Fundamentals of theBanner Student Aid (BSA) System

April 25, 2014

Today’s session

• RAN updates

• Banner Student Aid (BSA) System

• Karen Kirouac – Associate Director, Systems, Student Services

RAN Updates

• Recurring Findings – Expense Reports & POPS• A list of recurring findings of non-compliant issues

on Expense Reports and POPS observed by Monitoring & Compliance.

• Lists the type of document requirements in order to be complaint for each issue.

• For more Research Administration Cheat Sheets, please visit: https://www.mcgill.ca/research/ran/members/tools/research-administration-cheat-sheets

Financial Aid and Awards AdministrationFor the Research Administration Network (RAN)

Today’s Topics• Who’s who/What’s what

• Terminology

• Fund Management

• Budget Management

• Award Processing

• Award Maintenance

• Eligibility

• Reporting

• Support

Who’s who/What’s what

Who’s who/What’s what

Who’s who

• Scholarships & Student Aid Office (SSAO)

• Student Funding (SF)

• Award Processing Support Service (APSS)

• Graduate & Post Doctoral Studies (GPS)

What’s what

• BSAC/BSA

• FAA Admin

Terminology

Aid Year/Fiscal Year/Grant Year

• Aid Year (Academic Year)• A complete aid cycle for which student aid/award is being tracked.

McGill defines as academic year i.e. September 1st to August 31st

of the following year.

• Fiscal Year - May 1st through April 30th .

• Grant Year - Twelve consecutive months as determined by the

Granting Agency. The most common but not limited to is Tri-Agency which runs from April 1st through March 31st.

Aid Fund• An Aid Fund Code in BSA is a unique code that is used to

distinguish an award entity

• These codes identify specific awards, e.g. institutional scholarships, external fellowships, stipends, etc. with properties

• An aid fund for a monetary award is associated to a FOAPAL and is given an Allocation

• More than one aid fund may be associated to one FOAPAL (but only one FOAPAL can be associated to an aid fund.)

• An award that should come from two FOAPALs is processed as two awards.

Aid Fund Code codingCoding convention:

1st character =>Award Type S-Scholarship, F–Fellowship; R–Agency; I–Stipend; T - Travel2nd-6th character => Finance Fund7th character =>Program StageEntrance, In-Course & Convocation8th – 9th character =>sequential number assigned or G/S

• Aid Fund names for Agency Awards are based on the FIS fund title• Aid Fund names for Student Stipends begin with STP – [researcher last name] –

first characters of the FIS fund title

R 213875 C 0G I 217818 C 0GF 179518 C 00

Disbursement/Memo/Payment• Disbursement

• Release award and pass award info to the system that pays it:

• Accounts Receivable (AR) – award pays for tuition, etc.

• Accounts Payable (AP) – Student gets a cheque or direct deposit

Note: If a payment is future dated it is still “disbursed”

• The payment of an award on the scheduled pay date

• Memo - Future-dated disbursements (payments) not yet paid

• Payment - The payment of an award on the scheduled pay date

Award/Stipend/

• Award – based on academic merit, extra-curricular or community activities, travel support or demonstrated need

• Stipend – paid from a researchers grant for the student to work on thesis research (Support)• The funding source is depicted in the Finance system as a

Grant (2F or 2M).

• Such payments are subject to approval by the RFMS in Financial Services to ensure compliance with granting agency restrictions and thresholds.

Support/Employment Income

• Support

• Students may be “working” in a lab with the Researcher but it is notconsidered “pay for work” if:

• The research is in support of the student in qualifying for a degree or other scholastic recognition in their field

• There is no work schedule

• There is no contract

• There is no timesheet

• Employment Income• Research Assistantships or other forms of employment

• Treated as employment income with T4 and Relevé 1 slips issued

• Pay for work performed (e.g. laboratory work)

• Pre-arranged terms – hourly rate, # hours, specific work days

• Under specific direction of researcher or co-researcher

=>Work for pay example: Student has graduated and received their degree but researcher wants to keep them on working in the lab for 6 months

Student Stipends• See ‘Student Stipends’ link

http://www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/faa-admin-toolkit/factsheets/studentstipends

• ***Agency requires PI signature. Use ‘Student Stipend Payment Authorization form’ (retain for 7 years) found at http://www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/forms/paymentauthorization***

• The Student:

• is not eligible for the university benefits plans including, but not limited to Group Life, Health, Dental, LTD and Pension.

