This newsletter will be used to provide you with a visual image of a window we want to highlight and to address the comments and concerns you present to us. We will be providing you with a test database in October so that you can simulate processing in your environment and prepare yourself for full system implementation in the early part of 1999. We are setting up "conferencing software" on our Internet home page which will allow you to enter messages and respond to comments from other users. This feature will be available in September, 1998.
This month we want to focus on the primary window and introduce some Windows terminology. The first line is called the Title Line. The name of the window is displayed in this area. Along with the name, we have included the two-character code that we assign to your school, your school's name, your operator's name and the computer date. The second line is called the Menu Bar. This line is consistent among all Windows applications. The Menu Bar items such as File, Find, etc., identify the type of functions you can perform on the keyboard and for disability accessibility. The third line is called the Tool Bar. It contains a list of push buttons which are labeled; SRCH, N/A, Cash, etc. The buttons allow you to perform the same functions as those which appear on the Menu Bar. For example, to perform a search you can either click "Find" on the Menu Bar or click "Srch" on the Tool Bar. We provided this flexibility to accommodate users who prefer to use a Menu Bar and those who prefer to click on a Tool Bar. The Tool Bar items are very similar to the Menus you currently use in the DOS version of SAL.
The primary window is very similar to the DOS Account Information screen you currently use. However, there are a few cosmetic and functional differences you will notice immediately. All date fields now contain the century as a part of the year and all dollar fields can now accommodate a value of up to $99 million. Also, in the Last Transaction area we display the Deposit, or total check, amount to identify whether a check was applied to multiple loans.
When you want to change loan and dues attributes all you have to do is click on the field you want to change and input the new value. The TAB key is used to go to the next field instead of the ENTER key. You will click the Update Account button to save changes you make. If you do not want to save the changes you make, you will click on the Undo Changes button. This is similar to pressing the ESC key in the DOS product.
ECSI's objective is to have both service and off-site clients migrated to the Windows version by July, 1999. Once we begin migrating clients in the early part of 1999, technical support for the DOS version will be limited to "bug" fixes that are reported. Based on our implementation of the Remotely Possible communications software, we are aware that most of our clients are already using Windows 95 or NT workstations. Please present the technical support staff at your school with the following requirements if you have not yet updated your computer system.
Operating System
RAM
Disk Space
| June 1998 | July 1998 | August 1998 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-month billing | 6/12/1998 | 7/13/1998 | 8/13/1998 |
| End-month billing | 6/30/1998 | 7/30/1998 | 8/31/1998 |
| Final transmission date for reports | 6/30/1998 | 7/31/1998 | 8/31/1998 |
| Reports mailed to schools | 7/03/1998 | 8/03/1998 | 9/02/1998 |
Fiscal year-end is traditionally our busiest time of the year. We request that you adhere to the following deadlines to ensure that your data and reports are delivered to you in a time frame that meets your expectations. As always, all requests for changes are completed in the order in which they are received.
6/15/1998 - if you are one of the 13 remaining schools that require file updates via tape after the mid-month calc, please update your system when you receive your data on Monday, June 15 and return the tape immediately for use at
month-end. Your school will be billed $20 if we do not receive the tape before your fiscal reports are generated.
6/22/1998 - Advances, deferments, adjustments and other paperwork must be received no later than Monday, June 22 at 4:30 P.M..
6/30/1998 - Billing Calcs which occur at the END of the month will be performed on Tuesday, June 30. Your data must be transmitted by noon. If you only receive reports at month-end you must transmit your data by 3:00 P.M..
Data that is transmitted after 3:00 P.M.. will not be included in the FYE reports. A special processing fee of $100 will be assessed if you want ECSI to restore and reprocess your data with updated information as of June 30.
7/03/1998 - Your month-end and fiscal year-end reports will be sent via regular mail no later than Friday, July 3.
7/27/1998 - You may adjust fiscal data until July 27. A $50=per-day charge will be assessed for any fiscal adjustment we have to make after July 27.
June 30th denotes the end of Fiscal Year 1998 for federal campus-based student aid programs. Certain processes will occur when your files are reset which prepares your database for Fiscal Year 1999.
You should verify the cohort year has been properly reset. Go to the Collection Screen and press F3 - Review. The date that is displayed for COHORT ACCOUNTS THIS YEAR should be 1997 - 1998. You should also create a cohort report immediately to identify potential problem accounts which are listed because the "C" indicator is set and payments were not made.
The Deloitte & Touche accounting form is preparing the third-party audit report for ECSI for the 1997-1998 Fiscal Year. The report will be completed at the end of August, 1998. Please make this information available to the auditors at your institution.
