Meeting Minutes: Regents Advisory Committee on Accounts Receivable (RACAR)
PRE-RACAR
Date of Meeting: December 11, 2003
Location: Macon State College-Bldg C, Room 112, Educ. Tech.
Center
Attendees: Attachment A
The pre-RACAR meeting was an informal discussion group and demonstration of various components of Banner facilitated by Rich Loftus.
Agenda Items
Banner TRA Reporting
Debbie Powell from Georgia Southern University led discussions on Banner TRA
Reporting. She reported that the BETA testing overall went very well. Institutions
not already working on set-up should start getting ready to report for January
2004. A show of hands asking who outsourced their TRA and who did theirs
in-house resulted in 16 outsourced and 9 did theirs in-house.
Banner Fee Assessment
Carol Payne from Georgia Tech discussed Banner Fee Assessment in version 5.6
of Student. She reported that there were numerous defects that she feels
could be resolved; currently however, not all have been fixed. Running fee
assessment in batch during business hours at GIT locked up key Banner system
components. Carol mentioned that SCT resolution to this issue was to not
run batch fee assessment during normal business hours. Carol stated this
is not acceptable because at GIT the hours of operation are as close to 24/7
as possible.
TIV Refund Processing
Donja Tripp from GA SW State University led a discussion on TIV processing.
She provided Title IV handouts, which can be accessed at: http://www.usg.edu/oiit/summit/2003/agenda/proceedings/r2t4_summit2003.pdf
Currently 3 institutions are running Banner Title IV:
- Georgia State University
- Georgia Southwestern University
- Gordon College
Rich Loftus led a discussion on a GaMOD for refunding which expands the percentage field on form SFAESTS from 3 to 5. (Example 100 to 100.00) Rich asked the schools how many understood the effects of the enhancement OIIT delivers. Maintenance on this modification is costly, both in dollars and in personal testing time. Karen Nunn reported that the enhancement would be delivered through the release of student 6.1. Rich mentioned that he would like schools to evaluate the need for this enhancement, and mentioned that in contacting SCT, they do not have plans to expand this field in Baseline.
Non-Student Receivables
Rich Loftus conducted a presentation on non-student receivables in Banner.
Attendees where offered an opportunity to understand the capabilities of
Banner for non-student receivables. A discussion was held regarding the Systems
direction in this area. Institutions where advised that at this time, no
decision has been made, but the System is looking at Banner as the model
sole receivable system. Institutions interested in moving toward Banner as
the sole receivable system where asked to proceed with caution, and to make
sure they notified OIIT in writing to Karen Nunn karen.nunn@usg.edu and Rich
Loftus rich.loftus@usg.edu or Cori Loftis 404/657-1830 cori.loftis@usg.edu
prior to moving in this direction.
PS Reconciliation Information
Rich also led a discussion on Banner to PS Reconciliation Information (Audit
Scripts & TGRRCON). ZAQFDTL and ZAQFREC scripts were both delivered. ZAQFDTL
provides a listing of all students with open balances that should equate
to the TGRRCON report in total when run at the same time. ZAQFREC is a listing
of data feeds to PS by account number. In other words, this is the information
that the Banner system feels it passed to the PS system. Rich described how
these reports use a view of information to compile the required data. The
view that is created is ZGVRCON. This view can be used to develop ad-hoc
or customized reports. Persons with proper security access can use this view
(ZGVRCON) using standard ODBC compliant reporting tools such as Crystal,
etc. The view is automatically created when either ZAQFDTL and ZAQFREC are
run. For more information on the Auditing Toolkit and scripts visit http://www.usg.edu/oiit/eas/sfa/5doc/docpdf/5x2003/gamods/gamods5123udocch16audit.pdf
Minutes of Pre-RACAR meeting provided by Cori Loftis and Rich Loftus.
RACAR
Meeting Minutes
Date of Meeting: December 12, 2003 Time: 10:00am to 1 p.m.
Location: Macon State College-Bldg C, Room 112, Educ. Tech.
Center
Attendees: Attachment A
Agenda Items
1. Adoption of By-Laws
This was the inaugural meeting of the Regents Advisory Committee on Accounts Receivable. The bylaws were unanimously approved by committee members. The bylaws are included in this document as attachment B.
2. Election of Officers
The following officers were elected:
| Chairman | Donja Tripp, Director of Student Accounts Georgia Southwestern State University Americus, GA Phone: 229-931-2013 Email: donja@canes.gsw.edu |
| Vice Chairman | Debbie Powell, Director of Revenue Accounting Georgia Southern University Statesboro, GA Phone: 912-871-1265 Email: dpowell@georgiasouthern.edu |
| Secretary | Holley Schramski, Director of Bursar's Division University of Georgia Athens, GA Phone: 706-542-2727 Email: hschrams@uga.edu |
The committee requested that a Fee Assessment Demo be put together. Cori Loftis was introduced to those in attendance. Cori is Administrative Assistant responsible for communications involving the GaBEST project. Cori will set up and maintain an Accounts Receivable List Serve for use by RACAR.
