Q: Why am I not receiving any eFECS notifications?
Notifications are dependent upon the email address that is listed in the Employee Self Service Directory (ESS). If there is no email address listed, eFECS substitutes your UWNet ID @ uw.edu and sends notifications to that email address. Login to MyUW.com  to ensure forwarding has been selected if your email address is anything other than your UWNet ID @ uw.edu.

Q: Can I see budget details on all budgets a faculty is paid on? (Even when a budget is not "mine"?)
Yes click the "+"next to any budget number on the online FEC to view detailed salary information by pay period, along with the IBS eligible earn type.

Note: posted salary transfers processed via MYFD will display on uncertified FECs the following day after the transfer was submitted.

Q: How does the eFECS system determine which faculty must certify during an FEC Cycle?
For a given FEC cycle, the eFECS system checks for the following attributes when determining which faculty must certify for the FEC cycle being reviewed:

• The faculty member was paid UW Institutional Base Salary (IBS) from a qualifying Job Class (job class code between 0001-0147 or 0151-0199.)

AND one or both of the following conditions applied during the FEC cycle:

• The faculty was paid on a sponsored budget as defined by the Budget Type Code of 05 (except when the Budget Class Code is 34, 45, 52 or 57)

• The faculty member had a sponsored cost share commitment in the eFECS Cost Sharing System

Q: What if a faculty who needs to certify does not appear on 'My Faculty List'?
In most cases, when faculty who should be required to complete an FEC are not displaying on the faculty list it is because their salary was not charged to a sponsored budget or their cost sharing commitment has not yet been entered into the eFECS Cost Share Module.  There may also be cases where retro pay affecting a grant has not yet been processed. Additional possible scenarios are listed below.

Q: When using the Faculty Search box. I received the error "No match found for "xxxxx". The search criterion entered does not match the name, EID, or UW NetID of any faculty required to certify for a reporting period currently recognized by this system." What does this mean?

Entering a faculty member's name (last name, first), EID or UW NetID in the faculty search box will bring up the most recent FEC for a faculty member who was required to certify. (Cost share commitment was set up in the Cost Share Module and/or salary was charged to a sponsored program.)

There are a few reasons a faculty name might not display in the search results as expected, and, in some cases, it may be closely tied to why the faculty member is not on your faculty list.

• Cost share commitments may still need to be set up for this individual
• Salary wasn't charged to a sponsored program during this reporting cycle
• That individual may not have been required to certify during an FEC cycle supported by the eFECS system. The earliest FEC cycles in eFECS are: 12/16/09-3/15/10 (academic reporters) and 1/1/10-6/30/10 (semi-annual reporters). ( e.g. Individual did not have a faculty job code at the time they were paid or when they had a cost share commitment on a grant.)

Please also see the table displayed above for additional information on why faculty may not be on your faculty list.

Q: Why do faculty who are not paid or compensated at 100% display as 100% on the FEC?
The federal government requires that effort reports reflect 100% of the faculty members’ compensated effort. The change to the FEC to reflect 100% has been made to alleviate auditing challenges with federal regulations.

Faculty whose Average Paid FTE during a reporting cycle does not equal a 1.0 equivalent OPUS salary rate will fall into the above scenario. The averaged IBS value ($) associated with the Average Paid FTE, is then represented as 100% of the faculty member’s IBS for the FEC cycle. In short:

Average Paid FTE = percentage of OPUS 1.0 salary rate paid / the faculty member's 100% compensated effort.

Examples of faculty who may fall into this category include: faculty who retire or separate from the UW during the FEC Cycle, part-time faculty, faculty who have a without salary (WOS) component (e.g.: lack of funding), faculty with a missing pay distribution in OPUS, and faculty with a paid direct (PDR) earn-type and salary rate reflected in OPUS.

Below is an example of a faculty paid less than a 1.0 full time equivalent (FTE):

As a reference, the Average Paid FTE is listed on both the Online and Summary FEC forms.  For more details on the effort calculations used, refer to Direct Charged Effort  and How effort is calculated.  For details regarding the compliance requirements for faculty effort see the Management Accounting and Analysis (MAA) site.

Q: Will the system capture all salary transfers?
Yes, eFECS will select all salary activity based on earn date. Posted salary transfers will impact the FEC corresponding to the pay period affected and will be reflected on an uncertified FEC in eFECS the following day. Transfers made after an FEC has been certified that affect salary distributions on sponsored programs, may need to follow the recertification process.

Q: Why do some budgets display in the Online FEC view with a value of zero?
This most commonly occurs when there is original pay and a salary transfer on the same budget.  Below is an example of a sponsored program budget (67-7777) with net zero compensation amounts.

Expanding the budget details will reveal both the positive and the negative salary transactions.

This budget had payroll transaction activity for the faculty represented by the FEC. The budget displays both the positive and negative salary transfers that occurred during the FEC cycle. This budget is included for informational purposes on the online view and is not included on the Summary FEC.