• is not eligible for federal and provincial government deductions and benefits such as: Employment Insurance, Quebec Pension Plan, Quebec Parental Insurance Plan and Medicare.

• is not subject to the 4% vacation pay or any form of vacation accrual or payment

• will not be entitled to collect Employment Insurance upon completion of the payments.

• will receive T4A/Releve 1 receipts for income tax purposes for both the Federal and Quebec governments.

Disbursement schedule• A disbursement schedule is the calendar of award payments.

• Awards are released for payment based on the disbursement schedule and transmitted to the student’s bank account within 1 – 4 business days

• Some award types may have a default disbursement schedule (Fellowships often have a ten payment default schedule, Scholarships have two – Fall & Winter term)

• The disbursement schedule wizard can automatically generate a schedule of payments based on a monthly or semi-monthly schedule

• Disbursement schedule dates drive which aid year, grant year or fiscal year the transactions are posted to.

• BSA does not have a trail out period like FIS at yearend. The last day of the year is the last day to process

• i.e. A payment with an April scheduled pay date that was delayed and only paid in May will be charged in May. We cannot back date records for posting purposes

Disbursement Schedule• Default

• pre-determined schedule established on a Aid fund code

• Carry forward same schedule year after year

• Ideal to pay Fall awards in August

• Required

• No schedule exists – it must be created upon submission of an award using the award processing form

• Custom

• A schedule that has been created using the award processing form

Disbursement Schedule

• Monthly/Semi-Monthly/Customize

• Pay frequency determined when generating a new disbursement schedule.

• Customize is an option that allows you to design your own disbursement schedule e.g. lump sum payment, 50/50 split for fall/winter term

Payment Method

• Accounts Payable (A/P)

• Award payment made via Direct Deposit to a student’s personal bank account

• Accounts Receivable (A/R)

• Award payment made via Student Accounts to a student’s individual fee account

Status Codes• Forecast

• Award has not been disbursed

• Accepted• The award has been submitted, and is awaiting processing by the Central

Office.

• Revoked/Rescinded• The award was revoked after at least one payment was made.

• Used when an award is being taken away from the student / revoked.

• Visible to the student in Minerva Financial Aid & Awards tab

• Cancelled• The award was canceled before any payments were made.

• Cannot be used for awards that have been disbursed.

• Not visible to the student in Minerva Financial Aid & Awards tab

• Award processor cancels award in Minerva

Fund Management

BSA Fund Management structure

• Direct Deposit

• Student Fee Account

Aid Fund creation• Central aid office create

• Fellowships & Scholarships approved by CESA (Committee on Enrolment and Student Affair) automatically

• All other Fund types (not 2C, 2E, 2F, 2M with grants) upon request

• Requests are made using Aid Fund Request Form –http://www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/forms/aid-fund-request-form

• Award Processors create• Student Stipends and Agency Awards (2C,2E, 2F & 2M

grants only)

• Requests are made using ‘On the fly’ Aid Fund Request Form

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Understanding Award Properties

Impact of ORG/PROG changes• Aid Fund code is associated to a FOAPAL

Impact of ORG/PROG changes

• Aid Fund code that has not been used can have the ORG/Prog changed

• Aid Fund code that has been used must be terminated and a new code created with the new FOAPAL combination

• Implicates

• Future dated memos on old FOAPAL

• Reassignments

• If Finance journals are done

• BSA will be out of sync with FIS

• It may implicate user security

Termination date / BSA vs FIS• Aid Fund Codes will pick up the termination date from Finance

through a nightly process

• Finance funds that get re-activated do not get picked up in BSA

• Users must notify student.funding that the Fund is re-opened

Budget Management

Funding Sources Supporting Student Awards

Donations

Central Operating

External Agencies

Researchers

Other

Endowment Income or Direct Spending

Finance fund types:2A medals2B prizes2C scholarships2D bursaries2E fellowships

“Institutional Awards”

