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Summary: COD System Implementation for 2005-20006 Award Year

Publication Date: March 10, 2005

Author: General Manager, School Delivery Channel, FSA ASEDS

Summary: COD System Implementation for 2005-20006 Award Year

Posted on 03-10-2005

During the weekend of March 18-19, 2005, we plan to implement additional Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System functionality that supports the processing of Pell Grants and Direct Loans for the 2005-2006 Award Year. In this announcement, we provide important information related to the implementation. This information is presented in the following order:

  • Important Reminders;
  • 2005-2006 Pell Grant Authorizations and Disbursement Processing;
  • COD Batch Processing Suspension & COD and Electronic MPN Web Site Outages;COD System Processing Function Enhancements and Modifications for 2005-2006; and
  • Contact Information.

Important Reminders

  • Beginning with the 2005 2006 Award Year and forward, all schools must be COD Full Participants for all programs (Pell Grant and/or Direct Loan) in which they participate. This means that all schools (including COD Phase-In Participants that currently submit and receive information using fixed-length, flat-file record formats) must send and receive 2005-2006 (and subsequent award year) origination and disbursement data for the Pell Grant and Direct Loan programs to the COD System using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Common Record.

    Note: Also see related item under "COD System Processing Function Enhancements and Modifications for 2005-2006."

    In addition to numerous communications and outreach activities over the past several months, the Department gave notice of the XML Common Record requirement in a "Notice of Required Electronic Processes and Related System Requirements" published in the Federal Register on September 14, 2004. This notice, which specifies the electronic processes in which a school must participate to be considered administratively capable, is available on the IFAP web site at .

    As we have previously informed schools, if a school submits 2005 2006 Pell Grant and/or Direct Loan data in fixed-length, flat file record formats, the COD System will reject the data and the school's access to funding will be affected. If your school has not yet signed up as a Full Participant or is experiencing difficulty with its Full Participant solution, contact the COD School Relations Center immediately for assistance.

  • For the 2005-2006 Award Year, we will continue to use Version 2.0d of the Common Record XML Schema. There have been no changes made to the schema.
  • Prior to submitting 2005-2006 records to the COD System, ensure that your school software/system is ready to process 2005-2006 records using the XML Common Record. As a reminder, all schools new to the Direct Loan and/or Pell Grant programs must complete school testing with the COD System before sending data into production. While other schools are not required to test with the COD System, we strongly encourage schools, software providers, and third party servicers that will send and receive the XML Common Record to the COD System for the first time in 2005-2006 to participate in testing. For more information about testing, refer to the announcement posted on the IFAP web site at http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/1223CODSchoolTesting.html.
  • If your school uses a third party software provider, please check with your provider for the availability of the provider's 2005-2006 software release.

    Note: For EDExpress users, the 2005-2006 EDExpress for Windows Release 2.0 will be available in late March 2005.

2005-2006 Pell Grant Authorizations and Disbursement Processing

  • Initial Pell Grant Authorizations for 2005-2006 will be determined in May 2005. Current Funding Levels (CFLs) will be established in the COD System at that time, and an Electronic Statement of Account (ESOA) containing this information will be sent to a school's SAIG mailbox. Funds for the Pell Grant Program will be available in the Grant Administration and Payment System (GAPS) on July 1, 2005.
  • Beginning with implementation of the COD System for the 2005-2006 Award Year, schools may submit common records that contain anticipated disbursement information provided the Disbursement Release Indicator (DRI) value is equal to "False". If the DRI value is equal to "True", the actual disbursement will be rejected, and schools will receive Edit 996 (Invalid Value).

COD Batch Processing Suspension & COD and Electronic MPN Web Site Outages

In order to install the system changes that will allow the COD System to receive and process 2005 2006 records-

  • COD will suspend batch processing beginning at 8:00 P.M. (ET) on Friday, March 18, 2005. Records submitted after 8:00 P.M. (ET) will be held and processed after 7:00 P.M. (ET) on Saturday, March 19, 2005.
  • The COD web site will be unavailable from 8:00 P.M. (ET), Friday, March 18, 2005 through 7:00 P.M. (ET), Saturday, March 19, 2005.

The processing suspension and COD web site outage will have no impact on the regular processing of schools' funding requests.

Additionally, for those schools participating in the Direct Loan Program, the Direct Loan Electronic Master Promissory Note (MPN) web site will be unavailable from 8:00 P.M. (ET), Friday, March 18, 2005 through 7:00 P.M. (ET), Saturday, March 19, 2005. Individuals starting the process by 7:00 P.M. (ET) on Friday, March 18, 2005 will be able to complete their MPNs before the web site becomes unavailable. Individuals attempting to access the web site after the cutoff time will see a web site maintenance message and will not be able to start the process or retrieve existing MPNs.