3. Discussion Topics
Multi-Institutional Functionality (MIF)
MIF will allow students to register at their home institution for other institution's
courses. The home school will assess fees and then institutions will coordinate
an exchange funds between institutions.
The MIF fee assessment committee advised that students should pay:
- the tuition/applicable fees for courses registered at the home institution plus
- the applicable standard rate per credit hour for the courses at the host institution (there will be a standard rate per credit hour for each level of institution) plus a standard fee for MIF cost recovery.
The 12 hour cap would not apply to the transient hours assessed at the host rate. The pilot phase begins in Fall 2004, pilot institutions have yet to be identified.
MIF project information can be found in the OIIT project management site, SITCAP, http://www.usg.edu/usgweb/sitcap/ For access to more detailed information on this site, log into site using guest as both the username and access code.
The goal of MIF is student service; i.e. one bill, one place for the student to pay.
The GSFC is willing to adjust HOPE transient procedures to award and disburse HOPE from the Home institution. Currently HOPE is awarded and disbursed by the Host institution.
Other MIF attendance issues not yet resolved:
- Head Count (Who gets it?)
- Credit Count (Who gets it?)
It will be an institutional decision about the number of hours a student can take as a transient.
Other states using the MIF concept with SCT software: Illinois, Hawaii community colleges, and Connecticut (online consortium).
HOPE Invoicing
(Prior to the actual discussion on HOPE invoicing, there was discussion about
the proposed HOPE changes. It is proposed that the HOPE award be reduced
by the amount of fees and book allowance. There was some discussion about
potential "grandfathering" of the changes. Student Financial Aid Directors
ask that current fees and books not be grand fathered because of the record-keeping
burden. Furthermore, there was concern about the timing of the legislature's
decision on HOPE changes. Perhaps now that RACAR has organized, communication
with GSFC would be in order to inform GSFC of the ramifications of delays
in the legislature's decision. For example, if HOPE is reduced by fees and
book allowance effective with summer 2004 terms, some schools have summer
terms that begin in May. If the decision was not made until after May, there
is a potential that schools would have to ask students for repayment.)
Starting with Spring '04, two pilot schools, Kennesaw State and Dalton State, will electronically invoice GSFC listing each student and the detailed amounts of tuition/fees/books. All schools are required to follow the invoicing process beginning with Fall '04. GSFC will return the file of the invoice and wire the funds within 48 hours. Specifications for the file layout have already been produced and OIIT will release the pilot HOPE invoicing enhancement around December 19 for the pilot schools.
Reconciliation will be required on a semester by semester basis.
Schools need to coordinate internally between the business office and the financial aid office regarding the timing of transmission of the invoice and the delivery of the funds, determine the frequency of invoicing, etc.
AR Data Collection
An update on the USG123 data-warehousing project as it relates to AR was provided.
Institutions where informed that the USG123 development team would start
AR Data Collection with collection of fee waivers. The universities are reminded
that a separate waiver code (detail code) is required for each fee waiver
listed in USG policy. The USG policy on Finance and Business can be viewed
at http://www.usg.edu/regents/policymanual/700.phtml.
Discussion grew from the topic of fee waiver data regarding the reconciliation between AR data and accounting information-what if the waiver information from the AR data warehouse does not match the same information in the accounting data warehouse? The data warehouse might have fewer codes than the school will have and therefore a cross-walk of data would be required.
Another example of use for the data warehouse is information about scholarships from outside agencies, such as Chik-Fil-A scholarships. Committee members explained that there could be potential problems with data on outside scholarships since each school processes these scholarships differently; i.e. some schools do not retain in AR, the detail down to the specific scholarship name.
The eventual goal is to link all the data between AR, Financial Aid, Financial Accounting, and Student systems. Some committee members expressed concern about duplication of data between AR and Financial Aid... at what point would a reconciliation process be required?
In the future there could be some benefit to and AR data warehouse in that schools could prepare scholarship allowance reports from the data warehouse.
Accounts Receivable Reporting Needs - 3rd party agreements
Touchnet
The USG is trying to facilitate better pricing and provide services that would
meet the needs of all the system schools. Currently six schools use the Touchnet
payment gateway for internet credit card processing. The schools are pleased
with Touchnet. Touchnet also provides a web-based check processing system.
Touchnet is working on the ability to "host" credit card information for
schools so that the credit card numbers are not stored in the school's system.
Touchnet would retain the liability. For more information on TouchNet, visit http://www.touchnet.com/.
Higher One
This company offers refunding to students. Schools transmit a file of the students
and amounts to be refunded and Higher One makes the disbursement. Tamara
Lane at the State University of West Georgia mentioned that SUWG has contracted
with Higher One and that they have successfully sent test files to Higher
One. SUWG plans to go live with this process spring '04. Rita Adams at Kennesaw
State University mentioned that KSU has also contracted with Higher One to
assist in the refunding of student balances. For more information on Higher
One visit http://www.higherone.com/.
