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Office of Sponsored Programs

Time & Effort Reporting and PAR

Time and effort reporting is a documentation and compliance system that certifies the actual effort employees spend on grant-funded projects. It is expressed as a percentage of their work activities. 

The University of Montana (UM) is required to comply with federal regulations regarding effort certification. Effort reporting is required for all employees paid from or contributing time to sponsored programs to ensure that charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated.

Personnel Activity Report (PAR) 

To meet federal requirements, UM utilizes an electronic effort/salary reporting system embedded within U-Approve. This system generates Personnel Activity Reports (PARs), which serve two purposes: 

  1. Effort Certification - Certify that the time paid to an individual from a sponsored program was actual time expended on an award.  
  2. Cost Match Certification - Certify that the time recorded as cost sharing was the actual time spent working on that sponsored program, but charged to another Banner Index (typically a non-grant index).  

Important: Funds from a sponsored award cannot be used as cost share for another award, unless prior written authorization is obtained from each sponsor. Federal funds are generally unallowable as cost share under federal regulations. 

U-Approve PAR Help Guide 

Refer to the PAR Help Guide for detailed instructions regarding:  

If you still have questions after reviewing the help guide, please contact your post-award Grant and Contract Officer (GCO) listed in the OSP departmental assignments.  

PAR Certification/Approval Process 

Employee Certification 

On the 28th of each month, employees paid from or cost-sharing on a sponsored project will receive an email notification to verify 100% of their institutional effort/salary. This email notification is also sent to the departmental research administrators (DRAs) listed in the OSP departmental assignments. (add link to the business service UApprove help page)  

  • To access PAR and receive notifications, users must have a UMontana alias and a NetID and password.  
  • Certain positions, including most students, may not generate a PAR.  

It is the employee’s responsibility to review the pay source index code and certify effort allocation by selecting “Approve” or “Not Approve” for each pay record.   

  • If a portion of the PAR record is incorrect, select “Not Approve” only for those index codes where the allocation is not correct, and choose the appropriate reason; and select “Approve” for index codes where the allocation is correct. 
  • Effort percentages in PAR are based on pay amounts, so they may be skewed if an employee has multiple pay rates for different work performed. For example, if a person devotes 50% effort to a $15/hour position and 50% to an $18/hour position, the effort percentage for the latter will exceed 50%.  

For employees with a cost match commitment, cost match effort can be added to PAR if a TE indicator has been entered in FRAGRNT by OSP. 

Once the employee verifies their effort, the PAR will electronically route to the Principal Investigator (PI) of the sponsored project.   

PI Certification 

Two weeks after the 28th, the PI will receive a single consolidated email notification to review and approve, or mark as incorrect with the appropriate correction action, the PARs submitted by project personnel. PI can also add or correct salary cost share information if needed. Please note that the PI certifies their own PAR record twice: 1) as the employee and 2) as the PI of the project.  

It is the PI's responsibility to:  

  • Follow up with any employees who have not timely certified their PARs. Pending PARs will appear on the PI Dashboard under "Pending Others' Approval". 
  • Ensure accurate index codes and effort allocation are reflected on the employee’s PAR record. (Insert link to the business services UApprove help page) 
    • For each index code where the allocation is correct, choose “Yes” (agree with the employee’s action) and click the confirmation box. Alternatively, if an index code is correct, but the employee didn't approve it, you can override the employee’s action by clicking No (you do not agree), then choosing Original original distribution is correct. 
    • If an index code is not correct, and the employee clicked Not Approve, click Yes (you agree with the employee’s action) and click the confirmation box. 
    • If an index code is not correct, but the employee approved it, click No (you do not agree), choose the reason, and add an explanatory comment. There is also a box you can check if that index is committed as cost match, so that your GCO knows to adjust the cost match if there will be a cost transfer. 
  • Ensure the cost match is recorded correctly on PAR, if applicable. (Insert link to the business services UApprove help page) 

OSP Approval 

After PI certification, PAR may be routed to the post-award GCO for review and approval when corrective action or cost sharing is involved.  

If OSP approval is not required, the PAR certification process is complete following PI certification. 

Important Note on Payroll Correction 

If the time & effort allocation reflected on the PAR is incorrect, the employee or PI must disapprove the PAR and take the appropriate actions for each of the following circumstances: 

  • Cost transfers between a grant and another grant or non-grant index: Select “Incorrect – Dept must process cost transfer” and notify your DRA to submit a Payroll Cost Transfer Form. Attach a copy of the completed form to the PAR to finalize certification. 
  • HRS data entry errors: If a payroll error was made by HRS (no cost transfer), select “Incorrect – HRS must adjust payroll”. Documentation showing the correct effort must be emailed to OSP. A copy of the DRA’s email to HRS is generally sufficient.