6.8.0.0 Release Notes

Release

Release 6.8.0.0

Document Updated

8/23/24




Executive Summary

Regent Education is pleased to announce Regent 6.8.0.0, the latest release of the Regent Enterprise Financial Aid Management System.

The release includes enhancements listed in the 'Enhancements' section below and further defined in the Product Brief. This release also addresses product defects as listed in the 'Bugs' section below.

New/Updated Configuration Options

The following configuration options were added or updated in release 6.8.0.0:  

Institution Setup>Portal>E-signature Settings> Student e-Signature Confirmation Options field

  • Options added:

    • Current City

      • Information text: Entry in the ‘City’ field will not be validated against data in the form. The purpose of the field is to capture the city in which the student is located when they sign electronically, per regulatory requirements of some states.

      • Default: unselected

    • Current State

      • Information text: Entry in the ‘State’ field will not be validated against data in the form. The purpose of the field is to capture the state in which the student is located when they sign electronically, per regulatory requirements of some states.

      • Default: unselected

 

Institution Setup>Campus Setup>Fund Setup

  • New field: Require At Least Half-Time Enrollment Level in All Paid Terms

    • Options:

      • No (Default): Do not consider enrollment level and disbursement paid status for renewing the award in future award years.

      • Yes: If any term or payment period had a positive paid disbursement from this fund, but that term’s enrollment level changed to be Less Than Half Time or was fully withdrawn, then disqualify all eligibility from this fund for future award years.

    • Example: A school might want to set “Allow Auto-Adjustment of Paid Disbursements” to No for a fund that normally requires half time enrollment level. The school might want to disallow future eligibility for a student who had a paid amount in a term that turned into an overaward when the student withdrew to have below half-time enrollment in the term. When the configured setting is “Yes,” then future award years would consider the student ineligible. The student is still eligible during the remaining terms in the award year.

 

Institution Setup>Data Pipeline

For IL State Grant awarding processes, Data Pipelines ‘StateGrantIL_Import_EligibilityStatusFile_Pipeline’ and ‘StateGrantIL_Export_PaymentRequestFile_Pipeline' are configured via build script.

Admin and User Guide Updates 

As part of Regent 6.8.0.0, the following Admin and User Guide pages were added/updated.

https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CZ/pages/edit/2298740828?draftId=2298642504&draftShareId=33b2c257-6f6a-4afa-a2c2-aab829cb7283&

SAIG Credentials Screen

https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CZ/pages/3370713223

https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CZ/pages/1744928913

https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CZ/pages/263454960

Data Pipeline Import/Export Processes (NEW)

https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CZ/pages/4240834590 (NEW)

Florida State Funds - Bright Futures and FSAG (NEW)

Florida State Funds - Getting Started (NEW)

Enhancements

The following enhancements are included in this release:

Key

Product Selection

Functional Area

Release Note

Key

Product Selection

Functional Area

Release Note

RS-28124

Regent Award

Awarding

Title: Fund Setup: Amount Per Payment Period - New Label column

Tickets: RS-28124;

Description:
In Fund Setup, ‘Amount Per Payment Period,’ Regent has added a new ‘Label’ column. The Label is available for specialized uses such as in custom rulesets. For example, if a custom ruleset needs to use several different values in the ‘Amount Per Payment Period’ rows, for different categories of students, then the school might send a UDF with different values for the different types of students. The rules could be coded to consider the Label values when Regent determines the Amount Per Payment Period.

See Customer Zone Knowledge Base topic https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CZ/pages/263454960

RS-27897

Regent Award

Funds (SEOG / Work Study / State)

Title: State Grants: Automate Florida Student Assistance Grant (FSAG)

Tickets: RS-26145; RS-26146; RS-27346; RS-27347; RS-27348; RS-27897; RS-27924; RS-27926; RS-27927; RS-27928; RI-446;

Description:
Regent Award has added automation for the Florida Student Assistance Grant (FSAG). Regent has automated packaging including eligibility determination, awarding, and disbursement for this decentralized, need-based fund. The FSAG custom rules use amounts and other configuration from standard Fund Setup configuration in Regent Award. The logic also considers the institution type and state. Public Florida institutions award FSAG for students with a half-time or greater enrollment level. Participating non-public or non-Florida institutions may award FSAG for full-time students.

