University of Massachusetts Effort Coordinator Training ECRT Effort Coordinator Training February 2009

Table of Contents ECRT Basic Information------------------------------- 3 Department Dashboard-------------------------------- 11 Effort Certification Certifiers Perspective------- 20 Additional tools for the Certifier-------------------- 27 Manage Effort Tasks------------------------------------ 37 Assign Proxy Functionality--------------------------- 48 On Hold Functionality---------------------------------- 53 Adding a Commitment--------------------------------- 58 Adding Cost Sharing------------------------------------ 61 Effort Recertification & Viewing Historical Effort Statements---------------------------------------- 64 ECRT Reports--------------------------------------------- 68 ECRT Project Information----------------------------- 81 Glossary/Definitions------------------------------------ 84

ECRT Basic Information

ECRT Basic Information Certification Workflow During the period of performance (the semester), data is loaded into ECRT. This is done close to real-time, so effort cards will be up to date at all times. Once the semester ends, the effort coordinators have some time (at least a month) to process any adjustments, set up cost sharing, and otherwise review the effort cards. Once the certification period begins, the self certifiers (PI’s and other key personnel on sponsored awards) log into ECRT and certify their effort. PI’s additionally have to certify the effort of their lower level research staff. Once the effort cards are certified, the effort coordinator will have to process them. This gives the Effort Coordinator (“EC”) a chance to see if cost transfers or other adjustments are necessary. The EC can either complete the processing, or send the card back to the certifier to make changes.

ECRT Basic Information System Navigation To access ECRT please utilize the following URL: https://ecertprd.umassadmin.net/ecrt_prod/initLogin.do

ECRT Basic Information Home Page This screen serves as an entry point to all system functions, provides an overview of the effort reporting process for administrators, and offers links to a variety of resources to assist users with effort reporting. The “Effort Lifecycle” image shows three main sections of the system, with navigational links appropriate to the user’s role.

ECRT Basic Information Effort Lifecycle Links Section Link Description Data & Workflow Manage Effort Tasks Displays a list of all outstanding Tasks for the effort coordinator. These include processing certifications, sponsor letter notices, and cost transfers. Department Dashboard Displays the active department, and all the associated individuals and accounts. Main entry point for effort coordinators. Add Commitment At UMass – this function will be used to add a new line to an effort statement. Add Cost Share Displays a form to add a new cost sharing entry View Reports Displays the standard reports menu, allowing the running or exporting of built in reports. IQ Tool Displays the special reports that have been designed at UMass to supplement standard reports. Effort statements on Hold Allows user to place multiple effort statements On Hold at once. Displays all effort statements that are currently On Hold - related to that Effort Coordinator. Certification Certify / View My Effort Displays the current effort statement of the individual logged into the system View My Historical Effort Displays the historical effort statements for the individual logged into the system Effort Recertification Used to re-open an effort statement that has been certified and as an entry point to historical effort statements. Administration Manage Users Used to review demographic information about users, as well as to assign a proxy for a user.

ECRT Basic Information Online Help Most screens contain a help icon available in the upper right, under the Logout option. Clicking this button will bring up a separate window containing help on the portion of the system currently being worked in.

ECRT Basic Information Search Boxes At various points in the application, a data entry box is presented. The system will search on the character string that is entered, and return all items that include the string entered. The user can then select from among the choices by clicking on a selected choice. All search boxes use this methodology. The user types in a minimum of three characters (letters or numbers) from the intended result, and then pauses for a few seconds. The program will query the database, and download a list of matches to the search text, which appears in a blue box under the search box.

ECRT Basic Information Search Boxes The user puts the cursor on the intended result, and clicks the mouse or hits the enter key. If the list contains more than a few choices, arrows will appear at the top and bottom of the list. Clicking the arrows will scroll through the list of choices. If a longer search string is entered, a shorter list of options is presented. The system works faster with a number search – so a department number, or employee number, or segment of a number may produce a faster search result.

