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Product Release Summary
This Product Brief includes a summary of Release 4.8.0.0 and direction to additional documentation and information. The last major release was 4.7.0.0. These materials include information about features that will be available in a late summer second phase of the Release.
Product Release Description
This release addresses product defects as listed in the “Bugs” section of the Release Notes, and also enhancements and new features including:
- Initial 4.8.0.0 Release
- Phase 2 of R2T4 Automation
- R2T4 Post Withdrawal Disbursement (PWD) Enhancements
- Additional Automation for Loan Aggregate Calculations
- Late Summer Update for Release 4.8.0.0
- Mobile Friendly Student Experience
- Access 2020-2021 Questionnaire
- ISIR Format Export File for Access
Release Notes
Further details on enhancements/new features and a complete list of bug fixes can be found in the Release Notes. The Release Notes are made available externally via Customer Zone.
The Release Notes also contain information on new configuration options, and a list of updates to the Admin Guide and User Guide.
Other Documentation
In addition to the Product Brief, the following documentation is also available:
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System Requirements
Any client currently using Regent Award may take the 4.8.0.0 version for UAT and ultimately production upgrade. The late summer update will be available to all Regent Award clients for UAT and then production upgrade.
Any client currently using Regent Review may take the 4.8.0.0 version for UAT and ultimately production upgrade. The late summer update will be available to all Regent Review clients for UAT and then production upgrade.
Any client currently using Regent Access may take the 4.8.0.0 version for UAT and ultimately production upgrade. The late summer update will be available to all Regent Access clients for UAT and then production upgrade.
New Features Overview for Initial 4.8.0.0 Release
- Automated R2T4 PWDs: The main new feature in the 4.8.0.0 Release is automation of R2T4s resulting in Post Withdrawal Disbursements (PWDs). Our previous release supported full automation for R2T4s resulting in neither refunds nor PWDs for R2T4s initiated by information provided in the Student Batch Load (SBL) file - the student's financial aid for the R2T4 period was both fully earned and fully disbursed. This release expands that automation to support R2T4s resulting in PWDs as well. Regent Award will determine which PWD disbursements are eligible to be disbursed or offered to the student, and will either disburse them via EST or (with current communications functionality) will generate an offer communication to the student. For R2T4s created after upgrade to 4.8.0.0, there is no longer a need to assign a payment-period scoped document to the student to block loan PWD disbursements until they are accepted. When a student does contact the school for a PWD, the user will update the award(s) in the PWD grid to initiate the requested disbursements and/or cancellations.
- PWD "Do Not Offer" and Cancellation Features: Release 4.8.0.0 includes additional features for clients who have activated R2T4 automation as well as for those who are still using a "manual" process. Regardless of whether any specific R2T4 automation is activated, users will see improvements for all R2T4s resulting in PWDs. Rather than a user researching each PWD loan offer to see if it is a second or subsequent disbursement, for example, even fully "manual" R2T4s will have the "Do Not Offer" information pre-populated in the PWD section of the template. Additionally, the layout of the PWD information on the template has been redesigned to include disbursement level information - it is not unusual for two disbursements from a single award to receive different treatment in a PWD scenario. Additionally, users will be able to configure an offset date by which any offered PWD disbursements that have not either been disbursed or cancelled will automatically cancel.
- Initial R2T4 Refund Automation: While not the main release for R2T4 Refund automation, users electing to Activate Refund automation will be alerted via task when a student's R2T4 requires institutional costs. The specifications for provision of institutional cost data via the SBL are in place and are available to clients in support of SBL modifications to fully utilize Regent's R2T4 automation in a future release.
- Automation of Calculations for additional Aggregate Loan Scenarios: With the release of 4.8.0.0, Regent Award has updated treatment of data received in NSLDS Financial Aid History (FAH) files to properly calculate current aggregates for open loan periods without use of a delay to allow time for COD processing. This improvement was previously applied to loan data received in ISIR files, so now data from both sources will receive the same treatment. This Release also includes a new task notification to users when NSLDS information received via either data source includes a loan with pending disbursements processed by another institution. In these cases, Regent is not the source of additional data on those loans, so the amount applied to the aggregate as reported in the data source is used for packaging. The task alerts that there could potentially be additional paid disbursements on the loan, so users can research and manually adjust the aggregate if appropriate. Regent loans with pending disbursements from closed periods will be addressed in a future release. In the interim, users are encouraged to continue the regular request and import of NSLDS FAH files so Regent can package with updated information on those records.
- Additional Improvements: The 4.8.0.0 Release also includes a number of improvements to Regent Award features including:
- Treatment of breaks for Nonterm R2T4s
- COD web file processing improvements
- Option for NSLDS TSM alert disbursements
- Enhanced Academic Plan display with Dependency Status and Total COA
- New BBAY anchor option
- Fund adjustment option for past payment periods in a current award period
- New Data Views and Updated Versions (continue to communicate with Account Managers about ongoing deprecation process for old data view versions)
- Use of a third Federal Award Year in a lengthy nonterm academic year.
- Triage Self Help Guide
New Features Overview for Late Summer Update
- New Student Experience: Regent will debut the first phase of the new responsive and mobile-friendly Student Experience which highlights needed actions for students and provides clients with direct control over the content of the introductory language for each of the My Financial Aid, My Documents, and My Messages modules, as well as direct control over the content of the My Useful Links module.
- Access 2020-2021 Questionnaire: The new Federal Award year application will allow undocumented students to apply for state financial aid for the 2020-2021 award year.
- Access ISIR Export: Regent Access users will be able to export fields mapped to ISIR data fields in an ISIR file format.
Known Issues for Release 4.8.0.0
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