Allocated to Faculty/Departments by Central Aid Office

Finance fund types:1A operating

“Institutional Awards”

Proportions not accurateGranting Agency awards to Student

Finance fund types:2C scholarships2E fellowshipsLinked to Grant Code

“Agency Award to Student”

From PI’s research grant

Finance fund types:2F grants2M contractsLinked to Grant Code

“Student Stipends”

Budget Management• BSA budget: every Aid Fund (monetary award type) that is

set up in BSA requires a corresponding budget

• Budgets in BSA are separate from FIS budgets

• How budgets are set in BSA depends on the fund type of the FOAPAL to which it is attached

Budget Management• Finance Funds used exclusively for institutional awards and agency

awards (2A to 2E fund types)

◦ Nightly refresh from Finance budgets to set Budget to ‘actual’ in FAA

• Researcher’s funds for student stipends (2F & 2M fund types)

◦ No upfront budget required. System will self-adjust budget based on disbursements scheduled.

• Operating and Other funds (not 2A-2E, 2F, 2M fund types and not linked to a grant)

Note: BSA Budgets are only a guide and do not necessarily reflect the available balance in Finance. BSA Budgets can be adjusted upon request

Budget Management• Budget Setup/Adjustments

• BSA Budget Adjustment Request form

• Only funds that are not part of the automated nightly refresh

• Excludes 2A -2E, 2F, & 2M

• The form requires the FFM, FFO, FST or KFC to be copied on the request

• Allows for disapprovals to occur

• Central Aid Office processes within 1-3 business days

Encumbrances• Based on the disbursement schedule, BSA will pass

encumbrances to Finance for future dated payments

• Up to the end of the fiscal year

• Or, if a grant, up to the end of the current active grant year

• Up to the End of the Aid Year

• Once the future payment date = today

• Encumbrance cancelled as payment is issued (and therefore expense is recorded)

• Will be encumbered only when disbursed• Future years are not disbursed until the year becomes active

Future Dated Disbursements (Memos)If payment date is beyond the current fiscal year:

• No encumbrance

• On the 1st day of the fiscal year within which the memos are to be disbursed (e.g. June 1st for 2014), original encumbrances are batch loaded.

Example: today is Oct 8th

• Payment schedule set on Oct 8th:

• Pay immediate $400 to student fees

• Pay immediate $600 as direct deposit

• Pay $1000 on March 1st

• Pay $1000 on July 1st.

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Exp $ Enc $ Future$ BSA Ref PostedDate

PaymentDate

400 0 0 458185 Oct 8 Oct 8

600 0 0 I0901234 Oct 8 Oct 8

0 1000 0 E0008900 Oct 8 Mar 1

0 0 1000 Oct 8 July 1

Example: today is March 1st• Payment schedule set on Oct 8th:

• Pay immediate $400 to student fees

• Pay immediate $600 as direct deposit

• Pay $1000 on March 1st (was processed)

• Pay $1000 on July 1st.

Exp $ Enc $ Future$ BSA Ref PostedDate

PaymentDate

400 0 0 465789 Oct 8 Oct 8

600 0 0 I0003456 Oct 8 Oct 8

0 1000 0 E0008900 Oct 8 Mar 1

0 -1000 0 J0901234 Mar 1 Mar 1

1000 0 0 I0901235 Mar 1 Mar 1

0 0 1000 Oct 8 July 1

Example: today is June 1st

• Payment schedule set on Feb 24th:

• Pay immediate $400 to student fees

• Pay immediate $600 as direct deposit

• Pay $1000 on March 1st

• Pay $1000 on July 1st.

