ISIR

Overview

The application reads key fields on the ISIR to determine whether there are any assumptions, highlights, reject codes, comment codes, c-codes, and/or data discrepancies that require resolution. The application also reads key fields to determine if the ISIR is flagged for Verification and for which verification group. After the ISIR Review Process is complete, the application determines if the ISIR has to be verified.

Each process is launched independently based on codes, flags and discrepancies within the ISIR. When an ISIR is received, the application determines if all information and documentation is available to automatically validate the ISIR. If either process cannot be automatically cleared, the application creates tasks for manual review for each applicable process. If the ISIR Review and ISIR Verification Process require manual review the Compete ISIR Verification task isn't created until a user finishes the Complete ISIR Review task.

Combining these two processes allows the application to consolidate common tasks. For example, instead of sending two separate document requests for Review and Verification, the requests are sent in one Student Notification message. Another example of a common task is when ISIR corrections are required. The application transmits only one ISIR correction file to the Central Processing System (CPS)/FAFSA Processing System (FPS) via the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) instead of two.

The Valid ISIR Process also controls when a subsequent ISIR is received. The subsequent ISIR may contain corrections to the previous ISIR or changes that originated elsewhere. The application evaluates all changes to determine if they are material changes; in other words, changes that affect the student’s financial aid eligibility. If corrections or material changes are contained in the subsequent ISIR, it replaces the previous active ISIR. The application sends a configured outbound Student Notification Message when a subsequent ISIR transaction is made Valid.

What The application Does Automatically

The application automatically does the following things:

Matches the ISIR to a Student using Student Identifiers

The application automatically matches incoming ISIRs to student records using ISIR identifiers; Social Security Number, Date of Birth, and Name. If the matching student record doesn't exist , the ISIR remains in a hold status until the receipt of a student record with a given award year. When a student record is created, the automated ISIR matching process matches the student to the correct ISIR from the unmatched queue.

If only a partial ISIR identifier matches, you can review unmatched ISIRs in the Unmatched ISIRs UI.

Determines whether a Subsequent ISIR Should Be Used or Not

When an ISIR is received for the same award year with an increased FPS/CPS Transaction Number, the application compares the subsequent ISIR against the current ISIR to determine if there are any changes. If the application determines there are any material changes, new ISIR codes and verification flags to clear, or the previous ISIR is pending corrections, the subsequent ISIR automatically becomes the active ISIR.

If a subsequent ISIR doesn't contain any new ISIR codes, flags, discrepancies or any material changes (as configured by the institution), the subsequent ISIR doesn't become the active ISIR. If the school doesn't configure subsequent ISIR rules, every ISIR received by the application with a higher FPS/CPS Transaction Number is selected as the active ISIR and requires review.

Anytime a subsequent ISIR replaces a current ISIR, the application evaluates the Complete ISIR Review - Task and Complete ISIR Verification - Task and determines if the tasks should remain pending or be closed.

Monitors the Valid ISIR Deadline

The application tracks the number of days an ISIR is in a pending status for students that have not withdrawn. If the ISIR doesn't complete the Valid ISIR Process by the configured deadline, the application automatically updates eligible funds in packaging and disbursing. When the ISIR becomes valid, the application re-evaluates the funds and makes necessary updates to the canceled disbursements.

The application also tracks the number of days an ISIR is in a pending status from the Date of Determination (DOD) for students that have withdrawn. This is so eligible funds are updated properly in packaging and disbursing prior to starting the Return to Title IV Process. Once the configured deadline has been met, the application repackages the student and cancels any future disbursements dependent upon a valid ISIR for a specific award year. Once the student is repackaged, the application begins the Return to Title IV Process.

Requests Required Documents

The application automatically begins the Financial Aid Documentation Collection Process when an ISIR is received and has any assumptions, highlights, reject codes, comment codes, c-codes, ISIR data discrepancies, or is flagged for verification. Financial Aid Documentation Collection is based on the institution's configuration and is in accordance with the ED regulations. The application automatically sends student notification requesting required documents unless the document is already on the student record in a Requested, Received, or Acceptable status. If the document is in an Unacceptable status or still pending after a configured amount of time, the application requests the document again.

