4.2.0.0 Product Brief

Release Summary

This release provides additions for Client Configuration Management (CCM), Year Round Pell (YRP) support, product revisions pertaining to annual Department of Education Regulatory Updates, and additional new features and enhancements.

Product Release Description

Highlights of the 4.2 Release include the following:

• R8 now supports awarding for Year Round PELL which allows the Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) to package up to 150 percent of the student’s Pell Grant Scheduled Award (PGSA) for a Federal Award Year (FAY).
• 2018-2019 regulatory updates include:
  • ISIR processing and corrections import
  • Updates to ISIR Tab and ISIR Wizard
  • SAR comment code updates
  • Reject code updates
  • EFC calculation formula updates
  • Updates to TEACH amounts for Federal Sequestration
  • Document Setup enhancements for handling of certain tax documents
• CCM added the ability for users to Import and Export Program, Term and Program Group Configuration via CSV format (the XML based import/export processes for these configuration areas were made available in a prior release) as well as the ability to Import and Export Document Setup data via both XML and CSV format.
• A new configuration option to have the R2T4 Wizard automatically cancel any Title IV funds (except for the Federal Work Study) on a student’s account, during the R2T4 period, that are not included in the R2T4 calculation.
• The new COD WB Reconciliation Process allows users to export disbursements that were paid via COD on the Web to update their Accounts Receivable (AR) system.

Release Notes

Further details on enhancements/new features and complete list of bug fixes can be found in the Release Notes.

New Features Overview

The following new features have been added to this release.

Client Configuration Management

Regent 8 (R8) was enhanced by expanding the ability to import and export a school’s Program, Term and Program Group configuration via R8’s user interface (UI) using Comma-Separated Values (CSV) format files.

The CSV schema requires a separate file for each association.  The association files (i.e., ProgramTerm, ProgramGroupProgram, ProgramSite, etc.) can only be imported if the external IDs for the associating entities already exist in R8. The CSV association files need to be imported in a certain order.   For example, Program and Site files must be imported prior to ProgramSite import. 

Complete list of association files available for import as of Release 4.2.0.0 is listed below:

COD WB Reconciliation Process

Regent8 (R8) has been updated with new functionality to allow paid disbursements from an imported WB (Web) Response file to export via R8's regular EST for AR process or the new COD WB Reconciliation Process.  This enhancement is for schools that do not have an external reconciliation process for updating their Accounts Receivable (AR) system when disbursements are paid via COD on the Web.  To support this feature, Regent added two, new configuration options to Institution Setup, and a new process screen to the Processes menu.

Institution Setup Options

1. WB Reconciliation Process Option: Schools that wish to use the WB Reconciliation process must enable this setting (checkbox selected).  When this option is enabled, R8 detects and tracks differences between the paid disbursement amount on the COD WB file and R8's paid disbursement amount.  This data is surfaced on the R8 UI via the new COD WB Reconciliation Process screen.  The difference in the paid amount of the award between the WB file and the R8 record is the amount that needs to be exported via the EST for AR process in order to ensure that a school’s A/R system is reconciled with R8.  For example, an imported WB file has a paid disbursement for $500. R8's paid amount for the same disbursement is $0. Therefore, R8 needs to export $500 via EST for AR.  This transaction amount can be exported on EST for AR, EST for DRI, or the Expected EST process.  Manual user action is required on each individual transaction to authorize that the transaction be exported via EST for AR.  When the option is disabled (checkbox is not selected), WB Reconciliation process is not available.
2. Auto Authorize: This option is for schools that want to automate the WB Reconciliation process such that user intervention is not required for authorizing a disbursement record to be included in an EST for AR process.  When this option is enabled (checkbox selected), R8 automatically authorizes WB Reconciliation transactions to be exported during an EST for AR process.  When this option is disabled (checkbox is not selected), users must authorize the transactions manually, in order for them to be included in an EST for AR process via the new COD WB Reconciliation Process screen.

Additional details including a step-by-step on how to use this feature can be found in the /wiki/spaces/regent/pages/7029697.

