Introduction Effort Reporting Process Department/Division Dashboard - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

e PARS

Personal Activity Reporting

Effort Coordinator Training

Sponsored Projects Accounting Christal Zhu

Introduction Effort Reporting Process Department/Division Dashboard Reports Function

• Uniform Guidance (UG) 2CFR Part 200.430 requires payroll

costs to be confirmed by recipients to ensure that external sponsors reimburse the grantee only for the time and effort actually expended on their behalf.

• It is, therefore, Washington University’s policy that all

faculty and staff involved in allocating salaries and wages to sponsored funds and completing effort reports are responsible for understanding the principles of timely and accurate effort reporting.

Why ePARS?

• Prior to 2008, paper-based PAR system
• An electronic web-based effort report system powered by
• Enhance Washington University's ability to meet the federal effort

reporting guidelines.

What is ePARS?

• Certifier: Employees who work on sponsored projects are required to

certify their effort for certain periods throughout the fiscal year via the ePARS system. This group includes the following individuals:

All School of Medicine Faculty Danforth Faculty that charge a portion of their academic year or summer salary to sponsored projects and/or cost sharing. Staff and Students on both campuses that charge a portion of their salary to sponsored projects and/or cost sharing.

ePARS Users

• Effort Coordinator: This individual manages the overall effort certification

process within his/her department/division. The Effort Coordinator will be expected to monitor, review and process effort reports for faculty and staff working on sponsored projects.

ePARS Users

Faculty/Staff/Students Effort Coordinators

• The reporting periods to be certified via ePARS are as follows:

Reporting Periods

Jan Mar Apr Jun Jul Sept Oct Dec Jan May Jun Aug Sept Dec Jan Jun Jul Dec

• Med. School Faculty (Semi-annually)

Jan Jun Jul Dec Danforth (Eng.) Faculty (Semi-annually) Danforth Faculty (Semester) Non-Faculty (Quarterly)

Process Timeline

Collect Payroll & Adjustments

Effort Coordinator Certifier

Preview Period Activity Prepare & Agree Process Post Certification Activity Certify Effort Certify as Proxies Effort Reporting Period 1 Week Preview Period 30 Day Certification Period Post Certification Period

• The ePARS system is available via the direct link to the ePARS portal

embedded in your reminder emails:

• https://eparsprod.wustl.edu/ecrt/
• Alternatively, you can find ePARS in One WUSTL:
• https://one.wustl.edu/task/all/epars

Access to ePARS

Let’s try it!

e PARS

Personal Activity Reporting

 Certifier’s Perspective  Effort Coordinator’s Perspective

Effort fort Re Repor

• rting

ting Proc

• cess

ess

Comprehensive Email Notifications

Effort Statement

As soon as you log in, you will be taken to your current period Effort Statement.

Department rtment Name me and Numbe mber Proxy y Assig ignmen ment

Due Date Effort rt Coordinat inator Historical

• rical and In Pr

Progre gress ss Effort rt Stateme tement

Certifi ificat cation ion Pe Period

• d

Due Date

Status tus

Easy Access to Effort Card PDF

Easy Access to Certification Payroll Report

Easy Access to Certification Payroll Report

ePARS

Personal Activity Reporting

A Fresh Look of Effort Statement

Leave ve a N Note Add an A n Atta tachm hmen ent

A Well-Organized Home Page

All l stateme ements ts for you to certi tify

Hands-on Experience: Certifier

• 1. Log into ePARS Training System as a Certifier
• 2. Open a effort statement to locate certification frequency & effort reporting period
• 3. Add a note and view your note
• 4. Add an attachment
• 5. Certify your own effort statement or as a proxy for someone else
• 6. View historical report
• 7. View transaction history
• 8. Save the effort report in PDF
• 9. Run the Payroll report in two different views and download it in Excel

Exciting New Features for Effort Coordinators…

A Well-Organized Home Page

All l stateme ements ts for you to certi tify

A Well-Organized Home Page

Proce cess ss Effort rt Statemen ement t and Payroll roll Adjustment tment

A Well-Organized Home Page

A Well-Organized Home Page

A Well-Organized Home Page

All l certifie tifiers rs in n your ur dept.

Two Simple Ways to Look Up an Effort Statement

To pull up the effort statement of an individual, simply enter the individual’s name or employee ID in the search box located in the upper right corner. Alternatively, you may go to the Look-up Page to search for the individual.

Effort Recertification

Manuel Certification Option

Add an Account

Add an Account

Add an Account

Add an Account

Hands-on Experience: Effort Coordinator

• 1. Log into ePARS Training System as an Effort Coordinator
• 2. Process a certification statement
• 3. Process a payroll adjustment
• 4. Find a list of outstanding effort statements in your department, and open one
• 5. Do a manual certification.

1) Tip: Download the PDF effort statement, then upload it and add a note

• 6. After the manual certification, view the note, attachment and transaction history
• 7. Use two different methods to look up the effort statement of someone in you
• department. The effort statement is still in “Not Certified, Not Processed” status.

1) Tip: You can find his/her employee ID on the Associated Certifiers’ Tab

• 8. Certify an effort statement and then reopen it to add an account

10 Minutes Break

e PARS

Personal Activity Reporting

De Dept./Div /Div. Da Dash shboard board

Two Simple Ways to Access User Profiles

Department/D rtment/Divi ivisio sion Dashbo hboard ard

Two Simple Ways to Access User Profiles

Set Primary Effort Coordinator

Two Simple Ways to Access User Profiles

Open User Profil ile

Manage User Profiles

Open the User Profile is through the Manage Users page.

Manage User Profiles

Manage User Profiles

Manage User Profiles

Manage User Profiles

Proxy Qualification

Suitable Means of Verification

• It is the University’s policy that each individual complete his or her own

effort certification.

