Effort Reporting

PERT Overview

PERT is the University's federal effort and committed cost share reporting system. Compliance with federally established Office of Management and Budget, OMB Circular A-21, Cost Principles for Educational Institutions requires educational institutions to maintain an accurate system for reporting the percentage of time that employees devote to federally funded projects (Effort).
Effort is the work or proportion of time spent on any activity and expressed as a percentage of total time. Total effort of 100% must be reported. Percent of effort does not reflect number of hours.
Committed Cost Share is any project cost not borne by the sponsor (regardless of funding source) and committed by USF for the performance of an externally funded project. Such commitments must be explicitly stated in the project budget, described in the proposal narrative, or included within the sponsor's guidelines as a commitment.

PERT reports are generated after each semester (3 times per year). Each certification period is approximately 5 weeks. Reports are locked when generated, released to the DRs for review and the released to the certifiers.
The PERT schedule may be found on the Effort Reporting website or by contacting the PERT staff.
The schedule is coordinated by the PERT Advisory Committee and posted annually. The deadlines are communicated to the departments when effort reports are released for review and certification. The certification deadline is also displayed on each PERT report. Strict adherence to these deadlines is critical in meeting federal compliance requirements for timely reporting.