Kathi Riffe Guilford Technical Communit y Col lege CLUES TO YOUR SUCCESS

Session Rules of Etiquette  Please turn off your cell phone  If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible  Please avoid side conversation during the session Thank you for your cooperation! 2

About GTCC  A comprehensive, public, two year college  Has 5 campuses located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina  Founded in 1958  3 rd largest community college in North Carolina  Serves over 40,000 students annually  Colleague implemented in

E-Checks  Understand use of E-Checks  Understand the basics of how to set up E-Checks  Collaboration with your bank  Publicizing use of E-Checks  Understand decisions that need to be made  We will focus on student disbursements. 4

Just what is an E-Check?  An e-check is simply the Accounts Payable version of Payroll’s direct deposit.  Standard Colleague functionality Note: It is not the acceptance of an electronic check as a cash receipt. 5

E-Checks You obtain the banking information from the student Via WebAdvisor (allowing the student to enter the information him/herself Via a direct deposit form (staff would then enter the information) 6

Colleague Screens Used APDE (AP Parameters Definition) APEP (AR E-Check Parameters) ECPD (E-Check Parameters) BAIE (Bank Account Information Entry) BAIH (Bank Account Information History) ECPP (E-Check Prenote) ECAD (E-Check Advices) ECHP (E-Check Production) FERD (Financial Exports Record Deletion) FLDL (File Download – must have access to FINANCIAL.EXPORTS) 7

APDE – AP Parameters Definition 8

APEP – AP E-Check Parameters 9

ECHECK.E – E-Check Paragraph 10

ECHECK.P – E-Check Paper Paragraph 11

ECHECK.TERMS – E-Check Terms and Conditions Paragraph 12

ECHECK.TERMS – E-Check Terms and Conditions Paragraph (cont’d) By signing up for direct deposit, I hereby authorize GTCC to electronically deposit funds into the account designated by me on this form. I understand a reason/description of the payment will be provided in an E-check advice transmitted to me via . I am responsible for updating bank information if account details change. I also authorize adjustments to be made as necessary. If at any time your deposit can not be processed, due to your account being closed, or for any reason, GTCC will not issue a replacement payment until the receiving financial institution has either returned or guaranteed return of said funds to the College. Direct deposit provides additional security to students and the college because it reduces the potential for lost checks and check fraud. The direct deposit authorized by your acknowledgement on this form is accomplished by a process known as electronic funds (EFT) transfer from our originating bank. The process involves submission of an encrypted file through FTP. It is covered by a number of Federal regulations designed to safeguard the integrity of your account information. Any attempts of fraud by this transaction could be subject to felony prosecution under both federal and state laws. Cancellation of this authorization may be accomplished by selecting delete on this Bank Account Authorization form. 13

ECHECK.CONF.EM – E-Check Confirmation Paragraph 14

ECPD – E-Check Parameters 15

Be friends (or make friends) with your bank!  You must work with your bank to set up functionality and test, test and test again. You will be creating a file from Colleague for your e- checks. You must make sure that the file is in the right format for your bank. The bank should provide you with the proper ACH layout specifications. Try to run your test using the standard Colleague layout. You may need to customize the subroutine.  Run the tests several times to make sure that everything goes smoothly! 16

Word of Caution… Although similar to payroll, it does NOT use the same files or same information as payroll. Note: You may have a “vendor” that is an employee. If you do, be aware that the banking information used by the payroll system for direct deposit of wages will not be used by the E-Check process. 17

Generic Process  All setup steps and bank testing have been completed.  A student elects to be paid via direct deposit.  Banking information is provided to school.  Prenote process is generated (must be done prior to CKSE).  Vouchers are processed.  CKSE (Check Select) is generated – on this screen you choose whether to pay E-Checks, paper checks or both.  When E-Checks are generated, the file is created and then you will send the file to your bank by the method you’ve worked out with them. 18

