Introduction

Overview

The Awarding Tool is available in the Regent Tools menu for clients with a Regent Fund license and users with the ‘View Awarding Tool’ permission enabled.

Awarding Tool functionality is comprised of two separate steps, or processes: ‘Awarding Tool: Selections’ and ‘Awarding Tool: Results.’ To perform these processes, a user must have ‘Edit Awarding Tool: Selections’ and ‘Edit Awarding Tool: Results’ permissions enabled, respectively.

Awarding Tool processes are dependent upon:

1. Queries set up in the Query Tool (which is dependent on student data being set up in Regent)

2. Funds configured in Fund Setup

3. Ranking and Priority set up in the Ranking and Priority Tool, if applicable

The Awarding Tool allows for bulk awarding of query-defined students, from a single, specific fund, within a defined period. Students can be awarded from a FAY-scoped fund for the full FAY or for only one Payment Period. Students can be awarded from an AY-scoped fund for the full Academic Year or for only one Payment Period. If the fund from which monies are being awarded has a budget, the budget may be allocated to a subset of eligible students based on a defined sorting/ranking order.

Awarding Tool Page

The Awarding Tool page consists of a top section, containing a process grid with Refresh and Add buttons, and a bottom section containing two subpages--one for the Selections process and one for the Results process.

Process Grid

Records in the grid at the top of the Awarding Tool page are created when the first of the two processes (Awarding Tool: Selections) is executed within the tool (as described below). Each row in the grid contains information about Awarding Tool process runs, for processes executed in the last sixty days. After sixty days from the latest process date (the Selections Process Date if the Results Process has not been run, or the Results Process Date if both processes have been run) the record will be purged from the grid. When a row in the grid is selected, “view only” data for each of the two Awarding Tool processes will be displayed on the subpages below the grid (if both processes have been completed. If status for the record is ‘In Review,' fields/buttons on the Results page will be enabled.) Statuses for the grid records are explained in the sections below.

Button Options

A Refresh button above the grid functions to update the grid with newly created data. Clicking the ‘Add' button above the grid enables fields on the Awarding Tool: Selections subpage to be enabled for new entry.

Awarding Tool: Selections Subpage

Field Entry

Some fields on the Selections page are dynamic, meaning they are shown or hidden based on selections for other fields. All fields are required, if displayed, in order to save the dataset or execute the process, except for ‘Ranking and Priority Name' and ‘Notes.’

1. Awarding Selections Name: a free-form text field for entry of a user-defined descriptor for the Selections dataset.

2. Institution: a dropdown field containing the name of all Institutions for which the user has ‘View Student’ permission. User should select the Institution that applies to the Fund and Query (and Ranking and Priority, if applicable) from which the awarding Results will be built.

   1. Note: Awarding Selections data is not restricted at Campus or Site levels.

3. Select Fund: a single row grid with column names Fund Name, External ID, Institution, Campus, Sites, and Fund Scope. The ‘Search’ button to the right of the grid is disabled until Institution is selected. Clicking the button launches a pop-up for the user to select a fund from which award amounts will be calculated. Within the pop-up, the users is presented with Fund Name and other data from Fund Setup, for all funds for the Institution selected, except those funds with the following ‘Official Fund Type’: Direct Graduate Plus Loan; Direct Parent Plus; Direct Subsidized Loan; Direct Unsubsidized Loan; Pell Grant; TEACH; Perkins Loan; and IASG. When the user selects a fund record and clicks the Select button within the pop-up, the window closes and the ‘Select Fund’ grid on the Selections page is populated with the information for the selected Fund.

4. Query Name: a dropdown list of the names of all active queries for the Institution selected. Field is not enabled until Institution is selected. Field has autosuggest functionality, meaning the user can begin typing the name of a query and will be presented with matching options. Select the query that should be used to return a list of students to be awarded from the fund selected.

