Effort certification instructions

Certifying an effort report in Workday

A certified effort report is like a receipt for payroll expenses - it assures a sponsor that they only paid for work that benefited their project.

Your job as an effort certifier is to review the effort report and determine whether or not it is a reasonably accurate representation of how you spent your time during the effort reporting period.

For example, if a six-month effort report shows that you were paid 50% from Sponsored Project A, 30% from Sponsored Project B, and 20% from a departmental account, you need to ask yourself if over the last six months, you actually spent at least 50% of your time on Project A and 30% of your time on Project B.

If the effort report is a reasonably accurate representation (within 5%) of how you actually spent your time, you can certify it.

However, let's say you were paid 50% from Sponsored Project A, but you actually spent very little time on that project during the reporting period. You realize that the effort report is not an accurate representation of how you spent your time and Sponsored Project A should not have paid for 50% of your time. What do you do?

First, do not certify your effort report. Instead, use Workday to send your effort report back to your department with comments on how your time was actually spent. Your department will adjust your payroll distribution and then send you a revised effort report. Only certify an effort report that is correct.

Instructions for reviewing and certifying an effort report in Workday

1. Open Workday
2. Click the Log Into Workday button.
3. Click the Active NSHE Community Members box.
4. Click on the University of Nevada, Reno tab.
5. Enter your UNRN NetID and password, then click Sign In.
6. Your Workday homepage will display. In the upper right hand corner you'll see your name and a little cloud with a number in a red circle. Click on the cloud.
7. Click on your Inbox.
8. View your effort report on the right hand side of the page.
9. You will first see the Summary view - it shows the distribution of pay over the entire reporting period. Non-sponsored accounts will always display first, then the sponsored project accounts. The worktag numbers of the non-sponsored accounts will not be detailed. They will display as [blank].
10. If you want to see the details of each pay period, click on the Details tab to the right of the Summary tab.
11. If the effort report is a reasonably accurate representation of how you spent your time during the reporting period, scroll back up to the Certification Statement. Read it carefully, then click the I Certify box.
12. Then click on the Submit button at the bottom of the page.
13. Finally, click on the Done button to complete the certification process.
14. If your effort is not a reasonably accurate (+/- 5%) representation of how you spent your time, do not certify the effort report. Instead, click on the Send Back button at the bottom of the page,
    Please note, Workday displays a Change Effort button, but do not click on it. The department should change incorrect payroll distributions, not the certifier.
15. The next page will let you know who the report is being returned to. Type in the reason you are returning the effort report, then click on the Submit button.
16. Then click the Done button at the bottom of the next page to complete the review and send back process.
17. To log out of Workday, click the cloud again then click Sign Out.

For more information

If you experience any problems with the Workday effort certification process, or have questions, please contact Michele Dondanville at mdondanville@unr.edu or (775) 784-6360.