UCSD
CAMPUS NOTICE
University of California, San Diego
 

OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR -
RESEARCH

OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR -
BUSINESS AFFAIRS

June 11, 2007


ALL ACADEMICS AND STAFF AT UCSD (including UCSD Medical Center)

SUBJECT:    Electronic Certification of Effort Reporting

UC San Diego's world-class research enterprise reflects a tradition of outstanding scholarly accomplishments and of responsible stewardship of the funding that supports it. Compliance with funding regulations requires alignment between payroll data and the percent effort that researchers devote to their projects.

For some time, many of you have been using the Personnel Activity Reporting (PAR) system to provide percent effort data for you and your co-workers. We are writing to alert you to the upcoming implementation of a new Electronic Certification of Effort and Reporting Tool (ECERT) that will replace the PAR system. ECERT will be launched with a limited number of departments this June and will be used by the entire campus by March, 2008.

The new system has capabilities that are expected to make it a substantial improvement over the PAR system:

* Principal Investigators will easily be able to access and review effort reports for all employees who are paid on their projects.

* ECERT will be accessible 24 hours a day online from any internet connection.

* Certifications will be captured electronically and will be accessible online for future reference. The ECERT system will thus serve as the "office of record."

* ECERT calculations provide a more reasonable estimate of effort expended and are easier to understand because adjustments are automatically made for special cases, such as the NIH Salary Cap.

Your department will receive updates on the roll-out of ECERT, and training will be offered to you and your staff for using it. We appreciate your assistance as we seek to improve our ability to manage our effort reports.

More information can be found at http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/ecert.

If you have further questions please contact ecerthelpdesk@ucsd.edu.


Arthur B. Ellis
Vice Chancellor -
Research Affairs

Steven W. Relyea
Vice Chancellor -
Business Affairs