Effort Certification

What is Effort Certification?

Effort certification is the process we use to track which staff hours are worked on which project. All employees must attest to their hours, and supervisors must review and approve them. Our Finance Team uses that information to divide up payroll costs, bill funders, and maintain auditable records. We are required to do effort certification by our funders and CCE Extension Admin, our parent organization.

All employees are responsible for completing effort certification by the end of each pay period. Supervisors must approve effort certifications no later than 5 days after the end of the pay period.

• Non-exempt hourly staff deadline: biweekly Wednesdays
• Exempt salaried staff deadline: 15th and last day of each month

Effort Certification Training & Instructions

Beginning on 6/30/22 (for non-exempt hourly staff) and 7/1/22 (for exempt salaried staff), we are using an online system called BambooHR for effort certification. All staff (except summer camp staff) will use Bamboo for effort certification. To learn how, please refer to the training materials below:

• Bamboo Effort Certification - Staff Training Video (~12 minute video)
• Bamboo Effort Certification - Staff Training Slides (PDF)

In addition, supervisors are responsible for reviewing, approving, and tracking effort certifications. To learn how, please refer to the training materials below:

• Bamboo Effort Certification - Supervisor Training Video (~13 minute video)
• Bamboo Effort Certification - Supervisor Training Slides (PDF)

How to Get Help with Effort Certification

1. Try the Bamboo Help Center. Log into Bamboo, click the question mark icon at the top right corner of the page, and type in the topic you'd like help with. Bamboo has video tutorials, step-by-step guides, and more.
2. Ask your supervisor. 
3. Attend HR Office Hours. You can find those listed at http://ccetompkins.org/about-us/for-staff.
4. Email the HR Team at Tompkins-HR@cornell.edu.

Past Effort Certification Materials

In the past, we used Excel spreadsheets to track effort certification. These are included here for reference.

Please do not use these past 6/30/22 (for non-exempt hourly staff) or 7/1/22 (for exempt salaried staff) unless instructed to do so by your supervisor.

Past Training Materials

• Past Instructions
• Past Informational Video (1 hour)

Past Non-Exempt Employee Forms

• 2022 Jan-Feb Non-Exempt Employee Form
  
• 2022 Mar-Apr Non-Exempt Employee Form
  
• 2022 May-June Non-Exempt Employee Form
  

Past Exempt Employee Forms                                                                         

• 2022 Jan-Feb Exempt Employee Form
  
• 2022 Mar-Apr Exempt Employee Form
  
• 2022 May-June Exempt Employee Form

Past Submission Instructions

In the past, employees were asked to save the spreadsheet that corresponded to their employment type, and complete the time reporting for hours worked under all relevant grants using the "salary split" info provided by the Finance Department and your Workday data. Full how-to instructions can be found in the first link.

1. Send the effort cert to the tompkins-expenses@cornell.edu.
2. In the subject line of the email, be sure to type “Effort Cert for Fred Flinstone”
3. Be sure that you are only sending the file as an excel file, other formats will not be accepted.
4. Please save the effort cert in the following manner:
   First name last name NetID employee number Effort Cert for mmdd. 
   For example “Fred Flinstone ff22 #1234567 Effort Cert for 3.17”
   The number at the end is the ending day and month of the time period you are submitting for.

Last updated July 15, 2022