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Exp $ Enc $ Future$ BSA Ref PostedDate

PaymentDate

0 1000 0 E0901239 Oct 8 July 1

Yearend• Fiscal/Aid Year Considerations

• May 1st open new fiscal year in BSA

• Require two day operational shutdown

• FIS Encumbrances do not roll for 5-7 business days

• Balances in Finance will be skewed

• Payments will not be delayed

• Encumbrances will not be cleared upon payment

• Encumbrance and Actual will both appear on ledger during this period

Award Processing

Award Processing

POST-AWARD

ACTIONSQUERYSUBMIT

PREVIEW &

SCHEDULECREATE

CREATE AWARD(S)

Select Aid Fund

Indicate term/dates, as prompted by system

Displays the Aid Fund properties

Assign student and amount• If you have multiple recipients on the

same Aid Fund, you may enter a list of students & amounts in bulk (you can use copy & paste)

CREATE AID FUND(S)If needed, you can create new Aid Funds on-the-fly for Stipends and Agency awards from the Aid Fund list or via a separate menu item.

A w a r d P r o c e s s i n g m e n u A w a r d S u m m a r y/S e a r c h m e n u

Financial Aid & Awards AdminTab in Minerva

POST-AWARD

ACTIONSQUERYSUBMIT

PREVIEW &

SCHEDULECREATE

PREVIEW & SCHEDULE AWARD(S)

See your list pending submission to confirm award information

Create disbursement schedule(s)

Review warnings and fix any errors flagged by the system which could include:• Duplicate awards• Invalid IDs• Sum of scheduled

disbursements don’t equal total award.

• Insufficient budget

TIP: Your preview list cannot be saved. You must submit before leaving this page.

A w a r d P r o c e s s i n g m e n u A w a r d S u m m a r y/S e a r c h m e n u

Financial Aid & Awards AdminTab in Minerva

POST-AWARD

ACTIONSQUERYSUBMIT

PREVIEW &

SCHEDULECREATE

SUBMIT AWARD(S)

All is deemed final and error-free

Once preview list is submitted, some awards can no longer be updated

Upon submission, award(s) then:• Reviewed by Fund

Administrator (Stipends & research awards on researcher grants only)

• Processed by central Aid Office

Appears to student in Minerva ‘My Financial Aid & Awards’

A w a r d P r o c e s s i n g m e n u A w a r d S u m m a r y/S e a r c h m e n u

Financial Aid & Awards AdminTab in Minerva

POST-AWARD

ACTIONSQUERYSUBMIT

PREVIEW &

SCHEDULECREATE

QUERY AWARD(S)

Use filters to look-up awards. Must at least specify one of:• Student ID• Aid Year• Finance Fund/Aid Fund

You can query• Awards you originated• All awards within the unit or faculty,

as dictated by your FAA security.

Use list and drill down to award details to:• Check the status of a particular

award• To verify a colleague’s processed

award as back-up or duplicate avoidance

• Initiate a change to a particular award (see next step )

A w a r d P r o c e s s i n g m e n u A w a r d S u m m a r y/S e a r c h m e n u

Financial Aid & Awards AdminTab in Minerva

POST-AWARD

ACTIONSQUERYSUBMIT

PREVIEW &

SCHEDULECREATE

POST-AWARD ACTIONS

You may need to take action on a previously processed award, such as:

• Update the comments associated to an award

• Change disbursement schedule if not subject to RRF approval and not yet disbursed.

• Reassign some or all payments (past or future) to another FOAPAL/Aid Fund if disbursed

• In some circumstances, make changes to or cancel an award if not disbursed.

