6.2 - Effort Reporting and Certification

Effort reporting is the federally mandated process of reporting and certifying to sponsoring agencies that the effort charged or cost shared to a sponsored project has actually been completed. Effort reporting is a requirement of the federal government and the University.

  • It is a reasonable estimate.
  • It is expressed as a percent. Effort reporting should always total 100%.
  • It is not based on total hours worked.  Effort is reported as a percentage of total activities.  Therefore, all of an employee’s compensated activities equal 100% effort regardless of the number of hours worked.
  • It is direct charged effort plus cost shared effort.

Effort directly charged to, or cost shared on, federal or state funded sponsored projects must be certified  via the electronic myOleMiss employee portal.   Using suitable means of verification, Principal Investigator(s) must certify that effort percentages reasonably reflect actual effort devoted to their sponsored agreement(s) by employees during the certification period.  There are three certification periods for the university that coincide with the spring, summer, and fall academic semesters.  Effort certification is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI). The PI is responsible for certifying (confirming the truth or accuracy of) effort that is directly charged as well as cost shared by the PI, graduate students, and staff working on sponsored projects. The person certifying the effort must have first-hand knowledge of the effort expended.