If a subsequent ISIR is received and replaces the current ISIR, the application re-evaluates to determine what documents are required. If a pending request for a document is no longer required, the application cancels the request and notifies the student. However, if required documents are still pending, the application re-requests the documents, based on configuration.

The list of required documents for ISIR review and ISIR verification are merged into one list and are requested from the student in one outbound Student Notification message.

Reviews Unsolicited Documents

If an unsolicited document is received from a Document Management System (DMS), the application validates whether the document is associated to a pending request to determine if it is pending or unsolicited. If the document isn't associated to a pending request, the document is considered an unsolicited document and proceeds through the document receipt and acceptance process.

Upon completion of the Financial Aid Document Collection Process, the application evaluates the document to determine if there are any ISIR discrepancies for any open ISIR award years. If any discrepancies exist, the application determines if the ISIR can be automatically corrected or if the discrepancy requires manual review. If automated ISIR corrections can be made, the application creates an ISIR correction file. If it requires manual review, the application creates a Complete ISIR Review task or adds the discrepancy review to an existing, open task for manual user review.

Resolves Assumptions, Highlights, Reject Codes, Comment/C-Codes and Data Discrepancies

If assumptions, highlights, reject codes, comment codes, c-codes and data discrepancies exist when the application evaluates the ISIR, it uses your configured rules to determine what requires resolution and what can be automatically cleared or overridden. The application displays a description and related ISIR fields required for manual review. If documentation is required, the application requests the required documents and sends the appropriate student notification to inform the student of resolution requirements.

If any configured rules fail to resolve assumptions, highlights, reject codes, comment codes, c-codes and data discrepancies, the application creates a Complete ISIR Review task.

Holds the ISIR Review Process if ISIR codes Require Student Follow-up

When an ISIR is received and flagged for Student Follow-up based on ISIR code configuration, the application doesn't require a user to manually review the file unless the ISIR also contains codes that require manual review. When the ISIR contains codes that require manual user review and codes flagged for Student Follow-up, the application triggers a Complete ISIR Review task, but doesn't require the codes flagged for Student Follow-up to be cleared. Upon completion of the task, if the codes that require Student Follow-up are still pending, the ISIR Review Process is put on hold, and ISIR corrections aren't triggered. This is regardless if queued from automated ISIR discrepancy rules or made manually by a user in the task queue.

The ISIR remains in a pending state until codes flagged for Student Follow-up are cleared. Then, any queued ISIR corrections are triggered.

Checks Verification Completion Period

If the ISIR is within the Verification completion period, ISIR Verification is completed. However, if the ISIR is outside the verification completion period, the ISIR is updated to a status of Unverified, and the application doesn't complete the ISIR Verification Process or request a manual Complete ISIR Verification task.

Resolves ISIR Verification Flag

The application resolves verification and verification-related c-codes on a student’s ISIR, based on configuration. If any configured rules fail to clear the verification flag or verification-related c-codes, the application creates a Complete ISIR Review task.

Completes ISIR Corrections and Transmits to FPS/CPS

To clear and validate an ISIR, the application launches the ISIR Corrections Process in accordance with your configuration and ED. The application stores all ISIR corrections in a pending status that result from the Complete ISIR Review task and Compete ISIR Verification task until both have been completed or canceled. After all tasks have been completed or canceled, the application consolidates corrections into one ISIR correction file to send to FPS/CPS via the SAIG Process. If an authorized user cancels the Compete ISIR Verification task, the application still sends an ISIR correction file for the completed Complete ISIR Reviewtask.

The Valid ISIR Process remains active waiting for a new ISIR with the corrected values, and the current ISIR is updated to a status of Corrected.

Sets the ISIR status

If the ISIR is successfully reviewed and verified and there are no corrections, its status is updated to Valid. If review and verification weren't needed, the ISIR status is updated to Valid. If the ISIR is in an Unverified status outside the Verification Completion Period, it remains in Unverified status.

Sends Student Notifications

The application sends a student notification when the student's ISIR has any assumptions, highlights, reject codes, comment codes, c-codes, data discrepancies or has been flagged for verification. The notification provides clarification and rationale to complete the ISIR Review and ISIR Verification Processes, the status of each document, and a list of any documents required to resolve ISIR issues, based configuration. The application also sends a notification to the student when the ISIR becomes valid, based on configuration.

