This
section of the user manual should be read in conjunction with the technical
documentation supplied with the relevant release of Callista.
This
documentation assumes knowledge of information given in
Understanding Student Finance.
In this section:
Fee
Assessment - Data setup information:
Fee
Disbursement - Data setup information:
See
also:
Special
Topics which gives more information on levels, rates, course
attributes and fee disbursement.
Specialist
fees administrators are expected to have the major responsibility for setting
up and maintaining the Student Finance subsystem. This section is intended
to aid them in this task, which encompasses
·
setting up the data
needed to
assess and administer fees in the Student Finance subsystem
establish fee contracts for students pre-enrolling
through Admissions
disburse assessed or received income to organisational
units in the institution
·
setting up the processes
and reports that are the core of this subsystem, using the Job Control and
Scheduling subsystem
·
managing the database
rollover process as it relates to the Student Finance subsystem.
The
information presented here builds on the introduction to the subsystem given
in Understanding
Student Finance. Links to required
forms are given in the text, or can be selected from the subsystem
table of contents, while a Special Topics section gives more
in-depth information about some aspects of the subsystem.
The
list below maps out the data required to administer student finances over
a single financial year. Links are provided to more detailed information about
each step, both in this specialist overview and elsewhere in the introductory
material.
The
sequences given here have been chosen as a logical way in which to gain an
initial understanding of the scope of the subsystem. They are not necessarily
recommended as the most efficient way to enter data once the subsystem and
the institution's data requirements are known.
WARNING:
A change to the data structure for a particular fee period,
after fee processing of student course attempts in that period has started,
is not advised. Such a change might lead to unpredictable results, and make
it impossible to trace the derivation of a student's assessment.
The
following calendars and date aliases must be created in the Calendar
subsystem before key data can be
entered in the Student Finance subsystem. The section on fee periods in Understanding Student Finance gives a preliminary
introduction to these calendars.
In
CALF0220 (Maintain Calendar Types) create:
NOTES
Fee periods normally follow the pattern of
standard load
calendars, reflecting semesters.
In addition, some fees may be charged only once a year, and these would be
attached to a year-long fee calendar. In their case, it is necessary to use
aggregate load calendars
to group the standard load calendars applicable to the fee period.
A
typical set of fee calendars might be named FEE-SEM1, FEE-SEM2,
FEE-SUMMER, FEE-YR. An instance for FEE-SEM1 might run
from 1 January1999 to 30 June 1999.
In
CALF0330 (Maintain Calendar Instance Relationships) accessed via a navigation
button in CALF0220:
Link
each fee calendar as a subordinate of the financial year calendar.
In
CALF0410 (Maintain Date Alias Categories):
Create
a date alias category to classify date aliases operating in the Student Finance
subsystem. Example: FEE.
In
CALF0420 (Maintain Date Aliases) create:
Each
of these date aliases must be given a date alias category (e.g. FEE)
and may be linked to the calendar category of FEE.
Also
create in CALF0420:
These
date aliases must be given a date alias category (e.g. FEE) and may
be linked to a calendar category of FINANCE.
NOTES
Schedule dates are further explained in the section on schedules,
which also provides links to related forms.
In
CALF0512 (Maintain Date Alias Instances) accessed via a navigation button
in CALF0220:
While
theoretically more than one set of start date, end date and retro date alias
instances can be created for each calendar instance, this is not recommended
for initial setup.
When
running the fee assessment routine (FINJ3500) for a fee period, its 'effective
run date' must fall between the start and end dates represented by the two
aliases. A 'retro date', by comparison, is a physical cut-off point, after
which the fee assessment routine cannot run at all for the related fee period.
The
start date can be before the start of the fee period. For example, FEE-ASS-ST
attached to fee period FEE-SEM1 for 1999 might be set for 1st
November 1998.
A
census date is needed for each fee period in order to process a student's
HECS Payment Option and Differential HECS indicator value for a course attempt
as at the census date. For further details, see
HECS Payment Options in Special
Topics.
