| DCLPublicationDate: 4/8/99
DCLID: P-99-3
AwardYear: 1999-2000
Summary: SUMMARY: This letter provides you with additional information regarding the new Recipient Financial Management System (RFMS). RFMS is designed to report and request funds for the Federal Pell Grant Program. The first step in the new RFMS process is the submission of the origination record.
Action Letters #6
April 8, 1999
P-99-3
SUMMARY: This letter provides you with additional information regarding the new Recipient Financial Management System (RFMS). RFMS is designed to report and request funds for the Federal Pell Grant Program. The first step in the new RFMS process is the submission of the origination record.
This letter, the third in the series, provides information that you will need to familiarize yourself with the new RFMS origination record and process. To more fully understand the content of this letter, we recommend that you first read ANN-98-8 (announcing the new 1999-2000 Recipient Financial Management System) and P-98-4 (Action Letter #2 describing the new 1999-2000 Recipient Financial Management System). These letters can be found on the Departments Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) web site, www.ifap.ed.gov under the description Bookshelf under Pell Grant Process. Please consider the material in this letter as advance information, as it may change while we develop and test the system.
What is the purpose of the origination record and how does the process work?
Purpose: The origination record establishes a students eligibility and annual Pell Grant award in the new RFMS.
Process steps: You prepare and submit the origination record to RFMS using EDExpress or your own software. If you submit a batch of origination records with a batch of disbursement records, RFMS will process the batch of origination records first.
RFMS receives and edits the origination data to ensure that the student is eligible for the reported amount of Federal Pell Grant funds and to establish the student account in RFMS. This data becomes the basis for disbursement record editing. RFMS will attempt to correct invalid or missing data values in order to process as many records as possible.
For example:
· If you submit an origination record containing correct data, RFMS will accept the record.
· If you report an award amount in the origination record that is inconsistent with other data submitted, RFMS will recalculate and correct the award.
· If you leave the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) on the origination record blank, RFMS will reject the record. The Department can not assume which EFC may be valid for the student.
After editing, RFMS returns the accepted, corrected, or rejected values for each origination record to you in an origination acknowledgment record. This acknowledgment contains (1) record acceptance status; (2) accepted value for each data item, and (3) comment codes for corrections, warning messages, or rejections. The origination acknowledgment also contains an RFMS-calculated student scheduled award.
When can I submit origination records?
· After early May 1999, when the origination feature in RFMS becomes operational; and
· any time after you receive an Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) from the Central Processing System (CPS) or a Student Aid Report (SAR) from the student; or
· before or with a disbursement record.
Do I report cents in RFMS origination records?
Yes, as part of the Departments modernization effort, you must be able to create and receive records that contain two digits for cents. However, in 1999-2000, RFMS will fill zeros in the cents positions. For example, if you submit an annual award amount of $1162.78, RFMS will accept $1162.00 as the origination amount. If you wish to disburse $1162.78, then you should submit $1163.00 as the annual award amount on the origination record. Also, please remember that the total of a students disbursements can never exceed the students maximum scheduled Pell Grant award.
RFMS will acknowledge and post zeros in the cents positions, for the 1999-2000 award year.
How can I find out more about business rules and edits?
We have provided, as an enclosure, a copy of the Business Rules that RFMS uses to process origination records.
RFMS processing edits can be found in the draft record layouts on www.ifap.ed.gov as an attachment to Action Letter #2, P-98-4 and updated as a separate item listed under the description, Bookshelf under the Pell Grant Process.
To provide you assistance in submitting origination records and the most error free process as possible, we have incorporated many of the RFMS edits into the 1999-2000 EDExpress software.
How and when do I correct origination records?
You do not correct origination records; rather you update them. You update the origination data by re-submitting the record with changes. You do this when there are changes in the students data that affect the amount of the award or when RFMS sets values which you wish to change.
You are not required to submit changes to an origination record, unless the student is entitled to a larger award than was previously accepted by RFMS.
Will more information on RFMS be available?
Future letters describing additional RFMS processes will include:
· the disbursement record and process;
· the uses of the Multiple Reporting Record and the Potential Overaward Project (POP); and
· updates to information previously provided, if needed.
We look forward to providing you improved services through the implementation of the new RFMS, and thank you for your continued support of the Federal Pell Grant Program.
Sincerely,
Greg Woods
Chief Operating Officer
Office of Student Financial Assistance
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