A w a r d P r o c e s s i n g m e n u A w a r d S u m m a r y/S e a r c h m e n u

Checklist for Award ProcessorsStudent validation (SR Admin & Unofficial Transcript – SIS access required)

• Golden Rule

• Students must go to their home departments for support

• Student Eligibility

• Registration

• Status

• Full time/part time

• Degree/program/number of credits

• Meets restrictions

• Student Personal data updated (Student’s Personal/Financial Aid & Awards)

• Address Information

• Direct Deposit Banking Information• Canadian Banks only

• No more cheques (extremely exceptional cases)

Checklist for Award Processors

Award validation (FIS access required)

• Finance Fund exists

• Aid Fund Code exists

• Budget available in BSA/Finance

• Disbursement Schedule option chosen

• Appropriate payment method chosen

Award verification (BSA access required)

• View award record using Award/Summary Search menu

• Inform Student.Funding@mcgill.ca if any changes are required

Disbursement Schedule

• A Processing schedule is available

• To guide award processors with a timeline for processing awards and stipends

• Provides deadline dates for each the pay dates within the calendar year

• Includes expected delays due to holidays and summer Fridays

Award Payment Delays

• Award Payments may be delayed for various reasons:• Student no longer eligible

• Student personal data not updated

• Finance fund has ended

• And more…

• Student Funding will email the award processor only• Data linked to award processor and their personal email

(first.last)

• We cannot email to generic email accounts

Processing anInstitutional in-course Scholarship

• Budget of $6,000 in Fiscal Year

• Three recipients

• $1K/student for each Fall and Winter term

• typically paid via A/R (to student fee account)

• All within same fiscal year and aid year

FY12: May/11-Apr/12 FY13: May/12-Apr/13

May

/10

May

/11

May

/12

May

/13

Sep

t/1

0

Jan

/11

Sep

t/1

1

Jan

/12

Sep

t/1

2

Jan

/13

FY14: May/13-Apr/14

Aid Year 1112 Aid Year 1213 Aid Year 1314 …

Fall201109 Winter201201 Summer201205 Fall201209 Winter201301 Summer201305 Fall201309 Winter201401$1Kx3=$3K

$6K

$1Kx3=$3K

Processing an Institutional convocation award

• $1,000 award given at convocation

• Typically paid out in May once final marks in

• Pick the term of the student’s last registration. • Most have been setup with April 30th disbursement date to ensure

award is paid out immediately when processed

• Awards are disbursed close to the convocation date

FY11: May/10-Apr/11 FY12: May/11-Apr/12

May

/10

May

/11

May

/12

May

/13

Sep

t/1

0

Jan

/11

Sep

t/1

1

Jan

/12

Sep

t/1

2

Jan

/13

FY13: May/12-Apr/13

Aid Year 1112 Aid Year 1213 Aid Year 1213 …

Fall201009 Winter201101 Summer201105 Fall201109 Winter201201 Summer201205 Fall201209 Winter201301

$1K

$1K

$1K

Processing an Institutional Fellowship

• $24,000 from May/12 to April/13

• Using funds within fiscal year

• Award split ($8K and $16K) into two aid yearsThis is the perfect scenario to use if you need to spend your allocation by end of fiscal year

FY12: May/11-Apr/12 FY13: May/12-Apr/13

May

/10

May

/11

May

/12

May

/13

Sep

t/1

0

Jan

/11

Sep

t/1

1

Jan

/12

Sep

t/1

2

Jan

/13

FY14: May/13-Apr/14

Aid Year 1112 Aid Year 1213 Aid Year 1314 …

Fall201109 Winter201201 Summer201205 Fall201209 Winter201301 Summer201305 Fall201309 Winter201401$8K $8K$8K

Budget$24K

Processing an Institutional Fellowship

• $24,000 from Sept/11 to Aug/12

• Crossing fiscal years; do you have funds next year to cover it?

This scenario will result in under-spending/over-spending of your fiscal year allocation if not properly monitored.

FY11: May/10-Apr/11 FY12: May/11-Apr/12

May

/10

May

/11

May

/12

May

/13

Sep

t/1

0

Jan

/11

Sep

t/1

1

Jan

/12

Sep

t/1

2

Jan

/13

FY13: May/12-Apr/13

Aid Year 1011 Aid Year 1112 Aid Year 1213 …

Fall201009 Winter201101 Summer201105 Fall201109 Winter201201 Summer201205 Fall201209 Winter201301$8K$8K$8K

Budget$24K

Processing an Institutional Fellowship

• $24,000 from Jan/12 to Dec/12

• Crossing fiscal years/Aid years; do you have funds next year to cover it?

