Common Origination and Disbursement

COD Processing Update

July 2, 2004

Direct Loan
COD News
Record Submission Due Date For 2002-2003 Closeout [06/25/04 (Updated 7/02/04)]
COD would like to remind schools that the closeout processing deadline for the 2002-2003 Direct
Loan Program Year is July 30, 2004--only 28 days away!

To meet the closeout deadline, all records must be submitted to COD no later than 8:00 P.M. (ET)
on Friday, July 30, 2004. (Note: all submitted records subsequently must be accepted by COD in
order to be included in your school’s final Ending Cash Balance for 2002-2003.)

To be considered successfully closed out, schools must have an Ending Cash Balance of $0 and
Total Net Unbooked Disbursements of $0, as reflected on the School Account Statement (SAS)
Report.

Please also refer to DLB-04-15 (http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dlbulletins/DLB0415.html/), DLB-04-18

(http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dlbulletins/DLB0418.html/), and DLB 04-19
(http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dlbulletins/DLB0419.html/) for more detailed information about
closeout.

Direct Loan Bulletin 04-19 Released (07/02/04)

Direct Loan Bulletin 04-19 was released to schools from the COD School Relations Center on
April 26, 2004. This bulletin Additional 2002-2003 Direct Loan Program Year Closeout
Information and has been posted on IFAP at http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dlbulletins/DLB0419.html/.
If you would like to be added to or removed from the distribution list, please submit an e-mail to
[email protected], with the subject line of “DLB Distribution List”.

Updated COD Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Available (07/01/04)

COD has updated the FAQs on the COD web site, www.cod.ed.gov. The FAQs are available
from the COD web site by clicking the "Today's Update" link at the bottom of the page. The
Updated FAQs are also available on the IFAP web site at
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0512FAQCOD.html. If you have any questions about
the document, or would like to see anything added, please contact the COD School Relations
Center at [email protected] with the subject line of "FAQ".

COD Customer Satisfaction Survey (06/30/04)

As explained in an Electronic Announcement posted on the IFAP web site at
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0629CODSysSurvey.html/, it is time for the annual
COD Customer Satisfaction Survey. PGM Incorporated, an independent contractor, will begin
conducting the telephone survey within the next few weeks. A random sample of schools will be
contacted and asked to complete the survey. If your school is contacted, the survey should take no
more than 10 minutes to complete.

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COD realizes that this is a busy time of year at your school, but feedback from our customers is
important for improving the quality of our products and services. COD appreciates the assistance
of all schools that complete the survey and thanks you in advance for taking the time to help us.
If you have any questions about the survey, contact the COD School Relations Center.

COD Holiday Schedule For Monday, July 5, 2004 (06/24/04)

The COD School Relations Center will be closed on Monday, July 5, 2004 in observance of
Independence Day. The COD System will accept and process data from schools and send back
Acknowledgements on Monday, July 5, 2004. However, requests for changes in funding levels
and for funds will not be processed until Tuesday, July 6, 2004. Further information regarding
Independence Day processing and customer service hours for COD and other FSA/ED call
centers is available in an Electronic Announcement on the IFAP web site at
http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0623July5HolClosing.html.

Resolved Issues
Schools Not Receiving Responses/Acknowledgements [06/15/04 (Updated 07/02/04)]
Full Participants and Phase-In Participants had previously reported to COD that they did not
receive Responses/Acknowledgements for batches submitted to the COD System between
June 7, 2004 and June 15, 2004.

The COD development team determined the cause of this issue and implemented a code fix to
prevent it going forward. At this time, COD is unable to identify all the batches that may have
been affected by this issue. Any school that is still missing a Response/Acknowledgement for a
batch submitted between June 7, 2004 and June 15, 2004 should contact the COD School
Relations Center to report this information. COD will then send the Response/Acknowledgment
to the school’s SAIG mailbox.

Issue With Credit Checks Submitted Via Batch [04/15/04 (Updated 07/02/04)]
COD was experiencing an issue where credit checks were not being performed as they should
have been upon receipt of Direct PLUS Loan records submitted via the batch process. In these
cases, the COD System was returning an accepted Response/Acknowledgement with a Pended
credit status to schools.

