External Awards with Enhanced Non-Federal Fund Processing

This feature enhances non-federal fund processing by supporting a new API message to batch load externally sourced non-federal funds. Now, externally awarded NFFs won't be evaluated in packaging unless the external awards event is received for the student.

This feature provides the capability to transfer award information between external systems and the student's package in Student Financial Aid. For awards renewed throughout future years in the students program, the feature includes the capability to project external awards into future academic year packages.

With this feature, you have the ability to:

Flag Non-Federal fund types as External
- Only fund codes marked as external will be processed through the external award message API.
- In the NFR_ATTRIB.csv workbook, the Manually_Award_Indicator column has been renamed Awarding_Type.
  - The following enums are supported - Manual, Automated, External.
- Funds marked as External won't be evaluated in packaging until the fund code is received for the student through the external award load integration.

Import a FASExternalAwardEvent message:

Including the periods elements within the message, to package the external award using all defined values, replacing groovy scripted outputs.
Including the Allow Projection element within the message, to mark the fund code to be evaluated during packaging, using existing groovy scripted columns within NFR_ATTRIB to package the awards.

FASExternaAwardsEvent

This message is student-specific.
This message can contain one-to-many awards.

This message can contain one-to-many periods.

Field	Description	Required	Dependencies	How it is used in SFA
External Student ID	External Student ID	Y	Student ID or SSN	Defines student in SFA to match External NFF Award
SSN	Social Security Number	Y	Student ID or SSN	Defines student in SFA to match External NFF Award
Fund Code	Fund Code	Y		Defines External Award fund code If no match, then record will attempt to match to student but will not be packaged
Program Code	Program Code	N	Program Code or Enrollment ID	Defines student Enrollment External NFF Award is intended Associated to latest enrollment matching program code When no Program Code or Enrollment ID is specified, the record will be associated to the current enrollment
Enrollment ID	Enrollment the record is matched to	N	Enrollment ID or Program Code	Defines student Enrollment External NFF Award is intended Associated to enrollment matching Enrollment ID element When no Program Code or Enrollment ID is specified, the record will be associated to the current enrollment
Allow Projection	Allow automated groovy to run for undefined periods to project awards	N		Defines external award fund code to be evaluated within packaging/re-packaging Marks fund for evaluation by groovy scripts within NFR_ATTRIB When the Allow projection element is True, the system will evaluate the External Award for packaging The system will evaluate all scripted rules within the NFR_ATTRIB workbook to determine the amounts, fund status, period dates and disbursement dates for the defined fund code When the Allow Projection to False, the system will set all awards to ineligible when packaged without the Period data element When the Allow Projection is omitted, then the system will check to see if a prior value set for the Allow Projection element If a prior value has been previously sent, system will assume the prior value set for the Allow Projection element If a prior value had not been previously sent, system will default the Allow Projection value to False

Periods Element

Field	Description	Required	Dependencies	How it is used in SFA
Period ID	Unique Identifier for period element	Y	Required when Periods element is included	Defines NFF period start/end dates for the external award Matches to Period name returned in NFRPeriod list output generated by NFR_Periods script to define NFF period start/end dates
Award Year	Award Year	N		Defines Award Year of NFF Award When no Award Year is specified, but the fund code is award year based, the system will evaluate the NFR_Periods script (across all configured aid years) and return the NFF period start/end dates in the script where a match occurs with the PeriodID element.
Amount	NFF Period Amount	N		Defines Eligible amount for NFF Award When no amount is submitted, the system will use the Maximum Projected Award Amount script in NFR_ATTRIB to define the award amount.
Status	Specified fund as estimated or awarded	N		Defines fund status for the NFF Award When no status value is submitted, the system will use the Awarding Status script in NFR_ATTRIB to define the Awarding status.

Generate automated re-package upon receipt of the External Award Event
- Once the record has been received and is matched to a student, the system triggers a re-package for the applicable enrollment
  - Re-package Trigger description: An External Award record was received for a Non-Federal Fund and associated to the student.