Revenue
and tax account codes established in Callista provide references used in Callista's
interface to an external financial system. The date alias instances, indicating
an account's effective time-span, are linked to accounts in the form FINF2110
(accessed via FINF2100). These accounts are linked to fee types within fee
periods in the same form. Account codes are linked to financial year calendars
(calendars with a FINANCE category) in FINF1800.
More
detail is given in the documentation for FINF2110. (Account codes are also documented as a part of the
Callista Open Finance Interface, COFI).
The
following reference data should be created and maintained for fee assessment.
Reference Data |
Purpose |
Maintenance Form |
To assign government discipline groups to HECS contribution bands. |
||
To record the currency normally used by the institution in administering fees, and the values of other currencies in relation to it. |
||
To record account codes used in posting Student Finance transactions to an institution's financial system. |
||
To record the various kinds of external references documented within the subsystem. |
||
To
set up encumbrances relating specifically to non-payment or under-payment
of fees. It
is suggested that fee encumbrance types be set up with an ADMINISTRATIVE
category. Examples of suitable fee encumbrances might be
See documentation on encumbrances in the Enrolment subsystem for an overview. |
||
To set up course group triggers, if required (see documentation on triggers, below). It is recommended that a specific course group type - for example, FEE-ASS - is established as a USERDEF type to distinguish fee-related groups. |
||
Statement of Account, Sponsor Summary Statement address types |
To record an address type or types (for example, STATEMENT) specifically used to print the institution's address in the format required on Statements of Account and Sponsor Summary Statement. |
|
To record the institution's address details to be used for Statements of Account and Sponsor Summary Statement. Once details have been established, the address type should be closed to prevent its appearing in general address type lists of values (for example, those signifying different types of address for students). |
ORGF0122 |
|
To establish a correspondence type or types (for example STMNT-ACC, RMNDR-SOA) for Statement of Account, Reminder Notice, and Sponsor Summary Statement, and link this to the extract job to produce statements (FINJ6120, FINJ6121, FINJ6130). Only students/sponsors with a matching type recorded against their correspondence category are selected to receive statements. |
||
Person ID Type |
To record a person ID type against the PAY_ADV_NO system person ID type in order to store payment advice numbers as students' Alternate Person IDs (see documentation for ENRF3010). It is recommended that only one person ID type is mapped to the system ID type. |
|
Tax reference |
To record a tax reference (in Australia, an Australian Business Number (ABN) of the issuing body) to be shown on Statements of Account and Sponsor Summary Statements (tax invoices). |
System
statuses providing functionality within the subsystem must
be given names defined by the institution using the forms identified below.
It
is recommended that statuses be named using the system defined term unless
it is particularly important to retain a term already in use within the institution.
Setup
information about organisations and/or individuals undertaking to sponsor
students for one or more of their fees involves:
The
ongoing work of associating sponsors with those students to whom sponsorship
applies is done in the form Direct Assignment of Sponsorships, FINF4300.
The
relationship between fees, categories and liabilities
is introduced in Understanding Student Finance.
Fees
(or 'fee types', to use the database term) are set up independently of fee
categories, using the form Maintain Fee Types, FINF2100. This form is one of the two central forms of the subsystem,
allowing access to many other forms.
One
purpose of the form is to record information intrinsic to a fee in all circumstances.
This type of information is of two important kinds:
A
second purpose of the form is to record data - specifically calculation data
and schedules - when that data is required to operate for a fee in any
fee category to which it belongs.
A
HECS fee is an example of such a fee. Regardless of a student's category,
the basis for HECS calculations and the timing of fee payments (controlled
by schedules) must be the same for all. (See the introduction to fee types, categories and liabilities for an understanding of the interconnection of fees and students via
categories.)
When
such data is recorded in this form or in forms accessed through this one,
the data is said to be operating at Fee Type level, or FTCI level. In different
circumstances, calculation and schedule data can be recorded at a different
level. See the section on Levels in Special Topics for more details.
Fee
categories are set up in the first screen of the second major form in the
subsystem, Maintain Fee Categories (FINF2800).