The year 2000 is coming soon and it is causing great concern for any organization that relies on computerized information systems. The year 2000 (Y2k) problem resulted from a common programming practice of representing dates in a (month, day, year) format with six digits (mmddyy) instead of eight digits (mmddccyy) which include the century (cc). For example, July 1, 1998 is currently stored as 070198 instead of 07011998.
This approach saved disk space and, as a result, saved money. However, the omission of the century as a part of the date implies all dates are in the 20th century. So, if you had a loan in repayment today with a Principal Begin date of January 1, 2000 (i.e., 01/01/00) billing would occur immediately because the program would recognize January 1, 1900 as the date the first principal installment because due.
ECSI has received several requests for information during the past six months pertaining to when the SAL system will be Y2k compliant. In our responses to date we have tended to down-play the "urgency" to be Y2k compliant because our system is not as "date-driven" as other software applications at your institution. In February, a Y2k project team was established to assess the programming effort that would be required to achieve compliance. Following is a summary of the issues they addressed and their conclusions:
Two decisions were made regarding the way dates are displayed on a screen. First, ECSI will not be adding the century to any date fields in the existing file layouts nor changing any screens to display the century. These changes have already been made in the Windows version of the product that will be released in early-1999.
The second change relates to the display of existing dates. When you view the Separation, Interest Begin and Principal Begin Date fields on an in-school account you see that no data appears in these fields. The Account Information screen was programmed to suppress the display of a date when it's value is zeroes. Although we would prefer to continue with this practice, the software we use to write our source code does not provide the flexibility to display blanks when the value is all zeroes and display the correct value when the date is valid and the year is 2000.
Current programs validate the year portion of the date field simply by checking whether it is greater than zeroes. These programs will be modified to assume the year is correct if a valid month and day exists. We will also modify programs which use a date to perform a calculation. The number of programs that need to be changed are minimal because calculations are required only to determine the number of months during an interval (e.g., a deferment) and when a period ends. Programs which compute the grace, deferment, cancellation and reschedule end dates are examples of ones which require a modification to recognize the correct ending date.
The file layout that you currently use to provide ECSI with new advances, registration and graduation data will not change. Furthermore, ECSI will not be changing the OUTBOUND layout that some schools use to extract information from the student loan database and produce ad-hoc reports with other software products. However, we do anticipate changes will be made to file layouts we currently use to send to and receive data from third-party vendors. Examples of these are lockbox processing, credit bureaus and NSLDS. Experian (formerly TRW) has informed us they will begin testing a new credit bureau layout in October and they expect all clients to be using it around January, 1999.
The programming effort to make the DOS version of SAL compliant with Y2k has already begun. Testing and validation will occur throughout June, and the software will be available for delivery by July 1. We have also written a Year 2000 Compliance Statement which you may use to present to your internal auditors. Please send an e-mail to ADMIN@ECSI.NET if you would like a copy to be faxed to you.
In December, 1997, the IRS published Notice 98-F which allows a deduction for interest paid on student loans after December 31, 1997. The deduction is allowed for interest paid during the first 60 months of repayment. Under the law, ECSI is obligated to:
I write this at a time when I am in a state of both excitement and anticipation. Although it's been 25 years, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago when the reports for all the schools with ECSI could fit in my briefcase, and the four kids, my wife, and even grandma would gather around the kitchen table to lick postage stamps that cost 3 cents and came in a roll so that I could send out the invoice statements.
Now we have several machines which stuff and seal the statements. We are also developing and soon will be introducing a state-of-the-art Windows product. An finally, ground breaking for our new three-story building will begin on July 6th.
You are part of a group of people who have chosen ECSI as their servicing partner based on performance, integrity and trust. Our most important goal is to provide you with excellent service. The comments you made to me at our last Users Group meeting proves to me that we are succeeding.
What allows us to distinguish ourselves from our competition is a dedicated staff. They are the ones who come up with ideas like an integrated collection module, a 10-year perpetual billing and credit bureau history, interfaces to your mainframe computer and daily file updates which allow you to experience no down-time. They are the ones who work evenings and weekends to correct problems you encounter and provide you with special ad-hoc reports you request. They are the ones who I yell at because it's rare that you ever get charged for any of the special work they do.
Although we project continued growth as we move into the 21st century, I want to assure you that you will not experience a decline in the level of service you have come to expect. In fact, in our next newsletter we are going to introduce some of the technology we will be implementing soon to make it even better. I know that the things we did to get your business is what we must continue to do to keep your business. Our mission is very clear; we don't want to become the biggest... we just want to be the best.
Thank you for allowing us to serve your data processing needs. We look forward to serving you for many years in the future.