Department Dashboard

Department Dashboard Home Page To access the Department Summary page, select the ‘Department/Division Dashboard’ link. If you have only one department for which you are an Effort Coordinator, you will be taken directly to the Department Summary page for that department. 12

Department Dashboard The Department Summary page presents all of the information that an Effort Coordinator needs to manage the effort certification process for a department. The first section of the screen shows a summary chart of the status of the Department’s Certification Forms. For each status, it shows the number of individuals in the status, and percentage of total in each status. Every effort statement in the system is tagged with a particular status, which changes as it moves through the system. Note: These totals reflect the most recent certification period. When a new certification period starts, the totals are reset. 13

Department Dashboard Status Icon Descriptions Certified, Processed, Payroll Pending Not Certified, Not Processed, Reopened

Department Dashboard Managing Effort Coordinators The next section on the Department Dashboard page displays the department’s Primary and Secondary Effort Coordinators. Effort Coordinators can be added and removed from the department in the Department Dashboard page. The “Add” button is used to add a new effort coordinator for a department. A new window appears requesting the name of the new coordinator.

Department Dashboard Managing Effort Coordinators Next to all effort coordinators except the primary, in the “Actions” column, are three buttons. The left button, shaped like a yellow highlighter, will change the primary effort coordinator for the department, signaled by a change in the yellow highlighted row. The new primary effort coordinator will assume all the responsibilities of this role. The middle button, a red “x”, will remove the individual from the list of effort coordinators for the department. The right button, a magnifying glass, is available only to system administrators.

Department Dashboard Managing Department Certifiers The bottom of the Department Dashboard page shows the sub-departments that are associated with the department, if any. In ECRT these sub-departments are called Child Departments. Below the sub-department list is the list of Certifiers associated to this Department. The Certifiers are subdivided into two groups – those employees that have Sponsored Activity, those with only Non-Sponsored Activity. The third column, with the header ‘Statements’, will show previous periods’ certification statements. To review the certification statement, you will select the icon in the ‘Statements’ column. 17

Department Dashboard Department Account List The final portion of the Department Dashboard page is the awards section. This contains a list of all active and inactive accounts in the department. Similar to the Certifier list, the Award list is sub-divided into two groups: Active and Inactive. The system categorizes the awards by comparing the project end date to the current date. This is a comprehensive list that contains both sponsored and non-sponsored accounts. To view more information about an award, select the award’s name.

Department Dashboard Account Summary Screen Clicking on the name of any account in the list brings up a summary screen for the account. The summary page lists general information about the award including Name, Account Number, Sponsor Number, Sponsor Name, Sponsor Award Number, PI, Start and end dates. The middle section lists the department that the account is assigned to. The bottom of the screen displays a list of all people with either effort commitments or payroll charges on the selected account. (The label “Certifier Name” is misleading.) Note that people from more than one home department may be linked to an specific account, and that the list includes both faculty and supporting individuals.

Certifier’s Perspective Effort Certification Certifier’s Perspective

Effort Certification Home Page A certifier has a limited number of links on the Home Page when logged into ECRT. They can see reports and queries related to their project and department, view any historical effort statements that they have certified, or they can start the effort certification process for the current period by clicking on the link to View/Certify My Effort.

Effort Certification Certify My Effort The certifier is brought to the Effort Certification screen. The effort statement must be reviewed by the certifier, updated if necessary, and certified by the user. The top of the effort statement contains information about the certifier and his/her respective department, including the department name and number, certifier’s email address, effort coordinator, and certification period.

Effort Certification Effort Statement Columns Accounts – includes the effort category, account title (as it appears in the profile), PI name, Purpose and Title, and Agency Number. Payroll – amount of effort calculated based on the payroll data for the period. Cost Share – contains the percentage of wages that were paid during the period and classified as cost sharing. Commitment – column that shows committed effort to the sponsor. This column can have various names including required effort and average effort. Computed Effort – the sum of the payroll and cost share columns. Certified Effort – text box where users enter the percentage of effort that was actually expended on the projects associated with the accounts listed at left. Certify Checkboxes – the award being certified when the certify button is clicked.

Effort Certification Effort Statement Summary The body of the effort statement displays the effort category and awards which the researcher worked on in the previous period. There are subtotals for each effort category listed on the researcher’s statement. The total in the Payroll % or $ column may add to more than 100% because of rounding. This will have no adverse effect on the certification process or statement. The text box at the bottom allows certifiers to enter comments and notes. Note that the % of Effort is shown in whole numbers, any changes that are made must be in whole numbers.

Effort Certification Certifying Effort To complete an effort certification, the certifier reviews the effort percentages and adjusts as necessary. The certifier will see an error message if the total certified effort in the % of Effort column is either less 99% or greater than 101%. When all effort has been accounted for, the researcher clicks the “Certify” button below the totals.

