Certification

Who has to self certify?

In the past, the University has permitted a variety of individuals, including Departmental Administrators (DAs), to certify effort, as long as they have the requisite knowledge to do so.

• Under current University policy, all Officers of Instruction and Officers of Research (other than postdocs) who work on sponsored projects are required to self-certify their effort.
• Principal Investigators are required to certify the activity of graduate students, postdocs and staff funded by their grants.

When does certification occur?

The University's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. The certification period opens in the Fall. Until then, all self-certifiers and PIs should review effort quarterly in ECRT.

What is the departmental administrator’s role in effort reporting?

In the past, the departmental administrator was often responsible for certifying the effort of faculty in his or her department. Under current University policy, administrators cannot certify faculty effort. However, administrators still fulfill key responsibilities as Effort Coordinators. Among other things, Effort Coordinators are responsible for supporting faculty certification, including PI certification of personnel working on their sponsored projects; helping faculty monitor their effort during the year; and processing any necessary changes in Columbia’s accounting system to reflect changes in effort allocations. For more information on effort reporting roles and responsibilities, click here.

What is cost sharing?

"Cost Sharing" occurs when the University "shares" a portion of a sponsored project's costs. Cost sharing can take many forms, including payroll, equipment costs, Facilities and Administrative costs, etc. For effort reporting purposes, cost sharing is effort committed in a proposal where all or part of the funding for that effort is not provided by the sponsor. In such a case, the percentage of salary charged to a sponsored project is less than the percentage of effort devoted to that project; the difference represents cost sharing.

For additional information, please see the Columbia University Policy on Cost Sharing at http://www.effortreporting.columbia.edu/policy.html and the Cost Sharing Reference Guide at http://effortreporting.columbia.edu/reference_guides.html.

You may also contact the Effort Reporting team via email at effort-reporting@columbia.edu.

How to Submit Cost Sharing Information

Cost sharing associated with individuals receiving NIH funding whose salaries exceed the NIH salary cap will automatically be reflected in ECRT. In addition, the ECRT system should reflect any other cost sharing. Departments should determine if there are other cost sharing commitments besides those associated with "salary over the cap," and communicate these commitments to Research Administration. In order for an individual to certify his/her effort card, cost sharing information should be entered into ECRT prior to certifying the effort card. Sponsored Projects Administration is responsible for entering the cost share information. Click here to submit cost sharing information to Sponsored Projects Administration. Use the form supplied to report cost sharing information for faculty and employees in your department.

Sponsored Projects Administration needs the following information for each individual cost shared:

1. The grant account number (or numbers).
2. If the cost sharing was Mandatory or Voluntary for each account.
3. The percentage of effort that is being cost shared (might be different percentages if there are two different account numbers).
4. The start and end dates of the grant budget period.
5. If you have any questions about the form, please contact Stephanie Scott at sfs2110@columbia.edu.

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