The effort report must account for all effort for which the University compensates the individual. Even where the number of hours of effort the individual expends each week substantially exceeds the "normal" workweek of 40 hours, effort percentages must be based on total effort, not hours.

1.       University compensated effort includes all research, teaching, administration, and any other activity for which an individual received compensation from the University.  Excluded from effort reporting is any compensation received from sources other than the University, or outside consulting work permitted by the University.

2.       Effort distributions should be reasonable estimates of activities, recognizing that research, instruction, and other university activities are often inextricably intertwined and estimates will be necessary in most cases.

3.       Effort and payroll distributions are not the same thing. The effort reporting process is a method for certifying charges made to sponsored awards and for certifying that the effort expended is at least equal to the salary paid.  Payroll distributions are used initially as a proxy for effort distributions and serve as a convenient reminder about activities on which the individual worked.  Therefore, the payroll-based effort report form should be adjusted to report effort distributions that are less than the shown payroll distributions. Appropriate salary reallocations must be made in concert with the changed effort report.

4.       The effort report must be certified by the individual whose effort is being reported or by a responsible person with access to verifiable information on how the individual's effort was expended.

5.       Individuals whose compensation exceeds a sponsor imposed salary cap limit need to show a percentage of cost sharing for each such sponsored project.

6.       Mandatory and voluntary committed cost sharing must be reported. Where some or all effort an individual expends on a specific sponsored project is not funded by the sponsor but is mandated by the sponsor, or where the individual has clearly committed to uncompensated effort to the project in the application, that effort must be reported as unfunded activity (cost sharing) on the effort report.

7.       The total of the individual effort percentages reported on the effort report must equal 100%.

8.       Faculty receiving three full summer months salary from sponsored projects must devote their effort to the project(s) from which salary is received.