Effort Certification Certifying Effort The researcher is then presented with a certification message reminding them what they are certifying to. After a final review of the information on the page and the certification statement at the top, the certifier will click the “I Agree” button under the message. After this, the user is returned to the Home Page. The effort statement is sent on to the EC for processing, along with any entered notes, as applicable.

Additional Tools For the Certifier

Effort Certification Effort Statement Notes A notes box on the bottom of the effort statement is available to facilitate communication among people who share access to a statement – effort coordinator and certifier. If an effort note is added to a statement, the department effort coordinator is required to perform the processing step. This ensures that the effort coordinator is aware of any note that may require action.

Effort Certification Show Dollar Value By clicking the Show Dollar Value link on the effort statement, the certifier can switch the view of the Payroll column, to show the total $ associated with the award.

Effort Certification Effort Calculator The effort calculator link on the effort statement brings up a worksheet with all the individual’s accounts and the revised effort from the effort statement. The worksheet can be used to translate between hours vs. % of effort. One can enter data in hours/week, and see the result in percentage and person months; enter percentage data and see the result in hours and person months.

Effort Certification Effort Calculator First, it is necessary to enter the average number of hours worked per week during the period. This number will vary for each individual. Next, decide whether to convert hours worked to percentages, or percentages to hours worked. Select the appropriate radio button. Enter average hours per week Estimate average percentage. The calculator computes average hours worked per week. Enter either hours to compute percent or percent to compute hours.

Effort Certification Hover over Data When the user “hovers” over the Account links with the mouse, a popup window appears which displays commitment data and the PI name, phone number, and email address.

Effort Certification Printing an Effort statement If you would like to print a paper version of the effort statement, select the Effort statement PDF Icon from the top right of the View/Certify My Effort page.

Effort Certification Group View Certification The effort certification group view presents the effort cards of non-self certifiers for the Principal Investigator to certify. To Certify in Group View the PI must click on “Certify My Researchers – Group View”.

Effort Certification Group View Certification The effort certification group view presents effort cards for all of the PI’s researchers. The PI will only be able to certify effort for the accounts that he is responsible for, all others will be grayed out. By clicking certify all, all effort with checked boxes will be certified. Once all researchers are certified, their cards will no longer be visible.

Effort Certification View Historical Effort To review a certification statement from a prior period, select the View My Historical Effort link from the ECRT home page. This will take you to a page that will display any effort statements that you have previously certified in ECRT.

Primary Effort Coordinator Manage Effort Tasks Primary Effort Coordinator

Manage Effort Tasks Home Page There is only one difference between a primary and secondary effort coordinator. Primary effort coordinators are responsible for the various tasks in the system. Tasks are created based on actions taken in the system. These tasks include processing certifications and reviewing payroll adjustments to closed effort statements In ECRT, these processes are tracked in the Manage Effort Tasks screens.

Manage Effort Tasks Manage Tasks Page Manage effort tasks is separated into several different tabs. The four available tabs are: Effort Processing Work Items Cost Transfer Notification Sponsored Activity Notification Payroll Reconciliation The tabs will only appear if there is a task in that category.

Manage Effort Tasks Processing an Effort Statement ECRT will automatically process any effort statements that are certified with minimal changes to the effort percentages and no effort notes created by the certifier. To make sure that all effort cards being processed are brought to the attention of the effort coordinator, these cards will still appear as tasks. However, those cards will be preceded by a double asterisk (**), and when clicked, the task will be removed. If a certifier substantially changes the percentages in the effort statement, or leaves an effort note, the Effort Coordinator will need to review and process the effort statement, by selecting the link to the item in the Effort Processing Work Items list.

Manage Effort Tasks Processing Certifications If the researcher certifies to a percentage that is different than the computed percentages, ECRT calculates the dollars related to the changes and shows them to the right of the changed lines. It is the EC’s responsibility to review the appropriateness of the cost transfers and effort that has been certified. After review, the EC clicks the “Process” button at bottom of the page. After processing, the item is removed from the task list and the status is set to “Certified Processed”.

Manage Effort Tasks Processing Certifications If after reviewing the certification the Effort Coordinator believes the values entered are not appropriate, he/she should indicate the reason why there is a problem in the notes box and click the “Return to Certifier” button at the bottom of the screen. This action causes an email to automatically be sent to the researcher telling him/her that the certification needs further review and to contact the EC. It also changes the status of the certification from “Certified” back to “Not Certified”. The researcher would then reopen the certification, review the notes, take appropriate action as needed, and resubmit for processing.