• If an individual is no longer with the University or is unavailable at the

time of the certification period, a Proxy who has suitable means of verification may certify on his or her behalf.

• The Proxy certification requires the documented review by an

appropriate individual, such as the Principal Investigator, project manager, or supervisor, or an employee who has firsthand knowledge that the work was performed.

e PARS

Personal Activity Reporting

Re Repor

• rts

ts Fu Func nction tion

Certifier Proxy Report

Certification Status Report

External Audit Report

Certifier Payroll Report

Certifier Payroll Summery Report

Hands-on Experience: Department/Division Dashboard & Report

• 1. Log into ePARS Training System as an Effort Coordinator
• 2. Open a Certified but not Processed ePARS through Dept/Div Dashboard
• 3. Filter the list to show Quarterly, 4/1/2014 to 6/30/2014 employees only, and send a

reminder email to the sponsored group

• 4. Locate the Department Effort Coordinator list
• 5. Use two different methods to open a user’s Profile
• 6. Make a proxy assignment
• 7. Delete the proxy assignment that you just made
• 8. Run the Certifier Proxy Report
• 9. Run the Certification Status Report under Reports with the following parameters

1) Status: Not Certified, Not Processed 2) School/Department: the department that you have access to (start with 001…) 3) Start Date: 01/01/2008 and End Date: 11/30/2008

Additional Resources

ePARS Website: http://epars.wustl.edu/epars-training-live-sessions/

• 8 Minutes Interactive Tutorial (Download and then View)
• Effort Reporting policies
• Security Form
• Quick Guides
• Certification Dates

e PARS

Personal Activity Reporting

For additional information, please contact ……

You have now completed the e-PARS Training!

e PARS

Personal Activity Reporting

Washington University in St. Louis

SPONSORED PROJECT ACCOUNTING

Carla Reed

Grant Specialist One Brookings Drive

• St. Louis, MO 63130

314-935-7939 reedc@wustl.edu

Washington University in St. Louis

SPONSORED PROJECT ACCOUNTING

Christal Zhu

Financial Systems Coordinator One Brookings Drive

• St. Louis, MO 63130

314-935-8202 zhuwanjun@wustl.edu

Glossary/Definitions

Certifier: Primary Individual who has responsibility for certifying his or her effort. This includes all Medical School faculty members and all individuals that work on sponsored funds. Certified Effort: Effort that has been certified by the individual who performed the work, or a proxy. Certified Effort Column on Effort statement: The time, stated as a percentage of total professional time, that an individual actually devoted to a particular Sponsored Project or other activity during the effort reporting period. Certification Period: The 30-day period of time during which all individuals must certify their own effort. Cost Transfers: An expense that is transferred from one account to another when an error has occurred in the amount initially charged to the account. A retroactive salary distribution form is the mechanism for initiating a cost transfer. Department Effort Coordinator: The department person responsible for coordination between SPA and faculty and research staff in their departments to facilitate administration of the salary distribution reports, and the effort certification process. The Primary Effort Coordinator in each department is charged with monitoring completion and processing the Effort statements for the department.

Glossary/Definitions

Effort: The proportion of time spent on any activity expressed as a percentage of total institutional activities for which an Individual is compensated by WUSTL. Total effort for an employee must always equal 100%, regardless of part-time or full-time status, and regardless of number of hours worked. The effort on a sponsored project may be equal to or greater than the salary charged to the project, and may be the same

• r different than the planned effort.. It is recognized that activities of individuals in an academic institutions

are often inextricably intermingled so a precise accounting of time spent on various activities is not required. ePAR (Effort statement): Screen portraying an individual’s salary and effort distribution for an effort reporting period that will be certified. It documents the proportion of total effort devoted by an individual to each account. When certified, the effort statement is the official verification of effort attributed to and salary paid by a sponsored project. Salary paid by a sponsored project may not be greater than effort, and is subject to sponsor-imposed salary caps. An effort statement must be completed by someone with suitable means of verification of the effort expended on a project. This may be the individual or it may be the direct supervisor.

Glossary/Definitions

Effort Certification: A means of confirming the percentage of Effort spent in support of each sponsored project and all other institutional activities for a given period of time. Effort Certification requires that both effort paid by the sponsor, and effort paid by the institution be confirmed. Each Individual's Effort Certification must account for total effort (100%). Effort Reporting Periods: Either the Semester, Quarterly, or Semi-Annual time period over which effort is reported at WUSTL. Institutional Base Salary (IBS): The annual compensation paid to an individual by WUSTL. IBS includes compensation for instruction, public service, organized research, patient care, department research, department administration, and/or other activities. Non-Sponsored Individuals: Individuals in a department who have effort and salary exclusively on non sponsored accounts. These people are not required to certify their effort. Effort statements are prepared by the system, but they are auto processed. Post-Certification Period: The designated period of time when the certified and processed effort statements are reviewed and evaluated for need for either retroactive salary adjustments or sponsor letters.

Glossary/Definitions

Pre-Review Period: The two week period of time following the end of the effort reporting period when the Effort Coordinator reviews compiled Effort statements, and enters any needed revisions in preparation for certifiers’ review. PI: A person listed as a principal investigator, project director, co-investigator, co-project director, or someone with comparable responsibilities on a sponsored project. Researcher: An employee who has allocated effort to a Sponsored Program, whether or not paid by the program. Sponsored Project: An internally or externally funded activity that is governed by specific terms and

• conditions. Sponsored Projects must be separately budgeted and accounted for subject to terms of the

sponsoring organization or unit. Sponsored Projects may include grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements for research, instruction and training, and other public service activities. System Administrator: Individual(s) in charge of ePARS, who will be the contact for ePARS related questions and issues.

e PARS

Personal Activity Reporting