Update Awards
- To submit an update record to modify an existing External Award, ensure the following Primary key values match the intended award:
  - ExternalStudentID/SSN
  - Fund Code
  - Program Code
  - Period ID
- For all records received with the same Primary Key elements (Period ID, Fund Code and Program Code), the reconciliation process to determine the packaged data is based on the latest Creation Date Time value from the message.

Remove Awards
- To remove an existing external award received with the periods element, include the amount = 0.
- To remove all existing external awards packaged without the periods element (using Allow Projection), set the Allow Projection to False.

Replace Projected Awards - a user can submit an External Award to modify an existing projected award within the package.
- The application supports the submission of a FASExternalAwardsEvent including the periods element to update an existing award calculated using the Allow Projection element = True (no period data associated to the award).
  - Ensure that all Primary key values match.
  - For Period ID, ensure that NFF Period Start/End dates returned in the periods script match the start/end dates of the existing award.

Automated re-evaluation of un-matched records
- All records unmatched to a student (status in RECEIVED or NOT_MATCHED) are evaluated upon receipt of new student information.
  - When a Student Demographic Message is received (SDI), the system evaluates all existing unmatched records for a match on the SSN or External Student ID.
  - When a Student Demographic Update Message is received (SDU), the system evaluates all existing unmatched records for a match on the SSN or External Student ID.
- When a record is matched to a student but unmatched to an enrollment (status in RECEIVED or NOT_MATCHED), the system evaluates the record upon the creation of a new enrollment record.

Review processing statuses

These processing statuses are captured for the external award:

Status	Definition
Received	External Award record persisted, but not yet evaluated to be matched to student
Not Matched	External Award Record not matched to student enrollment
Matched	External Record matched to Student and Enrollment
Not Matched to Term	Matched to a student, but the Period ID does not match what is returned by the periods script
Packaged	Fund is added to package
Not Eligible	External Record is matched, but not added to package because amount = 0 or fund code is not configured
Invalid	Record contains fund code with fund type that is not NFR_GRANT or NFR_LOAN

These student history entries are generated upon processing of an External Award record:
- An External Award Record was Matched
  - Entry Details:
    - Fund Code
    - Award Year
    - Program Code
    - Enrollment ID
    - Allow Projection
    - Period ID
    - Amount
    - Status
    - Anticipated Disbursement Date
    - Document ID
    - Received Date Time
    - Matching Status
- External Award Status was updated
  - Entry Details:
    - Fund Code
    - Award Year
    - PeriodID
    - Allow Projection
    - External Award Processing Status

This feature improves usability for packaging externally sourced non-federal funds and packaging performance.

Steps to Enable

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Student Financial Aid

In the NFR_ATTRIB.csv workbook, the Manually_Award_Indicator is renamed to Awarding_Type. These enum values are supported:
- Manual
- Automated
- External.
- Setting the Awarding_Type to External allows the importing of the FASExternalAwardEvent to create awards for that fund code.

Modify the NFR_Periods script set for the fund code to return a Period.name among the NFRPeriod list output generated by the script. The period.name is evaluated for a match against the period ID to establish the NFF period start/end dates for the external award.

Tips And Considerations

Additional applied configuration scripts
- In NFR_ATTRIB, the system continuea to evaluate scripted rules within the Annual/Aggregate and Award Year Limit columns for the fund code.

External Award eligibility
- The Fund_Eligibility script doesn't run when a FASExternalAwardEvent is received for a student, as it's driven by the receipt of the message.

Fund Code Migration
- The system maintains awards packaged as Automated NFFs when the fund code has been migrated to External.
  - When the Awarding_Type is modified from Automated to External, the system continues to evaluate the configured eligibility for all students with disbursements for that fund code and doesn't require that the FASExternalAwardEvent to be received.
  - The system uses the FASExternalAwardEvent data matched to the award when received to package the record if received.

Key Resources

Watch External Awards with Enhanced Non-Federal Fund Processing Demo.
View 24C Report Release Notes on My Oracle Support for details on the delivered External Award Reconciliation Report
For more information see these resources, see Idea 539419.