERS roles. Contact them if you have questions.

ERS Coordinator
Coordinators are responsible for receiving the ERS e-mail notifications and communicating the information to the reviewers and/or certifiers in their department. While ERS coordination duties will vary by department, typical duties during each reporting cycle include:

Receiving e-mail notifications from ERS.
Notifying the appropriate persons to verify or correct the percentages of actual effort and cost sharing. This may be someone other than the certifier.
Notifying certifiers that reports are ready to certify. May also involve meeting with certifier (PI).
Monitoring report lists to ensure all reports are certified within 30 days.
Following up to make sure payroll adjustments are made in the Payroll Personnel System (PPS) as needed.
Following up to make sure the Cost Share Tracking system is updated where needed. Is the cost sharing on the reports reflective of the information entered in the Cost Share Tracking system? Look specifically for any "default" entries that were created by Extramural Funds Accounting on behalf of your department.
Monitoring report lists, watching for reports that are reopened or reissued. Recertification should be rare, as reports certified more than once indicate poor internal controls.
System Permissions for ERS Coordinators are usually assigned the Viewer or Payroll level.

Principal Investigator
Principal Investigators (PIs) are responsible for certifying their own effort reports. Effort must be certified for any employee who is paid from a federal or federal flow-through fund or who has a cost sharing commitment of effort on such a fund. The PI must ensure that the total percent for each sponsored project, including cost sharing, and the amount directly charged to the fund is correct.

PIs may also certify reports for student employees or staff who may not have sufficient knowledge of which project their work is benefiting. A PI should not certify for another faculty member, even if the faculty member worked on one or more of the PI’s projects. Effort reports must be certified by a person with first-hand knowledge of all the activities of the person for whom the certification is made. It is rare that one faculty member will be aware of all the activities of another faculty member, therefore it is generally inappropriate for one faculty member to certify for another.

Visit the FAQ page for instructions on what to do if a PI has inadvertently certified for another PI.

PIs have two automatic report lists in ERS that show them the reports for which they are responsible:

My Effort Reports shows their own reports only
My Projects shows the reports of all employees who were paid from or had cost sharing on any fund or account for which they are the PI.

PIs do not need any special system permissions in order to access, view, edit, and certify the reports on these lists.

ERS Security Administrator
ERS Security Administrator functions are performed by the Extramural Funds Accounting staff. In some cases, ERS Security Administrators may be assigned at the Dean’s Office level or at the department level. The ERS Security Administrator can:

access ERS System Administration Menu
not access effort reports
grant and revoke ERS access to department effort reports
view and change all users
add, view and change permissions and roles in their own organization and subordinate organizations

Extramural Funds Accounting

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