COD previously resolved the interface error between COD and the Credit Agency, and it should
not occur going forward. The cleanup for the affected Direct PLUS Loan records has also now
been completed.

Inactive MPN Not Viewable On COD Web Site [02/17/04 (Updated 06/30/04)]
The status of an MPN changes to Inactive when the MPN expires, the MPN is a Single-Loan
MPN, or the Direct Loan Servicing System notifies COD that a borrower is deceased.
(Previously, COD also changed the MPN status to Inactive when a borrower filed for bankruptcy,
but this no longer occurs, as described in Direct Loan Bulletin 04-14.

In the past, when a Person Award search was performed on the COD web site, the MPN was not
viewable; however, it should have displayed as Inactive. This was a COD web site display issue

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only, and the loans were being inactivated correctly. The cleanup for the affected records is
complete. The MPN is now viewable and displays the Inactive status.

Current Issues
Student Name And Date Of Birth Not Updated In COD [05/03/04(Updated 06/30/04)]
COD notified schools of an issue where new 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 origination records are
accepted in COD, however, the student’s Name and Date of Birth (DOB) updates submitted by
the school are not displaying on the COD web site’s Person Information screen. The COD web
site is reflecting the Name and DOB from the previous award year. Additionally, in some cases,
changes to Name and DOB for previously accepted origination records are not displaying on the
Person Information screen as well.

COD continues to research the cause of this issue and appreciates your patience. Updates will be
provided as more information becomes available.

Disbursements Not Displaying On COD Web Site And/Or SAS [12/11/03 (Updated
06/28/04)]
COD has identified two issues where accepted disbursements/adjustments are being processed in
COD, but are not appearing on certain COD web site screens. The issues are as follows:

In some instances, disbursements/adjustments are not appearing on the Disbursement List

screen. However, the accepted disbursements are appearing on the Batch screen and being
acknowledged correctly to schools. Also in some cases, sequence numbers for the
disbursements are not appearing on the Disbursement History Information screen.

COD has determined the cause of the problem. The data was not populated in the COD
database correctly when the disbursements/adjustments were processed, resulting in the
disbursements not appearing on the web site.

Several code fixes have been migrated to prevent this problem going forward. COD is now
determining the cleanup plan for the affected records and will provide updates as more
information becomes available.

In some instances, disbursements/adjustments are not appearing on the Disbursement History

Information screen. As a result, the disbursements/adjustments are not reflected on the
school’s SAS. However, the disbursements are appearing on the Batch screen and being
acknowledged correctly to schools.

Currently, COD believes that this issue is affecting 2002-2003 Direct Loan records only.
However, if you have other Direct Loan records or Pell Grant records affected by this issue,
report the awards to the COD School Relations Center. COD is analyzing this issue and will
provide updates as more information becomes available.

In the meantime, please be patient and do not resubmit the disbursements/adjustments for
processing; these transactions have already been acknowledged.

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Direct Loan Rebuild File [03/12/04 (Updated 06/23/04)]
As previously reported, COD is researching several issues related to incorrect data in the Direct
Loan Rebuild file and put the production of the file on hold until the issues are resolved.
Additionally, COD disabled the ability to request Direct Loan Rebuild files on the COD web site
until further notice. COD apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause schools. COD is
continuing to research the cause of the incorrect data in the file and will provide updates as more
information becomes available.

Duplicate Student Borrower Report (06/18/04)

The Duplicate Student Borrower report lists student borrowers for which the COD System has
accepted multiple Direct Subsidized and/or Unsubsidized Award records submitted by a school
with the same or overlapping academic years. However, COD has identified some instances
where the Duplicate Student Borrower report is sent listing student borrowers that never attended
the school. COD is researching the cause of the inaccurate data in the report, and will provide
more information as it becomes available.

Issues With Direct Loan Reports [06/08/04 (Updated 06/17/04)]

COD has identified the following issues with Direct Loan reports:

1. The Funded Disbursement List Report is sent each day to Push Cash schools via their
SAIG mailboxes when an actual disbursement or adjustment (DRI=T) is submitted.
However, some Push Cash schools have reported sporadically not receiving a Funded
Disbursement List Report in their SAIG mailboxes and/or via the COD web site during
March 2004.

