Information adapted from: OSP Website

Effort Reporting & Salary Certification

The Federal government requires that faculty members or other knowledgeable individuals report and certify compensation and cost shared effort on federal awards. Harvard University uses the web-based system, ECRT (Effort Certification and Reporting Tool), to report and certify effort.

Access ECRT

System Login: Access ECRT (Effort Certification and Reporting Tool). If you have any questions, please contact Judy Lo, Harvard Chan School's Tub-level Effort Coordinator (TEC).

Important Dates

The Harvard Effort Reporting Policy requires that faculty, who serve as Principal Investigators (PIs) on federal awards, certify their own effort annually and certify non-faculty effort on federal awards quarterly. The quarterly certification periods cover July-September, October-December, January-March, and April-June.

• See Full FY23 Schedule
• See Full FY24 Schedule
• Upcoming Training: Harvard Training Portal: June 12, 2023, 10:30am to 12pm

FY23 Q3 Certification Period:

• April 11, 2023 - FY23 Q3 Project Review Period Opens 
• May 9, 2023 - FY23 Q3 Project Certification Period Opens 
• June 8, 2023 - FY23 Q3 Project Certifications Due

Harvard Training Portal (HTP)

Join the ECRT Group in the HTP to Access More Resources 

There are various ecrt job aids and resources available in the Harvard Training Portal (HTP). Important Note: HTP will show ~9 ecrt search results, however, if you join the ecrt Group, you will have the ability to access more resources (~24 ecrt search results). 

Recommended HTP Resources

You are encouraged to view all available resources, however, Judy Lo (Harvard Chan School's Tub-level Effort Coordinator), listed the most relevant resources for GMs. If you have any ecrt questions, please contact Judy Lo. 

Requirement for Journal Entries

Journals affecting individuals whose salary is certified must include HUID and the Period of Work Performed (PWP) for all lines (sponsored and non-sponsored). Certification is necessary for anyone charged to a federal award or anyone cost-sharing on a federal award during the fiscal year. The requirement to include the HUID and Period of Work Performed on all lines will address several data issues in the ecrt Effort Reporting system. Journals without the HUID and PWP on all lines will need to be reversed and re-posted.

Top 10 Things You Should Know About Effort

1. Effort is an individual's work on a project, whether the sponsor pays their salary or not.
2. If effort is reduced, paid or unpaid, on a federal grant by 25% or more of the current commitment, prior approval from the agency is generally required.
3. Effort on many activities cannot be charged to a sponsored project. Some examples of activities that cannot be charged include: 
   • writing a proposal
   • Serving on an IRB, IACUC or other research committee
   • Serving on a departmental or University service committee
4. Any effort expended on a federal project must be certified.
5. Salary adjustments that affect any faculty or staff who work on federal projects during the year must include the both the Period of Work Performed (PWP) and the employee’s Harvard University Identification (HUID). The HUID and PWP are required even if the specific entry does not include a sponsored fund or sponsored activity to ensure complete reporting through the effort certification system, ecrt.
6. Since certification occurs quarterly, salary adjustments that span multiple months are required to be broken into fiscal quarters.
7. Faculty annual certification must reasonably reflect all the effort for all the activities that are covered by an individual's institutional based salary.
8. Effort is not based on a 40- or 35-hour week.
9. Effort must be certified by someone with suitable means of verification that the work was performed.
10. Effort certification is a part of the University's Uniform Guidance audit.

Forms

• Designee Approval Form - A designee approval form is required when a PI delegates Quarterly Project Effort Certification responsibility to another individual with first-hand knowledge of the PI's sponsored award. Designee requests must be approved by the Tub Effort Coordinator. 
• Proxy Request for Faculty Annual Certifiers – A Proxy for Faculty Annual Certifiers is required in cases of enduring unavailability of the faculty. The request must be approved by the Tub Effort Coordinator and by the Office for Sponsored Programs.
• Proxy Request for Non- Faculty Annual Certifiers – A Proxy for non-faculty annual certifiers is allowed when there is an assigned mentor or if the appointee is working under the direction of a faculty Principal Investigator. The form must be approved by the Tub Effort Coordinator. No approval by the Office for Sponsored Programs is required.
• Certification of Emeritus Paid Committed Effort Form - This form is used to certify faculty effort when ecrt generates an effort statement, but certifier is in emeritus status and does not work full time. It must be signed by the PI or by a proxy approved by the Tub Effort Coordinator and OSP.

Contacts

• Office for Sponsored Programs: The Office for Sponsored programs is responsible for business aspects of the ecrt effort reporting system. For policy questions or help with functions issues, contact the ecrt help desk: ecrt@harvard.edu. 
• HUIT ATS: HUIT ATS manages security roles/rights for ecrt and provides user access to the system.
• Tub-level Effort Coordinators: The tub-level effort coordinators (TEC) at each school oversee school-level compliance with University policy and local-level implementation of effort reporting.
  • Harvard Chan School's Tub-level Effort Coordinator - Judy Lo
  • To see a list of all Tub-level Effort Coordinators at Harvard University, please refer to OSP's Effort Reporting & Salary Certification webpage.
• For additional questions and resources: Contact ecrt@harvard.edu