Under this system, the student makes the choice on the Higher One website how the funds will be disbursed to the student. Higher One will issue a paper check if student requests otherwise the refund will go to the student's Higher One card. Parents can go to a website and put additional money on the student's card. Higher One also does ACH processing for schools.
Higher One has represented to some schools that the BOR is going to buy it - NOT THE CASE.
One school expressed concerns about reconciliations and audits when you would use a service such as Higher One.
Payment Plans
The University of Georgia asked if there was any interest from schools to re-visit
using payment plans such as AMS or TMS especially given the rising costs
of tuition/fees, housing, food plans and the proposed changes to limit the
HOPE award. There was not any interest from other schools. One institution
uses an emergency loan to students in lieu of a payment plan. Under this
arrangement, students must pay 50% of charges plus a $25 processing fee.
The balance is due in 45 days and if not paid, student's schedule is canceled.
This is very limited in its use at this institution. Rich Loftus said he
will ask Bill Bowes if there has been any movement on this since it was last
discussed 3-5 years ago.
Rich Loftus requested schools to send him their "third party" needs, not only for credit card, but other needs such as "web check", "ACH" etc.
Other Discussion
Documentation for next version of Banner will be on the GA Best website. Rich
Loftus will also see about creating a link to Basic Banner Overview and other
Banner information from the website.
We will attempt to coincide the spring RACAR meeting with the Financial Aid (RACFA) and Registrar (RACRA) groups. Their next meeting is scheduled to be at Georgia Tech in early March.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Holley Schramski, Secretary.
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Attachment A - Meeting Attendees
| Institutions | Contact Name | Email Address | Phone |
| Abraham Baldwin Agricultural | Cam Reagin | creagin@abac.peachnet.edu | 229/386-3642 |
| Albany State | Loraine Leary Linda Smiley |
lleary@asurams.edu lrsmiley@asurams.edu |
229/430-4615 229/430-6441 |
| Armstrong Atlantic State | Susan Norton | nortonsu@mail.armstrong.edu | 912/921-7352 |
| Atlanta Metropolitan College | James Altemus | jaltemus@atlm.edu | 404/756-4359 |
| Augusta State | Barbara Stewart | bdstewar@aug.edu | 706/737-1769 |
| Bainbridge College | Kay Owens | kowens@bainbridge.edu | 229/243-6439 |
| Clayton College & State | Linda Stanford | lindastanford@mail.clayton.edu | 770/961-3601 |
| Coastal Georgia Community | Jeff Preston | preston@cgcc.edu | 912/262-2335 |
| Columbus State | Bert Lyman | lymanalbert@colstate.edu | 706/569-3438 |
| Dalton State | Wanda Aldridge | waldridge@em.daltonstate.edu | 706/272-4435 |
| Darton College | Stan Brown | browns@darton.edu | 229/430-6721 |
| East Georiga College | Linda Attebery | lattebery@ega.edu | 478/289-2005 |
| Floyd College | Wayne Jones | wjones@floyd.edu | 706/295-6344 |
| Fort Valley State | Eula Solomon | solomone@mail.fvsu.edu | 478/825-6302 |
| Gainesville College | Debbie Pilgram | dpilgram@gc.peachnet.edu | 770/718-3731 |
| Georgia College & State | Wanda Ennis | wanda.ennis@gcsu.edu | 478/445-6094 |
| Georgia Perimeter College | Van Hope | vhope.gpc.edu | 404/244-5023 |
| Georgia Southern | Debbie Powell | dpowell@GeorgiaSouthern.edu | 912/871-1265 |
| Georgia Southwestern | Donja Tripp | donja@canes.gsw.edu | 229/931-2013 |
| Georgia State | Susan Crosier | scrosier@gsu.edu | 404/651-1278 |
| Georgia Tech | Carol Payne | carol.payne@business.gatech.edu | 404/894-5596 |
| Gordon College | Jackie Lovejoy | jackiel@gdn.edu | 770/358-5010 |
| Kennesaw State | Rita Adams | radams@kennesaw.edu | 770/423-6419 |
| Macon State | Caroll Ferrell | cferrell@mail.maconstate.edu | 478/471-5352 |
| Medical College of Georgia | Beth Welsh | bwelsh@mcg.edu | 706/721-6024 |
| Middle Georgia College | Gretchen Horne | ghorne@mgc.peachnet.edu | 478/934-3447 |
| North Georgia College & State | Dana Turner | dturner@ngcsu.edu | 706/864-1408 |
| Savannah State | Janice Allen | allenj@savstate.edu | 912/353-3044 |
| South Georgia College | Donna Ross | dross@sga.edu | 912/389-4227 |
| Southern Polytechnic State | David Ballentine | dballent@spsu.edu | 770/528-6828 |
| State Univ of West Georgia | Tamara Lane | tlane@westga.edu | 770/836-6785 |
| University of Georgia | Holley Schramski | hschrams@uga.edu | 706/542-1625 |
| Valdosta State | Tracyee Martin | tmartin@valdosta.edu | 229/245-4394 |
| Waycross College | Debbie Meeks | debmeeks@waycross.edu | 912/285-6107 |