• Is it setup with a budget in the new Aid Year?

• Award split ($16K and $8K) into two aid years

FY11: May/10-Apr/11 FY12: May/11-Apr/12

May

/10

May

/11

May

/12

May

/13

Sep

t/1

0

Jan

/11

Sep

t/1

1

Jan

/12

Sep

t/1

2

Jan

/13

FY13: May/12-Apr/13

Aid Year 1011 Aid Year 1112 Aid Year 1213 …

Fall201009 Winter201101 Summer201105 Fall201109 Winter201201 Summer201205 Fall201209 Winter201301$8K$8K $8K

Budget$24K

Processing aStudent Stipend/Research Award

• $12,000 from April/11 to Mar/12

• Grant year comes into play. For student stipends:

• No payments before start of current grant year

• No payment beyond end of current grant year if grant renewal is required

• Automatically queued for Research & Restricted Funds approval

FY11: May/10-Apr/11 FY12: May/11-Apr/12

May

/10

May

/11

May

/12

May

/13

Sep

t/1

0

Jan

/11

Sep

t/1

1

Jan

/12

Sep

t/1

2

Jan

/13

FY13: May/12-Apr/13

Aid Year 1011 Aid Year 1112 Aid Year 1213 …

Fall201009 Winter201101 Summer201105 Fall201109 Winter201201 Summer201205 Fall201209 Winter201301$3K

Grant Year 2: Apr/11-Mar/12Grant Year 1: Apr/10-Mar/11 Grant Year 3: Apr/12-Mar/13

$4K$4K$1K

$12K

Award Maintenance

Review awards already processed• Award/Summary Search

• Search for a record by:

• Student ID

• Aid Fund Code/Partial Code

• Aid Fund Title/Partial Title

• Aid Year

• Status

• My awards only

To search for awards that you and/or a colleague may have submitted – change the value in My Awards Only to No

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Award Summary Search

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Award Summary Search

Reassignments• Reassignment

• An original Student Stipend awarded needs to be reassigned to another funding source

• Previously paid amounts

• Future paid amounts

• Important to review the Aid fund properties of both fund involved in the reassignment.

• Faculty users have the ability to process reassignments on Faculty and Department awards

• Department users have the ability to process within their own department

Reassignments

• Temporary access to another ORG can be granted

• See Temporary Access to FOAPAL Reassignmentswww.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/forms/reassignment-request-form

• Temporary access is granted for 24 hrs only. It is revoked immediately afterwards

• Checklist for Reassignmentswww.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/faa-admin-toolkit/award-processing/reassignments/checklist-reassignments

• Contact Student Funding for help, if required

Retro FOAPAL

Retro FOAPAL

• Need for awards to be paid to students with dates in the past e.g. April 1, 2012 – October 31, 2012

• Ensure Aid Fund exists in appropriate Aid Year

• Ensure Finance fund is still active

• Ensure budget available in BSA/Finance in appropriate Aid Year

• Contact Student Funding for help

Cancel/Reduce award payments• Cancel or Reduce award payments requests

• Use Form www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/forms/cancelreduce-payments-form

• Central Aid Office will:

• Process the request

• Contact requestor for additional information, if required

• Inform users once done

Cancel awards/payments• Central Aid Office makes changes to award

records

• Awards that are not disbursed will be sent back to Award processor queue to cancel

• Disbursed awards can only be cancelled by Central Aid Office

Cancel/Reduce award payments• Awards that have been paid and then revoked will be:

• charged to the Student’s Fee Account

• student will receive an e-bill

• student must pay back amount at that time

• never ask the student for a cheque

• credited back to original FOAPAL immediately

• do not deposit the cheque into your Fund

• All activity is visible to student in Financial Aid & Awards tab

Cancel/Reduce award payments• Implications

• T4A tax receipts

• Any amount paid to the student up until December 31 will be on the students T4A slip.