See Customer Zone Knowledge Base topics: Florida State Funds - Bright Futures and FSAG, Florida State Funds - Getting Started, and Data Pipeline Import/Export Processes

RS-27893

Regent Award

Packaging

Title: Improved Pell Rounding and Formula 3 Updates

Tickets: RS-27754; RS-27893; RS-27892; RS-28008; RS-28009; RS-28010; RS-28011; RS-28012;

Description:
Regent has updated Pell Grant awarding for Pell Grant Formula 3 to more closely follow the Pell Formula 3 examples in the Federal Student Handbook. For Formula 3, Regent first calculates the Full-Time units for the term’s length proportional to the Academic Year (AY) length in units. Regent also calculates the Formula 3 adjusted scheduled annual amount and rounds that value. Then, Regent calculates the Pell Enrollment Intensity Percentage (EIP) using the Full-Time Units, and rounds the EIP to the nearest whole percentage. Regent multiplies the Formula 3 adjusted scheduled award by the calculated EIP, and rounds. For consecutive terms with the same term length and same EIP value, Regent will use standard rounding for the initial term, then will alternate rounding up and down for the following terms. Regent still applies final checks to ensure the total awarded amount does not exceed the annual scheduled Pell award, and the total amount with Year-Round Pell (YRP) cannot exceed 150% of the scheduled annual amount. Regent still applies alternate up/down rounding for payment period amounts for Pell Formula 1 and Formula 4 that have the same EIP.

RS-27648

Regent Access

ISIR Processing/Verification

Title: Add “ISIR” Fields to Access Master Form/Access Database Extract File

Tickets: RS-27648; RS-27024; RS-27976;

Description:

The following ISIR-related fields have been added as hidden fields to the master Access application with default values, due to the need of some clients to have the data be included on the Access Database Extract File which is imported into other systems.

  • Transaction Source

    • Default '3' = FAFSA Partner Portal

  • Transaction Type

    • Default 'A' = Application

  • Transaction Language

    • Default 'E' = English

  • Application Source

    • Default '3' = FAFSA Partner Portal

See Customer Zone Knowledge Base topic Access - Export Files

RS-27265

Regent Award

Not Applicable

Title: SAIG Mailbox Password Criteria Updated in Regent

Tickets: RS-27265; RS-26808;

Description:

Criteria for the ‘Password’ field on the SAIG Credentials page>General tab in Regent and the integration to the SAIG mailbox has been updated to allow the SAIG password to contain special characters.

See Customer Zone Knowledge Base topic SAIG Credentials Screen.

RS-26658

 

 

Title: Data Factory Automation Support for Florida State Grant Awarding: Bright Futures and Florida Student Assistance Grant

Tickets: RS-26145; RS-26658; RS-27291; RS-27296; RS-27429; RS-27596; RS-27462; RS-28056; RS-28057; RS-26146; RS-26147; RS-27897;

Description:

Regent has implemented an import process for the Florida Disbursement Eligibility Report, via new Data Pipeline configuration and new Azure Data Factory functionality, to support a ruleset for awarding of FL State Grants. A ruleset has been developed for awarding of the Bright Futures awards and the Florida Student Assistance Grant, based on imported eligibility report data and other eligibility criteria. Customization of the ruleset is required for use on a client-by-client basis. Clients should contact their Account Manager for more information.

A process has also been implemented to export the Florida Grade and Hours Report based on Florida state grant award data. Note: The export data pipeline will utilize a configured query to identify students/awards for reporting. If clients create a query with the same name as the query used by the export data pipeline, the user-created query will be overridden.

See Customer Zone Knowledge Base topic Data Pipeline Import/Export Processes.

RS-26216

Regent Access

ISIR Processing/Verification

Title: Add City/State Confirmation to Student E-sign Process

Tickets: RS-26216; RS-27024; RS-27936; RS-27937; RS-27938;

Description:

New options have been added to the ‘Student e-Signature Confirmation Options’ field on the Portal tab in Institution Setup:

  • Current City

  • Current State

When selected, a field for the option will be presented and required on the student’s e-signature portion for smart forms in the Student Portal. Entry in the ‘Current City' and ‘Current State’ fields will not be validated against data within the smart form. The purpose of the fields is to capture the student’s location at the time they electronically signed the form, per regulatory requirements of some states.

