Release 2024.08

Should you have any questions about the latest release, please contact your Client Success Manager or Customer Support via our support centre.

Key Changes: 

• New eCAF integration for FEE-HELP loans 
• Automated submissions of VSL and FEE-HELP eCAFs 
• Refunds via the Xetta Payment Gateway integration

Planned Release Dates 

• Phase I: 30 July 2024
• Phase II: 6 August 2024

New

New eCAF integration for FEE-HELP loans

New integration has been added to support Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Forms (eCAFs) for learners taking out a FEE-HELP loan.

The new feature is an extension of the existing VET Student Loans (VSL) eCAF functionality already supported by the SMS. FEE-HELP loans can be made available to eligible learners enrolling into a higher education course offered by approved higher education providers. 

FEE-HELP eCAFs can be processed in two places: individually via the enrolment, and individually or in bulk via the eCAF Manager screen. Below is a summary of the FEE-HELP eCAF changes impacting these screens. Further information is available in the SMS Knowledge Base User Guides.

Changes to the Enrolment > Higher Ed tab 

To display the Higher Ed tab on an enrolment, the following conditions must now be met:  

The Higher Ed tab now displays a FEE-HELP Eligibility indicator. 

• The new Eligible indicator now appears in the FEE-HELP Eligibility section, displaying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ depending on whether the enrolment is eligible for FEE-HELP. 

• FEE-HELP eligibility is checked automatically by the SMS, checking a range of fields including Citizenship Status, Academic Suitability, Studying in Australia, New Zealand eligibility fields and Bridging Course for the different FEE-HELP eligibility scenarios. 

• If Eligibility is displayed as ‘No’, the reasons for ineligibility are displayed in the FEE-HELP Eligibility section. 

• The FEE-HELP (TCSI) checkbox also appears in the FEE-HELP Eligibility section and continues to control the display of the eCAF and TCSI Reporting sections below.

In the eCAF section, select the Submit eCAF button to send enrolment data to the eCAF system. Enrolments can be excluded from eCAFs via the Exclude from eCAF Submission checkbox. 

Once submitted successfully, the eCAF section is updated with the eCAF ID, an eCAF Status of Pending and the eCAF Type of FEE-HELP. The Submit eCAF button changes to Sync eCAF, enabling a manual synch of the enrolment’s eCAF data with the eCAF system. 

The SMS will automatically synchronise eCAF data with the eCAF system every hour. Once the student has completed their eCAF submission via the eCAF Portal, the Status field is updated to Student Submitted, other key fields are populated, and no further action is required.

Any error messages returned from the eCAF system are displayed in the eCAF section. Select the edit buttons on the right to be taken to the SMS screen to correct the data error. 

Other user interface improvements to the Higher Ed tab have also been made: 

• Several fields on the Higher Ed tab previously used for HEPCAT reporting and no longer required for TCSI reporting have been moved to a new section called Legacy Reporting. The Legacy Reporting section is located at the bottom of the Higher Ed tab and will be displayed if the FEE-HELP (TCSI) checkbox is selected and at least one of the fields has a value. 

• The relocated fields are: Credit Offered; FOE for Credit Offered; Level of Education; Provider Type; Separation Status Code; Student Fee Type Indicator; Commencing Student (Year); Total Previous RTP EFTSL; Tertiary Entrance Score, Overseas Student Fee; Work Experience in Industry Indicator; Variation/Remission Reason Code.
   

Changes to the Party > Compliance > VSL / FEE-HELP Screen 

Changes have also been made to the Party > Compliance > VSL / FEE-HELP screen as a result of the different eligibility rules for VSL and FEE-HELP: 

• The existing Eligible field used for VSL eligibility has been moved to the Enrolment > VSL tab (refer to Point 3 below). 

• If TCSI is not enabled in your instance of the SMS, the entire Status section is hidden. 

• The existing Citizenship Status and Citizenship Effective From Date fields that appear on the Compliance > AVETMISS page now also appear on this page, below the Nationality field. 

• Legacy fields only used in the previous HEPCAT reporting system have been moved to a new section at the bottom named Legacy Reporting. The Legacy Reporting section will only be displayed if at least one of these fields has a value. 

• The relocated fields are: Fee Type; Permanent Resident eligibility for HELP Assistance; Highest Education; Year of Highest Education; Year Left School; Suburb/Town/Locality.

Changes to Enrolment > VSL tab 

In line with the above changes, parallel changes have been made to Enrolment > VSL tab: 

• A new VSL Eligibility section has been added to the top of the screen. This section now contains the Eligible indicator that was previously located on the Party > Compliance > VSL / FEE-HELP page. ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ is displayed depending on whether the enrolment is eligible for VSL. The VSL Eligibility section will always be shown, regardless of the VET Student Loans (TCSI) checkbox. 

• When not eligible, the reasons why are displayed on the right. 

• The VET Student Loans (TCSI) checkbox has also been moved to the VSL Eligibility section and continues to control the display of the eCAF and TCSI Reporting sections. 

Other user interface improvements to the Higher Ed tab: 

• Several fields previously used for HEPCAT reporting and no longer required for TCSI reporting have been moved to a new section called Legacy Reporting. The Legacy Reporting section will be shown at the bottom of the VSL tab if the VET Student Loans (TCSI) checkbox is selected and at least one of the fields has a value. 

