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Executive Summary
Regent Education is pleased to announce Regent 5.3.3, the latest release of the Regent Enterprise Financial Aid Management System.
In mid-December 2020, ED indicated a target date for the Spring 2021 COD upgrade of March 14th. Last year’s update didn’t occur until April 26th. With Regent’s commitment to regulatory timing, we rebalanced our production roadmap to plan for an earlier annual COD upgrade date this year.
Standard Spring Regulatory Updates:
Regent 5.3.3 will include the standard regulatory updates in support of 2021-2022 COD processing per guidance in the 2021-2022 Common Record Technical Reference:
- Added Message Classes to the SAIG Mailbox Integration feature in support of 2021-2022 COD processing. The new message classes will set dynamically as Active for SAIG processing in Regent if the related classes for the prior FAY are configured as Active.
- Added support for the new 4.0e COD Schema.
Clients must upgrade to Regent 5.3.3 in order to process:
- COD files for the 2021-2022 year - these will all use the 4.0e schema. (Common record files generated by Regent for previous years will continue to use the schemas in place for those years).
- COD system generated files for any year, as those will all be generated by COD in the 4.0e schema.
Note: Inclusion of the 2021-2022 Pell Schedules was dependent on when that information is released by ED in relation to the 5.3.3 development timeline. As the information was not provided timely to the financial aid community, Regent will plan an interim minor release to update the Pell schedules for clients after the schedules are published.
Annual Student Loan Acknowledgement Process:
Regent Award already supports the Annual Student Loan Acknowledgement process that will become mandatory for 2021-2022 loan disbursements.
These requirements were originally planned for 2020-2021 implementation but was deferred due to COVID-19 priorities.
This solution uses Regent document functionality to support the requirements. Please see the Release Notes for Release 5.1.0.0 for information on how to configure the related documents in your system.
New Document Configuration Setting for ‘Override Signature Requirements’: This setting works with the ‘Require Electronic Signature’ configuration option to allow the Regent system to determine whether the electronic signature requirement for a student’s document should be ‘Student Only’ or ‘Student and Parent’ based on the student’s dependency status. There are 3 options for the new setting on the Electronic Signature sub-tab in Document Setup:
- Do Not Override (Default): The document signature requirement configured for ‘Require Electronic Signature’ will not be overridden. (The ‘Require Electronic Signature’ options are: 1) Not Required, 2) Only Student Signature Required, 3) only Parent Signature Required, and 4) Both Student and Parent Signatures Required).
- ISIR Dependency Status: Regent will use the ISIR dependency status to determine whether only the student (Independent) or both the student and parent (Dependent) must sign the document. If the student does not have an ISIR, Regent will default to the ‘Smart Form Dependency Questions’ option; and if the smart form has no dependency questions, the choice will default to requiring both student and parent signatures.
- Smart Form Dependency Questions: This can be applied in cases where a Smart Form has a series of dependency-determination questions. Regent will set the signature requirements based on the dependency status determined by the Smart Form.
This new functionality will only apply to documents that are newly created or updated from the Student Experience Portal after deployment. The system will NOT change the signature behaviors for existing documents in the legacy SNAP portal.
Upon upgrade, a build script will automatically set the ISIR Verification Worksheets to “ISIR Dependency Status,” and Regent Access questionnaires to “Smart Form Dependency Questions.” All other documents that currently require a signature will be set to “Do Not Override.”
Automated SAP Calculations Without SBL SAP Node: When this option is selected, Regent Award will automatically calculate SAP without requiring the Institution to send specific SAP information in the Student Batch Load (SBL) file. The system will react to GPAs as provided in the Student Node of the SBL. Clients electing to use this option for one or more programs will ensure the new 'Auto-Generate SAP Node from Student GPA' is configured as 'Yes' for the student’s current program (inheritable from Institution Setup and Campus Setup).
- Term-Based Functionality: Term setup has new options for ‘SAP Evaluation Period Start Date’ (expected to be after the last date a student could be expected to add a new course for the term) and ‘SAP Evaluation Period End Date’ (expected to be before the first date GPAs will start being calculated for the next term) that must be configured to support this option. We recommend institutions also implement the existing Institution Setup option to delay a student’s SAP calculation if there are still missing grades for the term(s) in the SAP review period. Once the ‘SAP Evaluation Period Start Date’ arrives, the Regent Award Batch Processing process will start trying to calculate student SAP for students in the specific term using the most recently provided GPA or SBL SAP node for those students.
