ERS Effort Report Release – Summer 2018, Fall 2018, Winter 2019

Dear Colleagues,

EFM is pleased to announce that you can now access your department’s effort reports and begin the certification process for the following reporting periods:

Please note the deadline to certify effort reports for this release is Friday, November 13, 2020. If your department has any outstanding uncertified effort reports from previous quarters, please complete certifications in ERS as soon possible.

Special Instructions for Known UCPath Issues

The following issues could not be resolved before the release of effort reports. The affected effort reports have been flagged as “Preliminary Review” in ERS and require adjustments before certification. A complete list of reports impacted by one or more of these issue can be found in the ERS Master Exception List here: https://efm.research.ucla.edu/ers-training/#specialinstructions

An example of the “Preliminary Review” flag along with an example comment in ERS can be seen below. The comment will include a description of the issue impacting the report and instructions for the reviewer/certifier. An explanation for each comment can be found below. Some reports may have multiple issues and therefore contain multiple comments.

Explanation of Comments in ERS for Known UCPath Issues

1. “Pending Mass Leave Correction (MLC) entry – do not certify until further instruction is provided by EFM”
   • This comment indicates that pending adjustments will be posted centrally by Corporate Financial Services via MLC to correct UCPath errors related to exceptions taken (e.g., VAC, SKL). EFM will send a notification once MLC entries are posted and the report is ready for certification.
   • Additional background on the Mass Leave Correction and UCPath errors it will correct can be found here starting on slide 3
2. “Incorrect percent of effort for effort bearing payroll line – review supplemental Excel file and job aid provided by EFM before certification”
   • This comment indicates that effort % is inaccurate on one or more records in the effort report and the entire report needs to be recalculated.
   • EFM will provide a supplemental Excel file with updated recalculated effort percentages for all known impacted effort reports, along with a job aid. These materials will be sent separately to ERS Coordinators in impacted departments soon after effort reports are released.
   • In addition, an invitation will be sent to the ERS listserv for an EFM webinar to review the job aid and provide impacted departments an opportunity to ask questions.
3. “Missing payroll record(s) in effort report – do not certify until further instruction is provided by EFM”
   • This comment indicates that one or more payroll records is missing from the effort report and therefore effort percentages are potentially inaccurate.
   • Do not certify the effort report at this time. EFM will provide additional information and instructions for reports impacted by this issue soon.

You may discover an inaccuracy in the effort reports other than the scenarios described above. If you identify an incorrect percent of effort in one or more records in an effort report, the entire effort report will need to be recalculated. Please contact ERS Help Desk (ershelp@research.ucla.edu) with the employee name, employee ID, report period, and description of the issue for the impacted effort report and EFM will assist with the effort recalculation.

Lastly, please be aware that previously certified effort reports may have been reopened if a payroll transaction from UCPath with an earn date of 7/31/18 or prior was loaded into ERS. Please review any effort reports from previous releases that have been reopened to ensure accuracy of the new UCPath payroll transactions and recertify accordingly.

General Reminders

• Please see ERS FAQs for helpful information related to effort reports.
• Principal Investigators (PIs) are required to include committed cost sharing when certifying effort reports.
• PIs must self-certify their own effort reports.
• Non-PI effort reports can be certified by either the PI, the employee, or an authorized certifier with first-hand knowledge of the employee’s effort.
• Unless an effort report status is “Certified” the report is considered “Open” and requires review and certification.
• Effort reports with a “Not Required” status should be reviewed and verified to determine if effort or cost sharing should be reported.

For any questions, please contact ERS Support at ershelp@research.ucla.edu.

Thank You,

Extramural Fund Management