Automated Process Activation

The Automated Process Activation page enables system administrators to activate automated business processes for Financial Aid and Student Accounts business processes by Campus and Reporting Entity ID. Activation of each business process can be done individually by Eligibility stage, Campus, and Reporting Entity ID, depending on the process to be activated. Once the process is enabled, any of these (the Campus or Reporting Entity ID) will be available when configuring additional automation in Job Management.

The following automation work areas can be configured:

• Eligibility by Campus
• Automation by Reporting Entity ID
• Automation by Campus

Note: Automation can be enabled with or without Eligibility.

To enable a process, all campuses (or campuses associated with a Reporting Entity ID) must have a Default Financial Aid Advisor assigned. If you try to enable a process affecting a campus that does not have a Default Financial Aid Advisor assigned, the process will not be enabled and an exception message will indicate the processes and campuses that could not be enabled.

Note: You cannot disable Process Activation's Auto Repackaging and/or Auto Packaging functionality while there are related active jobs configured in the system. Those active jobs must be deactivated or deleted before you can disable Auto Repackaging.

Financial Aid Automation's Windows Services will check Process Activation before running any background processes.

1. It is required to have at least one process activated to have background processes execute Automated Services.

2. If no processes are activated, no background processes in Automated Services will execute.

When no process has been activated, the Windows Services will check Process Activation once every 6 hours (therefore, FAA will make 4 calls in 24 hours). This enables Process Activation user changes to be detected without a user having to manually restart the Windows Services. If a user would like their changes to immediately be effective, the Windows Services can be manually restarted.

Relevant Background Processes:

• FAA Task Dispatcher Background Processes

  • EnableJobDispatcher - This process queues the job so that it can be run.

  • EnableJobDequeue - This process runs the jobs.

  • EnableJobPostProcessing - This process marks the orphaned jobs as complete. Also marks the next job in a sequence as ready to run.

  • EnableJobExceptionPostProcessing - This process performs exception de-queue.

  • EnableJobNotificationPostProcessing - This process performs process notification.

  • EnablePostProcessingAll - This process deletes orphan exceptions from the queue that cannot be de-queued.

• FAA Automated Processes

  • StartExceptionSnooze - This process monitors snoozed exceptions.

  • StartAutoClear - This process performs an auto-clear of exceptions.

  • StartAutoCreateCodPaymentDateAdj - This process creates Q records if there is a mismatch between the posted disbursement date and the COD disbursement date.

  • StartRefundCalculationNotification - This process creates CmEvent records for sending email and web alert notifications.

  • StartAutoResolve - This process performs auto-resolve of exceptions.

  • StartStarCommonline - This process performs transmission and retrieval of FAA CommonLine files.

  • StartStarGlobal - This process performs transmission and retrieval of FAA Global files.

  • StartPwdNotificationIneligible - This process sends notifications of ineligible Post-Withdrawal Disbursements (PWDs).

  • StartPwdNotificationExpiration - This process sends notifications of expired PWDs.

  • StartPwdUnsnooze - This process monitors snoozed PWDs.

  • StartImpExpReconcile - This process performs the reconciliation of COD batches.

Prerequisites

You must have:

• Common - Configuration - View authorization

• Financial Aid Automation - Configuration - Automated Process Activation - Edit and View authorization.

Access Method

Select the Configuration tile > expand Financial Aid > select Automated Process Activation.

Procedure to Configure Automated Process Activation

1. Under Automated Process Activation, choose the appropriate section based on your process automation needs:

   • Automate Eligibility
   • Automate by Campus
   • Automate by Reporting Entity ID

2. In that section, selecting the check box for a desired column will automatically select all results in that column for process automation. Clearing the column check box will clear the selections for all results in that column. After selecting all the results in a column using the column header check box, you can select an individual item (Campus, Reporting Entity ID) within the grid to clear only that specific item from the automation process.

