Dear Colleagues,
ORA is pleased to announce the launch of Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC) to replace Effort Reporting in ERS.
ORA initiated the ECC project with goals to reduce administrative burden for faculty and staff, improve efficiency, and maintain compliance with federal regulations on payroll documentation. Federal grant and contract terms (Uniform Guidance Subpart E §200.430) require institutions to certify that the compensation costs charged are reasonable and representative of the effort spent on the awarded project.
All payroll charged to federal awards with Earn End Dates on or after April 1, 2025 will be documented in ECC.
Please see below for important details regarding the transition and actions you need to take.
Key Changes:
- New Certification Methodology: ECC introduces Project Statement Certification, replacing Effort Reporting. Each Project Statement includes payroll for all employees charged to Principal Investigator’s or Managing Investigator’s Account-CC-Fund, making the review process more streamlined and intuitive. Instead of reviewing Effort Reports per employee, Department Administrators now review a single statement per Account-CC-Fund per reporting period.
- Reporting Period: Transition from quarterly to semi-annual reporting. The first reporting period covers April 1, 2025 – September 30, 2025.
- Refer to May 2025 RAF slides here for more details
Next Steps:
- Primary Department Administrators will soon receive an automated email from ECC announcing the start of the certification period, along with a summary of Certifiers (PIs/Managing Investigators) who received the release notification.
- Review Project Statements for your department(s) and coordinate with your Certifiers (PIs and Managing Investigators) to ensure certification is completed by December 23, 2025.
- Download the latest RAPID Closeout Packet Tool (Version Date: 10/20/25) to access the new ECC Payroll Details Report. This report provides detailed payroll transactions charged to each project statement, including individual payroll percentages that make up the total Payroll Percentage column. Training on this report is included in the Department Administrator Instructor-Led Training Presentation.
- Note: Effort Reports generated in ERS will not be migrated to ECC. Please continue to address any outstanding past due Effort Reports in ERS.
Training Materials and Assistance:
To support a smooth transition, the following resources are available:
- Instructor Led Training: Due to high demand, an additional session has been added on October 28, 2025, from 1-3 PM PST.
- Training Materials: New topic based resources will continue to be added to the EFM website in the coming weeks.
- Office Hours: Multiple sessions available during the first certification period.
- ECC Helpdesk: We’re here to assist with any questions you may have.
Thank you for your attention and partnership during this transition.
Sincerely,
Katie Cadle | Manager
Research Finance Compliance | UCLA Extramural Fund Management