For Smart Forms that have corresponding city and state of e-signature fields included within the form, such as the Access master application, the City and State entered by the student during the e-sign process will appear on the PDF of the form.

See Customer Zone Knowledge Base topic https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CZ/pages/1744928913

RS-26147

Regent Award

Funds (SEOG / Work Study / State)

Title: State Grants: Automation for Florida Bright Futures Scholarships

Tickets: RS-26145; RS-26147; RS-27992; RS-27993; RS-27994; RS-27995; RS-27996; RS-27997; RS-28001; RS-28002; RS-28007; RS-28124; RI-446;

Description:
Regent Award has added automation for packaging several roster-based Florida state scholarships. Regent has full automation for four Florida “Bright Futures” funds: The Florida Academic Scholars, Florida Medallion Scholars, Florida Gold Seal CAPE Scholars, and Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars. Regent automates packaging including eligibility determination, awarding, and disbursement. The school imports the Florida Master Eligibility List (MEL). Regent stores the MEL eligibility information on a Student Document Requirement for each Fund. Regent then applies the MEL data when packaging the Bright Futures funds.

RS-25750

Regent Award

ISIR Processing/Verification

Title: Support for new FTI SAIG Mailbox

Tickets: RS-25750; RS-26808; RS-26868; RS-26869; RS-27492;

Description:

A new ‘FTI-SAIG’ subtab has been added to SAIG Credentials>SAIG: TG Mailboxes in Regent, and TD Client has been installed to support the new FTI SAIG mailbox. The FTI-SAIG tab functionality mirrors the functionality of the ‘General' tab for SAIG but will have only one Process Type selection available: ‘ISIR Import (2024-2025 and forward)’. The ISIR Import Process Type on the General tab, for the SAIG mailbox, will only support imports for 2023-2024 and prior. Only one SAIG mailbox and one FTI SAIG mailbox can be active at a given time.

See Customer Zone Knowledge Base topics SAIG Credentials Screen,https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CZ/pages/3370713223.

RS-27124

Regent Award

Awarding

Title: State of Illinois MAP Grant Awarding

Tickets: RS-27124; RS-26696; RS-27755; RS-27756; RS-27757; RS-27758; RS-27899; RS-27900; RS-27901; RS-27902;

Description:

Regent has implemented an import process for the IL MAP Grant Eligibility Status File, via new Data Pipeline configuration and new Azure Data Factory functionality, to support a ruleset for awarding of the IL MAP Grant. A ruleset has been developed for awarding of the IL MAP Grant, based on imported IL MAP Grant Eligibility Status File data and other eligibility criteria. Customization of the ruleset is required for use on a client-by-client basis. Clients should contact their Account Manager for more information.

A process has also been implemented to export a Payment Request File based on IL MAP Grant award data. Note: The export data pipeline will utilize a configured query to identify students/awards for reporting. The name of the query is ‘IL MAP Grant Payment Request File’. If clients create a query with the same name, the user-created query will be overridden.

See Customer Zone Knowledge Base topics Data Pipeline Import/Export Processes, https://regenteducation.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CZ/pages/4240834590

Bugs 

The following bugs are resolved in this release:

Key

Product Selection

Functional Area

Release Note

Key

Product Selection

Functional Area

Release Note

RS-28175

Regent Award

Awarding

Problem:
In Fund Setup, when Funds were configured with the “Min/Max SAI” configuration using negative values for the Maximum SAI, the system did not award from the fund, and also canceled existing awards.

Cause:
The fund had an incorrect eligibility check when applying the Maximum SAI value. For FAY 2024-2025 and later, the system was using a zero value instead of the lower configured SAI value.

Fix:
Regent was updated to correctly use the configured SAI values.

Testing:
Test with a student who has an ISIR with a negative SAI value and enough remaining cost and need for a fund’s eligibility. Configure the fund to have a Minimum SAI and Maximum SAI value for the ISIR’s FAY. Enable auto-packaging (if needed). Reload RNA Setup. Package the student, or use Add Award Wizard if the fund is not set to auto-package. Refresh. Confirm the student is awarded and packaged from the fund. Update the Fund Setup Min/Max range to not include the student’s SAI value. Package again. Confirm the student’s award from the fund is zeroed out.