Manage Effort Tasks Processing Certifications When Certified Effort is Significantly Less Than Required Effort If an activity is above or below the configurable threshold, currently set at 25%, then the activity will be highlighted in yellow. This highlighting is meant to alert a user that there is a large discrepancy between the sponsor commitment in ECRT and certified effort.

Manage Effort Tasks Sponsored Activity Notification The next tab of the Manage Effort Tasks page is Sponsored Activity Notification. Items appear here when an effort coordinator processes an effort card with a certified effort percentage significantly less than the sponsored required effort.

Manage Effort Tasks Cost Transfer Notification The Cost Transfer tab is contains a list of all effort cards that have cost transfers calculated during their processing. Clicking on the notification will display the effort card as it was processed. To find the dollar value of the calculated cost transfer, it will be necessary to run the cost transfer report.

Manage Effort Tasks Payroll Adjustment Work Items The next tab of the Manage Tasks page is Payroll Adjustment Work Items. Items appear here when a cost transfer is loaded into the system after an effort statement is certified and processed.

Manage Effort Tasks Payroll Adjustment Item Selecting a link from the Payroll Adjustment Work Item list will display the individual payroll adjustment that has been made. From this screen the user can select to Post Adjustment or Ignore Adjustment. A checkbox allows you to determine whether the effort card will need to be certified again after the adjustment is posted. Note: Ignore Adjustment is rarely utilized, as the user will either want to accept the adjustment and select Post Adjustment, OR accept the adjustment and Re-Open the card for additional review or changes.

Assign Proxy Functionality

Assign Proxy Home Page To assign a proxy to a certifier, an Effort Coordinator will select the Manage Users link on the ECRT home page, then enter the individual who they would like to assign a proxy to.

Assign Proxy Manage Users Page At the bottom of the individual’s page, the Effort Coordinator will be able to enter a Proxy for the selected user, as shown to the left. When a proxy is assigned, the user will also need to chose a reason for why the proxy is being assigned. If the pre-defined reason “Other” is selected, the user will be prompted for an additional explanation in a short text box. When a proxy has been assigned, the bottom of the individual’s manage users page will display the Proxy name and reason, as shown to the left. Both the proxy and certifier will be sent an email notifying them that the designation has been made. Similar emails will be sent if a proxy assignment is transferred or terminated.

Assign Proxy Complete Proxy Certifications When a Proxy logs on to ECRT, if they have users they are designated for, they will see a link for “Complete Proxy Certifications” By clicking the Complete Proxy Certifications link, the Proxy can see a list of all of the certifiers he/she is responsible for. The Proxy can select “View Current” for each certifier, which will take them to Effort statement, where he/she can certify the statement.

Assign Proxy Complete Proxy Certifications When a Proxy certifies an effort statement, the attestation statement states that the Proxy must have suitable means of verification that the work that was performed. Proxy Assignment Rules: Once a proxy has been assigned only the proxy can certify the certifier’s statement If a certifier has been assigned a proxy, when he/she goes into the effort statement, he/she will be able to see the statement in View Only mode. Each certifier can only have one proxy If Certifier A has been assigned as a proxy for Certifier B, the system will enforce the following rules at selection time: Certifier B cannot be assigned as a proxy for another certifier. Certifier A cannot have a proxy assigned for them.

On Hold Functionality

On Hold Placing a Single statement On Hold Effort Coordinators have the ability to place a certifier’s effort statement On Hold. There are two ways to put an effort statement On Hold – one at a time or multiple statements at a time. To place an individual effort statement On Hold, an Effort Coordinator can navigate to the certifier’s effort statement, and select the On Hold check box, as shown to the left.

On Hold Placing Multiple statements On Hold To place multiple statements On Hold, the Effort Coordinator can go to the Effort Cards on Hold link on the ECRT home page.

On Hold Placing Multiple statements On Hold Once in the Effort statements on Hold page, the Effort Coordinator will be able to select multiple certifiers and then place them all On Hold at one time. When the save button is pressed, each of the effort statements will be listed at the bottom screen as On Hold. In order to take an effort statement off, the effort coordinators will have to go to the individual’s effort statement and uncheck the “On Hold” checkbox. Effort Coordinators are able to navigate to the individual’s effort statement from the Effort Cards on Hold page, by selecting the magnifying glass icon in the Statements column, shown to the left.