2. From May 15, 2004 through June 3, 2004 the Funded Disbursement List, Pended
Disbursement List, and SSN-Name-Date of Birth Change reports were not sent to some
schools’ SAIG mailboxes.

For both issues listed above, COD has begun sending the affected reports to the schools.
Schools should begin to see these reports in their SAIG mailboxes and via the COD web
site. COD is still researching the cause of this issue and will provide more information as
it becomes available.

Direct Loan School Account Statement (SAS) Report Issues [02/03/04 (Updated
06/15/2004)]
Previously, COD notified schools of two issues that affect the SAS report. The issues are
described below. Note that these issues are not affecting every school, so review your SAS
carefully.

In the past, several schools reported that disbursements were appearing multiple times on the
SAS report under the same sequence number. On May 11, 2004, COD migrated a code fix
that resolved this issue moving forward. Once analysis of existing issues is complete, a
cleanup will be performed to correct the affected transactions.

In some cases, the booked date was not listed for a disbursement when the loan booked date
was populated. This resulted in disbursement transactions appearing as unbooked when they
are really booked.

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The COD 3.0 release included a code change that corrected this issue. Subsequent analysis
has shown no further instances of this issue.

COD understands that the remaining issue may impact your ability to use the SAS; however, you
still need to use this report to the best of your ability for reconciliation and substantiation. If you
have any questions about your SAS report or reconciliation, contact the COD School Relations
Center.

2004-2005 Origination Records Rejecting For COD Edit 117 [05/28/04 (Updated 06/09/04)]
COD Edit 117 (Disbursement information is incomplete or rejected. Direct Loan award is not
accepted) is returned to schools when a 2004-2005 Direct Loan origination record (DRI=F) is
submitted with one of the following conditions:

The sum of the disbursement amounts is not equal to the Award Amount submitted;
A school that is eligible for a single disbursement submits a single disbursement less than the
award amount;
One or more of the disbursements on the origination are rejected; or
A school that is not eligible for a single disbursement submits a single disbursement greater
than, less than, or equal to the Award Amount.

COD has discovered that some 2004-2005 origination records are hitting this edit incorrectly
when the sum of the disbursements is equal to the award amount submitted. The COD
development team is researching the cause of this issue and a permanent code fix. In the
meantime, schools may resubmit their records that previously rejected incorrectly for COD Edit
117. The records will be processed and a correct acknowledgment will be returned to the school.

COD Cash Activity Screen Inaccurate [02/19/04 (Updated 06/08/04]

Previously, COD identified an issue where the COD web site’s Cash Activity screen was not
always displaying every drawdown that was reflected in the GAPS Activity Report. COD
notified schools that this issue was resolved on April 5, 2004. However, after further research, it
was determined that this issue is not resolved for all schools. COD continues to work on
resolving this issue for the remaining schools affected and will provide updates as more
information becomes available.

Additionally, COD previously discovered that other cash activities, such as Refunds of Cash and
Disbursement Adjustments, were not displaying on the Cash Activity screen. The COD
development team is working on multiple cleanups that will allow the Refunds of Cash and
Disbursement Adjustments to display on the Cash Activity screen. Updates will be provided as
more information becomes available.

COD Edit 116 Not Working Correctly [01/06/04 (Updated 06/01/04)]

COD has found that COD Edit 116 (SSN, Date of Birth and/or Last Name have not been updated
in the COD System) is not working properly. This edit is a warning that is returned when
changes to the Student Identifier information are submitted and the reported CPS Transaction
Number and Award Year combination is not greater than the combination that currently exists in
COD.

