Effort Certification System Tutorial

How to Use the Effort Certification System

Overview 1. Log On and View the Home Page 2. General Features of the Pages 3. Select a Unit 4. The Project Detail Page 5. The Distribution Detail Page 6. The Individual Detail Page 7. The Certification Page 8. The Authorizations Page Return to ECS

8. The Authorizations Page

Several authorization statuses are possible for a user of ECS. Depending on your status, you may be able to certify, precertify, or simply view effort information; and you may be able to authorize others or simply view authorizations. The statuses are as follows.

A Principal Investigator is the Unit Head. The PI can authorize others as Delegates, Final Certifiers or Precertifiers. Principal Investigator status is assigned by the Office of Sponsored Projects and is not updatable through ECS.
Co-Principal Investigator is essentially the same status as Principal Investigator, and the same description applies.
A PI Delegate is someone designated by a PI or Co-PI to final certify and to authorize others as Final Certifiers or Precertifiers. However, a PI Delegate cannot assign or delete other PI Delegates.
A Final Certifier can perform final certification but cannot change authorizations.
A Precertifier can make adjustments and precertify effort, but cannot final certify or change authorizations.
After the first Certification Period there will also be a View Only status. This allows a person to view but not modify information in ECS.

The Authorizations page is accessed from the Home Page. There is a menu at the lower right of the page where you can select one of the Unit Codes shown on the Home Page. Select one and click "Go".

Image of Authorizations page menu on Home Page

On the Authorizations page, you will see a list of projects in the unit, with the persons authorized on each of them. If your authorizations allow you to change statuses, there will also be a button labeled "Modify Authorizations on this Project". Click it to update authorizations.

Using that button opens a new, "pop-up" window showing the authorization information for that project. In the new window, you can erase a person's UT-EID to remove an authorization status, or type in a person's UT-EID to assign an authorization status. There is a link that enables you to look up a person's UT-EID. After making changes, click the "Submit" button and close the popup window.