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Summary: 2008-2009 CPS Mainframe Test System Available

Publication Date: November 19, 2007

Author: William Leith, Acting General Manager, Application, Operations and Delivery Services, Federal Student Aid

Summary: 2008-2009 CPS Mainframe Test System Available

Posted on 11-19-2007

Federal Student Aid is pleased to announce that the mainframe portion of the 2008-2009 Central Processing System (CPS) Test System is now available for your use. The mainframe portion of the CPS Test System is designed to test application and correction data processing between your system and the CPS outside the production environment. You can use CPS test files of application records and matching Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs), or you can create and submit your own application records.

In particular, Federal Student Aid encourages schools and servicers to test the 2008-2009 correction process. To submit only test correction records you have created, you must contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support to request record IDs that will process successfully in the CPS Test System. See the "If You Have Questions" section at the end of this message for CPS/SAIG Technical Support contact information.

We encourage all schools and servicers interested in using the CPS Test System to download and review the 2008-2009 CPS Test System User Guide, which is available in the "Technical References and Guides" section of the Federal Student Aid Download (FSAdownload) Web site, located at http://FSAdownload.ed.gov.

Note: If changes to the CPS occur between the date the 2008-2009 CPS Test System becomes available and January 2, 2008 (the date the CPS begins processing 2008-2009 data), the changes will be incorporated into the mainframe test system as they are identified and resolved. We will post an Issues Log in Microsoft Excel format to the FSAdownload Web site, located at http://FSAdownload.ed.gov, listing issues or changes to the mainframe test system. Each entry in the log will include the date the item was identified, resolved, or resulted in a change, and will include the status of resolved and unresolved issues so that you can easily determine if and when previously identified issues were resolved. It will also indicate whether the specifications or test cases have been updated for 2008-2009.

If You Have Questions

If you have questions regarding the 2008-2009 CPS Test System, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806), or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.