Like
a fee type, a fee category must be associated with a fee period and assigned
a set of dates, as discussed in the introduction to fee
periods in Understanding Student
Finance. The category can only operate in the period and with the dates with
which it is associated.
It
is suggested that a minimum set of fee categories would be:
Although
not invariably the case, schedule data will normally be associated with categories.
To achieve this, the schedules forms are accessed from the first screen of
FINF2800. These schedules are intended to apply to all the fees in
a particular category, and are said to be operating at Fee Category level,
or FCCI level.
Be
aware, however, that overrides may apply for some fees in the category. One
such important exception is HECS fees, which must have schedules set up at
Fee Type level, not at Fee Category level. For more information, see the sections
on Schedules;
also the section on Levels in Special Topics.
The
second screen of the same major form used to create categories, Maintain Fee
Categories (FINF2800),
is also used to assign fees to fee categories. Fees can only be included in
categories with the same fee period. Once a fee is assigned to a category,
the term for a single fee in a category is a fee liability.
Calculation
and schedule data can be set up against a fee liability. When set up at this
level, the data is said to be operating at Fee Liability level, or FCFL level,
and applies to the fee only when it is operating within a specific category.
While
it is recommended that calculation data should normally be set up at Fee Type
level, and schedules at Fee Category level, setting such data at Fee Liability
level allows a single fee to be levied in a particular way only for one category
of student. For more information, see the sections on Calculations and Schedules. See also the section on Levels in Special Topics.
It
is important to realize that, whatever the level at which a set of calculation
or schedule data applies, a student can only ever be assessed for a fee
liability, i.e. a fee in a category matching the category assigned to
them.
Some
fees are charged only for some courses, unit sets or units. The forms to associate
these with fees are accessed via FINF2800, and discussed in the next section
on triggers.
A
'trigger' is the name given to one or more courses, units, or groupings of
courses and/or units (including unit sets), when they are recorded against
a fee liability - that is, a fee within a specific fee category. For students
in that category, if the fee assessment routine is able to match a particular
student's course and/or unit set and/or unit attempt(s) to a trigger, the
student will be assessed for the corresponding fee.
To
set up triggers:
These
are the forms used to select the appropriate trigger or triggers for a fee
liability:
COURSE
trigger category (a single fee liability can have triggers set using any or
all of these three forms)
Using
the first COURSE form implies that only a single course (or even a single
way of studying a course) or a small number of individual courses are associated
with a fee. The next two forms allow various sets of courses to be associated
with a fee in one operation. These sets of courses are defined in the Course
Structure and Planning subsystem, using form CRSF11D0 for
course groups and CRSF1110 for course types.
UNIT
trigger category
Triggers
can be set up to associate a fee with an individual unit or units. If required,
making the association can depend on when and where the unit is studied.
UNITSET
trigger category
Using
this form, fees can be levied if particular unit sets are studied.
COMPOSITE
trigger category
This
form allows a fee to be associated with a trigger group comprising a course
and/or unit set(s) and/or unit(s). All members of the group must match the
student's enrolment for the trigger to take effect (an 'AND' relationship).
To
set up a trigger group, record the group in FINF2224, and then record the
number of the group against triggers for a course (in FINF2222) unit sets
(in FINF2225) and units (in FINF2223), as required.
When
set up in this way, a trigger will take effect if any one of the components
is present (an 'OR' relationship).
If
a computer access fee liability has a COMPOSITE trigger category and the following
triggers:
then
students will be charged the fee if they are taking either a Commerce degree
with all the computing units in the trigger group (i.e. Bachelor of Commerce
and unit SCC111and unit SC222 and unit SCC333 and unit SCC555) or
a Computing degree or the Multimedia Technology major as a part of
any course.
A
note on triggers and calculations is given in the next section.
One
trigger category is an exception. The 'institution' category has no
triggers, since fees of this category apply throughout the institution to
any eligible student. For further information about institution fees, see
the notes in the summary of level information in Special Topics.
This
section deals firstly with calculations used to assess a fee, and then with
calculations related to the tax due on taxable fees.