5. Ranking and Priority Name: a dropdown list of the names of all active Ranking and Priority datasets for the Institution selected. Field is not enabled until Institution is selected. Field has autosuggest functionality meaning the user can begin typing the name of a Ranking and Priority dataset and will be presented with matching options. (If no Ranking and Priority selection is made, results will be presented in alphabetical order by last name and then first name.) Select the Ranking and Priority dataset, if applicable, that should be used to order students that are returned in the selected query, to be awarded from the selected fund.

6. Period Type: a dropdown list with dynamic options. Selection defines the period for which award amounts will be calculated and awarded.

   1. If fund selected is FAY-scoped, options will be Federal Award Year and Payment Period. (Also, if the fund selected does not have an alternate FAY configured AND is NOT configured with 'Amount Per PP'.)   

   2. If fund selected is AY-scoped, options will be Academic Year and Payment Period. (Also, if the fund selected is a FAY-scoped fund with an alternate FAY,OR 'Amount Per PP' configured.) 

7. Federal Award Year: dropdown list which displays if Period Type selected is ‘Federal Award Year.’ Options include current FAY, prior FAY, and next consecutive FAY, based on "today's date". Determines the FAY for which students will be awarded.  

8. Start Date From and Start Date To: Date fields which display if Period Type selected is ‘Academic Year’ or ‘Payment Period.’ Determines the date range in which the Academic Year or Payment Period, based on Period Type selected, must START in order for a student returned in the selected query to be awarded from the selected fund. If there are multiple period start dates applicable to the date range entered, the system will only calculate and award for the first chronological period. Dates entered must be contained in an open period.

9. Notes: a free-form text field for entry of additional information about the set of parameters selected.

Button Options/Executing the Selections Process (Step 1 of the Awarding Tool)

There are three functional buttons on the Selections subpage, for users with ‘Edit Awarding Tool: Selections’ permission: Execute, Cancel, and Save Selected Parameters.

1. Execute: Initiates the Selections Process. Compiles and saves/stores the selected data and calculates award amounts based on that data, to be presented on the Results page, for the period selected.

   1. Process creates a list of students based on a run of the selected query plus the Period Start Date range entered and sorts the list based on Ranking score and sorting priority, including renewal prioritization, as determined by Ranking and Priority selection, if present. (If no Ranking and Priority is selected, students will be sorted in alphabetic order only, by last name then first name.)

      1. Process calculates Calculated Eligibility values for awards for the students, from the selected fund, for the selected period, based on Packaging Philosophy/Fund rules, without consideration of Fund Budgets, and including any amounts already awarded.

      2. Process determines Existing Award Amount values for students based on amounts already awarded to an eligible student from the selected fund, for the selected period.  

      3. Process determines Change to Existing Award values for students based on the difference between a Existing Award Amount value and a New Award Amount value.

      4. Process calculates New Award Amount values for each student for the period selected:

         1. Awards will be calculated only for open periods (FAYs, Academic Years, or Payment Periods.)

            1. In the instance of multiple open periods for a student, amounts will only be calculated for the first open period chronologically.

         2. Amount will include any existing award amounts for the selected period (not the difference.)

         3. Award Amount value will match the Eligible Amount value unless:

            1. A budget exists for the selected fund and, based on a running total of Award Amount values assigned to students in priority/sort order, the fund budget has been exhausted.

               1. When fund budgets have been exhausted, remaining Award Amount values for students, based on priority/sort order, should be $0 (or reflect part of the Eligible Amount, if the student is the last to be awarded before the budget is exhausted.)

            2. Award Amount could not be calculated because of a packaging blocker for the student.

         4. When the Period Type selected is ‘Payment Period,’ the FAY or AY award (depending on Fund Scope) will be adjusted to reflect an amount to be awarded for a single Payment Period. Awards for any future Payment Periods within the FAY/AY will be created as $0 awards.

   2. A row is created in the process grid when the Selections Process is initiated, with data from the Selections page and including a Selections Process Date, a Selections Process ID, and a Selections Process User.

      1. Process grid record Status:

         1. While process is running, the status will be ‘Processing’ and all fields/buttons on the Selections page will be disabled for editing.