Q: Will there be access to an FEC mid cycle?
No, FEC's become available for online viewing after payroll transactions for the final pay period in the FEC cycle have posted or approximately 23 days after the end of the cycle. For mid-cycle reporting of cost sharing, use the Interim Cost Share Report Process.

Q: Who will have access; how do others get it; can more than one person have access? Who do I contact to add an organization code to my list?
Learn how to grant or get access to eFECS via ASTRA.

Q: What is this Access and Use Agreement?
Learn more about the Access agreement.

Q: What FEC Cycles are supported by the Online FEC system?
Academic (formerly known as Quarterly) reporters began using the online FEC system starting with the FEC cycle for 12/16/2009 - 3/15/2010. Calendar (formerly known as Semi-annual) reporters began using the system with the 1/1/2010 - 6/30/2010 FEC cycle. FECs from these reporting periods will be available for reference in this system.  To process a recertification for any FEC period prior to those outlined above, contact efecs@uw.edu for assistance. 

Q: How will the system handle a grant that is only active for part of a cycle?
If an award is only active for part of the FEC period being reported, the system will prorate the effort. For example: The FEC reporting cycle is 12/16/08 - 3/15/09. The award period ends 2/28/09 and the faculty member provided 20% effort on the award from 12/16/08 - 2/28/09. The FEC will spread the 20% over the entire quarter thus reducing the effort percent for the quarter to 16.7%. (Total salary paid from the award during the quarter $2,000/ $15,000 total salary paid during the quarter from all sources equals 16.7%.)

Q: We have a Faculty member with a 9 month appointment who has committed Summer Cost Share. What do I need to do?
More information and instructions for documenting faculty with 9 month appointments where Summer Cost Share is committed, may be found on Management Accounting and Analysis website here: http://f2.washington.edu/fm/maa/sites/default/files/Summer%20Cost%20Shar...

Q: What are the "suitable means of verification" required for a signature?
Other than faculty members themselves, a Chair, Director, Division Head or Dean may occasionally certify if they have means of verifying that the work was performed, either by a confirming email from the faculty member or by having overseen or participated in the actual work. Click here for more information from Management Accounting and Analysis.

Q: How do I go about getting an FEC recertified?
Learn more about recertifications.

Are you having problems printing?

Check your ASTRA access for printing authorization.

If you have printing authorization, the most common issues can be resolved by adjusting your security settings and turning off pop-up blockers to allow printing from eFECS.

Adjusting settings for Internet Explorer v.7
Adjust security settings
1.    Click on 'Tools', then on 'Internet Options'
2.    Click on the 'Security' Tab
3.    Click on 'Custom Level'
4.    Under downloads section select 'Enable automatic prompting for file downloads'

Turn off pop-up blockers
1.    Click on 'Tools'
2.    Click on either 'Turn off pop-up blockers' or 'Allow pop-ups from eFECS'

Adjusting settings for Internet Explorer v.8
1.    Click on 'Tools' on the menu bar across the top
2.    Click on 'Pop-up Blocker'
3.    Verify the Pop-up Blocker has been deactivated
If you continue to have problems after following the above steps, check to see if you have a specialized toolbar (i.e. Google, Yahoo, etc.). If so, check your specialized toolbar for pop-up blockers.
See also: Block Pop-Up Windows with IE (Microsoft.com)

Adjusting settings for Mozilla Firefox v.3.5
1.    Click on 'Tools' on the menu bar across the top
2.    Select 'Options'
3.    A box should open showing Options. In the bar at the top of this box select 'Content.' In the Content box examine the box associated with “Block Pop-up Windows.” To turn pop-up blockers off, make sure that this box is empty. If it shows a check mark, click the box to empty it.

If you continue to have problems after following the above steps, check to see if you have a specialized toolbar (i.e. Google, Yahoo, etc.). If so, check your specialized toolbar for pop-up blockers.
See also: Options Window - Content panel (Mozilla.com)
Tool Bar Pop-up Blockers (Addition to blockers in the Browser)
Google Toolbar: Pop-Up Blocker Tips (Google.com)
Yahoo Toolbar: Pop-Up Blocker Tips (Yahoo.com)

Problems viewing FECs with Internet Explorer 8?

Please see the IE8 Compatibility Setting Instructions

Supported Browsers and Operating Systems

 Other Notes

• eFECS is designed to provide maximum accessibility for screen-reader software and has been tested with JAWS for Windows.
• Viewing attachments in eFECS may require Adobe Reader. Go to Adobe to obtain the most current version.
• JavaScript must be enabled for eFECS to function correctly.

For more information about specific hardware, operating system, and memory required to install and run various web browsers, contact your local administrator.

How-to Enable Javascript

Internet Explorer

• Select "Tools" then "Internet Options"
• Select the "Security" tab
• Click "Custom Level"
• Scroll down to "Scripting"
• Select "Enable" (under "Active Scripting")
• Click "OK"
• Restart/refresh browser

Mozilla Firefox

• Select "Tools" menu
• Select "Options"
• Select the "Content" tab
• Check the "Enable Javascript" checkbox
• Click "OK"
• Restart browser