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Because this edit is not working correctly schools are unable to submit new 2003-2004
originations or make online changes when previous award year information is different for a
student in COD. COD is still testing the code fix for this issue and anticipates resolution by early
summer 2004. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

Mixed Person Records In COD [03/02/04 (Updated 05/20/04)]

As you are aware, the COD System is based on the establishment of a person record and contains
person records established as early as 1999-2000. COD has discovered that primarily due to
inaccurate SSNs that have entered the COD System, approximately 300 records (out of
approximately 14 million person records in the COD System) have mixed with other COD
records. Since PLUS borrowers are not matched with CPS, the majority of the people affected by
this issue are PLUS borrowers. COD has a dedicated team working to resolve the small number
of records that have been mixed. COD would like to assure you that if your data has been
affected by this rare problem it is not lost in the COD System and it will be corrected.

Specifically, COD has identified two scenarios related to this issue. In the first scenario, one
person appears twice within the COD System, with different awards under each profile. In the
second scenario, two persons have the same SSN in the COD System with mixed profiles and
awards. These problems usually occur when incorrect SSNs are submitted to COD and are
compounded when the incorrect SSN matches another person’s correct SSN.

COD continues to work on further detailed instructions that will assist you in avoiding these
scenarios and, if necessary, in correcting them. If you have any questions, please contact the
COD School Relations Center.

Prior Award Year Promissory Notes Not In COD [03/23/04 (Updated 05/17/04)]
When performing system reconciliation of the COD System, the Direct Loan Imaging System,
and the Direct Loan Servicing System (DLSS), COD found that approximately 4,000 promissory
notes were not migrated into the COD System. COD, DLSS, and the Imaging Center are working
on the cleanup to transfer the remaining notes to COD. COD anticipates the cleanup will be
completed by late Summer 2004.

Loans With Pending First Disbursement Failing To Book [03/23/04 (Updated 05/17/04)]
COD has identified an issue with booking notifications. For Direct Loan awards that have a
pending first disbursement, and also have an actual 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th disbursement, the award is
failing to book. As a result, a booked date does not appear in COD, a booking notification is not
generated, and the award is not being passed on to the Direct Loan Servicing System.

COD is continuing to analyze the issue. Updates will be provided as they become available.

MPN Status Inaccurate On COD Web Site [10/30/03 (Updated 05/17/04)]

For the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 Award Years, the COD web site is displaying an MPN Status
of Active for MPNs that have expired when it should display as Inactive. Currently, COD
believes this is only a display issue and does not impact data processing. Resources have focused
on more critical issues. COD appreciates your patience and will provide updates as more
information becomes available.

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COD Issues From 2004-2005 System Implementation [03/17/04 (Updated 05/17/04)]
COD has discovered the following system issues related to the 2004-2005 system implementation
that occurred the weekend of March 12-14, 2004.

When performing an MPN Search using only the last name, not all of the results display on
the web screen. Until this issue is resolved, users are encouraged to perform an MPN search
using both the first and last names.
When performing an MPN Search, the Academic Year start and end dates display for multi-
year MPNs. The Academic Year dates should display only for single-year MPNs.
When viewing the Direct Loan Disbursement list screen, the fee field displays as a negative
number instead of a positive number for records in an active status.

The COD development team is developing the code fix for these issues. COD will provide
further details once more information is available.

Duplicate Disbursement Information In COD [05/06/04 (Updated 05/11/04)]

COD has learned that duplicate disbursement numbers are displaying incorrectly on the COD
web site’s Award Disbursements Information screen. On this screen under the Disbursement
Number column, duplicate disbursement numbers are appearing twice. However, when viewing
the Disbursement Information screen, each disbursement displays a different status (Pending or
Disbursed). COD is analyzing the issue and will provide updates as they become available.

Changes To Award And Disbursement Amounts Not Processed Correctly [11/05/03

(Updated 05/06/04)]
COD had an issue where schools were attempting to reduce/zero an award with a pended or
actual disbursement and while the award amounts were reduced the disbursements were still
showing an amount in COD. This caused the pending disbursements to appear on the school's
pended disbursement list. Additionally, schools may have had a reject for COD Edits 041
(Changed Award Amount is Less Than Total Disbursements) and 067 (Incorrect Disbursement
Amount).

COD implemented a code fix in early January 2004 to allow award and disbursement changes to
be processed correctly. However, after further research it was determined that the code fix is not
working correctly. As a result, a new code change was implemented. COD is researching a
cleanup plan for the affected records. COD will provide updates as they become available.