• Any adjustments to awards for the period between September 1 and December 31 should be done before December 15 to allow Central Offices time to obtain approvals and process

• Cancellations from previous years affects tax receipts and students personal income tax reporting

Changes to disbursement schedule

• A Disbursement schedule can only be modified if the award has not been disbursed.

• Request to modify the disbursement schedule by sending an email to Student.Funding@mcgill.ca• Include:

• Student ID

• Student name

• Aid Fund Code

• Amount

• Student Level - Graduate/Undergraduate

• Create date

• Aid Year

• For more details, see Modify a schedule www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/faa-admin-toolkit/award-processing/disbursement-schedules

Eligibility

Global Rule• Student must be registered & not withdrawn• Student must be in a Degree Program• Student cannot be registered in a Certificate/Diploma (pre-

determined exceptions must be clearly identified using the comment field)

• Student cannot be registered in Continuing Studies• Student cannot be registered in a private program (i.e. MBA,

MMM)• Student must have an Active status• Student must have banking information i.e. Direct Deposit details

setup in Minerva if the payment method is to Accounts payable• Student must have an active address setup in Minerva regardless

of the payment methodNote: Failed eligibility requires follow-up by either Central Aid Office or Awarding unit to validate which could result in processing delays.

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Undergraduate Merit• This set of rules applies to Undergraduate students that are

potential recipients of Merit based awards.

• After Add/Drop period, checking is done on the following:

• The student must be registered with a number of credits/billing hours is greater/equal to 12 (Fall & Winter terms only) Summer term excluded

• Note: Agricultural FMT students are calculated with 10 or more credits

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Research Trainees• This set of rules applies to both Undergraduate and

Graduate Research Trainees.

• If student is not a McGill student, must registered in Non-Transcript term

• The Non-Transcript Start Date is equal to or less than the pay date and the Completion Date is equal to or greater than the pay date (pre-determined exceptions must be clearly identified using the comment field to validate research trainee eligibility to avoid processing delays)

• For more details on the eligibility criteria for research trainees, review the Research Trainee guildelines

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Graduate Merit• Basic Rules

• Thesis students must be registered as continuing, additional, half time, evaluation or Full time students

• Non-Thesis students must be registered with credit billing hours greater than or equal to 12

• GPS Hold Rule

• Students with Admissions document deficiency on Agency awards will have a disbursement hold place on the record until the issue is rectified

• Stipend Rule

• Stipend payment method MUST be Accounts Payable only. No Cheques will be issued. Accounts Receivable is not an acceptable method of payments for Granting Agencies

• Agency Rule

• Agency awards direct to student , require that student must be registered as FULL time

• Payment method should be Accounts Payable, Be aware that the Award Processing Form does not prevent Accounts Receivable as a payment method.

• These awards will fail eligibility checking if Accounts Receivable is selected which could result in processing delays as further validation is requirement by the Central Aid Office.

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Eligibility criteria to pay a Student StipendThe nature of the payment is a student stipend for the express purpose to further the education and training of the recipient. All remuneration received by the recipient for the performance of employment duties (such as: TAships, demonstrator, and other regular employment income), is outside of the scope of Student Stipends and will be treated separately from this payment.

Stipend Checklist:

• The primary purpose of the student stipend is to further the education and training of the recipient in his or her individual capacity.

• The recipient of this student stipend is duly registered as a student at McGill University.

• All responsibilities of the recipient as per the terms of the student stipend must relate to training and studies as a student.

• The recipient does not hold academic / professorial rank as an additional appointment at McGill.

• The amount and nature of payment adheres to the applicable granting agency guidelines

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Reporting

Minerva Reports

• For Award Administrators

• KZRAPFC – Recipients by Award & Faculty/Unit

• For Finance administrators

• KZRFDTM – Monthly FAA Transaction Details

• KZRFDTS – FAA Transaction Details by Student

Self Service Reports

• FAA Admin User Reports - provide you with student award information which includes scholarships, fellowships, prizes, other awards and stipends. The various reports allow you to view the data for a given Aid Fund Code, Student ID or Faculty/Department Org Code

• Finance User Reports - provide you with the financial aspect of student awarding which includes scholarships, fellowships, prizes, other awards and stipends but also draws Fund Holder information and balances from the Finance information system

• Student Record User Reports - provide you with student awards information with an emphasis on fee residency from the Student information system.