The
calculation performed by the fee assessment routine to arrive at an amount
for each fee for which a student is liable has this formula as its basis:
CHARGE
ELEMENTS multiplied by CHARGE RATE.
In
order to support this calculation a good deal of data must be set up, both
in one of the two main forms already mentioned and in forms accessed through
them. This involves choosing the level at which the data should apply.
For
each fee, the following data must be selected in one of the main forms, FINF2100
or FINF2800:
For
each fee, additional data must be entered in forms accessed from one of the
two main forms, depending on the level desired:
One
further form allows for a finer adjustment of a rate for fees with certain
charge methods. This is the form Define Element Ranges (FINF2852).
It
is also possible for an individual student to have a contract
with the institution for a different rate than the standard one, and this
is specified in the Maintain Contract Fee Assessment Rates form (FINF2900).
Note
that if a FLATRATE charge method is used, the number of elements always
equals 1, irrespective of a student's load.
Triggers
only determine whether or not an assessment is made. They do not influence
the calculation method. To illustrate briefly: if a fee calculation were to
be set up with a unit trigger and an amount charged PERUNIT, the assessment
would be 'triggered' by a single matching unit, but the calculation would
be based on all relevant units the student is studying. (Relevant units
are those studied as part of a course attempt with a fee category matching
the fee category of the liability.) Since this multiplying effect is generally
undesirable, a FLATRATE charge method is commonly used for a fee with
a unit, unit set or composite trigger.
Any
fee is assumed to be taxable unless the tax exempt indicator is set.
For
HECS and institution-wide fees
For
all other fees
o in FINF2800 at FCFL level if this fee is only exempt within this category
o in FINF2800 at FCCI level if all fees in the category are to be tax exempt (mandatory if the category is tax exempt)
o
in FINF2100 at FTCI level so that this value
is the default for all corresponding fee liabilities.
For
all taxable fees, the tax due on a fee is calculated each time a student is
assessed or reassessed. Tax is a specified percentage of the assessed amount,
this percentage forming a part of the tax rule.
For
all taxable fees, select
Information
is given here on the three kinds of schedules (payment, retention and encumbrance schedules), the
levels at which schedules can be defined and the common features of schedules. See also the information about Levels in Special Topics.
Once
an assessment of the fees due from a student has been made, there are three
different schedules used in handling the resulting debt incurred by the student.
These are:
Payment Schedule. This is perhaps the most important schedule. It controls:
·
the date or dates
at which a student is required to pay an assessed debt
·
for payment by instalments,
the percentage of the payment due at each date, and
·
any discounts that
apply (including reductions on tax due as a result).
It is the 'template' for the
creation of students' individual payment schedules.
An
example of how this schedule works is this. In the first semester 1999 fee
period, a student may be required to pay 50% of an assessed amount 10 days
after being notified. The balance is due on or before a specified date - say
31/3/99 - with a 10% discount if the full payment is made by the due date.
This would require two entries.
Payment
schedules are set up in the form Define Payment Schedule (FINF2860).
For
HECS fees, indicators must be set in ENRF0161 to distinguish those
payment options that are entitled to a discount.
Retention Schedule. This schedule covers that part of the assessed amount
(whether paid or unpaid) that the institution wishes to retain, before load
is incurred, should a student withdraw from units or courses for which he
or she has been assessed. Where payment has been made, any amount not so retained
is available for refund, less administrative charges if specified.
There are two
retention methods. The LOAD method is effectively a levy each time a student
reduces their study load, and therefore their debt liability. A percentage
is retained of the amount by which the debt is reduced. The DEBT method is
intended to maintain a level of debt independent of load. This may be a fixed
amount, or a percentage of the student's maximum debt liability.
The
following examples apply retention to a tuition fee with one retention schedule
entry.
Example
of LOAD method. The institution
could set up a retention schedule for a tuition fee with 20% retention applying
on and after 15/3/99. For students who have already paid this fee, and then
reduce their liability after this date, 20% of the difference between the
previous assessment and the new assessment will be retained, with eighty percent
of the reduction potentially available for refund. For those who have not
paid, the retention amount will be added to their adjusted debt.
