Responsibilities for Certification of Salary Distribution (Effort Reporting) Reports

Corporate Responsibilities

The Research Foundation (RF) is responsible for the fiscal and administrative management of the research enterprise within the State University of New York (SUNY) in accordance with the June 1, 1977 Agreement between SUNY and the RF. Therefore, the RF is responsible for complying with all federal and sponsor requirements relating to distribution of salary reporting, such as those specified in OMB Circular A-21 "Principles for Determining Costs Applicable to Grants, Contracts, and Other Agreements with Educational Institutions."

Operating Location Responsibilities

The RF operations manager is responsible for ensuring that:

persons who are affected by the certification of salary distribution (effort reporting) provisions of OMB Circular A-21 have accurate and
complete records in the RF business system and that effort reports are created
certification of salary distribution reports (effort reports) are distributed to the appropriate people for certification.
the persons certifying distribution of salary have received training about the process and have direct knowledge of the work performed by the individual.
when a designee is signing the effort report, additional documentation indicating why that designee has direct/verifiable knowledge of the work performed by an individual must be included.
certification of salary distribution reports and time sheets are completed and manually certified by the appropriate person by the
identified due dates.
the distribution of charges is adjusted as necessary.
certified certification of salary distribution reports and time sheets are retained in paper format. (The operating location is the office of
record for the certification of salary distribution function.)
for each employee required to certify effort, the distribution of salary represented on each certification of salary distribution report (effort
report) and the hours noted on each time sheet are reasonable estimates of the work performed by the employee during the reporting
period and charges to awards are adequately supported.
the necessary information is input to RF business system.

Note: The RF operations manager at each operating location is responsible for all operations at the location, regardless of who performs the operations, and is accountable to the RF Board of Directors for the conduct of such operations. Therefore, the operations manager is permitted to delegate the authority to perform effort reporting functions, but may not delegate responsibility.

Central Office Responsibilities

The vice presidents of Sponsored Programs Services and Human Resources are responsible for ensuring that:

policies are established regarding the certification of salary distribution (effort reporting) function.
operating locations are trained regarding the certification of salary distribution (effort reporting) function.
operating locations receive assistance with the certification of salary distribution (effort reporting) function as necessary.
the certification of salary distribution (effort reporting) function is monitored at all operating locations.

The vice president of Information Technology is responsible for ensuring that:
the RF business system is maintained.
certification of salary distribution reports and related reports accurately reflect the information in the RF business system

The central office Labor Distribution (LD) administrator is responsible for ensuring that:
the certification of salary distribution reports (effort reports) are being certified in a timely manner at all campuses.
the certification process is accurate and appropriate.
operating locations are provided with the means to create their own certification of salary distribution reports (effort reports) function.

Responsibility for Loss

Each operating location is responsible for losses on any RF activity incurred through action or inaction on the part of the operating location. For information on the RF's policy concerning responsibility for loss incurred on sponsored projects, refer to the Responsibility for Losses Policy.

Security Profiles and Access

A security responsibility defines a user’s ability, based on his or her job responsibilities, to access and manipulate data throughout the RF business system. For more information about what responsibilities allow a user access to Oracle certification of salary distribution functions, refer to the document Effort Reporting Responsibilities.

Change History

December 16, 2009 - Added information about first hand knowledge of work performed when a designee is signing off on an effort report.
February 21, 2006 - Terminology edit to change "personnel activity" to "distribution of salary."
January 7, 2005 - Renamed to be consistent with other effort reporting procedures.
November 11, 2005 - Added "certification of salary distribution" terminology.
February 2, 2005 - Minor editorial corrections.
May 1, 2002 - Revised to reflect the joint responsibility (Sponsored Program Services and Employee Services) for effort reporting
at central office.
September 19, 2001 - New document derived from Personnel Activity Manual (PAR-P-04) and Monitoring Controls Over Labor
Distribution Key Processes (ldpro001.htm).

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