Reporting

• Navigate to Student Funding Reporting website

• inventory of reports available which includes system access requirements and tailored documentation for each report template

• Review the Using Report templates page for login information

• Request for new reports use:

• Report Request Form –www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/reporting/bsa-reporting/report-request-form

FIS vs BSA• BSA disbursement reports will display awards that are ‘disbursed’ only

• Use Award Summary Search in Minerva to view the status of an award

(‘disbursed’ or not)

• This will provide details on the awards that do not appear in the BSA reports

• Reconciliation between Finance and BSA using account code

600200 may present bottom line deviations

• Due to corrections/journals made in Finance only.

• May encounter historical transactions

• BSA was new

• Processes between the two areas were yet to be ironed out.

Support

Award inquiries• Student Funding website - http://www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/

• FAA Admin Toolkit - http://www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/faa-admin-toolkit

• Forms - http://www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/forms

• Reporting - http://www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/reporting

• Email Award Processing Support Service a.k.a Student Funding a.k.a SSAO student.funding@mcgill.ca

System Access Requests/Issues• Complete Award Processing Authorization form

http://www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/forms/bsacawardprocessingauthorization

• Email FAA-security – faa-security@mcgill.ca

QUESTIONS/FEEDBACK?

Complete the Aid Fund Request Formhttp://www.mcgill.ca/studentfunding/

Central Aid Office Creates

Student Stipends and Agency Awards (2C,2E, 2F & 2M grants only)

Requests are made using ‘On the fly’ Aid Fund Request Form entitled “Request new student stipend or agency”

Award Processors Create

Processing an award

• Choose the level of the student(s)

NOTE: for Athletic Awards – select Undergraduate for ALL students

Processing an award

• Enter all or part of the Fund code or award name• Click on Search• Select an Aid Fund should be displayed• Click on the drop down arrow to select the Aid Fund• Select the Aid Fund

Take note of the Aid Fund properties.

• For non-Grant funds, it is important to verify the Program Stage and Renewable fields;

• For Grants, it is important to verify the Start and End Date of the Fund.

• The properties help to ensure the correct Aid Fund is selected as it will impact the disbursement, reporting and in some cases re-assignments.

Processing an award

• Enter the Start and End date of the award• Award Start and End dates will determine:

• The Aid Year the award will impact• The pay periods you can choose to pay the student• The Fiscal Year(s) the payments will impact.

Processing an award

• Enter the Student ID(s) and Award Amount(s)Note: You may enter multiple Student IDs and amounts for the same Aid Fund and date range.

• Click on “Add to Preview”

Processing an award

• Student(s) entered will be displayed.• Review the information for accuracy:

• Student ID/Name• Direct Deposit Information is set to YES• Award date range• Aid Fund• Total Amount

Processing an award

At the end of the row, 1 of 4 possible values will be displayed related to the disbursement schedule for this award.

• Default - a schedule has already been set-up – it can be modified.• Required - no schedule exists – it must be created• Custom – the schedule has been created/modified• Error - there is an error within the schedule that was created/modified

Processing an award

Customize a Disbursement schedule• Click on the Required link

• Your choices for payment schedules:• Monthly• Semi-Monthly

• Both choices will create the records and allow for modifications to each individual pay record• The schedule must be within the start and end date boundary of the award • The total must equal the Award total

Processing an award

• Select the Frequency• The date range will automatically populate• Click “Exclude summer term” checkbox (if required)• Click on Generate

Processing an award

• Click on Apply to accept the schedule• Click on X to remove a record• Click on Customize to add a new record

Processing an award

The award is now ready for Submission.• Click on Submit for ProcessingNote: once it is submitted, you will not be able to return to the record to make modifications without getting in touch with Student Funding.

Processing an award

If the award is successfully submitted, a checkmark will be displayed at the top of the form and beside the award record.