COD Web Site Response Time [03/19/04 (Updated 04/22/04)]

COD has learned that COD web site users are experiencing poor response time and receiving log
errors when performing searches between the hours of approximately 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM
eastern time.

COD has identified several potential causes of the issue and is in the process of evaluating the
causes. COD ask users to continue to be patient. In the meantime, please continue to e-mail
screen shots of any error messages received while performing a search to the COD School
Relations Center at [email protected].

Direct Loan Servicing And COD System Interface Issues (03/25/04)

COD transmits a daily file to the Direct Loan Servicing System (DLSS) updating DLSS with
Direct Loan booking information. Sometimes, not all of the information is processed correctly

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due to systematic rejects and interface issues between the systems. When this occurs, COD
reviews the rejects and processes them accordingly. Additionally, COD implements code fixes
and cleanups of incorrect data when necessary.

In some cases, the processing of rejected records and the related code fixes can take several
weeks to complete. COD understands that it causes confusion when data does not match between
the systems and works to resolve any discrepancies as quickly as possible.

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Pell Grants
COD News

Updated COD Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Available (07/01/04)

COD has updated the FAQs on the COD web site, www.cod.ed.gov. The FAQs are available
from the COD web site by clicking the "Today's Update" link at the bottom of the page. The
Updated FAQs are also available on the IFAP web site at
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0512FAQCOD.html. If you have any questions about
the document, or would like to see anything added, please contact the COD School Relations
Center at [email protected] with the subject line of "FAQ".

COD Customer Satisfaction Survey (06/30/04)

As explained in an Electronic Announcement posted on the IFAP web site at
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0629CODSysSurvey.html/, it is time for the annual
COD Customer Satisfaction Survey. PGM Incorporated, an independent contractor, will begin
conducting the telephone survey within the next few weeks. A random sample of schools will be
contacted and asked to complete the survey. If your school is contacted, the survey should take no
more than 10 minutes to complete.

COD realizes that this is a busy time of year at your school, but feedback from our customers is
important for improving the quality of our products and services. COD appreciates the assistance
of all schools that complete the survey and thanks you in advance for taking the time to help us.
If you have any questions about the survey, contact the COD School Relations Center.

First Administrative Cost Allowance Payments for 2003-2004 Award Year (06/28/04)
The first Administrative Cost Allowance (ACA) payment for the 2003-2004 Award Year is based
on records that COD has processed from the start of the Federal Pell Grant 2003-2004 Award
Year on July 1, 2003 up to the date that COD processes the first ACA payments for the
2003-2004 Award Year. COD began processing the ACA payments for all schools on June 26,
2004. Schools will begin to see these payments deposited directly into their bank accounts over
the next few weeks.

For more information about these ACA payments, refer to the electronic announcement that is
posted on the IFAP web site,
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0628FirstACAPaymentfor0304.html/.
Once again, COD apologizes for any inconvenience the delay in processing ACA payments
caused for schools. COD appreciates schools’ patience and understanding while COD resolved
the system issues that affected the processing of ACA payments.

COD Holiday Schedule For Monday, July 5, 2004 (06/24/04)

The COD School Relations Center will be closed on Monday, July 5, 2004 in observance of
Independence Day. The COD System will accept and process data from schools and send back

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Acknowledgements on Monday, July 5, 2004. However, requests for changes in funding levels
and for funds will not be processed until Tuesday, July 6, 2004. Further information regarding
Independence Day processing and customer service hours for COD and other FSA/ED call
centers is available in an Electronic Announcement on the IFAP web site at
http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0623July5HolClosing.html.

Resolved

Receipts And Responses Returned In The Incorrect Schema Version [06/30/04(Updated

07/02/04)]
As previously reported, all 2004-2005 Award Year Common Record documents submitted to
COD are acknowledged using Version 2.0d of the Common Record XML Schema (Refer to the
Electronic Announcement on the IFAP web site at
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0310CODSchemaChange0405.html/).

However, some EDExpress users have reported that they submitted 2004-2005 Common Records
(Message Class CRAA05IN) for Pell Grant and received a Receipt (Message Class CRRC05OP)
and Response (Message Class CRAA05OP) in Version 2.0c of the Common Record XML
Schema.

