Effort Reporting Principles Fall, 2007

Overview Columbia’s Effort Reporting Initiative Basic effort reporting concepts Q&A

Effort Reporting at Columbia For FY06, the University expended >$600M (excluding indirect costs) provided by government and other funders to conduct research, public service, and training projects “Sponsored Projects” Approximately 60% supports salaries of faculty and staff engaged in those activities Through Effort Reporting, Columbia assures that the salaries charged are reasonable

The Effort Reporting Initiative – Key Elements “Faculty” certify their own effort Faculty = All Officers of Instruction and Officers of Research (other than postdocs) Administrators still play an important role (“effort coordinators”) PIs certify the effort of postdocs, graduate students, and staff funded by their grants Except for work study students and casuals New On-line, web-based effort reporting system – ECRT New Training Requirements

Terminology Effort Total University Effort Effort Reporting Proportion of time spent on any activity, expressed as a percentage of Total University Effort Total University Effort Total of all professional activity for which an individual is compensated by Columbia Effort Reporting Federally-mandated process Salary charged to sponsored projects is certified as reasonable in relation to the effort expended

Estimates are permitted “…it is recognized that, in an academic setting, teaching, research, and administration are often inextricably intermingled. A precise assessment of factors that contribute to costs is not always feasible, nor is it expected. Reliance, therefore, is placed on estimates in which a degree of tolerance is appropriate.” – OMB Circular A-21 (Federal cost principles)

What is Total University Effort? Total University Effort (TUE) Total of all professional activity for which an individual is compensated by Columbia Encompasses sponsored and non-sponsored activities (teaching, administrative duties, private practice) Not limited by time (daytime, evening, weekends) or place (on campus, at home, while traveling) No such thing as “voluntary effort” or “on my own time” for Columbia work Not calculated on a 40-hour week or a fixed number of hours The total time an individual devotes to Columbia activities constitutes 100% effort See Reference Guides: Definition of Total University Effort Classification of Common Columbia Activities Sponsored projects # Teaching/departmental research (including writing competitive grant proposals) # Clinical Activities (that is covered by University salary) # Departmental /School Administration # Other Columbia activities not included in the above categorie

Effort versus Payroll Effort distributions Payroll distributions Allocation of time to individual projects independent of salary Payroll distributions Allocation of salary Payroll distributions provide initial information regarding projects to which salary provisionally was charged

What is Institutional Base Salary? Annual compensation Columbia pays for an individual's appointment Includes base salary as well as most other compensation received from the University Includes the guaranteed portion of private practice compensation (“A1”) Does not include “incentive pay,” commonly known as “A2 Salary” For annual effort certification, only IBS is used to establish the salary distribution to various activities

What is Cost Sharing? Cost sharing Payroll cost sharing When the University shares a portion of the cost of a sponsored project Can be payroll, equipment costs, F&A, etc. Can be “Committed” or “Non-Committed” Payroll cost sharing When effort exceeds payroll charged to a particular project Includes salary over the NIH salary cap Funded primarily from departmental resources Federal regulations prohibit the funding of cost sharing from other federal projects See CU Policy on Cost Sharing

ECRT – Effort Certification and Reporting Technology

Questions?? Email us at effort-reporting@columbia.edu Visit the Effort Reporting Website at www.effortreporting.columbia.edu