Reminder: The Direct Loan Electronic MPN web site is unavailable every Sunday morning from 5:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. (ET) while routine maintenance is performed. As such, the Direct Loan Electronic MPN web site will again be unavailable from 5:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. (ET) on Sunday, March 20, 2005. As previously noted, borrowers will not be able to complete or retrieve MPNs during this period.

COD System Processing Function Enhancements and Modifications for 2005-2006

Non-Program Specific Changes

  • Beginning with the 2005 2006 Award Year and forward, all schools must be COD Full Participants for all programs (Pell Grant and/or Direct Loan) in which they participate. This means that all schools (including COD Phase-In Participants that currently submit and receive information using fixed-length, flat-file record formats) must send and receive 2005-2006 (and subsequent award year) origination and disbursement data for the Pell Grant and Direct Loan programs to the COD System using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Common Record. If your school does not sign up as a Full Participant for the 2005 2006 Award Year and submits 2005 2006 Pell Grant and/or Direct Loan data in fixed-length, flat file record formats, the COD System will reject the data.

    Notes:

    1) Pell Grant and/or Direct Loan origination and disbursement data for open award years prior to 2005-2006 may continue to be submitted in fixed-length, flat file record formats.

    2) All Pell Grant and Direct Loan reports, including the Pell Grant Year-To-Date (YTD) Record, Pell Grant Reconciliation File, Direct Loan Rebuild File, and Direct Loan School Account Statement (SAS), will continue to be sent in the formats currently available and not in XML format.

    3) Prior to submitting 2005-2006 records to the COD System, ensure that your school software/system is ready to process 2005-2006 records using the XML Common Record. As a reminder, all schools new to the Direct Loan and/or Pell Grant programs must complete school testing with the COD System before sending data into production. While other schools are not required to test with the COD System, we strongly encourage schools, software providers, and third party servicers that will send and receive the XML Common Record to the COD System for the first time in 2005-2006 to participate in testing. For more information about testing, refer to the announcement posted on the IFAP web site http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/1223CODSchoolTesting.html.

  • For 2005-2006, all annual message classes will be updated to reflect the new award year. All 2005-2006 annual messages classes will include "06". All annual message classes are listed in Volume II, Section 2 of the 2005-2006 COD Technical Reference posted at http://www.fsadownload.ed.gov/CODTechRef0506.htm.
  • For 2005-2006, the COD System will populate the Namespace attribute (<CommonRecord xmlns=" "> tag) on all responses with the value that the school submitted to the COD System in the Namespace attribute. Additionally, the COD System will populate the Namespace value on web and system-generated responses with the latest version of the Common Record XML Schema for each award year. (2005-2006 Award Year uses Version 2.0d of the Common Record XML Schema, 2004-2005 Award Year uses Version 2.0d of the Common Record XML Schema, and 2003-2004 Award Year uses Version 2.0c of the Common Record XML Schema.)
  • The COD System will only process a null attribute (nil="true") - which is used to remove or delete content currently in the COD database - for the following data elements:
    • First Name, Middle Initial, Phone Number, Email Address, Note Message, Dependency Status Code, HPPA Indicator, Less Than Full Time Indicator, Low Tuition Fees Code, Incarcerated Indicator, Verification Status Code

    For more information on how nil="true" will update the COD database for each of these data elements, refer to Volume II, Section 3 of the 2005-2006 COD Technical Reference posted at http://www.fsadownload.ed.gov/CODTechRef0506.htm.

    If this tag is submitted for any other data element, the COD System will accept the batch but the null tag will not remove the value from the database.

  • Previously, COD Warning Edit 55 (Disbursement information received 30 days or more after date of disbursement) applied to all actual adjusted disbursement dates or amounts with a disbursement sequence number of 01 or greater. Beginning with the 2005-2006 implementation, COD Edit 55 will be modified for all award years to apply only to actual disbursements with a disbursement sequence number of 01. Therefore, this edit will trigger only under the following conditions:
    • The disbursement is received and processed more than 30 days later than the disbursement date reported on the record;
    • The Disbursement Release Indicator (DRI) is set to true; and
    • The Disbursement Sequence Number is 01.
  • New COD Warning Edit 120 (Incomplete address; complete address exists on the COD System. For Direct Loan PLUS only, student address is incomplete.) will be returned to schools for all award years under the following condition:
    • For a Pell Grant, Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized, or Direct PLUS award, COD Edit 120 will be returned when no address or an incomplete address is submitted by a school but a student's complete address is in the COD database or in the CPS data file in the COD System.
  • Modified COD Reject Edit 021 (Address is incomplete.) will be returned to schools for all award years under the following conditions:
    • For a Pell Grant, Direct Subsidized, or Direct Unsubsidized award, COD Edit 021 will be returned when a student's complete address does not exist in the incoming record, in the COD database, or in the CPS data file in the COD System; and
    • For a Direct PLUS award, COD Edit 021 will be returned when a borrower's complete address does not exist on the incoming record, the COD database, or on the CPS data file in the COD System.
  • New COD Reject Edit 121 (SSN change request rejected as person is also a PLUS borrower.) will be returned to schools when an SSN change is submitted for a student (for any award type) who is also a PLUS borrower and the following conditions exist:
    • The Direct PLUS award amount on file in the COD System is greater than zero;
    • The Direct PLUS award on file in the COD System is not fully disbursed; and
    • The sum of all actual Direct PLUS disbursements does not equal the Direct PLUS award on file in the COD System.