Sends the ISIR Information Message via Web Service

The application sends the ISIR Information Message when triggered. However, the institution can request the information using their Web Service as desired.

Configurable Attributes

Configure ISIR Matching Rules

The application automatically matches an ISIR to the student record using ISIR identifiers in the ISIR Matching Criteria Combination field of the School.csv Configuration Workbook.

These are the parameters for the 2023-2024 and prior Aid Years:

Student Matching Parameter	Related ISIR Matching Field
SSN	Social Security Number
DOB	Student’s Date of Birth
LAST_NAME	Student's Last Name
FIRST_NAME	Student's First Name
MIDDLE_INITIAL	Student's Middle Initial
EMAIL_ADDRESS	Student’s E-mail Address
ZIP	Student Permanent Zip Code
PHONE_NUMBER	Student’s Permanent Phone Number
N/A	SSN Match Flags 1 - 8

These are the parameters for the 2024-2025 and future Aid Years:

Student Matching Parameters	Related ISIR Matching Field
SSN	Student’s Current Social Security Number
DOB	Date of Birth
LAST_NAME	Last Name
FIRST_NAME	First Name
MIDDLE_NAME	Middle Name
EMAIL_ADDRESS	Student’s Email Address
ZIP	Zip Code
PHONE_NUMBER	Phone Number
N/A	Student SSA Match Status 1 - 8
FAFSA_UUID	FAFSA UUID
PERSON_UUID	Person UUID

Combine at least one of these criteria with any other criteria to create a Matching Criteria combination:

SSN
LAST_NAME
DOB
PHONE_NUMBER
EMAIL_ADDRESS

The expression is composed of a list of combinations separated by the | symbol. Each combination is composed of a list of fields separated by the ~ symbol.

Examples:

SSN~LAST_NAME~FIRST_NAME|SSN~DOB|SSN
SSN~LAST_NAME~FIRST_NAME|SSN_MATCH_FLAG_3|SSN_MATCH_FLAG_2|SSN|

Unmatched ISIRs are stored in a database table and automatically matched to a student record if a new or updated FasStudentEvent message is received that matches the configured ISIR match parameters.

You are also able to manually match Unmatched ISIRs using the Unmatched ISIRs UI.

Configure Valid ISIR Deadlines

You can configure how may days after the receipt of an ISIR the Award Package considers funds that are dependent upon a Valid or Verified ISIR for students that have withdrawn and those that have not.

Configure ISIR Correction Completion Periods

You can configure ISIR Correction Completion Periods to define when ISIR corrections can be submitted and prevent the application from launching a Complete ISIR Review task before or after these configured dates. Once configured for an award year, you can't submit ISIR Corrections before the start date or after the end date.

You need to select dates that fall within the dates regulated by ED. You can configure dates for each award year; however, if you don't configure dates, the application uses the dates defined by ED.

Configure Rules to Resolve ISIR Review and ISIR Verification

You can configure rules by Award Year that the application should follow if an ISIR contains any assumptions, highlights, reject codes, comment codes, c-codes, data discrepancies or has been flagged for verification. Configurations may include:

Resolution required or not.
Can be automatically confirmed or overridden.
Descriptions to display to users during manual review.
ISIR fields to display when manual review is required.
Documents or Metadata required to resolve.
Association to any comment codes, c-codes.
Clearance date/period (lifetime clearance or each award year).
Student notifications required to be sent to the student.

Configure ISIR Verification Deadlines

You can define the start and end dates by Award Year for when ISIR Verification can be completed. This ensures that the application doesn't complete the ISIR Verification process before or after defined dates. Although you can configure rules related to completing Verification, the configured dates must fall within the dates released per award year by ED.

If you don't configure the start and end dates, the application uses the start and end dates for ISIR Verification completion released by ED per award year.

If an ISIR is received outside of the time frame configured, the status is updated to Unverified and the ISIR Verification Process isn't completed.

Navigation to View ISIR Fields and Codes

To view the ISIR

Navigate to Student > USDE > ISIR.

To View ISIR Fields

Navigate to Student > USDE > ISIR > ISIR Codes (tab).

To View ISIR Codes

Navigate to Student > USDE > ISIR > ISIR Codes (tab).