1. PowerFAIDS User Group Troy Davis The College Of The Elms
Nicholas Zinser
Northeastern University

2. Agenda Welcome & Introductions Current & Upcoming Releases
Direct Loans & PowerFAIDS
Contacts & Support

3. Welcome & Introductions
Name
Institution
#1 question you want answered today

4. Current PowerFAIDS Release
The current PowerFAIDS release is 14.3A
Fixes significant problems found in the 14.3 release
Direct Loan processing issues resolved
Default Overpay Tag
No $0 disbursements included
Fixed an issue with previously disbursed funds disbursing again
Fixed Web Response files allowing them to be imported again
Any issues with 14.3A so far?

5. PowerFAIDS 15.0 Scheduled to be released this month
Normal upgrades included
Parameter Roll Forward / Award Year Support
PROFILE Import / IM Need Analysis
Changes to PROFILE are big this year
PROFILE files are now XML based rather than a flat file
Support for International PROFILE has been included

6. PowerFAIDS 15.0 Beta testing
Client-side beta testing will begin shortly
If you can assist, it helps the PowerFAIDS staff
Contact
Beta-testing involves the following
Upgrade your test database to 15.0
Upgrade to 15.0 on one client PC
Perform a series of processing steps (Parm Roll, PROFILE Import, IM Need Analysis, etc.)
Report back to PowerFAIDS with your results
48 hour turnaround

7. PowerFAIDS 15.0
Beta testing is an important part of the release process
Allows for “real world” environments to show potential issues in the software
Gives the end user an idea of how the new release will perform
Northeastern has been involved in beta testing for nearly 2 years
Huge help in identifying performance issues and testing functionality
Not a large commitment of staff time
Limited to the small testing audience on staff

8. Direct Loan Processing
Pop Quiz!
How many users are currently using PowerFAIDS to process Direct Loans?
How many are using the flat file to EDExpress?
How many are using the COD XML file process?
How many users will transition for ?
When would you begin that transition?
How many users are hoping that FFELP will remain in some form after Congress reviews the bill?

9. Direct Loan Processing
Focus on supporting DL in some for in
Could give you time to work with a sample population
New students for Spring term
Part-Time students
Use this as a foundation to build best practices for the upcoming year
Coordinate G5 drawdowns with your business office
Refine your selection sets for disbursements to match DL
Northeastern has gone through 5 versions!
Determine your cash management and recon-
ciliation practice

10. Direct Loan Processing
PowerFAIDS summarized their upcoming DL plans last week in an to the forum
They will continue to support both the flat file and XML formats for the upcoming year (15.x cycle)
The goal is to eventually offer only the XML option
If you currently use the flat file, have you thought about making the transition to XML?
FDSLP response files contain a lot of data which updates PowerFAIDS
Loan information
Promissory Note data
Credit decisions

11. Direct Loan Processing
A new file type has been enabled for import
Credit Override (CRCO) files can now be imported
Begin the COD import process as normal
Switch to “All Files” in the browsing window to see the CRCO files
Load as a normal response file

12. Direct Loan Processing
PowerFAIDS 15.1 DL Release enhancements
Enhanced reconciliation tools
Load COD SAS files back to
Load Reconciliation File for onward
New view in the Student module to compare deposits
What you have processed with COD
SAS file data (what has returned from COD)
Disbursements from PF to the Business Office
What the Business Office has on their system
DL Net Disbursements will be fixed
Option to continue sending the gross amount will be
maintained
New mnemonics to track data changes through the
entire process

13. Direct Loan Processing
PowerFAIDS 15.2 Release enhancements
COD will upgrade their XML schema again this Spring
New version will be 3.0c
All COD files will have to be processed using 3.0c
Not just DL – Pell, ACG, SMART, etc.
Enables DL origination & disbursement for and using the 3.0c schema
Processing will not be available prior to 15.2

14. Direct Loan Processing
PowerFAIDS 15.3 Release enhancements
Import COD SAS files for
Standard reports to support DL reconciliation
DL Net Disbursement Anticipated Aid Extract
Can be used by the Business Office to plan for upcoming G5 drawdowns
Import Booking Notice (CRBN) files
Support for DL Rebuild File ( and later)
But wait…there’s more…

15. Direct Loan Processing
PowerFAIDS 15.3 Release enhancements
Support for Promissiory Note (CRPN) files!
New staging table where you can load MPNs
Load MPNs to student records – even when no loan is packaged
Matching criteria will be set to process this data
COD is changing MPN processing in mid-2010 to support borrower-initiated PLUS & Graduate PLUS loans
Limited information is available
PowerFAIDS is pushing back MPN solutions until
that new process is in place

16. Direct Loans
Open discussion

17. Direct Loans
Priority List

18. PowerFAIDS & Direct Loan
Use the conference sessions from this year’s PowerFAIDS National User Conference as a guide
Go to the PowerFAIDS Community Site for the presentations
Training -> National User Conference

19. PowerFAIDS Documentation
The PowerFAIDS User Guide chapter on Direct Loans has not been updated to reflect COD XML processing
Scroll to the bottom of the document
Past all of the appendices
Keep going
Look for the “New Features & Changes” documents from the 13.2 release and onward
Contains all the setup information for DL
Make sure to check subsequent release notes for
changes or other updates

20. Upcoming Events FSA Conference PowerFAIDS WebEx Training
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Presidential North Room
Time is TBA – check the conference schedule
PowerFAIDS WebEx Training
Register at the PowerFAIDS Community site
Session on COD & DL – 1/19/2010 at 2pm EST

21. New England PowerFAIDS User Group
A new listserv exists for the New England PowerFAIDS User Group
Go to
Subscribe using your address
Confirm via response your subscription options
This list will be used for announcements related to the User Group

22. Support PowerFAIDS Forum PowerFAIDS User Guide PowerFAIDS User Support
PowerFAIDS User Guide
Press “F1” when you’re at the Welcome Screen in the PowerFAIDS Student module
PowerFAIDS User Support

23. Questions?
Contact information:
Troy Davis
Nicholas Zinser