Changes Specific to the Pell Grant Program

  • For 2005-2006 and forward, the Secondary Expected Family Contribution (EFC) should no longer be used to pay a Pell Grant award. As a result, the COD System will ignore the Secondary EFC Indicator tag if it is submitted on an incoming 2005-2006 record and will instead edit the award amount using the Primary EFC. The COD System will not return the Secondary EFC tag in the response.

    In accordance with these changes, COD Edit 026 (Incorrect Secondary EFC Used/Correction Applied) will no longer be applied or returned for 2005-2006 and forward.

  • The appropriate award year will be added to the warning and reduction text messages that are sent to schools' SAIG mailboxes under the following conditions:
    • The COD System reduces a school's Pell Grant Current Funding Level (CFL) to the level of Net Accepted and Posted Disbursements (NAPD) in the COD System; or
    • The COD System notifies a school of Verification "W" deobligations.

    Additionally, the appropriate award year will be included in correspondence displayed on the COD web site's School Correspondence Letter screen.

  • The Electronic Statement of Account (ESOA) will now be generated and sent to all schools' SAIG mailboxes when they receive Administrative Cost Allowance (ACA) payments.
  • A Disbursement Sequence Number column will be added to all Action Queue screens on the COD web site.

Changes Specific to the Direct Loan Program

  • For 2005-2006, the COD System will not link an MPN to an award if the award amount equals zero and all disbursements (actual and anticipated) equal zero. However, the COD System will initiate the MPN linking process if an unlinked award is increased from zero.
  • New COD Reject Edit 122 (Increase to PLUS loan award amount rejected.) will be returned to schools when an increase to a Direct PLUS award is made for a person who has had an SSN change.
  • Several new reports will be available to notify schools of Master Promissory Notes (MPNs) that have become inactive, expired within the last 30 days, or that will expire within the next 60 days.
    • MPN Discharge Report-Contains data on MPNs that have become inactive within the last 30 days due to discharges for death or an unauthorized signature.
    • Expired MPN Report-Contains data on MPNs that have expired within the last 30 days due to any of the following reasons:
      • MPN inactive due to no awards linked within a year of the date of receipt;
      • MPN inactive due to no actual disbursements on a linked award within a year of the date of receipt;
      • MPN inactive due to 10 years passing since the date of receipt; or
      • MPN inactive due to a PLUS award linked with an Endorser.

    Note: The first time the report is generated it will contain all MPNs that have become inactive within the last 365 days.

    • MPNs Due to Expire Report-Contains data on MPNs that will expire within the next 60 days due to any of the following reasons:
      • MPN inactive due to no awards linked within a year of the date of receipt;
      • MPN inactive due to no actual disbursements on a linked award within a year of the date of receipt; or
      • MPN inactive due to 10 years passing since the date of receipt.

    The MPN Discharge Report and the Expired MPN Report will be sent on a weekly basis to the SAIG mailboxes (Message Classes MPNDISOP and MPNINAOP respectively) of Reporting schools. The MPNs Due to Expire Report will be sent on a monthly basis to the SAIG mailboxes (Message Class MPNEXPOP) of Reporting schools.

    Note: All three reports will also be sent to the SAIG mailboxes of Attended schools with loans linked to the MPNs, as well as to the Attended schools that created the MPNs listed in the reports. Additionally, these reports will be available in the Attending and Reporting schools' Newsboxes on the COD web site.

    Further details regarding these reports are available in Volume VI, Section 8 of the 2005-2006 COD Technical Reference posted at http://www.fsadownload.ed.gov/CODTechRef0506.htm.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this announcement, contact the COD School Relations Center at 1-800-4PGRANT for Pell Grant or 1-800-848-0978 for Direct Loan. You may also e-mail CODSupport@acs-inc.com.