Reassigned/Release Time and the Required Time & Effort Certification

Reassigned/Release Time Faculty can be reassigned/released from a percent of their time to work on a grant. The amount of time will be stated as a percent of their 4 class teaching load. Example 1: Reassigned for 1 course during Fall semester, the percent of reassigned time is 25% Although rare, exempt staff can be reassigned/released from a percent of their time to work on a grant.

Externally (Grant) Funded Reassigned/Release Time For a new or existing grant an e-mail is sent by the Office of the Comptroller Senior Analyst, Budget & HR Integration Specialist (Analyst) to the principal investigator (PI) of the grant to verify who is on reassigned time, for what period, and for what percent. When the confirmation e-mail is received from the PI, the email will be forwarded to the department Chair. Then the Analyst will set up the payroll cost distribution in SAP to charge the confirmed percent of the faculty salary and fringes to the grant. When the payroll runs the confirmed percent of the faculty salary and fringe expense will charge to the grant.

Externally (Grant) Funded Reassigned/Release Time example: If a faculty member has a 2 course release (reassigned time) to work on 2 grants for the Fall semester then 25% of the salary and fringe expense would post to the two different grants and the remaining 50% would post to the departmental cost center. Cost Center Description Grant % of Time 235090065 Physics/Geology RF Grant 4001234 25% 235090050 Physics/Geology NK Match 4001152 25% 235090001 Physics/Geology/Engineering 50%

NKU funded reassigned/release time (also called match or “in-kind”): E-mail is sent by the Analyst to the principal investigator (PI) of the grant to verify who is on reassigned time, for what period, and for what percent. When the confirmation e-mail is received from the PI, the email will be forwarded to the department Chair. Then the Analyst will set up the payroll cost distribution in SAP to charge the confirmed percent of the faculty salary and fringes to the grant. A budget entry will be completed by the Analyst to move the verified percent of budget from the departmental cost center payroll and fringe benefit line into the same budget lines in the grant match cost center. When the payroll runs the confirmed percent of the faculty salary and fringe expense will charge to the grant match cost center.

NKU funded reassigned/release time (also called match or “in-kind”) example: If a faculty member has a 2 course release (reassigned time) to work on 2 grants for the Fall semester then 25% of the salary and fringe expense would post to the two different grant matches and the remaining 50% would post to the departmental cost center. Cost Center Description Grant % of Time 235090065 Physics/Geology RF Grant 4001234 25% 235090050 Physics/Geology NK Match 4001152 25% 235090001 Physics/Geology/Engineering 50%

Reassigned/release time with a limited amount to be charged to the external grant: This is very rare and only allowed if it is a sponsor requirement/regulation. E-mail is sent to the principal investigator (PI) of the grant to verify who is on reassigned time, for what period, and for what percent. When the confirmation e-mail is received from the PI, the email will be forwarded to the department Chair. Then the Analyst will set up the cost distribution to charge the confirmed percent to the grant match. If the external grant will cover only a fixed dollar amount (i.e. $3,000) of reassigned time, then 25% of the faculty salary and fringe expense would charge to the match cost center for the grant.

Reassigned/release time with a limited amount to be charged to the external grant (cont.): A budget entry will be completed by the Analyst to move the verified percent less the amount of externally funded fixed dollar amount from the departmental cost center to the grant match cost center (only the amount of budget that is not covered by the external grant funding will be moved to the match). When the payroll runs the confirmed percent of the faculty salary and fringe expense will post to the grant match cost center. An amount retro will be completed each semester to move the fixed dollar amount of salary and/or fringe expense from the match cost center to the grant external cost center.

Reassigned/release time with a limited amount to be charged to the external grant example If a faculty member has 1 course reassigned time to work on a grant for the Fall semester with a set amount being charged to the external grant then 25% of the salary and fringe expense would post to the match cost center for the grant and the remaining 75% would post to the departmental cost center. Cost Center Description Grant % of Time 235090050 Physics/Geology NK Match 4001152 25% 235090001 Physics/Geology/Engineering 75% A one time retro will be completed to move the fixed dollar amount of payroll/fringes expense from the match cost center to the grant.

Time and Effort Certification Per Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Uniform Guidance, Northern Kentucky University is required to document effort spent on externally-sponsored awards. All employees who have salary and fringe expense charged to a grant are required to complete time and effort certification. Time can be certified on a monthly basis, but at a minimum must be certified at the end of each semester. Each semester. All time and effort certification must be completed within 30 days of the end of a grant. See the time and effort reporting policy and the time and effort certification FAQ’s on the Office of the Comptroller’s website. https://inside.nku.edu/comptroller/grants.html

Summary Reassigned/release time is confirmed and set up by the Analyst for all faculty that have reassigned/release time to work on a grant. If an employee is working on a grant but it is not reassigned/release time, then a PAR will need to be submitted. Time and Effort certification is required to be completed by all employees who have salary and fringe expense charged to a grant. Exempt employees will sign into their myNKU ESS to certify their time. Nonexempt employees will print their time input from SAP, sign it and turn into the PI (principal investigator). See Office of the Comptroller’s website for procedures for biweekly time certification. https://inside.nku.edu/content/dam/comptroller/docs/Grant_Biweekly_ESS_Time _Entry_Procedures05042015.PDF If there are any questions or concerns please contact the Office of the Comptroller Post Award Grants and Contracts Administration Office. TS 10/10/2018