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AwardYear: SectionTitle: Posted on March 13, 2000 TO: All Destination Points FROM: CPS Customer Service RE: Tip of the Week: Reconciling using the Pell YTD file This week's tip features a specific process in the 1999-2000 EDExpress Pell module: Reconciling using the Pell YTD file In addition to other major changes to the Pell reporting process beginning with the 1999-2000 cycle, there is no longer a Student Payment Summary (SPS) file users can import to reconcile Pell data as in previous cycles. The SPS file has been replaced with the Year-to-Date (YTD) file. When users import a Pell YTD file, the printed results will not be in the same format as previous SPS reports. Like the SPS report, the YTD Comparison Report will list the differences between your database and the imported YTD file --- but the YTD report will print in two sections: the first section notes the Pell Origination exceptions and the second section prints the Pell Disbursement exceptions, followed by a one-page summary of the Origination and Disbursement data. When importing a YTD file you can mark the "Compare and Print Exception?" box so the software will identify the differences between the information in the import file and your EDExpress database Pell tables and generate a discrepancy report in Origination ID order. Verify you have imported all Pell Origination and Disbursement acknowledgements before running the compare feature; this will ensure the RFMS data in the YTD file is being compared against your most current processing results. You should also delete records for students not attending your school that have been created but not submitted to RFMS. Otherwise, these records will flag as exceptions on the import Compare Report under the Pell database exceptions. If you are unsure of whether or not you wish to use the Update option then we recommend you use the compare feature the first time you import the YTD file to view what updates may occur. There may not be any exceptions. You also have the ability to mark the "Print All" box which will print all records in the YTD file in Origination ID order. Once you have imported the YTD file with the compare feature marked and verified you agree with the potential updates, you can reimport the same YTD file and choose "Update: Selected Records". With this feature you can update specific student records with the information from the imported YTD file. You may want to use this feature if, for instance, you have a duplicate rejected record that needs to be set back to accepted status, or if you are missing an acknowledgement file and wish to update specific records that were in the missing batch. The "Rebuild All" Update option will overwrite all the records in your database that have matching origination IDs in the YTD file. You should only use this option if you were forced to reinstall EDExpress and wish to recreate your Pell record database. NOTE: CPS Customer Service strongly recommends you install the EDExpress Version 5.4.1 Service Release, available at http://www.SFAdownload.ed.gov, before importing any Pell YTD data. Version 5.4.1 resolves several YTD import problems present in Version 5.4. If you have any questions regarding this message, please contact CPS Customer Service at 800/330-5947, option 4, or via email at CPS@NCS.COM. |
