Effort certification when payroll keeps moving.
Usually not. If payroll for a certified period changes, the certification has to be redone; Workday can flag it, but a person still has to run the recertification.
The rule behind it
Salary on a federal grant has to be backed by records of the work people actually did. If it is charged from estimates, you adjust afterward, and effort certification is how you show you did.
Three windows, three different fixes
Almost every problem here is timing: a payroll change lands at the wrong moment in the certification cycle.
01Before certification starts
The cheapest time to fix anything. Clean up payroll first, then open certification. Every fix made here is one you do not redo later.
02During certification
If a payroll adjustment for the period is still in progress, finish it or cancel it before you start.
If a reviewer's effort change creates an adjustment for you, it usually moves the earnings only. Check whether employer costs need adding by hand.
03After certification
If payroll for a certified period changes, the certification is out of date. The system can flag it, but someone still has to run the recertification; it never happens on its own.
What to check
Which periods each payroll change touched, whether those periods were recertified and not just flagged, whether employer costs moved with the earnings, and who has not certified yet.
Two ways to take this further
The free health check runs sixteen checks on your grants area, and the free Effort Certification Review tests your own export in your browser.
The Sponsored Award Review is the scored version, $1,950 for your whole institution.
More guides like this: Workday Grants guides from an independent consultant.