         2. If Selections Process completes successfully, and ‘Auto-approve and package all award amounts greater than $0’ was not selected, the Status will update to ‘In Review’ and all fields/buttons on the Selection page will remain disabled for editing.

            1. If ‘Auto-approve and package all award amounts greater than $0’ was selected, the Awarding Tool: Results process will be automatically executed after the Awarding Tool: Selections process completes. If the Awarding Tool: Results process completes successfully, the Status will update to ‘Complete’ and all fields/buttons on the Selection page will remain disabled for editing.

         3. If Selections Process fails, the Status will update to ‘Error’. In this case, the process must be started over by selecting the ‘Add’ button at the top of the page.

2. Cancel: Clears all selected/entered values without saving and closes the page.

3. Save Selected Parameters: Appends the entered ‘Awarding Selections Name' value to a 'Process Type' of 'Awarding Selections’ as the parameter set name and saves the selected/entered data with the name to Saved Parameter Sets.

   1. After saving, the set must be retrieved from Saved Parameter Sets in order to Execute.

   2. If the Awarding Tool: Selections process has been run for the parameter set, selecting to Execute again from the Saved Parameter Set will initiate a new process for the same parameters.  

   3. Saved Parameter Sets are available in Scheduled Processes options.

Awarding Tool: Results Subpage

Header Details

The following “view only” data is presented in the header of the subpage, based on data selected/entered on the Selections page:

1. Awarding Selections Name

2. Institution

3. Fund Name

4. Query Name

5. Ranking and Priority Name

6. Federal Award Year

7. Period Type

8. Start Date From/To

Fund Budget Information Grid

If the selected fund has a budget configured for the selected period, the following Fund Setup data for the budget will be displayed in the Fund Budget Information Grid: Budget Name, Budget Code; Effective Start Date; Effective End Date; Period Start Date; Period End Date; FAY; and, Current Remaining Balance.

In addition to Fund Setup data for the budget, a ‘Remaining Balance After Award Approval’ column will be presented. The value in this field is dynamic and will be updated in real time, based on Award Amount values in the Student and Awarding Data Grid having the ‘Approved’ checkbox selected/unselected. The field value is calculated by subtracting the total of all Award Amount values with 'Approve' selected from the 'Current Remaining Balance' value for the Budget. For records with the 'Approve' checkbox selected and a positive value in the Existing Award field for the record, that Existing Award value will be subtracted from the total of approved Award Amount values. If an Award Amount is “Approved” and subsequently edited to a different value, the 'Current Remaining Balance' value will be adjusted to account for the change.

Student and Awarding Information Grid

Order of Student List

If a Ranking and Priority was selected, students will be presented according to the defined sorting/ranking order. If more than one student has the same rank, they will be sorted alphabetically by last name then first name. The grid is filterable but does not have sorting capability, in order to preserve sorted/ranked order. If no Ranking and Priority was selected, students will only be sorted alphabetically, by last name then first name.

Student and Award Information

Each record in the table includes the student’s First Name, Last Name, and Student ID, as well as fields/buttons with the following data/functionality. Many of the field/column names are dynamic, depending on the Period Type selected on the Selections page.

1. Ranking: the score value calculated based on Ranking and Priority selected, if applicable If Ranking and Priority was not selected, the field will be blank.

2. Renewal?: View only checkbox. If Ranking and Priority was selected, and if ‘Renewal Prioritization' was selected in Ranking and Priority, the box will be selected for students for whom an award from the selected fund exists in a prior period. Student records that have a checkbox in this field will be presented as a group first, with Ranking values in descending order, if applicable, above all records for which the checkbox is not selected ("non-renewal" students). Students without the 'Renewal?’ checkbox selected will be presented as a group below the renewal students, in descending order of Ranking value, if applicable.  

3. FAY: FAY in which the student will be awarded, from the student's Academic Plan and based on period selected.

4. Period Start Date: Column is hidden unless Period Type selected is ‘Academic Plan’ or ‘Payment Period.’ Date value represents the Start Date from the student’s Academic Plan, for the period selected for awarding.

