Publication Date: April 28, 2005
Author: General Manager, School Delivery Channel, FSA ASEDS
Summary: Beta Testers Needed for DL Tools for Windows, Release 5.0
Posted on 04-28-2005
The U.S. Department of Education is recruiting Direct Loan participants for the beta test of Direct Loan (DL) Tools for Windows, Release 5.0. The beta test is scheduled to start May 9, 2005 and run through May 20, 2005.
DL Tools Release 5.0 has been developed to provide the following functionality:
1) Compare the School Account Statement (SAS) Report to loans and actual disbursements recorded in EDExpress or an external file, and/or compare the SAS to the DL Tools Cash Database, if you have maintained cash transactions in the DL Tools Cash Database utility.
2) Print the SAS Report in a readable format.
3) Track cash receipts (drawdowns) and Returns of Excess Cash (2003-2004) and Refunds of Cash (2004-2005 and 2005-2006) for Direct Loans.
4) Rebuild your Direct Loan origination and disbursement records in EDExpress using an automated process.
DL Tools was developed to process data for multiple cycles. Release 5.0 contains Compare, Cash Management, and Rebuild functionalities for the 2003-2004, 2004-2005, and 2005-2006 cycles.
All Direct Loan schools can use the Compare and Cash Management functionality. The Rebuild process can be used by schools to rebuild Direct Loan module records in the EDExpress database.
Beta test participants will download the software from an FTP site along with detailed test procedures. Participants will then be asked to replicate their typical use of the software in a mock-production environment, report any problems encountered, and submit a summary report detailing their testing experience for analysis.
If you are interested in being considered as a beta test site for DL Tools Release 5.0, please send an e-mail to CPSSAIG@ed.gov to the attention of "DL Tools Beta Testing" and provide the following information:
1) School name and TG number.
2) School type (4-year public university, 2-year private college, proprietary/trade school, etc.).
3) Primary and Secondary testing contact names, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.
4) Windows operating system version(s) and PC environment (network/standalone). If networked, please also provide Network type and version.
5) Number of years participating in the Direct Loan Program.
6) Do you use EDExpress for Windows? If yes, do you use EDExpress in combination with mainframe or 3rd party software to perform Direct Loan processing?
7) Are you currently using DL Tools? If yes, which version do you currently have installed?
8) FTP download capability (i.e., can you upload/download files from an FTP server?).
We will select participants with a wide variety of processing environments to ensure a diverse and thorough testing of the software is performed.
We will call or e-mail all interested schools by May 4, 2005. If your school is selected, further information will be provided at that time.
We thank you for your interest in helping make DL Tools a superior software product. We look forward to hearing from you.