Determining quantifiable amount of effort

Look at the award documents for commitments of effort. The effort commitment can be stated in the narrative or in the budget. If there is a quantifiable amount of effort stated (percentage of effort, number of days-weeks-months, salary dollars), enter that amount in the Effort Commitment system.

All sponsored projects are to be entered on the Effort Commitment Maintenance screen. Effort for PIs and key personnel on all federal and non-federal sponsored awards should be entered.

If you need assistance in determining the effort commitment to enter, click on the search button next to the Effort field to access the Effort Calculator.

If there is no quantifiable amount of effort for the PI stated in the award documents and the award is for federal research, Finance will impute an adjustment for F&A rate calculation purposes. This requirement does not apply to non-research projects such as awards made for equipment, construction, training, or public service. See the Policy and Procedure Manual, section 330-31, for further information.

To determine the type of effort commitment:

• Enter Direct Charge if the salary for the effort commitment will be paid entirely by the sponsor.
• Enter Cost Share if the salary will be paid entirely by the university (or by another sponsor).
• If only part of the salary will be paid by the sponsor, split the effort commitment into two lines and indicate which portion will be direct charged and which will be cost shared.

Those entries indicated as Cost Sharing will appear in the Manage Cost Share Entries module of the Cost Share Tracking system.