5. Period End Date: Column is hidden unless Period Type selected is ‘Academic Plan’ or ‘Payment Period.’ Date value represents the End Date from the student’s Academic Plan, for the period selected for awarding.

6. ‘FAY Award Amount’ or ‘AY Award Amount’: Column name is dynamic, based on scope of Fund selected; will be hidden unless Period Type selected is 'Payment Period.’ If the student is being award for a specific Payment Period only, this field represents the total eligible award amount for the FAY or AY, depending on fund scope.

7. ‘Existing Award’ or ‘Existing PP Award’: Column name is dynamic. Indicates any amount already awarded to the student from the fund for the period selected. If the existing award was “manual,” the manual icon will be presented next to the award amount value. If the existing award was packaged via the Awarding Tool, the Awarding Tool icon (AT) will be displayed next to the award amount value.

   1. Name will be ‘Existing Award’ if Period Type selected is ‘Federal Award Year’ or ‘Academic Year’

   2. Name will be ‘Existing PP Award’ if Period Type is ‘Payment Period.’

8. Calculated Eligibility or ‘Calculated PP Eligibility’: Column name is dynamic. Indicates the amount of award for which the student is eligible, from the selected fund, for the selected period. Amount includes any monies already awarded from the fund within the selected period and does not reflect budget limitations, if a fund budget applies.

   1. Name will be 'Calculated Eligibility' if Period Type selected is ‘Federal Award Year’ or ‘Academic Year.’

   2. Name will be ‘Calculated PP Eligibility’ if Period Type selected is ‘Payment Period.'

9. New Award Amount or ‘PP New Award Amount’: Column name is dynamic. Indicates the amount which the student will be awarded from the selected fund, if approved, for the selected period. Amount includes any monies for which the student has already been awarded from the fund for the period. If applicable, fund budget limitations have been factored into the amount calculation. If an Award Amount could not be calculated for the student because of a packaging blocker or a packaging failure, the Award Amount will be $0 and the record “grayed out.” The Award Amount field and Approve checkbox will be disabled for editing.

   1. Name will be 'New Award Amount’ if Period Type selected is ‘Federal Award Year’ or ‘Academic Year.’

   2. Name will be 'PP New Award Amount’ if Period Type selected is ‘Payment Period.'

Button Options/Executing the Results Process (Step 2 of the Awarding Tool)

There are three functional buttons on the Selections subpage, for users with ‘Edit Awarding Tool: Results’ permission: Execute, Terminate, and Download Report.

1. Execute: Initiates the Results Process. Button will be disabled until at least one record in the Student and Awarding Information table has an 'Approve' checkbox selected. Clicking the button will launch a confirmation pop-up with buttons OK and Cancel. Message of the pop-up reads: “Executing this process will apply positive Award Amounts to the students' Academic Plans. If the system is unable to award a student, that student will be skipped in the awarding process. Please review the Process Log and output file to confirm awarding, after the process has completed.” Clicking ‘Cancel’ will close the pop-up and the Results process is not kicked off. Clicking ‘OK’ will kick off the Results Process:

   1. System will attempt to package all approved Award Amounts for students. If there is an Existing Award amount, the existing award will be updated to reflect the new approved amount. Awards created through the Awarding Tool process will have an ‘AT’ icon on the Academic Plan.

   2. Record in Process Grid will be updated with a Results Process Date, a Results Process ID, and a Results Process User value, and the Status in the record will be updated.

   3. While the Results Process is running, status will be 'Processing' and all buttons/fields on the page will be disabled for editing/selection.

   4. If the process completes successfully, status will updated to ‘Complete' and 'Download Report’ button will be re-enabled

   5. If the process fails, status will be updated to ‘Error’. In this case, the processes must be started over by selecting the ‘Add’ button at the top of the page.