• The relocated fields are: Credit Offered; Enrolment Revision Date; FOE for Credit Offered; Form Received; Form Submitted; Level of Education; Provider Type; Request for Assistance Form; Signature Date.

eCAF Manager Changes 

eCAF Manager provides a central location for managing eCAF submissions. Changes have been made to the eCAF Manager screen to support FEE-HELP eCAF related processes. eCAF Manager can be found in the Enrolments menu. 

• If the FEE-HELP Capability feature enabled, a new eCAF Type filter will appear in eCAF Manager. This enables you to filter between VET Student Loans and FEE-HELP eCAF records in the eCAF Manager. 

• Further to the above, when the FEE-HELP Capability feature is enabled the eCAF Type column is now displayed by default in the search results. This can be removed via the field selector. 

• Changes have been made to ensure Progressions are only applicable to VET Student Loan enrolments. When the loan type is FEE-HELP, options to create a Progression will not be available in either the eCAF Manager or on the enrolment. The Progression counts at the top of the eCAF Manager screen also exclude FEE-HELP enrolments.

• Improvements have been made to the Delete eCAF functionality delivered in release 2024.07. When deleting an incomplete eCAF, the reason for deletion is now mandatory as per the requirements from the eCAF system. The reason for deletion is included in the email sent to the learner from the eCAF system.

• eCAF data is synchronised against the eCAF system every hour. New functionality has been added to allow the data to also be manually synchronised, by: 

  • Selecting the Last Run button in the top right-hand corner.

  • On the pop-up screen, selecting Run eCAF Sync.

  • Either select the View eCAF Sync Batch link (if you have access to the Batch Log) or wait for the success message.

eCAF Permissions 

Access to the processing eCAFs from enrolment records or via eCAF Manager is now controlled via the ‘eCAF Manager’ permission. 

Changes have been made to remove Loans related fields that are no longer used: 

• The HEP Code, previously used for HEPCAT reporting, has been removed from the Administration > Configuration > Preferences page > VET Student Loans (VSL) section. 

• In the Enrolment Transfer Wizard, the tab for VET FEE-HELP has been removed from the Enrolment Step. 

Automated Submissions of VSL and FEE-HELP eCAFs 

The SMS now supports the automatic submission of eCAFs for enrolments with a VSL or FEE-HELP loan.

When the setting is enabled, any enrolment meeting the following criteria will be included in an automated hourly submission of enrolment data to the eCAF system: 

• The enrolment is Active and has Enrolment Enabled turned on, and 

• The enrolment End Date is empty or in the future, and 

• Report is turned on in the Program and Course, and 

• The sum of the Tuition Fee minus the Amount Paid Up-Front on all the enrolment’s units of study is greater than 0 

• Does not already have an eCAF, and either: 

  • Has VET Student Loans turned on, and Exclude from eCAF Submission turned off, or 

  • Has FEE-HELP turned on, Exclude from eCAF Submission turned off, and the Program has FEE-HELP turned on.

To turn on the setting to automatically submit eCAFs: 

1. Navigate to the eCAF Integration Settings page via Administration > Configuration > Preferences > Integration > Integrated Systems > eCAF > Edit 
2. Select the Automatically submit eCAF enrolments checkbox

A message is logged in the Batch Log for each enrolment that has an eCAF submission.

If the eCAF system returns errors, logic has been added to the SMS to determine whether the enrolment data should be automatically resubmitted again. 

• If the error occurs due to an issue with the enrolment (e.g. missing data), then the submission will not be retried. After the enrolment is amended, manually resubmit the enrolment using the eCAF Manager or from the enrolment ‘Submit eCAF’ button.

• If the error occurs due to an issue unrelated to the enrolment (e.g. invalid eCAF credentials, the eCAF account is locked), then the submission is retried automatically in the next hourly update.
  
  

Improved

TCSI | Unit of Study Location Changes 

Two changes have been made related to the Unit of Study Location field: 

• The Unit of Study Location Code field can now be imported in the Subject Details Importer, available via Administration > Import/Export > Subject Details Import. 

• The Location Code and Location Name fields are now available in the Student Unit of Study Status entity in the Report Builder.

Refunds via the Xetta Payment Gateway integration 

New functionality has been added to support refunds from the Xetta Payment Gateway.

• When a refund is initiated within the Xetta Portal, the funds will be returned to the learner via the original payment method.

• Once the refund has been processed, Xetta will send a refund request to the SMS and a refund transaction is automatically added against the invoice that was originally paid.

• No manual entry of a refund transaction in the SMS is required. The party balance is updated automatically, and the refund transaction is shown on both the invoice and party’s payment screen. 

• Credit notes can be optionally used to control how the refunds are distributed against invoice items: 

• If a credit note has been created for the invoice in the SMS before receiving the refund from Xetta (creating negative balances on some items), the created refund will be distributed across these invoices first to bring the outstanding balances to 0. 

• If a refund amount is remaining (or no credit note was created), then the remaining refund amount is distributed across the invoice items that have a positive paid total to bring the paid total to 0.

Fixed

33637 – We have fixed an issue with merging parties where certificate documents were not getting copied across to the new merged party. 

32730 - Fixed an issue when selecting to download the bulk certificates as a Single PDF File the dialog box does not dismiss correctly.

33015 – Fixed an issue with TCSI HEP and PIR file extracts relating to the Student Year Left School field. This field is now derived from the Year Completed field in the School Details section of the Party AVETMISS page. 

33406 – We have resolved an issue with updating the citizenship-status field via the Parties API endpoints. 

33584 – We have fixed an issue where the reallocation of credit payments functionality was applying a positive amount and not a negative amount in some scenarios.