Decisions to be made 1. What kind of advices do you want to generate? Paper advices Electronic advices Both 2. Do you want to force the choice of advice type or do you want to allow the payee to choose? (APEP – AP E-Check Parameters) 19

Decisions to be made (cont’d) 3. Do you want to allow your vendors/students to enter their own banking information? (Visibility via WebAdvisor – work with IT staff) (Direct Deposit Form and who enters?) 4. What are your school’s terms and conditions for the use of E-Checks? (Communication Management – ECHECK.TERMS) 20

Decisions to be made (cont’d) 5. What confirmation text do you want to use for people that sign up for E-Checks? (Communication Management – ECHECK.CONF.EM) 6. What information is on the advice document? (Communication Management – ECHECK.E or ECHECK.P) 7. What is the maximum amount of any one e-check? (APEP – AP E-Check Parameters) 21

Decisions to be made (cont’d) 8. What bank codes do you want to allow E- Checks for? (APEP – AP E-Check Parameters) 9. What account does communication management use to send s to vendors/students? (APDE – AP Parameters Definition) 22

Decisions to be made (cont’d) 10. Do you want to send the prenote file to the bank? It is required that you run the process but not that you send it to the bank. If you elect to send the file to the bank, you must work out your timing so that everyone knows when changes must be made and when the file is being sent. Note: If a change is made after the file is prenoted, a paper check will be issued instead of an E-Check. 23

Questions for bank  Proper ACH File Layout  Carriage return?  Blocking factor?  Padding character?  Offset record?  94 or 96 characters per line? 24

Sample file layout 25 1 – blocking factor 2 – padding character 1 2

GTCC’s implementation process  Only using for student financial aid disbursements and refunds.  Put out a survey to students asking about their banking, card usage and interest in electronic payments.  Piloted with small group of work-study students in Spring  Rolled out to general population in Summer  Went live with 51% acceptance rate.  Currently running at slightly over 70%. 26

Publicity of E-Checks  We don’t call it E-Checks to the students. We call it direct deposit. That is a term most students are comfortable with.  Posters  blasts  Announcements on CampusCruiser  Added information into student orientation packets  FAQ’s on Cashier’s web page 27

Tips DPAR – This is the main communication management screen that you will use to update the various paragraphs. If you are not comfortable with communication management – get some help! 28

Tips If you allow a student to enter his/her own banking information via WebAdvisor and you subsequently need to see what was entered, you must use BAIE. Enter the student ID. A resolution screen will come up. You must hit escape if you want to see what they entered! Do not select one of the options! 29

Tips The prenote file and the e-check file are saved to the FINANCIAL.EXPORTS file. You must have access to be able to download the file from there. advices are generated to the student at the time the file is created and not on the date that the money should hit their account. 30

Tips If you allow a student to enter his/her own banking information via WebAdvisor and you subsequently need to see what was entered, you must use BAIE. Enter the student ID. A resolution screen will come up. You must hit escape if you want to see what they entered! Do not select one of the options! It won’t hurt anything but you won’t see what the student entered. 31

Tips Understanding the file name: Prenote: EFTPN_xx_date_time Real file: EFT_xx_date_time xx = bank code 32

Tips If you have created the E-Check file and subsequently void a check in that file, the original e-check file does not change. You will have to follow your bank’s procedures for trying to stop or reverse an ACH. Note: the void also does not create a new file. 33

Tips You must work closely with your Financial Aid department so that they understand the deadlines by which they must have all changes made. 34

Ellucian Documentation All of the following manuals have good information about setting up E-Checks.  WebAdvisor for Colleague Finance, Reissued as of December 12, 2013  Using Accounts Payable, Reissued as of June 19, 2009  E-Check Release Highlights, dated October 27, 2006 You can access these manuals via the Ellucian Hub website. 35

Questions & Answers 36

Thank You! Kathi Riffe Financial Assurance & Reporting Manager 37