Personnel Effort Reporting System (PERS)

The Federal government's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-21 contains requirements for procedures and documentation in support of the distribution of salaries and wages (direct and indirect) under a system of Personnel Effort Reporting. The Circular provides that “All Federal agencies that sponsor research and development, training, and other work at educational institutions shall apply the provisions of the Circular in determining the costs incurred for such work.”

Requirements

Under the Personnel Effort Reporting System, the distribution of salaries and wages will be supported by personnel effort reports as follows:

Personnel Effort Reports will reflect the distribution of effort expended by activity for each employee covered by the system. Such reports must reflect an after-the-fact reporting of the effort expended by the employee.
Each report will account for 100 percent of the effort for which the employee receives regular compensation and which is required in fulfillment of the employee's obligation to the institution. The report shall reasonably reflect the percentage of effort applicable to each sponsored program, each indirect cost category, and each major function of the institution.
Each report will be signed by the employee or by a responsible official having first hand knowledge of the work performed.

OMB Circular A-21 further requires that Personnel Effort Reports (PER) support cost sharing of salaries and wages on the sponsored programs.

Personnel Effort Reports should document personnel effort provided in support of departmental administration activities.

Employees Subject to Personnel Effort Reporting

Georgia State University employees who meet the following criteria are covered by the personnel effort reporting system:

Employees with any portion of their salary charged directly to a sponsored program; and/or
Employees who have a portion of their salary charged to a major function of the University (i.e. Instruction, Research, Public Service, or Departmental Administration).

A PER will not be generated for any employee who does not meet the above criteria. However, if that employee did, in fact, expend effort on an activity described above, then that employee should request a PER for completion from RFS.

It is the responsibility of the employee (or certifying responsible official, if other than the employee) to identify and properly report effort expended.

The exceptions to the above criteria are any employees whose effort is accounted for by the time sheets (i.e. student assistants, temporary employees, etc.), part time instructors, and graduate teaching assistants. A PER will not be generated for these employees.

Reporting Frequency

All Faculty, Staff and Graduate Assistants who meet the above criteria will complete a PER by semester.

After-the-Fact Certification Procedures

As stated in above, OMB Circular A-21 requires that certification of effort expended be reported on an after-the-fact basis. The following information is provided for assistance in completing Personnel Effort Reports:

One PER will be generated for each position in which the employee works during each reporting period with the exception of a faculty member who is paid from Summer Faculty and Compensation for Research. These charges will be combined and reflected on one PER.
Extra Compensation and Salary Supplements are not considered part of an employee's base salary and will not be accounted for by Personnel Effort Reports.

Monitoring and Review

Internal reviews and audits will be performed to assure that the PER System complies with the personnel effort reporting requirements as specified in OMB Circular A-21. Research Financial Services will monitor the system to insure that all personnel effort reports are returned and properly reflected in the University's accounting system. The University's Internal Audit staff will periodically review the system to insure the system's effectiveness and compliance with OMB regulations.

Departmental Administration

The Personnel Effort Reporting System will support personnel effort expended for departmental administration. Departmental administrative effort includes, but is not limited, to the following:

Supervisory or managerial activities.
Administering personnel policies (appointments, evaluations, promotions, and review of Personnel Effort Reports).
Preparation and review of faculty workload assignments (including assignment of duties to sponsored agreements).
Preparation and review of budget documents.
Preparation and/or approval of purchase requisitions, travel authorizations, consultant forms, and miscellaneous payment requests.
Preparation and review of payroll documents.
Space management and assignment.
Property inventory and control.
Effort directly related to administration of contracts and grants within the department.

Salaries of department heads are, by virtue of their position, deemed to be all or in part administrative in nature.

For salaries of professorial and professional staff to be included in departmental administration, it is necessary for their workload to include administrative work as described above.

Organizational units such as institutes, study centers, and research centers must also support any departmental administration through the use of Personnel Effort Reports.

Cost Sharing

OMB Circular A-21 requires that all cost sharing be recorded, accounted for and documented in the same manner and to the same extent as all other costs of the grantee. Such documentation is frequently required by Federal, State, Local and Private sponsors.

All cost shared salaries must be accounted for by Personnel Effort Reports. The sponsored project for which the effort is being cost shared must be indicated on the PER. Enter the Sponsored Account – not the Cost Share account in the “Specifics” field of the report.