2. Terminate: Disables the Results Process from ever being run for the selections. Clicking the button will launch a pop-up message with button options OK and Cancel. Message of the pop-up reads: “You have selected to terminate this process. Options to Edit/Approve amounts and execute awarding will no longer be available.” Clicking ‘Cancel’ will close the pop-up. Clicking ‘OK’ will disable the Execute button as well as the Pencil Icon and Approve column checkboxes, and the Status for the record in the process grid will be updated to 'Terminated'.

3. Download Report: Downloads .csv file report for the Selections and Results processes. After the Selections Process has run successfully, but before the Results Process has been executed, the spreadsheet report contains all data displayed on the Results page plus student-level data values for each data element that was part of the selected Query and the selected Ranking and Priority (if applicable.) The same spreadsheet report is available after the Results Process completes successfully, except it will include a column that displays the amount of award actually applied to the student’s Academic Plan. A comparison of the Award Amount (value approved for the Results Process) and Amount Awarded (amount actually packaged for the student) will confirm if the student received the same amount approved within the Awarding Tool. Reports are also available within the Process Log (see sections below) and, after the Results Process has completed, as a link in the Awarding Tool process grid.

Output for Awarding Tool Processes

Process Log

Awarding Tool: Selections Process

A Process Log record with Process Type ‘Awarding Tool: Selections’ will be created for each run of the Awarding Tool: Selections Process. The ‘Details’ tab shows metadata associated with the process run, including the status of the process and, the total number of student records identified by the selected Query (Total Records,) the total number of records for which an Eligible Amount was successfully calculated (Processed Records,) and the total number of records for which an Eligible Amount could not be calculated (Unprocessed Records.) The download link to the process report file is also available. The ‘Selection Parameters’ tab displays all values entered on the Awarding Tool: Selections page. The ‘Students’ tab details the list of students identified in the process run. The ‘Errors’ tab includes messaging about any process failures.

Awarding Tool: Results Process

A Process Log record with Process Type ‘Awarding Tool: Results’ will be created for each run of the Awarding Tool: Results Process. The tabs of the process log record include the same data displayed in the log for the Awarding Tool: Selections Process, except the ‘Students' tab will also include ‘Award Amount’ (the amount approved in the Awarding Tool.)

Reports

A .csv file report is available in both the Awarding Tool: Selections Process log and the Awarding Tool: Results Process log. The only difference between the two reports is that the Awarding Tool: Results file will show the ‘Award Amount’ value as approved by the user, rather than the amount that was presented to the user for approval, and it will also include the ‘Amount Awarded’ for users to see the amount of award that was actually packaged to the student’s plan. These reports are also available in the Awarding Tool. The “Selections” report is available from the ‘Download Report’ button on the Awarding Tool: Results page BEFORE the Results Process has been run. The “Results” report is available from the ‘Download Report’ button on the Awarding Tool: Results page and the ‘Download File’ link the in the Awarding Tool process grid AFTER the Results Process has been run.

Additional Information

• In order to package all awards through the Awarding Tool as “manual” awards, meaning the awards will never be updated by the system in future packaging runs, the fund selected in Awarding Tool: Selections must be configured in Fund Setup with the ‘Adjustments Allowed’ field option of ‘Neither’ (General Tab, Awarding Rules section).

• The Awarding Tool Results Process uses Regent’s ‘Import Award’ functionality to apply awards to a student’s Academic Plan. If a student has not been packaged recently prior to the Awarding Tool processes being ran, or if there are changes to the student’s plan between the Awarding Tool: Selection Process and the Awarding Tool: Results Process, data discrepancies may cause the Import Award to fail. If a client has configuration in place to block packaging for failed Import Award records, the student cannot be packaged until the failed import is cancelled. Regent has implemented the ability to cancel failed Import Award records that were created by the Awarding Tool, on the ‘Imported Awards Review’ screen (accessed via the Processes menu.) In the table, if the ‘Source’ is ‘Awarding Tool’ and the ‘Canceled?’ value for a record is ‘False,’ a button option to cancel the import record will be available in the row.