RS-28113

Regent Award

Awarding

Problem:
Regent Award incorrectly awarded Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant (SEOG) and Federal Work Study (Estimated) less than the configured budgeted amounts.

Cause:
Regent Award incorrectly processed budget transactions, causing an incorrect fund budget balance.

Fix:
Regent Award is updated to ensure budget transactions are processed correctly.

Testing:
In Regent Award, run BP awards for students with SEOG and FWS, and observe the awarded amounts.

RS-28092

Regent Fund

Packaging

Problem:

The student is shown as eligible for a specific fund via the Query tool but when the packaging is run, the Regent Award treats the fund as ineligible

Cause:

Student's UDF values were not storing the datatype due to that RQL query for number comparison return false as it is comparing string to number.

Fix:

Modified the DataField context to store the DataType and use that datatype when creating Student's UDF data so RQL query work as both datatype is same in the comparison

Testing:

Find the affected student. run packaging. Make sure that the fund in question is awarded without any issues.

RS-28004

Regent Award

Awarding

Problem:
Regent Award unexpectedly awarded students over the LEU limits and incorrectly spread Pell amount across terms.

Cause:
When the LEU limit was exceeded, Regent Award incorrectly set the rounded amount for the Payment Period to the amount adjusted by LEU.

Fix:
Regent Award is updated to use the minimum of the rounded amount for the Payment Period and the remaining LEU amount.

Testing:
In Regent Award, package a student with a remaining LEU less than 100%. Confirm Pell is awarded for each term up to the eligible amount for the term until LEU is reached.

RS-27999

Regent Award

Awarding

Problem:
Regent Award unexpectedly incorrectly split an award across terms when the "Distribute Using Payment Period Amounts'’ was enabled.

Cause:
Regent Award incorrectly did not verify if the payment period already had an amount set while applying the balance tracker.

Fix:
Regent Award is updated to check if the Amount field is not set. If it isn't, the system will use cost group balances while packaging.

Testing:
In Regent Award, Package a student for a fund where "Distribute Using Payment Period Amounts'’ is enabled in Fund Setup.

RS-27978

Regent Award

Awarding

Problem:
Regent Award unexpectedly miscalculated months for HPPA programs Unsub calculation.

Cause:
Regent Award was not removing breaks or the time between terms.

Fix:
Regent Award is updated to include breaks or the time between terms in the calculation.

Testing:
In Regent Award, package a student with a HPPA program.

RS-27977

Regent Award

Awarding

Problem:

Unsub loan award amounts are zeroed out for unknown reason in Lower Level HIPPA Programs, although they are already paid as disbursements

Cause:

There was a gap in Regent Award logic that caused the HPPA month calculation for lower eligible programs to return 0. This then caused the lookup for the combined limit to return 0 as well, which led to the cancellation of awards.

Fix:

The HPPA month method has been fixed to return the correct HPPA for lower eligible programs.

Testing:

Find the affected student. Run the packaging. Review the Unsub loan. It should be non-zero.

RS-27963

Regent Award

Funds (SEOG / Work Study / State)

Problem:

SEOG for client was being packaged in the 24-25 FAY even though Pell was not awarded in the same term, contrary to packaging rules.

Cause:

Error in 24-25 ruleset logic for client.

Fix:

The ruleset was updated with new logic handling the packaging of 24-25 and subsequent FAYs.

Testing:

Find the affected student. Run packaging. The Pell and FSEOG are awarded in the same term.

RS-27946

Regent Award

Configuration/Setup

Problem:

‘VA Educational Benefits’ section is missing when FAY 24-25 is selected at CFP tab for Communication templates

Cause:

To Show/Hide sections' logic was checking only FAY 2023-2024

Fix:

To Show/Hide sections, updated condition to check FAY 2023-2024 or forward

Testing:

Find the communication template. Click ‘Edit’. Select FAY 24-25. Confirm that ‘VA Educational Benefits’ section is visible

RS-27894

Regent Access

Scripts

Problem:
For Regent Access customers, the SAI Recalculation tool could not successfully trigger recalculation. The tool returned validation errors such as The application autocomplete process applied for StudentID: 66 has returned following validation errors: residencyCertificationOptionVerification: This field is required;

Cause:
The Regent Access Smart Form logic was needing specific data values that were not present in all Access applications. Some fields had incorrect pre-population settings and were not copying the data from the previously submitted Access applications.

