UCM ECC Self-Service Center

Welcome to the UCM ECC Self-Service Center

The UCM ECC Self-Service Center provides training and reference material to assist with completing Project Statement certifications in UCM's Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC) tool. 

Accessing ECC

Users can log in to ECC using their UCM ID SSO credentials.

Principal Investigators and Research Administrators will automatically be provisioned access to ECC. Central Office staff that require view-only access to ECC can submit an ECC User Access Provisioning Request.

Principal Investigator Responsibilities to Maintain Adequite Documentation for Payroll Expenses

Federal regulations (Uniform Guidance Subpart E §200.430) require that institutions receiving federal or federal flow-through awards maintain adequate documentation for payroll expenses.  Payroll expenses charged to federal awards must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed to provide reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated.

Some awards without federal funding also require certification when mandated by the sponsor’s terms and conditions.

Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC) System Overview

ECC is a modern web-based solution designed to help universities and research institutions ensure compliance with federal regulations outlined in Uniform Guidance Subpart E §200.430. Project statements are fully sourced from UCPath Payroll records.

ECC will replace the Effort Reporting System (ERS) as the system of record for verification of UCPath payroll earnings Earn End Date of June 1, 2026, onward.

Highlights

  • Customized worklists for Principal Investigators to prioritize work and monitor progress.

  • Automated, easy to follow workflow from payroll load to completion of certification.

  • Stores copies of certified Project Statements

User Guide Resources

Certifying Project Statements in ECC - Video Presentation
Video presentation that walks through the certtification process in ECC

ECC Quick Start Guide for Certifiers
Explains how to complete certification processes in ECC at a high level

ECC Detailed Guide for Certifiers
Explains how to complete certification processes in ECC in detail

Project Statements

A Project Statement is UCM's method for complying with federal payroll requirements (Uniform Guidance Subpart E §200.430). It is a statement generated at the UCM Project chartstring level listing the payroll directly charged to the project value during the defined reporting period for all individuals paid on the project. The Certifier (Principal Investigator) must review and certify the statement for accuracy, confirming that the payroll charged reasonably reflects the work performed by the individual for the project. 

Source of Payroll Data in ECC

UCPath is the source of truth of all payroll record data presented in ECC. Any discrepancies found in Project Statements should be referred back to UCPath payroll records to verify the accuracy of payroll earnings or the associated COA combinations where the earnings were recorded to. If adjustments are needed to the distribution of the payroll expenses, a Salary Cost Transfer (SCT) request can be submitted to UCM Payroll Services for processing in UCPath. Adjustments to payroll distributions made in UCPath will automatically post in ECC after a Monthly or Bi-Weekly Payrun cycle completes the GL Post Confirm process. See the UCM Transactional and Time & Attendance Deadlines calendar to identify specific GL Post Confirm dates for a payrun cycle.

Project Statement Statuses

The table below explains the status of ECC project statements and the corresponding action that is needed to ensure the statement is certified in a timely manner

Statement Status Status Explanation Certifier's Action
Building The reporting period that the project statement belongs to is not yet closed No Action
Ready for Certification The reporting period that the project statement belongs to has closed and is now ready for certification Certify Report
Certified The project statement has been fully certified No Action
Certified, PAR Pending The project statement has been fully certified, but a payroll adjustment has been processed in UCPath and the project statement will reopen for certification soon No Action
Auto Approved The sponsored project does not have payroll expenses that require certification for the reporting period No Action
No Certification Required The sponsored project does not require federal effort reporting No Action

 

Certification Periods and Due Dates

Project Statements are released three times per year. Payroll expenses appear on Project Statements based on the UCPath payroll earning's Earn End Date.

Reporting Period Name Reporting Period Reports Available Certification Due-Date
Spring February - May June 15th August 29th
Summer June - August September 15th November 29th
Fall September - January February 15th May 1st

Certification of Payroll Expenses During Systems Transition Period

Due to the transition process from the legacy ERS system to ECC, effort reporting will be managed between both systems for a limited period of time. The table below explains how effort will be certified during the transition period.