On Hold Monitoring Effort statements on Hold The Effort Coordinators will be able to reference the total number of effort statements On Hold by reviewing Certification Summary on the Manage Department Page. This page can be viewed by selecting the Manage Department link from the ECRT home page, and scrolling down to view the Certification Summary statistics, shown to the left.

Adding a Commitment

Add Commitment Home Page If it is necessary to add a line on the effort card because effort was expended on the award without pay, or payroll charges are not yet posted on an account, the effort coordinator selects the ‘Add Commitment’ link on the Home Page or from the drop down menu on any screen.

Add Commitment Adding a line to the Effort Card On this screen, the coordinator will enter the data necessary to create a commitment, the certifier’s name, and the account to be added. The user can select from both active and inactive accounts. Once all of this information has been entered, the user will select the ‘Add Entry’ button. When the button is selected, the user will see a confirmation screen. If the information that has been entered is correct, the user will select ‘Add Entry’ and receive a confirmation that the commitment was added.

Adding Cost Sharing

Add Cost Sharing Home Page To add cost sharing over the life of an award, the add cost sharing link can be used. This method will have the same basic effect of adding the cost sharing in PeopleSoft directly.

Add Cost Sharing Adding cost sharing to the Effort Card On this screen, the coordinator will enter the data necessary to add cost sharing; the employees name, the sponsored account receiving the cost shared effort (To Account), the non-sponsored funding source providing the effort (From Account), the cost share % or the dollar amount, the start and end dates and an optional justification for the cost share that will to be added. The user can select from both active and inactive accounts. Once all of this information has been entered, the user will select the ‘Add Entry’ button. When the button is selected, the user will see a confirmation screen. If the information that has been entered is correct, the user will select ‘Add Entry’ and receive a confirmation that the cost share was added.

Effort Recertification Viewing Historical Effort Statements & Viewing Historical Effort Statements

Effort Recertification The Effort Recertification link on the ECRT home page allows an Effort Coordinator to view previous effort statements for members of their departments, as well as to re-open effort statements if the current certification period is still open.

Effort Recertification Enter the name of the certifier in the search box.

Effort Recertification The Administrator should select the period desired and click the button at the bottom right to “Open for Recertification”. This will cause an email to be sent to the researcher saying she needs to recertify her time for that period. Effort Coordinators can re-open a card for certification if the certification period is still open. After the certification period is closed, only Central Administrator can re-open an effort card.

ECRT Reports

Certification Payroll Report The Certification Payroll Report shows the GL payroll transaction entries for a specific individual or a department and date range. It summarizes these entries in two formats -- by account or by pay period. The report for an individual will show the pay that was charged to each account during each pay period within the certification period, the total amounts charged to each account during the period, and the percent of total pay during the period for each account

Certification Payroll Report – Alternate View

Sponsored Project Employee Summary Report The Sponsored Project Employee Summary (SPES) report lists all of the employees and amounts associated with effort on a specific account, for the effort reporting period. It shows the amounts both as percent and dollar amounts.

Commitment Listing Report The Commitment Listing Report allows a user to view the details of a Commitment and status as indicated by the Commitment icon. There are multiple criteria for narrowing or expanding searches. This report can be downloaded to PDF for easy printing of effort statements for auditors.

Monthly Commitment Summary Report The Monthly Commitment Summary Report allows the user to view a twelve (12) month summary of Commitment. Use the fields provided to search for Commitment threshold entries.

External Audit Report The External Audit Report lists all individuals that have effort statements in a specified status. There are multiple criteria for narrowing or expanding searches. This report can be downloaded to PDF for easy printing of effort statements for auditors. Because it can be run for a whole department, it is also a useful tool for department effort coordinators to make a printed file copy of all effort statements for their department for a given quarter.

Certifier Salary Activity Report The Certifier Salary Activity Report displays the salary information for all supporting individuals charging the selected Certifier’s awards. The effort coordinator selects the Certifier and then a Month and Year to return payroll information, by month from the time selected for the subsequent 12 months.

Certification Status Report The Certification Status Report allows the user to search for a status of a certification statement for a specified group of certifiers. The report shows the current status for each certifier of a specific employee type for a period of performance

Cost Transfer Report The Cost Transfer Report displays all of the cost transfers that have taken place for a particular Department, period, and certifier type. Only cost transfers for Awards in the Department selected will be displayed.

