Publication Date: August 26, 2003
Author: General Manager: FSA Students Channel
Summary: Availability of EDExpress for Windows 2003-2004 Service Release Version 9.1.a
Posted on 08-26-2003
TO: All EDExpress Users
FROM: U.S. Department of Education
RE: Availability of EDExpress for Windows 2003-2004 Service Release Version 9.1.a
The Department would like to announce the availability of EDExpress for Windows 2003-2004, Version 9.1.a, a service release that resolves several software issues.
Version 9.1.a is an upgrade to Version 9.1. It is available on the Department's Federal Student Aid Download (FSAdownload) Web site, located at http://FSAdownload.ed.gov.
All users of EDExpress Version 9.1 are strongly encouraged to upgrade to Version 9.1.a. You must already have Version 9.1 installed in order to install Version 9.1.a.
The downloadable install file, named EDExpress91a.exe, will need to be run on ALL PC workstations that access the 2003-2004 EDExpress database.
The software issues resolved by Version 9.1.a are explained below, by module:
Application Processing:
1) Users can now correct the E-Mail Address field to blank and the software will correctly include the asterisk indicating this change in the ISIR Corrections Export file (CORR04IN).
2) Users will now be able to correct more than 12 fields on a single ISIR transaction without causing a CPS reject for invalid "n" count. Refer to the Electronic Announcement posted to IFAP on May 15, 2003 for further details.
Direct Loan:
1) Users can now export Direct Loan records with changes to the amounts and/or dates for Anticipated Disbursements and the software will include the Disbursement Net Amount, Disbursement Fee Amount and Interest Rebate Amount. NOTE: These fields were added to the change export record layout after EDExpress Version 9.1 was released. They must be sent in the export file for the record to be processed correctly by the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system.
2) Users will now have the ability to create two of the same loan types for the same student and export them in the same COMRECIN file. For example, if you wish to create two unsubsidized Stafford loans for the same student (representing different academic years), you will be able to export both at once to COD for processing. The software's export function in Version 9.1 is incorrectly assigning an invalid award ID when exercising this option.
Pell:
1) Values for the Pell Credit/Clock Hours to Complete and Pell Program Academic Year fields will no longer be reversed when importing COD record acknowledgement files for clock-hour students.
2) Pell Disbursement data previously entered and/or accepted will no longer be overwritten if a Pell Disbursement Profile code is modified on a student's Pell Origination record.
3) Users will no longer incorrectly receive the edit message "Total Disbursement Amount Exceeds Award Amount for Entire School Year" when making adjustments to an existing disbursement using a Pell External Disbursement import file.
Direct Loan and Pell (issues affecting both EDExpress modules):
1) Users can now export COMRECIN files that are larger than 5 MB.
2) Users can now use both a query and "Select Records" via selection criteria when exporting Pell and/or Direct Loan data.
To run the service release install, download the EDExpress91a.exe file from the FSAdownload site to a folder on your hard drive or network. Close all running programs, go to the folder where you downloaded the file, and double-click EDExpress91a.exe. This will extract the necessary install files and automatically launch the install program.
If the install program informs you that certain files are already "installed" on your system, you must say "Yes to All" to overwrite the files or the service release will not install correctly.
If you have multiple PC workstations accessing a networked EDExpress database, copy the install file from PC to PC, running the install on each as you proceed, or run the installation program from the network drive it is saved to. Be sure to reboot each PC when the Version 9.1.a installation program is complete.
Version 9.1.a will not perform any updates to your EDExpress database (Expres34.mdb).
If you have any questions, please contact CPS/WAN Technical Support at 800/330-5947 or via e-mail at CPSWAN@NCS.COM.