Effort Commitment Guidelines

Most sponsored projects require that some level of effort by key personnel is committed to the project. In most cases, this is “committed” effort that is reflected via the individual’s payroll distribution. In other cases, a faculty member may have uncommitted effort specifically associated with the project. In either case, in support of applicable federal regulations, all individuals need to ensure that their annual effort certification accurately reflects the prior year’s activities, both sponsored and University.

It is the University’s expectation that faculty members will have non-sponsored professional activities and responsibilities as part of their faculty obligations and appointment. As a result, adequate University time must be set aside for their non-sponsored University activities, including instruction and administration. Effort commitments must be managed at time of proposal (during the identification of other support) and throughout the life of the grant to ensure that the University complies with applicable federal regulations.

Duke University uses the ECRT system to facilitate the institution's effort reporting and certification requirement. The ECRT system is designed to comply with the provisions of this institution's effort reporting policies, federal policy OMB Circular A-21 Section J.10, and other relevant Sponsor's policies that govern the need to provide certification of an individual's 100% effort. At the end of each fiscal year, the ECRT reports on all applicable employees are available for review by those individuals. These annual certification reports show the actual salary, supplemental pay distributions, and the percentage of annual effort for the entire fiscal year. Each employee is required to certify that the actual effort expended per the report is correct or, if incorrect, indicate the correct percentage of effort expended on the various activities.If there are significant changes of effort percentages, redistribution of salary may be required.