The Effort Reporting System allows Full-time, tax-levy college employees to document and certify their time and effort used to perform sponsored research. Employees receive their uninterrupted annual salary payments while performing research. The college receives reimbursement for associated staff effort through sponsored funds. Staff Effort is processed through Staff Effort Notices (SEN) submitted by the Grants Office, and approved and documented by RFCUNY. Grant offices and faculty are required to calculate staff effort, complete an SEN and certify their effort.
Calculating Staff Effort
The staff effort calculation is based upon the Full-time academic year annual salary:
Divide the annual salary by 9 (or 12 for eligible staff); the result is the monthly base.
The nine month academic year is defined as September 1 to May 31 of the following year. For eligible staff, the full 12 month calendar year applies.
While it is not a requirement, the majority of SEN submissions request documentation of effort over an entire semester. Full semesters are represented by the following dates:
The amount of time an employee contributes to sponsored activities during the specified time period is represented as a Percentage (%) Effort. The % Effort is determined at the college based on its own criteria (e.g., credits, hours, etc.).
When the annual salary, time period and % effort are determined, apply the following equation to calculate the staff effort total, which may be applied to the sponsored account as a charge and/or cost sharing:
Annual Salary/9 months (or 12 for staff) x % Effort x Time Period = Charge to Award/Cost Sharing
Completing Staff Effort Notices
To process a staff effort notice, the signature of an appropriate academic representative (principal investigator [PI]) and an administrative representative (grants officer) is required in addition to completion of the required fields:
Once fully processed, the staff effort salary charge and associated fringe benefits become encumbered on the submitted sponsored account.
Certifying Effort
Staff effort certification is semester based. Once a semester has fully passed, a PI must certify the submitted level of effort on their account(s) using the Effort Reporting system.
Sponsored Programs
Victor Sekelsky
Grants & Contracts
212-417-8402
Lisa Lamontagne
Finance
212-417-8547
Cynthia Vargas
Finance
212-417-8553