Example
of DEBT method. Here the retention
schedule is set up with 20% retention applying on the highest debt, on and
after 15/3/99. For students who have already paid and then reduce their liability
below the retention amount after this date, 20% of the previously assessed
amount for the fee will be retained with 80% potentially due for reimbursement.
Those who have not paid remain in the institution's debt for 20% of the previously
assessed amount.
Retention
schedules are set up in the form Define Retention Schedule (FINF28A0).
Encumbrance Schedule. The final schedule sets up a framework for the application
of certain penalties or 'encumbrances' in the event of non-payment or underpayment
of assessed debts due.
·
Further documentation about encumbrance schedules
is found under the Define Fee Encumbrances form (FINF2890).
Schedules
can be set up at all three levels (FTCI level, FCCI level and FCFL level).
But for a single fee they can only exist at two levels simultaneously - they
can be set up:
An
override principle applies if two schedules exist at different levels
for the same fee. For that fee, a schedule at FTCI level or FCFL level will
always override the one at FCCI level.
The
benefit of setting schedules at Fee Category (FCCI) level is that the majority
of fees in the category are covered by one schedule. The dates are therefore
the same for most of the fees for which a student is liable. However, HECS
and institution-wide fees must have their schedules set up at FeeType
(FTCI) level.
It
is therefore recommended that the dates of the different schedules for fees
included in the same category are kept in line as far as possible.
Setting
a schedule at Fee Liability (FCFL) level caters for exceptional circumstances
in administering a particular fee in a particular category, and is not recommended
in initial set up unless a compelling reason exists.
Schedules
have two important concepts in common with regard to their operation.
An
example. To illustrate, here is a simple case based on the payment
schedule. On or before 2nd January, a student is required to have
paid 50% of an assessed fee. At 25th January, payment of 75% of
the fee is required. At 20th February, the full amount, 100%, must
have been paid.
A
student notified before the 2nd of January is able to pay in three
instalments, one of 50% by 2nd January, the next of 25% by 25th
January, and a final instalment of 25% by 20th February. However,
a student notified of his or her debt on 12th January must pay
in two instalments; one of 75% by the 25th January, and a second
of 25% by 20th February. A student notified after 25th
January must pay the full amount by 20th February.
Fee
contracts can be established in three ways.
A
provisional or predictive fee assessment for an applicant can also
be initiated from the Admissions subsystem, whether or not a contract has
been established for that applicant. Predictive assessment can be online through
ADMF3660, or by running the fee assessment routine (FINJ3500) as a stand alone job, either batch or online.
In
all cases,
o PRE-ENROL - causes pre-enrolment to be performed when the outcome status of a course application changes to either COND-OFFER or OFFER in ADMF3240
o
FEE-ASSESS - allows access to the Fee Assessment
T-list item in ADMF3240 to view and optionally change the fee category for
an applicant, and to select a HECS Payment Option. A payment option must be
chosen if a contract is to be set or a predictive assessment made for a fee
rate where the payment option is a selection criteria for the rate.
o
FEE-DETAIL - allows access to the form ADMF3660
to set a contract, or run a predictive fee assessment via this form.
o
FEE-CNTRCT - causes a fee contract to be established
automatically for relevant tuition fees when pre-enrolment is run either from
ADMF3240 or as a batch job.
Setting
up disbursement reference data
The
following reference data should be created and maintained for fee disbursement.
Reference Data |
Purpose |
Maintenance Form |
Organisational units |
Organisational units (budget centres) are recipients of disbursed income. Check that all organisational units due to receive such income are recorded in Callista. |
|
Fee posting accounts |
Account codes are used to disburse income to organisational units. |
|
Account classifications |
Account classifications provide the link between the disbursement accounts of organisational units and the formulas used to disburse income for a fee type. |
|
Disbursement categories |
If required, disbursement categories provide a means of aggregating disbursed amounts for reporting purposes. |
Recording
disbursement accounts
Fee
posting accounts are of two kinds: those used to hold income received from
the payment of fees (including tax if applicable), and those used to hold
income received by budget centres (organisational units) as a result of the
disbursement of such fees. The first have already been established as a part
of setting up fee types for fee assessment.