It is emphasized that the amount of University cost sharing included in proposals and applications should be limited to the amount specifically required by the funding agency. Documenting cost sharing will continue to be the Department Head's responsibility.

Instructions for Completing Personnel Effort Reports

The departmental Effort Reporting contact receives an email notification the Personnel Effort Reports (PERs) from Grants and Contracts Services are available in the PERS system. The contact person coordinates their completion within the department by the appropriate responsible officials and/or employees.
The employee or responsible official verifies that the employee listed on the PER worked in the department and position reflected at the top of the form during the time period specified.
The employee or responsible official records the percent of effort performed in each activity category in the “actual effort” column. The total effort reported in this column must sum to 100%.
When actual effort for a sponsored activity is reported, verify that the account listed in the “account number” column is correct. If this column is blank or contains an incorrect account number, then request a payroll adjustment from your payroll official.
When actual effort for Departmental Administration is indicated, complete the “Departmental Administration Checklist” on the second tab of the report. Check next to each type of departmental activity performed by the employee.
The employee or responsible official having first-hand knowledge of all effort that was expended in the position specified must complete or review, and certify the report.
Upon completion, the departmental approver should notify Grants and Contracts the reports have been certified and print the Dept Certification Report for their records. It is not necessary to send any paperwork to Grants and Contracts.

Activity Definitions (used in PERS)

University Instruction means the teaching and training activities of the University that are supported by University funds and are not related to a sponsored project. This category includes all teaching and training activities, whether they are offered for credit toward a degree or certificate or on a non-credit basis, and whether they are offered through regular academic departments or separate divisions such as the Division of Continuing Education. This includes activities such as test grading and preparation, class monitoring, demonstrations for student groups, scheduling, revising existing/designing new academic courses, Thesis/Dissertation supervision, serving on student research and academic project committees, etc.
Sponsored Instruction means specific instructional or training activities established by grant, contact or cooperative agreement and that are budgeted and accounted for separately by sponsored account. A separate line should be completed for each sponsored project and associated effort.
Cost Shared Instruction means specific instructional or training activities in support of a sponsored instruction project that is funded by University funds. This category would include both mandatory and voluntary cost sharing on sponsored instruction projects. The sponsored project account number must be specified (i.e. BL123).
University/Department Research means all research and development activities that are supported by University funds and are not elated to a sponsored project.
Sponsored Research means all research and development activities established by grant, contract or cooperative agreement and that are budgeted and accounted for separately by sponsored account. This category includes activities involving the training of individuals in research techniques (commonly called research training) where such activities utilize the same facilities as other research and development activities and where such activities are not included in the sponsored instruction function. A separate line should be completed for each sponsored project and associated effort.
Cost Shared Research means specific research and development activities in support of a sponsored research project that is funded by University funds. This category would include both mandatory and voluntary cost sharing on sponsored research projects. Sponsored project account number must be specified.
University Public Service means activities that are established primarily to provide non-instructional and non-research services to individuals and groups external to the University. This category includes community service programs, technical assistance, consulting services, and similar non-instructional services.
Sponsored Public Service means specific public service activities that are established by grant, contract or cooperative agreement and that are budgeted and accounted for separately by sponsored account. A separate line should be completed for each sponsored project and associated effort.
Cost Shared Public Service means specific public service activities in support of a sponsored public service project that is funded by University funds. This category would include both mandatory and voluntary cost sharing on sponsored public service projects.
Departmental Administration means all activities provided for administrative and supporting services that benefit common or joint departmental activities (instruction, research and public service) in academic dean's offices, academic departments, and organized research units. It includes the administrative effort of dean's, department heads, faculty, professional staff and non-professional staff whose activities provide administrative support for activity categories 1. through 9. above. See the Departmental Administration checklist on the reverse side of the Personnel Effort Report.
Other Sponsored Activities means specific activities that are established by grant, contract or cooperative agreement and that are budgeted and accounted for separately by a sponsored account. This category includes activities not reflected in categories 2, 5 and 8 above. Examples of other sponsored activities would include library grants, student service grants, energy conservation grants, etc.
Additional Activities includes any activity not defined in categories 1 through 11 above. For this category, please provide a short description of the type of work performed.

Questions? Contact Nichole Andrews at (404) 651-3946