Overview

This page is an overview of Manual Academic Year (Manual AY) validations. The page describes some validation checks for Manual Academic Years (AYs). It has a list of Frequently Asked Questions and answers.

About Manual AY Validations

A Manual AY is an Academic Year with fixed, unchanging dates. Manual AYs can be system-created or user-created. Regent Award creates Manual AYs to support the process of converting or rebuilding student records in the system at Go Live, but users can also create and edit Manual AYs using the Program Management Wizard (PMW). When the user saves the Manual AY, Regent Award will apply several validation tests.

Validation Indicators

The PMW marks validation issues with warnings (yellow flags) and errors (red flags). A user can move the mouse pointer over the flag to see a more detailed message about the validation issue.

Screenshot of mouse hovering over Incorrect BBAY Length red flag. The system provides an explanation of the AY dates and potential problem with course data.

Warnings - Yellow Flags and Reviewed Override Checkbox

Some validations will trigger a warning. Yellow Warnings flags are potential issues that need user attention. After review, the user can confirm the manual AY is correct by selecting a "Reviewed" or "Override" checkbox, which overrides the validation.

Screenshot of the Program Management Wizard, showing a yellow-flag error and the Reviewed checkbox

Errors - Red Flags

Some validation messages require action in order to proceed. For example, a student might have course data that does not match the dates on the Academic Year. Red Error flags are for problems that require action, such as correcting data. A user must take action to clear the red-flag validation error.

Screenshot of red-flag error hover text

Example Manual AY Errors and Warnings

Some common Manual AY errors and warnings are listed here, along with suggested approaches to resolve them. A student's Manual AY must be "Ready to Package" in order to proceed through the packaging process. Most Manual AY issues are caused by course data. Regent Award will update the Manual AY status when new course data is loaded.

Nonterm

Shortened BBAY

For nonterm, the weeks in the manual Academic Year are less than the program's Academic Year Weeks. See Program Setup Data Elements. The Shortened BBAY flag is a "yellow flag" warning, meaning the user may override the flag by selecting the "Reviewed" checkbox.

Incorrect BBAY Length

For nonterm, the Incorrect BBAY Length error has multiple possible causes. The Incorrect BBAY Length error is a "red flag" error, meaning the data must be corrected to continue. Regent Award uses a course's end date to link the course to the correct Academic Year and nonterm Payment Periods.

The following conditions may trigger the "Incorrect BBAY Length" error.

A course's end date associates the course to one manual AY, but the course is already linked to a payment period that is outside of that manual AY.
1. In this case, the system marks the flag on the previous Manual AY. For example, if a course is currently linked to an AY2 payment period, and the mismatched course's end date would put the course into AY1, the system will mark Manual AY1 with the incorrect BBAY Length flag.
2. A user will often need to edit the dates for both Manual AYs to resolve the packaging errors.
The manual AY does not have any courses that map to it using the course end date.
The system's calculated nonterm payment period(s) would be associated with a Manual AY based on the AY # and PP #, but the system's PP start or end dates do not exactly match the Manual AY's start and end dates.
1. If the underlying course data changed, the system might have recalculated the PP end date. For example, if a student withdrew from a course or failed it (i.e., completed a course with 0 Quality Points), the system may extend the nonterm Payment Period dates to allow for completing the needed units. The user would need to edit the manual AY's end date to match the new system-calculated PP end date.
2. The system's calculated PP dates are visible in the PMW, Course Information section. Click the image to view a larger version.
4. Note that if a student has multiple manual AYs, then sometimes a user may need to edit and save a previous, un-flagged manual AY to cause the system to reevaluate and re-link all the courses to their correct payment periods.
The Override Academic Year Units or Weeks are missing or incorrect. When those fields are blank, Regent Award provides the expected value when a user hovers the pointer over the symbol that appears next to the empty field. The user can enter the values into the fields.
1. Screenshot - click the image to view a larger version.

Term

Shortened BBAY

For Term programs, the number of terms in the AY is less than the number of terms in the program's Academic Year definition in Program Setup. The Shortened BBAY flag is a "yellow flag" warning, meaning the user may override the flag by selecting the "Reviewed" checkbox.

Incorrect BBAY Length

For Term programs, the number of terms in the AY is more than the number of terms in the program's Academic Year definition. For example, if a SAY school is normally two terms (Fall and Spring), but a three-term manual AY also includes a Summer term, the system would flag that manual AY as needing user review for a possible incorrect BBAY length. The Incorrect BBAY Length flag is a "yellow flag" warning, meaning the user may override the flag by selecting the "Override" checkbox.

The validation does not apply for nonstandard term programs with "Extend Academic Years for Non-Standard Term" selected. See Program Setup Data Elements.

