In the majority of externally sponsored awards, a Principal Investigator/Project Director (PI/PD) has budgeted for a portion of their time and effort to be funded by the Sponsor. For example, a PI may have budgeted for 2 summer months and/or 1 course release during the academic year. This commitment of time and effort results in a legal obligation that the PI/PD and the University must fulfill.
Under Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.430, the rate of pay for project personnel is based on their current institutional base salary. As one example, faculty with 10-month appointments may budget for academic year release time and compensation for summer salary.
A time and effort picture is a snapshot in time and can easily change from one day to another. For example, a proposal that was submitted six months ago may be funded tomorrow and therefore change the time and effort picture. Additionally, faculty with several active projects may have a more complicated time and effort picture. Consequently, to assist the PI/PD in tracking their committed time and effort, as well as their project personnel’s time on active sponsored awards, OSP has developed a Time and Effort Map (T&E Map). This can be a useful tool for tracking and planning one’s time and effort over a period of time.
By completing the T&E Map, PI/PDs can gain a clear and better picture of their awarded/committed effort. It is highly recommended that PI/PDs with several active awards and who plan to submit future proposals use the T&E Map to help them plan any time and effort commitments. In addition, by mapping all of the committed/awarded time and effort, a PI/PD will be able to determine if any commitments need to be adjusted. For example, let’s say a PI/PD has a current award that funds two summer months in Year 1, and consequently the PI/PD receives another award that funds one summer month in that same year. By inputting the time and effort into the T&E Map, the PI/PD will easily determine that they are overcommitted for that summer and that the summer time and effort needs to be adjusted. Depending on the sponsor, adjusting time and effort commitments may need prior approval. If a PI/PD is uncertain as to whether a change requires sponsor prior approval, he/she should contact their assigned Grant Accountant and/or an OSP post-award officer to determine whether the change requires the sponsor’s prior approval.
Again, time and effort commitments made in a proposal that are consequently funded become obligatory and need to be met or adjusted. The T&E Map is a tool that will assist PI/PDs to ensure that they are meeting their time and effort obligations.