Who Needs to Certify ePERS?

Individuals who work on sponsored projects are required to certify their effort on those projects. If you need to certify effort, you'll receive an email after the end of the semester; the email subject line will read “Your ePER Requires Certification.”

What is ePERS?

How to Access Your ePER

Log in to your campus portal. Click on the CU Resources Home drop-down menu and select Business Tools, then click on the ePERS tile.

How to Certify Your ePER

You can review your ePER and adjust the effort reported, as appropriate. If you adjust your effort to be less than the effort paid on the project, your campus ePER contact will review it for possible creation of a Payroll Expense Transfer (PET).

On the ePERS home page, you'ill see three search options. The Current and Recertification Required sections identify records that require your action:

  • Current: ePERs that need to be certified
  • Recertification Required: ePERs that need to be recertified. Recertification may occur due to changes in payroll/effort.
  • History: ePERs that have already been certified

On the ePER:

Payroll Distribution % shows the % of your salary paid by the project listed on this ePER during the semester. 

Pay with Cost Share effort/NIH Cap (if relevant) includes payroll plus any additional percentage of effort you have committed to the project that will be covered by other university funding sources. 

Total Other Institutional Support (if relevant) includes the % of salary paid for non-project effort by any funding sources other than Funds 30/31. You must enter a value in this field, even if it’s 0, in order to certify.

Your total effort for all positions combined (project effort plus non-project effort) must equal 100%, whether you work full-timeor part-time. In other words, your project effort is not measured by 40-hour work weeks, but by the portion (percentage) of your total work. You will not be able to certify your ePER unless it totals 100%.

To calculate effort, use this equation:

Examples:

  • You worked 44 hours/week on this project. You did not perform any other university work. Therefore, you contributed 100% (44/44) of your university effort to the project.
  • You worked 20 hours/week on this project and 10 additional hours/week on other university activities. Therefore, you contributed 66% (20/30) of your university effort to the project.

Enter the correct actual percentages in the Actual Effort % column, according to the equation and scenarios above. Only whole numbers should be used. 

Click the CERTIFY button in the lower left of the page. The certify button will remain grey until the total effort for your position equals 100%. By certifying, you are agreeing that the effort entered is a reasonable estimate of your actual work during the time period.

The system asks you to verify your action.

  • If you click Cancel, you will return to the ePER for additional update prior to certification.
  • If you click OK, you will see a confirming message displayed at the top of the form. 

Uncertification

If you make a mistake in the certification process, you'll need to uncertify your ePER. Consult your campus ePER contact for assistance.

Reminder Emails

If you do not certify your ePER within 75 days of its initial creation, you'll receive a reminder email notification. You'll also receive a reminder after 100 days, and again at 120 days. After 120 days past the initial ePER creation, youll receive an email reminder every 10 business days until it is certified.