1. Implementing Student Financial Planning
  2. Configuration Paradigms

Configuration Paradigms

There are two configuration paradigms: Reference Table Lookup Values and Groovy Scripts.

These are the two configuration paradigms:

  • Reference Table Lookup Values: A simple lookup, similar in theory to a key/value pair.
  • Groovy Scripts: A dynamically-typed, Java-syntax scripting language used to evaluate complex expressions and drive systemic automation. Groovy runs in its own virtual machine, has its own sandbox, and uses the same syntax as Java.

All of the dedicated setup pages in the FAS UI use the Reference Table Lookup Values paradigm. Examples are updating your school's Federal School Code, OPEIDs, or COD Routing ID.

Configuration Workbooks use both the Reference Table Lookup Values and Groovy Scripts paradigms to accommodate more complex setups that require a series of decisions to, for example, request Documents, evaluate Document Acceptance Criteria, submit ISIR Corrections, clear ISIR C-Codes, verify an ISIR, or evaluate Disbursement Criteria.

Another example, for Student Financial Planning only, is configuring your school's Cost of Attendance (COA). This workbook setup includes updating Reference Table Lookup values including Program Type, Enrollment Status, and Modality, and using Groovy Scripts to calculate more granular COA values that may be based on the student's ISIR grade level, permanent address, and specific program details.

Here’s a more detailed example of Configuration Workbook setup regarding the management of an 2021-2022 ISIR C-Code:

  1. Groovy scripts are configured in the ISIR Verification Codes Configuration Workbook to determine which Required Documents to request and the Auto Code Clearing logic to clear the Verification requirement using this logic:

    If Student Financial Aid (SFA) receives an ISIR with C-Code 171, the system evaluates the student's ISIR and determines that the student is selected for Independent Verification, Verification Tracking Group V1 (Standard), their Tax Return is Already Completed, and the student's IRS Request Flag has a value of 02 which means IRS data for the student was transferred from the IRS and was not changed by the user prior to submission of an application or correction.

  2. Based on this configuration, SFA requests the Independent Verification Worksheet and a Rollover Statement documents if the Student IRS Untaxed Portions of IRA Distributions and Pensions Data Field Flag has a value equal to:
    • 1 = IRS data was transferred and not changed by user OR
    • 2 = IRS data was transferred and changed by user to a different value OR
    • 3 = IRS Request flag is equal to 02, 03, 04, or 07, and field has been corrected on this transaction OR
    • 4 = IRS Request flag is equal to 02, 03, 04, or 07, and field has been corrected on a previous transaction.

  3. Upon receipt of the Requested Documents, SFA compares the document metadata against the ISIR metadata. If the values match, SFA clears the C-Code and completes the Valid ISIR Process, but if the values do not match, SFA automatically submits ISIR Corrections using the document meta-data using the ISIR Discrepancy Rules configuration.