Fix:
Regent corrected the logic for the Regent Access Smart Form Master Questionnaire. Several residency-related fields had logic corrected to use the values for the previous application within the same FAY, or use values from the previous submitted Smart Form within the same FAY. Regent also removed an incorrect default for the Parent State of Legal Residence.

Testing:
In a QA environment, ensure you have deployed the latest Regent Access Master Application for 2024-2025. Run the SAI Recalculation tool for a student who has a previously successfully submitted and signed Regent Access Application for 2024-2025. Confirm the tool is completed successfully. Test both Dependent and Independent students.

RS-27842

Regent Award

Configuration/Setup

Problem:
In the Regent Query tool, when two Query Groups were linked with a “NOT” operator, the system returned results from each individual group. The “NOT” was not honored.

Cause:
When the query was translated into code, the logic did not correctly process the different groups. The system did not remove the results from the group marked with the “NOT” operator.

Fix:
The code was fixed to correctly parse multiple groups when a group is using a “NOT” condition.

Testing:
In Regent Query, build a query using at least two separate groups, with one group connected to the other group using a “NOT” condition. Execute the query. Confirm the query results give the overall results as expected. Confirm the query does find students who meet the queried group, and who do not meet the conditions in the second group that was linked by the “NOT.”

RS-27387

Regent Award

Documents

Problem:
Regent Award unexpectedly does not import unsupported SAIG files blocked with an error.

Cause:
Regent Award was incorrectly updated and did not consider the case where all available files in the mailbox are expected to be received.

Fix:
Regent Award is updated to ignore the error message when all available files in the mailbox are expected to be received.

Testing:
In Regent Award, try to import all SAIG Files. Confirm all available files are received.

RS-27322

Student Experience

Student Experience

Problem:

Parent State of Legal Residence question in Parent Contact Information section of 24-25 Master Access Application was required, but student could skip it and it resulted in bad data on PDF and CSV files.

Cause:

Parent State of Legal Residence question defaulted to Students Permanent State question.

Fix:

The default option for Parent State of Legal Residence question was cleared since parent and student can live in different states.

Testing:

Waive 24-25 Master Access Application for the reported student and add new one, ensure that Parent State of Legal Residence does not have default value and data is accurate in PDF file.

RS-27267

Regent Award

ISIR Processing/Verification

Problem:
Regent Award unexpectedly showed an error message when attempting to Print ISIRs for 23-24 and earlier using the Print ISIR option under the ISIR tab.

Cause:
This error occurred because of the change in how data is flowing from the ISIR Layout into the Regent user interface.

Fix:
Regent Award is updated to use the old method of data flowing from the ISIR Layout into Regent user interface for 23-24 ISIRs and earlier.

Testing:
In Regent Award, on the ISIR tab, click the "Print ISIR" button for 23-24 ISIR or earlier.

RS-26067

Regent Award

Documents

Problem:
Regent Award unexpectedly does not update PLUS Entrance Interview document status.

Cause:
Regent Award had a gap from the initial design of the Student Document Import process that assumed each student has a distinct set of Documents related to Document Requirements (DR) that caused SQL to match to a random DR and update that one vs matching to the distinct DR that is expected to be updated.

Fix:
Regent Award is updated to ensure if there is not a distinct match for an existing DR, an error will be logged for the student in the process. The documentRequirementExternalId or (internal) documentRequirementId must be used to distinctly match to the DR for the same student|Document|Scope.

Because the document create date is not a searchable item for import student documents, so if there are 2 documents with same document external ID and same scope value, the User will now receive an error in the Process Log. To actually update a student in that situation a User must add a Document Requirement External Id to the ISD file.

Testing:
In Regent Award, import PLUS Entrance Interview file for a student who has 2 PLUS Entrance Interview documents with the same created date.