Payroll Earnings End Date Payroll Batch Accounting Date Certification Method
6/1/2026 or later 6/1/2026 or later ECC Project Statement
5/31/2026 or prior 3/31/2027 or prior ERS Effort Report
5/31/2026 or prior 4/1/2027 or later PPM Cost Detail Report

*Central Office staff will proactively coordinate with Principal Investigators when the PPM Cost Detail Report certification method is required. No additional aciton is needed on behalf of PI or Research Administration staff to meet compliance requirements.

Delegating Certifier Responsibility

Principal Investigators should make every attempt to fully own the certification responsibility of their assigned project statements in ECC. In the event a Principal Investigator has departarted and in the event their active sponsored project will NOT undergo a Principal Investigator change, Project Designee access can be granted to another named individual. Principal Investigators or Central Office staff should submit an ECC User Access Provisioning Requst and choose, "Add Project Designee Access" in the "Type of User Access Provisioning" field.

Status Reports for Research Administration Staff

View All Principal Investigator Project Statements

Research Administration (RA) staff can view a report of all Project Statements that are pending certification by Principal Investigator name by running the Project Status Report in ECC:

  1. Navigate to ECC
    1. Navigation: 
      ECC Home Page --> Reports --> Reporting --> Management category --> Project Status Report

      Parameters:
      Available Status: Select all options by selecting the >> button
      PI: Principal Investigator's Name in (LAST FIRST MIDDLE) format. NOTE- click once on the PI's name as it appears to make your selection.
      Start Date: 07/01/2015
      End Date: Last day of current calendar month (e.g. today is 8/26, use 08/31 as the end date value).
       

  2. Click "Run Report"
  3. Export the results as needed by clicking hte "Excel" button on the bottom right hand corner of the page.

 

View All Sponsored Project Statements

Research Administration (RA) staff can view a report of all Project Statements that are pending certification at the sponsored project level in ECC:
 

  1. Navigate to ECC.
  2. Search for the sponsored project number in the Search box in the upper right-hand corner.
    1. The search functionality can take up to 10 seconds to return the sponsored project record in either the Active or Inactive sponsored project sections.
  3. Click on the sponsored project number after it appears in the Active or Inactive sponsored project sections.
  4. All project statements and associated statuses appear.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section provides answers to frequently asked questions.

How does ECC determine pay percentages?

ECC receives data from UCPath after each Monthly and Bi-Weekly Pay cycle completes GL Post Confirm processes. The information is transformed by ECC as a calculation of payroll earnings charged against a specific COA combination for the reporting period.

What are Principal Investigators attesting to when certifying Project Statements in ECC?

Certifiers confirm that the payroll expenses charged to the listed federal sponsored projects accurately reflect the work performed and are confirming with reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated.

How are corrections made to Project Statements?

Corrections to erroneous payroll distributions reflected on Project Statements should be initiated via UCPath Salary Cost Transfer (SCT) requests. Certifiers should engage with their Post Award Research Administrator to initiate SCT requests via a UCM Payroll Services SCT submission. SCT adjustments will automatically post to Project Statements in alignment with the UCPath Monthly/Bi-Weekly pay cycle run schedule.

How does the certifier confirm the Project Statement reflects accurate payroll records?

The matching UCPath Payroll records can be found by clicking the “$" button found in the "Details" column of the project statement details section. Upon clicking the "$", a new browser window will open to display the payroll details. Click the blue-colored "Pay Period View" text found above the employee's ID number to group the records by UCPath Pay Period End Date range. Information on this screen is derived from the same source data as all other UCPath payroll reports (such as the R-268 Distribution of Payroll Expenses Report).

Why does a Project Statement list GSR Payroll Earnings at 100%?

ECC represents effort percentages as a calculation of payroll distributions against a unique COA combination.

Example:

A Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) appointment’s standard full monthly pay rate is $5,000.00, but the University agreed to prorate the total monthly pay by 50% for a total monthly pay of $2,500.00 to the GSR employee.  Sponsored Project (A) was approved to cover the GSR employee’s entire $2,500.00 monthly pay.

Since Sponsored Project (A) agreed to cover the entire $2,500.00 monthly salary, the calculated payroll distribution percentage listed on the Project Statement is 100% of the $2,500.00 pay amount.