Regulatory Updates: Year-Round PELL

Regent enhanced Regent8's awarding capabilities in support of Section 401(b)(8) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as added by section 310 of the Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2017 (Title III of Division H of P.L. 115-31, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017), which allows a student to receive Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) funds for up to 150 percent of the student’s Pell Grant Scheduled Award (PGSA) for a Federal Award Year (FAY).  Regent tracks disbursements from the first 100% of the scheduled Pell award separate from disbursements of the additional 50% Pell award granted by the new YRP rule.  To support this feature, Regent added new configuration options to Institution Setup, updated R8's Pell awarding rules, and created a new Disbursement Dataview.

New Dataview for Closed Payment information

Regent created a new data extract view, dataExtract_CourseEnrollment_View_v001, to support incremental export of Course Enrollment data.

Perfective Enhancements Overview

Below are enhancements to existing functionality to improve processing efficiency and compliance.

Cancel / Refund Excluded Title IV Disbursements

Regent enhanced R8 such that any Title IV funds (except for the Federal Work Study) on a student’s account, during the R2T4 period, that are not included in the R2T4 calculation, are cancelled automatically when the R2T4 is finalized.  Prior to this enhancement, Title IV disbursements for an R2T4 period that were excluded from the R2T4 process did not automatically cancel.  As a result, these awards had to manually cancelled, whether or not they had been disbursed.  Therefore, Regent also offers a read-only query to assist schools with identifying disbursements that may require cancellation for R2T4s processed prior to this enhancement.  To support this feature, Regent added a new configuration option to Institution Setup which inherits to Campus Setup, Program Setup, and the R2T4 Wizard; please see details below.

Regulatory Updates: 2018-2019 Federal Award Year Updates

The 4.2 release has added support for the new 2018-2019 Federal Award Year.

• New IRS request flags (Student and Parent level)
• Ability to import 2018-2019 ISIRs and send out corrections
• New ISIR reject codes
• Update for NSLDS TSM and FAH Data Import Templates
• Update for SAR C-Codes
• EFC Formula / Calculations Updates
• TEACH Sequestration Updates

All R8 Reports updated with auto-save search parameters

All standard reports in R8 have been enhanced to automatically save the report parameter values that were selected by a user to run the report.  When the same user opens the same report, the parameters previously selected are automatically populated for re-use when running the report again.

ISIR - Verification/DRT updated to include 07 code for Student IRS Flag Code and Parent IRS Flag Code

The follwing fields were added to the ISIR - Verification/DRT:

• Student IRS Flag Code: Added option: 07 = IRS data for the student was transferred from IRS, but the IRS indicated that the student filed an amended tax return
• Parent IRS Flag Code: Added option: 07 = IRS data for the parent was transferred from IRS, but the IRS indicated that the parent filed an amended tax return

Tasks – User Productivity report updated with new parameters

The Tasks – User Productivity report has been enhanced by adding two new parameters.  The report output parameter gives the user control over which elements of the report output, summary or detailed output, they wish to produce.  The Academic Start Date range field allows the report output to be narrowed based on the student’s AY start date

New validation for budgets on Imported Awards

Regent improved validation for the Import Awards and Disbursements process.  The new validation only applies to funds that use budgets, such as the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant.  For budgeted awards, R8 now ensures an Imported Award is linked to a configured budget before R8 will import the award.  If an award cannot be matched to any budget, R8 shows an error message and prevents the award from being imported.

Ready to Package Process updated

The Ready to Package process was enhanced to close a product gap.  The Ready to Package process exports a .csv file of students who have a “clean” ISIR and are therefore ready to be packaged by an external system.  In order to determine whether or not the student has a clean ISIR, R8 checks that the student has no outstanding documents that block packaging or disbursement.  However, R8 offers two types of disbursement blocks:

• Restrict Positive and Negative Disbursements
• Restrict Positive Disbursements only

Previously, R8 was only checking documents configured to Restrict Positive and Negative Disbursements against the “clean” ISIR.  However, R8 must check for either the Restrict Positive and Negative Disbursements or the Restrict Positive Disbursements only.  The Ready to Package process was enhanced to ensure that documents with either disbursement restriction are complete (in a Satisfied or Waived status) prior to determining whether or not the student has a “clean” ISIR.

Configuration Updates and System Requirements

System Requirements

Any client currently on the R8 4.1 branch may take R4.2.0.0. for UAT and ultimately production upgrade.

Release Updates and Known Issues