   Automate Eligibility section columns:

   Batched for Payment Disbursements in a disbursement batch are evaluated against eligibility criteria before the batch is posted to the ledger card. Campus The campus or campuses to which a person or item is assigned. It is filtered to display the campuses to which you have access. In some cases, it is also used to filter a list to only those items for the campus. In some lists, you can select more than one campus or select All. In lists that display columns, if the column contains more than one campus, you cannot sort or filter on that column. Census Date Post-Paid Paid disbursements are evaluated against eligibility criteria at the census date. End-Term Post-Paid Paid disbursements are evaluated against eligibility criteria at the end of the term date.

   Immediate Post-Paid Paid disbursements are evaluated against eligibility criteria immediately after they have been posted to the student ledger. Mid-Term Post-Paid Paid disbursements are evaluated against eligibility criteria at the mid-term date. Pre-Payment Disbursements are evaluated against eligibility criteria before being submitted for payment to COD recipients.

   Automate by Campus section columns:

   Automated Refund Calculation Automated Refund Calculation provides institutions the ability to automate Return to Title IV (R2T4) and Institutional Refund (IR) calculations along with Post-Withdrawal Disbursement management and monitoring features. Auto Packaging Auto-Packaging provides regulatory compliance within the automated processes and ensures that all necessary rules are enforced during the Automated Eligibility evaluation. The logic calculates and validates award amounts for all Pell formulas and ensures that aid received by students from prior institutions is also considered when Title IV aid awarded by an institution is being evaluated for disbursement approval. Auto Repackaging Auto-Repackaging ensures that all aid is awarded evenly throughout all terms/payment periods, enabling the Cost of Attendance (COA) and all need/non-need-based aid to be awarded per federal regulations. When a fund source passes or fails a configured fund source rule, all funds within that academic year will be increased or decreased accordingly. All increases or decreases are auto-repackaged within the academic year for all terms and non-standard terms SE9W, regardless of whether the Term Repackaging Effective Dates have been reached or not. Campus The campus or campuses to which a person or item is assigned. It is filtered to display the campuses to which you have access. In some cases, it is also used to filter a list to only those items for the campus. In some lists, you can select more than one campus or select All. In lists that display columns, if the column contains more than one campus, you cannot sort or filter on that column. Disbursement Posting All scholarships, grants, institutional aid, state aid, and COD fund sources are paid automatically with this feature.

   Return of Ineligible Funds Activate Return of Ineligible Funds only if you want to automatically return funds that were received to be paid and are being held up due to eligibility issues. As per regulation, the requirement is to pay accepted approved COD funds no later than 3 days. This ensures that you do not hold on to funds longer than the 3-day requirement. Student Refund Automatically processes approved scheduled refunds and posts them to the student's ledger. Student Stipend Automatically processes approved stipends and posts them to the student's ledger. Student Subsidiary Automatically processes approved subsidiary refunds and posts them to the student's ledger.

   Note: When Auto Packaging and/or Auto Repackaging is enabled, a lock package icon () icon is displayed on the Academic Year form. If you select the icon to lock an academic year (AY), automated awarding will not calculate a budget or package funds when an auto-awarding job is run or the Auto Package / Auto Repackage button is invoked for the AY.

   The lock icon is only displayed for AYs that are configured to display the automated budget. This is based on when the Automated Awarding Effective Date is configured to display the auto awarding budget view. If no date is configured, all AYs will display the lock icon.

   Automate by Reporting Entity ID section columns:

   COD Export Collects and validates files for export to Common Origination and Disbursement (COD). COD Export by Disbursement Batch When an institution opts to export funds being disbursed in a batch during COD Export. COD Import Gathers and imports files from Common Origination and Disbursement (COD).

   Reporting Entity Type The school that reports the Pell and/or Direct Loan data in the COD Common Record format for the campuses or students it serves. Reporting Entity ID Identifier assigned to the school that sends and receives data for the campuses it serves.

   Note: For Automate by Reporting Entity ID, the numbers listed on the left side of the grid are links. Selecting one will open a pop-up showing the campuses that use the Reporting Entity ID.

3. Select Save in the toolbar when you are done, or Cancel to start over.