ECRT Created Cost Transfer Report The ECRT Created Cost Transfer Report displays all cost transfers generated in ECRT along with the payroll data from the Certification Payroll Report. The combination of data shows the detail history or payroll transactions on the certification statement.

Department Award Report The Department Award report displays all active and inactive Awards for the selected Department.

Grant Without Principal Investigator Report The Grant Without Principal Investigator report will produce a list of Grants that do not have an assigned principal investigator. The report results are displayed in a table format and can be exported to an Excel file, a PDF document, a Microsoft Word document, or an XML file. Press the Run Report button to launch the report.

ECRT Project Information

CONTACT INFORMATION Campus Effort Administrators - XXX XXXXX - ### - ### - #### - xxxxxxxxx@UMass.edu Huron Consulting Group -Daniel Lodes – 636-795-0101 – dlodes@huronconsultinggroup.com -Stephen Kosciolek – 312-731-6840 – skosciolek@huronconsultinggroup.com

QUESTIONS?

Glossary/Definitions

Glossary/Definitions Certifier / Covered Individual: Primary Individual who has responsibility for certifying his or her effort. Certified Effort: Effort that has been certified by the individual who performed the work, or a proxy. Certified Effort Column on Effort statement: The time, stated as a percentage of total professional time, that an individual actually devoted to a particular Sponsored Project or other activity during the effort reporting period. Certification Period: The period of time for which an individual’s effort is being certified. Cost Transfers: An expense that is transferred from one account to another when an error has occurred in the amount initially charged to the account. A retroactive salary distribution form is the mechanism for initiating a cost transfer. Effort Coordinator: The person responsible for coordination between faculty and research staff to facilitate administration of the salary distribution reports, and the effort certification process. The Effort Coordinator in each department is charged with monitoring completion and processing the Effort statements for the department.

Glossary/Definitions Effort: The proportion of time spent on any activity expressed as a percentage of total institutional activities for which an Individual is compensated by UMass. Total effort for an employee must always equal 100%, regardless of part-time or full-time status, and regardless of number of hours worked. The effort on a sponsored project may be equal to or greater than the salary charged to the project, and may be the same or different than the planned effort. It is recognized that activities of individuals in an academic institutions are often inextricably intermingled so a precise accounting of time spent on various activities is not required. Effort statement: Screen portraying an individual’s salary and effort distribution for an effort reporting period that will be certified. It documents the proportion of total effort devoted by an individual to each account. When certified, the effort statement is the official verification of effort attributed to and salary paid by a sponsored project. Salary paid by a sponsored project may not be greater than effort, and is subject to sponsor-imposed salary caps. An effort statement must be completed by someone with suitable means of verification of the effort expended on a project. This may be the individual or it may be the direct supervisor.

Glossary/Definitions Effort Certification: A means of confirming the percentage of Effort spent in support of each sponsored project and all other institutional activities for a given period of time. Effort Certification requires that both effort paid by the sponsor, and effort paid by the institution be confirmed. Each Individual's Effort Certification must account for total effort (100%). Effort Reporting Periods: Either the period of time over which effort is reported at UMass. For the Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell, this is based on semesters. Other campuses are certifying once a year. Institutional Base Salary (IBS): The annual compensation paid to an individual by UMass. IBS includes compensation for instruction, public service, organized research, patient care, department research, department administration, and/or other activities. Non-Sponsored Individuals: Individuals in a department who have effort and salary exclusively on non sponsored accounts. These people are not required to certify their effort. Effort statements are prepared by the system and are auto processed.

Glossary/Definitions Pre-Review Period: The period of time following the end of the effort reporting period, and before the beginning of the certification period, when the Effort Coordinator reviews compiled Effort statements, and enters any needed revisions in preparation for certifiers’ review. PI: A person listed as a principal investigator, project director, co-investigator, co-project director, or someone with comparable responsibilities on a sponsored project. Researcher: An employee who has allocated effort to a Sponsored Program, whether or not paid by the program. Sponsored Project: An internally or externally funded activity that is governed by specific terms and conditions. Sponsored Projects must be separately budgeted and accounted for subject to terms of the sponsoring organization or unit. Sponsored Projects may include grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements for research, instruction and training, and other public service activities. Central Effort Administrator: Individuals in charge of ECRT, who will be the contact for ECRT related questions and issues.