The
second kind - accounts to receive disbursed income - must be set up for each
financial period in FINF1800. They must then be recorded against organisational
units and given classifications. This is done either in the form Maintain
Disbursement Accounts (FINF7100) or in the form in which account classifications are
maintained (FINF1H00).
Setting
up disbursement formulas
Fee
disbursement is based on records of assessed debt or paid amounts incurred
as a liability for either an institution-wide or a course based fee. For institution-wide
fees, disbursement calculations are based on each student's liability
for the fee at student level. For fees other than institution fees, disbursement
calculations are done independently for each course attempt for which a student
is liable for the fee.
Sets
of formulas for each required fee type can be set up to provide great disbursement
flexibility.
The
following components make up a formula:
For
each formula type, formulas must be ranked in the order in which they are
to be resolved, and each assigned a classification code linking it
to one or more organisational units. Disbursement categories can be
assigned to each formula to allow aggregation of formula amounts for reporting
purposes.
In
addition, rule and fee category overrides allow further refinement
of the group of students to whom any particular formula may apply.
The
formulas and related data for each required fee type are set up in
o Maintain Fee Category Disbursement Formulae (FINF7220)
o Maintain Disbursement Categorisation (FINF7230)
o
Maintain Fee Disbursement Formula Rules (FINF7240).
o
The fee disbursement process and subsequent
jobs are described in Understanding Student Finance.
The
Student Finance subsystem is designed to interface with an external financial
system. One reason for this is to transfer fee information to the external
system for accounting purposes. Transfer of information normally takes place
throughout the processing cycle for a fee period. At some point after the
end of the fee period, a remaining task is to finalise fee types in Student
Finance.
In
the case of the Callista Open Finance Interface (COFI) this must be done before
final information for the fees can be transferred, via the interface, to the
external financial system, in order that related accounts may also be finalised
in that system.
Before
this last transfer can take place, fee period calendar instances for each
fee type must be set to a status of finalised at the fee type level (FTCI)
in the form FINF2100. Validations prevent this from being done until all
related student fee liabilities have a zero net balance.
When
attempting to finalise a fee type, validations are made to ensure that there
is no outstanding debt for students liable for the fee in this period, and
that processing of potential debt is complete. Checks are made that:
Error
messages are displayed if any of these validations are failed. (These validations
are also reflected in an exception report (INTR0108) provided with the Callista
Open Finance Interface, COFI).
Although
finalising must ultimately be done at FTCI level, resolving outstanding balance
issues can be done in stages, and the fee type progressively 'closed off'.
This means that, if desired, individual fee liabilities can first be finalised
at the lowest liability level (FCFL) or complete categories can be finalised
at FCCI level if all their liabilities can also be finalised. Statuses for
these interim stages are recorded in the form FINF2800.
When
attempting to finalise directly at fee type (FTCI) level, related liabilities
can be finalised by the system as long as validations permit.
After
a fee period has been set to finalised, no further assessments, re-assessments
or manual adjustments for the period can be made.
Rollover
facilities allow reference, structural and operational data created in one
period to be automatically re-created in a subsequent period. After rolling,
fee data can be altered where necessary to reflect the requirements of the
new fee period. Normally rollover is on a yearly basis.
The
rollover of Student Finance fee structures depends on a prior rollover of
financial and fee calendars and associated date aliases. Calendar rollovers
are initiated from form CALF0320 (via Maintain Calendar Types, form CALF0220). The dates
defining each rolled calendar instance can be checked in the Rollover Calendar
report (CALR0320) and adjusted where
necessary, as can related date alias instances.
Within
the Student Finance subsystem, the job FINJ2A00 allows for the rollover of fee structures once financial
and fee calendars have been rolled over for the target year.
Calendars
are rolled over into a planned state, and will need to be altered to
active statuses if it is intended that fee structure data for related fee
calendar instances are to be rolled into an active state.
Last
Modified on 11
March 2002