At this small institution, PIs sign the paper effort reports for those who report to them, Department Head signs for the PI.  If the PI is a department head, I sign with authority delegated from the Provost.  People at large institutions don't believe me, but I actually personally have the opportunity to see the work that the PIs do.  In some cases I attend steering committee meetings for particular grants, in some cases I stop by the lab and take a look, and in some cases the PI drops by for coffee and we chat about how the grant is going.  This is the joy of a small institution.  Because of this interaction, I feel quite comfortable signing an effort report form in the couple of cases where I end up needing to do that.

I do not require effort report forms from employees who are 100% grant funded, since their College contract indicates they will spend 100% of their time on the grant.  The exception is one employee who is paid from two grants; I require that he document his time so that we can demonstrate there's no double-charging.  His effort report is signed by both of the PIs to whom he reports.

We have pre-award and post-award combined in a single office.  We take care of effort reporting.  Finance has nothing to do with it.  Upon grant award, the Research Office informs Payroll of the pay allocation stipulated in the grant, which is what is paid unless Payroll hears otherwise from us (e.g. if the allocation of time changes, we get an OK from federal agency, we notify Payroll that the arrangement is now different, future effort reports are checked as they come in to verify they are adhering to the new arrangement and not the old).

Landy

__________________________
Landy C. Johnson, MPA, Ph.D.
Director of Grant Development
Assumption College, Alumni Hall 024
500 Salisbury St.
Worcester, MA  01609-1296
(508)767-7666
xxxxxx@assumption.edu
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