Upon upgrade, the values for _SAP Evaluation Start and End Date_ will be auto-populated in Term Setup by build script RS-20339. The script will set both fields to the current value in the preexisting configuration setting, formerly labeled 'SAP Date'. That older field will still be used for determining when Regent Award should update to add additional units to future terms the Academic Plan. The field has been renamed _Reanticipate Academic Plan Date_ to reflect its remaining functionality.
- Nonterm Functionality: A nonterm SAP review period is not recognized as 'complete' by Regent Award until course completion data for all units needed to complete the payment period(s) in the SAP Review Period has been provided from the SIS. With this new option, automatic SAP calculations for nonterm programs will begin once the final payment period of the SAP review period is complete, and the calculations will use the most recently-provided GPA from the student node of the SBL for each student. As there may be an administrative delay between the time successful course completion information is provided in the SBL and when the GPA including that course is calculated and provide to Regent, institutions may configure the number of SAP calculation ‘offset days’ that should pass after the end of the SAP review period end before attempting the SAP calculation. Once a nonterm SAP calculation has been completed, Regent will cease attempting to calculate SAP for that review period unless the school sends a new SBL SAP node for the SAP review period.
New Configuration Options
The following new configuration options were added in Release 5.3.3:
New Document Configuration Setting for ‘Override Signature Requirements’
Document Setup
- Override Signature Requirements- See Executive Summary and Release Note for RS-20569
Automated SAP Calculations Without SBL SAP Node
Institution Setup
Auto-Generate SAP Node from Student GPA
Defaults to No. Inheritable to Campus Setup and Program setup.
Campus Setup
Auto-Generate SAP Node from Student GPA
Defaults to Inherit from Institution Setup.
Program Setup
Auto-Generate SAP Node from Student GPA
Defaults to Inherit from Campus Setup.
Offset Days for Calculating SAP for Nonterm Review Period
Only applies to nonterm. Used in conjunction with the setting, Auto-Generate SAP Node From Student GPA.
Term Setup
Renamed the former "SAP Date" field to "Reanticipate Academic Plan"
Removed the former column "SAP Date" from the column headings at the top of the screen
New field, SAP Evaluation Start Date
New field, SAP Evaluation End Date
Export Document Requirement: Export Information About Document File Attachments
Enhance Processes → Export Process → Export Document Requirement (XML)
- Added a new process-level configuration setting: 'Export Information About Document File Attachments'
- Field is a checkbox:, default value is unselected
- The configuration setting may be enabled for one-time Export processes, or by the Scheduled Process jobs.
Admin and User Guide Updates
Admin and User Guide pages updated per tickets in the 5.3.3.0 release, will be included in this section of the 5.4.0.0 Release Notes page.