Contains Overlapping Terms

For Term programs, this validation is triggered if a Manual AY contains overlapping terms that are not marked as "Allow Overlap." Manual AYs may have overlapping terms for certain situations, such as Track Changes. To clear the error, a user may edit the earlier Manual Academic Year in the PMW and select "Allow Overlap" for the term(s) in the first AY that overlaps the second AY.

Overlapping Academic Year

For Term programs, this issue occurs when a term is in two or more Manual Academic Years in the same program. Initially, Overlapping Academic Year is a red-flag error. The user can clear the error by editing the manual AYs so the term is only present in one AY. Alternatively, the user may edit the earlier AY and select "Allow Overlap" checkbox for the duplicated term(s). When the terms are marked to Allow Overlap, the wizard will change the error to a yellow-flag warning. The user may override the warning by selecting the "Override" checkbox on both manual AYs.

Loan Period - Term Mismatch

For Term programs, a loan period includes a term, but that term is not in any Manual AY and the term's dates would fall in the date range that should normally be covered by manual AYs. For example, a student has a loan in a summer term, but the student's manual AYs are Fall-Spring only and do not include that summer term.

FAQ

Why am I seeing a new "Ready to Package" error?

The error is usually thrown because of updates to course data. If the underlying course data associated with the manual AY has changed, it may cause a need to modify the manual AY. Typically, errors occur when the course data provided on the SBL does not coincide with the manual AYs start and end dates.

Why am I still seeing an error after I updated the manual AY dates to align with the course data? What else could be wrong?

Additional details are available by hovering your mouse pointer over the flag. Those details may help in determining the resolution for the error. For example, when you hover over the flag, a message will state if any course data was found that falls within another Academic Year.
- You might try editing a previous (non-flagged) manual AY so that manual AY has different dates. Editing and saving the AY will trigger the system to re-sort and re-link the courses into their nonterm payment periods, which might also update the student's PP dates. Make sure to change all the AY dates so they match the updated PP dates.
For a nonterm student, provide the manual user-entered Academic Year Override Units and Override Weeks.
- The Regent school would need to accurately enter the Override Units and Override Weeks associated with the AY start and end dates. Within the manual AY modification screen, Regent Award provides suggested units/weeks based on the AY start and end dates. Hover the mouse pointer over the icon next to the Manual AY Override Units and Weeks fields in the Edit Manual Academic Year window. Enter the suggested values into the fields.

How can I find the system's expected AY end date?

For term and nonstandard term, the AY must end with a term's end date.
For nonterm, there are two ways of determining a manual AY end date:
- If the AY's course data contains enough units and weeks to have a complete nonterm AY, then use the end date of the last registered course associated with the AY. The AY dates also often correspond to the system's calculated Payment Period dates from the Course Information section in the PMW.
- Click the image to view a larger version.
- If the AY does not contain enough course data to complete a full AY in units and weeks, then update to use the Anticipated AY end date based on the weeks needed to complete an AY per Program Setup. For a nonterm student, apply the configured Academic Plan Payment Period Projection Method. Refer to Program Setup Data Elements.

Why are these validation errors considered "data" issues?

A "Ready to Package" error or warning flag is often caused by course data provided on the SBL that does not coincide with the manual AYs and it causes the error messages. Because the SBL course data could be updated to correct the issue, and a code change is not needed, the error is considered a "data issue."

My student has an ISIR for a different FAY. Does a school still need to create a manual AY in order to allow packaging loans for a different aid year other than the default?

Schools may enable the configuration setting Auto-Assign Loan Crossover FAY Based on ISIR Availability. When the setting is "Yes," Regent Award will automatically package loans using the available ISIR. If the setting is "No," then creating a manual AY is still the expected solution to package loans from a user-specified FAY/ISIR.

Why does an error message often resolve if we adjust the end date of the manual AY to the system's calculated PP end dates?

Regent Award is trying to match the system's payment periods and calculated PP dates to the Manual AY dates. The system automatically recalculates the AY and PP dates based on the actual course data provided on the SBL. When the dates match, the error is resolved.

Why can't the system automatically adjust the Manual AY dates when the course data changes?

Just like with any other “manual” aspect of the UI, Regent will not manage manual modifications once made manual. Once a manual AY is created, it must be handled by the user until the AY has been closed.

Is there any way for my school to override a red flag to get past the "Ready to Package" error, if we must have a manual AY with specific dates that would not pass validation?

Currently, red-flag errors may only be overridden by using a custom script. Please submit a Customer Zone ticket.

Why am I seeing a packaging error, "All BBAYs must be Ready to Package," when my student does not have any Manual AYs? What happened?

Rarely, a custom script can alter course data or create manual AYs behind the scenes. For example, a student might not have any manual AYs visible from within Regent Award, but still has a packaging error, "All BBAYs must be Ready to Package." In those cases, check the student's Activity Log to see when they last packaged successfully. Look for any sign of a script that ran just before the student stopped packaging. If a script was run and altered data, then another custom script may be needed to fix the problem, therefore a Customer Zone ticket should be submitted.