RS-26605

Regent Award

Documents

Problem:

The import Student Documents process does not create new documents during the import

 Cause:

There was a logic gap in matching the Document Requirement by studentId + documentId + documentScope which caused a non-match on documentRequirementExternalId to match an existing Document Requirement and failed to create it.

Fix:

The logic was improved to ensure that a new Document Requirement R is created every time

Testing:

Import the XML file with the document requirements via Import Student Documents (XML). Find the affected student. Run packaging. Review the documents tab. The document are created

RS-28170

Regent Award

Awarding

Problem:
For some funds configured with a Budget, the configured allocated Budget Amount did not limit awarding. The system packaged awards exceeding the Budget Amount, resulting in a negative Balance Remaining to Offer.

Cause:
The application incorrectly processed budget transactions that sometimes caused an incorrect fund budget balance.

Fix:
The application will correctly process budget transactions.

Testing:
Test using a non-production test environment with several eligible students who do not currently have an award from a fund. Configure the fund with a Budget Amount value slightly higher than the currently offered amount. Update the Packaging Philosophy so the fund will auto-package. Reload RNA Setup. Run Batch Packaging on the eligible students. Confirm the eligible students are awarded with Accepted funds up to the Budget Amount. Confirm additional eligible students have the award created in Unfunded status. Confirm the system does not cause a negative value in the Balance Remaining to Offer.

Scripts

The following scripts relate to this release:

Key

Functional Area

Release Note

Key

Functional Area

Release Note

RS-28064

Scripts

Purpose of Script:
This build script ensures Regent Award is using updated course data for all students upon upgrade. In some cases, resource conflicts at the database level might have caused deadlocks and stopped the Course Enrollment Rollup (CE Rollup) process from completing. Some students might have had pending data changes, such as new course information from the Student Batch Load (SBL) process. For the affected students, the system could not update information such as total unit values.

Data Changed by the Script:
The script identifies any students that have course data changes or other SIS-provided data that was loaded but was not yet fully processed. The script then runs the Course Enrollment Rollup (CE Rollup) process for those students. The CE Rollup process updates the unit totals and other information.

How to Access the Script:
The script is included in the deployment of the certified release of Regent Award. Each customer will receive this script update automatically when they upgrade to the certified release.

How to Test the Script:
Before upgrading, find an affected student who had SBL data loaded in a failed CE Rollup process, where the student’s current course data do not match the unit totals displayed on the Academic Plan screen. Perform the upgrade. Refresh the Process Log. Confirm the Process CE Rollup process is Complete. View the affected student. Repackage the student using the Modify Academic Plan wizard (MAP). Refresh the Academic Plan screen. Confirm the total units match the course data.

Data Views  

The following data views relate to this release:

Key

Functional Area

Release Note

Key

Functional Area

Release Note

RS-28067

Data Views

Title: Data View Updates per 6.8.0.0 Release

Tickets: RS-28067;

Description:

The following Data Views were created per changes to existing tables:

  • dbo.dataExtract_AwardCODMetadata_View_v006

  • dbo.dataExtract_CODAward_View_v008

  • dbo.dataExtract_CODDisbursement_View_v006

  • dbo.dataExtract_CODStudent_View_v004

  • dataExtract_CommunicationTemplateFile_View_v006

  • dbo.dataExtract_CourseAdjustment_View_v005

  • dbo.dataExtract_DLReconciliation_View_v002

  • dbo.dataExtract_Document_Config_View_v007

  • dbo.dataExtract_Fund_View_v012

  • dbo.dataExtract_InstitutionPortal_ESignature_View_v004

  • dbo.dataExtract_InstitutionPortal_FinancialAid_View_v007

  • dbo.dataExtract_LoanPeriod_View_v006

  • dbo.dataExtract_PellMRR_View_v002

  • dbo.dataExtract_PellReconciliation_View_v002

  • dbo.dataExtract_RebuildAward_View_v007

  • dbo.dataExtract_RebuildDisbursement_View_v005

  • dbo.dataExtract_SAIGMessageClass_View_v002

  • dbo.dataExtract_Student_View_v007

  • dbo.vAdmin_LatestDataExtractViewName

The following Data View was created per creation of a new table:

  • N/A

See the Customer Zone Knowledge Base topic Regent Award Data View Data Dictionary