Enhancements
The following enhancements are included in this release:
Key | Product | Functional Area | Release Note |
---|---|---|---|
RS-20674 | Regent Award | Awarding | Title: Revise Task ‘Review Late DL Disbursement – Payment Period Ended’ Tickets: RS-20674; RS-20719 Description: The task 'Review Late DL Disbursement – Payment Period Ended' (created in 5.3.1.0) has been renamed 'Review Late Disbursement- Loan Period Ended'. The original 5.3.1.0 task trigger requirement based on "payment period end date in the past" has been changed to "loan period end date in the past" for term and non-term. The task will trigger when there is a non-R2T4, unpaid Direct Loan disbursement for a loan period that has ended, so institutions may offer those funds to the borrower for acceptance prior to disbursement. |
RS-20569 | Student Experience | Workflow/Questionnaire | Title: Document Setup - Electronic Signature: Override Signature Requirements Tickets: RS-20436; RS-20569; RS-20570; RS-20571; RS-20572; RS-20573; RS-20574 Description:
Upon upgrade, a build script will automatically set all ISIR Verification Worksheet configurations to “ISIR Dependency Status,” and Regent Access questionnaires will be configured to “Smart Form Dependency Questions.” All other documents that currently require a signature will be set to “Do Not Override.” The enhanced functionality will only apply to documents that are newly created or updated from the Student Experience Portal after deployment. The system will not change the signature behaviors for existing documents in the legacy SNAP portal. |
RS-20537 | Student Experience | Configuration/Setup | Title: Increase Character Limit for Fund Display Name Tickets: RS-20537; RS-20538; RS-20541 Description: Field length of ‘Display Name’ in Fund Setup>Fund Detail, has been increased from 30 to 60 alphanumeric characters. |
RS-20153 | Regent Award | SAP | Title: Auto-Generate SAP Node from Student GPA Tickets: RS-19770; RS-20153; RS-20328; RS-20329; RS-20330; RS-20331; RS-20332; RS-20333; RS-20335; RS-20336; RS-20337; RS-20338; RS-20339; RS-20340; RS-20341; RS-20343; RS-20348; RS-20349; RS-20350; RS-20352; RS-20353; RS-20354; RS-20366; RS-20367; RS-20408; RS-20409 Description:
Schools may still send SAP data on the SBL in the <studentSAP> node. The system will use the data (GPA or SAP node) with the most recent date. In the rare case of a conflict when both sets of data have the same date, the system will use the SAP node. Schools may also add Manual SAP records. Either case will still trigger a SAP recalculation, even if the SAP Evaluation Period End Date is in the past. As a reminder, the system still will not update awarding based on any updates to SAP status for an in-progress SAP review period before the review period's end date is reached. In Term Setup, upon upgrade, the values for SAP Evaluation Start and End Date will be auto-populated by build script RS-20339. The script will set both fields to the current value in the preexisting configuration setting, formerly labeled SAP Date. That older field will still be used for determining when Regent Award should add units to the Academic Plan. The field has been renamed Reanticipate Academic Plan Date to reflect its remaining functionality. |
RS-19742 | Regent Award | Documents | Title: Export Document Requirement: Export Information About Document File Attachments Tickets: RS-19742; RS-20454; RS-20455; RS-20456; RS-20457; RS-20458; RS-20470 Description: |
Bugs
The following bugs are resolved in this release:
Key | Product Selection | Functional Area | Release Note |
---|---|---|---|
RS-20675 | Student Experience | Student Experience | Problem: Cause: Fix: Testing: |
RS-20582 | Regent Award | ISIR Processing/Verification | Problem: Cause: Fix: Testing: |
RS-20566 | Regent Award | Awarding | Problem: Cause: Fix: Testing: |
RS-20445 | Regent Award | Awarding | Problem: Cause: Fix: Testing: |
RS-20437 | Regent Award | Awarding | Problem: Cause: Fix: Testing: |
RS-20435 | Regent Award | Packaging | Problem: Cause: Fix: Testing: |
RS-20327 | Regent Award | Packaging | Problem: Cause: Fix: Testing: |
RS-20326 | Regent Award | Packaging | Problem: Cause: Fix: Testing: |
RS-20751 | Regent Award | Awarding | Problem: Cause: Fix: Testing: |
Scripts
Terminology for understanding Script Release Notes:
- Build Script: These scripts are automatically run when an environment is upgraded to a new release; no special request is needed and all customers receive the scripted change.
- Data Cleanup Script: These scripts modify specific data, and may or may not be included with a new release; the release note provided below will specify. If they are not included with the release, they need to be requested by the customer.
- Custom Script: These scripts may perform a variety of functions, which will be specified in the release note and must be requested by the customer as needed.
The following scripts relate to this release:
Key | Product Selection | Functional Area | Release Note |
---|---|---|---|
RS-20574 | Regent Review | Documents | Purpose of Script: Data Changed by the Script:
The script does not make any changes to e-signature workflows for Documents already assigned to students. How to Access the Script: How to Test the Script: |
RS-20458 | Regent Review | Documents | Purpose of Script: Data Changed by the Script: How to Access the Script: How to Test the Script: |
RS-20339 | Regent Award | SAP | Purpose of Script: Data Changed by the Script: How to Access the Script: How to Test the Script: |