Reviewing and Releasing Effort Certifications to Employees

Before a faculty, staff, or student employees can certify their effort report in Spiderweb, the appointed administrator is required to review the information generated by the effort system and edit as necessary. The certifications must be completed by the due date listed on the ORA website.

If you have any questions or concerns about this process or about the content of the forms, please do not hesitate to email for assistance.

  1. Log into Spiderweb – http://research.case.edu/spiderweb/home.cfm - with your Case network ID.
  2. From the left side menu, click the link “Effort Administrative”.
  3. Confirm that the reporting period displayed is the current period.
  4. If the reporting period is not correct, use the dropdown menu to select the correct timeframe and click the “Go” button.
  5. You will see a list of departments/divisions to which you are listed as the administrator. Select a department/division link to obtain a list of employees who are based in that department/division for who Spiderweb has automatically generated effort certification reports.
  6. If there are employees on the list who you think should not have to certify – for example, the person did not work on any sponsored projects during the reporting period in question or the employee left CWRU prior to the start of the reporting period – they can be removed by ORA. Send an email with the employee name, department/division, and reason to for review.
  7. Click on each name to review the report. The reports are pre-populated based on the Peoplesoft HCM salary distribution. Review and edit as needed to reflect, as accurately and reasonably as possible, the employee’s effort for the reporting period. When completed, click the “Update” button at the bottom of the page.
  8. A few notes on reviewing the reports:
  9. If edits are made to the report, be sure to include a brief explanation in the Comment box at the bottom of the page.
  10. Students certify separate reports for each department where they have provided research effort. Each department will be responsible for only the time/effort that the student provided in their department.
  11. In addition to the pre-populated salary distribution percentages, historical data from the most recent effort report certification will be displayed.
  12. Effort certified on the previous report will appear in blue if that percentage differs from the current report.
  13. Any sponsored projects that were previously reported but not part of the pre-populated data from HCM will display under the current projects.
  14. Once reviewed and edited, the report is ready to be released to the employee:
  15. To release the report for electronic signature (preferred method), click the “Ready to Certify” button at the bottom of the page. This will send an email to the employee notifying them the report is ready for review and certification.
  16. To release the report for a paper certification, click the “Printable” button, pdf version of the report will be generated. Print the report, print the name of the certifier on the paper copy and have the certifier review and sign. Upon completion, return to employee’s report and click the “Certified by Paper” button at the bottom of the screen. You will be prompted to upload the scanned report, ensure pdf is readable. The original copy of the signed form should be kept in your records.