In the majority of externally sponsored awards, a Principal Investigator (PI) has budgeted for a portion of their salary 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. By budgeting for a portion of their salary, the PI is committing a portion of their time and effort to the sponsored award. This commitment of time and effort results in an obligation that the PI and university must fulfill.
A PI’s total time and effort availability is the total allocation of time to University teaching, service, research, and other activities (e.g., advising) which accounts for 100% of their time and accordingly, PI’s may not work more than 100% of their time. In addition, PI’s cannot be paid more than 100% of their base salary rate as specified under Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.430.
A PI’s 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 PI’s time and effort picture. Consequently, to assist PI’s in tracking their committed time and effort on active sponsored awards, OSP has developed a Time and Effort Map (T&E Map).
By completing the T&E Map, PI’s can gain a clear and better picture of their awarded/committed effort. It is highly recommended that PI’s with several active awards and who plan to submit future proposals, use the T&E Map to help them plan any time and effort committed in the proposal. In addition, by mapping all of the PI’s committed/awarded time and effort, a PI will be able to determine if any commitments need to be adjusted. For example, if a PI has a current award that funds two summer months in 2022 and consequently the PI receives another award that funds one summer month also in 2022, by inputting the time and effort into the T&E Map, the PI will easily determine that they are overcommitted for summer 2022 and consequently, the 2022 summer time and effort needs to be adjusted. Depending on the Sponsor, adjusting time and effort commitments may need prior approval. If PI’s find they need to adjust their time and effort, they should contact OSP to determine if prior approval by the Sponsor is required.
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’s to ensure that they are meeting their time and effort obligations.
Updated: November 24, 2021