Time Surveying

To determine which LEA staff might time-survey, two factors must be considered:

• Determining which staff perform MAA, and
• Ensuring that selected staff are not 100% federally funded or fully funded by function codes included in the district's Indirect Cost Rate calculation.

To determine which staff perform MAA, it is necessary to work with the relevant LEA management and/or administrative staff to discuss both claimable MAA and the various activities performed by staff under the various district or COE programs. It is important to match up the various LEA activities with MAA to ensure that the appropriate staff is selected. A staff listing or organization chart is helpful to identify LEA functions, staff classifications, and lines of supervision.

Once the potential staff classifications are selected, it is necessary to ensure that sufficient nonfederal match is available to be used to pay costs of the selected staff. Staff that are 100-percent federally funded (funded with federal dollars) and required match may not participate in the MAA program, because the Federal Government is already paying its share of costs.

The responsibility for proper administration of MAA Time Surveys is shared by the individual participant, the participant's supervisor, the LEA MAA Coordinator, the LEC/LGA MAA Coordinator, and DHCS.

The time survey process, format, and training summary have been approved by CMS. Significant changes in the MAA program require prior review by CMS.

Time surveying is now completed through the Random Moment Time Survey (RMTS) process. Surveying is done for quarters 2, 3, and 4 of each fiscal year. Quarter one of each fiscal year is an averaged quarter and therefore no actual time surveying is required.

LEC/LGA MAA Coordinators assist DHCS by training LEA MAA Coordinators on the MAA program, time survey process, and audit file. They provide DHCS materials and updates to the local coordinators.

LEA MAA Coordinators are responsible for training all time survey participants, completion of RMTS moments by participants, LEA compliance, and audit file. The supervisor of the time survey participant verifies that the number of paid hours recorded are the actual hours paid.

Participants are responsible for completing each RMTS moment that is assigned to them by the system.

The time survey is to be a record of actual activities performed. Participants will be notified a few days in advance of their upcoming moment. Once their moment has passed they must log into the RMTS system to review the required training screens and answer the survey questions. This process should take no more than a few minutes to complete and is certification of what the participant was doing at the exact moment in time.

Since moments are assigned randomly, a participant may receive multiple moments in a quarter or possibly none at all. However, the LEA is allowed to claim costs for each participant on their time survey participant list regardless of whether or not they were surveyed during the quarter.

All survey responses are coded by a central coding staff and the survey results will be based on the consortium and shared amongst all claiming units in the participant universe/consortium. Region 1 is participating in a consortia with Regions 2 and 7.