Effort Reporting Project ecrt Implementation October 2013

Project Mission Reduce administrative burden, streamline processes, reduce risk and ensure compliance with OMB circular A-21 and institutional effort reporting policies Deliver a technology-based solution to enable effort reporting processes; eliminate paper and shadow systems New system to support the two types of effort reporting: –Project-based: for any federally-sponsored project, Principal Investigators (PIs) must certify salary charges quarterly –Annual: faculty with any amount of salary paid from a federal project must certify 100% of their effort 2 Close collaboration between FAD/OSP (business), FSS (functional), HUIT (technical), and Huron (vendor)

Project Background 3 In 2010, effort reporting was designated as the highest priority for research administration systems The paper-based process is inefficient, risky, error-prone, and cumbersome to manage In 2011, the HERSCI (Harvard Effort Reporting and Salary Certification Initiative) Steering Committee was established to guide in the selection and implementation of an effort reporting system HERSCI issued an RFP, held 2 rounds of vendor demos, and selected Huron’s ecrt system to support the University’s effort reporting functions Received ITCRB funding and approval to move forward with implementation of Huron’s ecrt and a GMAS committed effort module

ecrt Features 4 ecrt launched in 2004 Web-based, online effort reporting In use at over 70 institutions Integrated with Harvard PIN security Includes Harvard HR, GMAS, and G/L data Department dashboard (summary) Reporting capabilities Easy compliance monitoring Will support Harvard’s “project-based” effort reporting method Real-time review of “building” certifications (cert period not complete) Automatic notification

Outreach, Communication, and Training 5 Leveraged existing research administration forums throughout the year to deliver projects updates, get input Established numerous subcommittees to address implementation, policy, and systems issues Undertook major outreach effort and met with 140+ departments over summer ‘13 to ensure readiness Training –Developed in coordination with CWD –In-class labs in Cambridge and Longwood for all grant managers Faculty –Received feedback early on that faculty will not attend ecrt training –Instead focused on educating grant managers –Developed instruction card –Memo to be issued from VPR User Base: Administrators ~400 Faculty ~1,000

ecrt Deployment Plan 6 CREW reports will be made available until September 30 th –FY 13 monthly CREW certs will need to be amended to reflect journal entries which post in FY14, but relate to FY13 User Acceptance Testing scheduled for September 17 th -September 24th Formal training sessions commence Early October –Additional communications regarding registration will be sent in the next few weeks –Training is mandatory for tub effort coordinators, primary effort coordinators, and grant managers Tuesday, October 22 nd, faculty certifications for FY13 and staff certifications for FY14 Q1 will be open for review –Grant managers and primary effort coordinators will have 21 calendar days to review allocations Tuesday, November 12 th, faculty certifications for FY13 and staff certifications for FY14 Q1 will be open for certification –Certifiers will have 30 calendar days to certify both FY13 and FY14 Q1 statements November SeptemberOctober UAT Training Begins Certification Period Opens Review Period Opens

Q+A 7

Appendix 8

PI ecrt Homepage 9