Business

Guidelines for Managing Faculty and Other Salaried Personnel

Effort and Compensation Expense

Related to Sponsored Projects

The University receives millions of dollars from the federal government and other sponsoring agencies in support of the University’s research and educational programs. Conditions, however, come with those funds. One of those conditions requires the University to maintain records that measure the amount of employee effort and compensation expense expended on individual sponsored projects.

Basic Requirements

There are two basic requirements: One, the proportion of an individual’s total compensation charged to a sponsored project must be approximately equal to or less than the proportion of the individual’s total effort expended on the project; and two, the amount of actual effort expended on a project usually cannot be reduced from the level of effort that was committed in the project proposal by 25% or more without awarding agency approval.

Documenting Compliance

Documenting compliance with the basic requirements is a four-stage process. The four different stages are:

1. Proposal

2. Award negotiation and notification

3. Post award administration

4. Certification

Proposal Stage

The commitment of effort begins with the award proposal. Proposals, in most cases, must show the percentage of effort that the principal investigator and other key personnel intend to commit to the project.

When determining what effort to commit, one must consider not only the level of effort that will be necessary to complete the project work scope, but also the level of effort that will be necessary to complete their other University responsibilities, which would include their other sponsored projects and their nonsponsored research, teaching, clinical, and administrative activities.

The percentage of effort committed should normally be commensurate with the percentage of salary requested except in cases where...