COD has determined that this issue was limited to a few EDExpress schools submitting Common
Records that rejected correctly for COD Edit 004 (Entity ID NOT Found On Participant File).
COD Edit 004 is a batch level reject. Once a Common Record Document rejects at the batch
level, COD does not continue to process the records in the document. As a result, the COD
System does not recognize the award year within the document. By default, the COD System
generates a Receipt/Response in Version 2.0c for Common Record Documents that reject at the
batch level.

Currently, COD is researching this issue and will provide more information as it becomes
available.

Schools Not Receiving Responses/Acknowledgements [06/15/04 (Updated 07/02/04)]

Full Participants and Phase-In Participants had previously reported to COD that they did not
receive Responses/Acknowledgements for batches submitted to the COD System between
June 7, 2004 and June 15, 2004.

The COD development team determined the cause of this issue and implemented a code fix to
prevent it going forward. At this time, COD is unable to identify all the batches that may have
been affected by this issue. Any school that is still missing a Response/Acknowledgement for a
batch submitted between June 7, 2004 and June 15, 2004 should contact the COD School
Relations Center to report this information. COD will then send the Response/Acknowledgment
to the school’s SAIG mailbox.

COD Financial Screens Incorrect On COD Web Site [05/05/03 (Updated 06/30/04)]
As previously reported, the COD web site financial screens were displaying incorrect
information. The “Summary Financial Info” screen was not displaying correct figures in the

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following fields: “Disbursement Amount”, “Disbursement Adjustment Amount” and “Ending
Cash Balance”.

The code fix for this issue migrated with the 2004-2005 COD System implementation that
occurred the weekend of March 12-14, 2004. The COD development team has verified that these
fields are now displaying the correct figures.

Additionally, schools were informed that the Total Unduplicated Recipients field on the “Funding
Information” screen was not displaying the correct figure. On June 19, 2004, the COD
development team completed the cleanup for the affected records associated with this issue. The
Total Unduplicated Recipients field is now displaying correct figures.

COD Edit 115 Not Working Correctly [04/06/04 Updated (06/28/04)]

Previously, COD identified an issue where COD Edit 115 (Student Referred to DCS but
repayment schedule not established, no further disbursements can be accepted for this student for
this award year) was returned incorrectly to schools that attempted to increase/decrease an actual
disbursement (DRI=True) for a student that was referred to DCS for collection of a Pell Grant
overpayment.

On June 24, 2004, COD changed COD Edit 115 from a reject edit into a new warning edit
(Student Referred to DCS, satisfactory arrangements must be established with DCS, prior to
making further Pell disbursements to this student for this award year). As a result, schools may
now resubmit their records that they believe previously rejected for COD Edit 115 erroneously.
These records will be processed and acknowledged by COD.

COD Edit 115 will only be returned to schools under the following conditions:

A new actual disbursement is submitted for a student who has been referred to DCS; or
An increase to an existing disbursement is submitted for a student who has been referred to
DCS.

The COD Technical Reference will be updated with this information.

Current Issues
Student Name And Date Of Birth Not Updated In COD [05/03/04 (Updated 06/30/04)]
COD notified schools of an issue where new 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 origination records are
accepted in COD, however, the student’s Name and Date of Birth (DOB) updates submitted by
the school are not displaying on the COD web site’s Person Information screen. The COD web
site is reflecting the Name and DOB from the previous award year. Additionally, in some cases,
changes to Name and DOB for previously accepted origination records are not displaying on the
Person Information screen as well.

COD continues to research the cause of this issue and appreciates your patience. Updates will be
provided as more information becomes available.

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Disbursements Not Displaying On COD Web Site [12/11/03 (Updated 06/28/04)]
COD has identified an issue where disbursements/adjustments are being processed in COD, but
are not appearing on the Disbursement List screen. However, the accepted disbursements are
appearing on the Batch screen and being acknowledged correctly to schools. Also in some cases,
sequence numbers for the disbursements are not appearing on the History screen.

COD has determined the cause of the problem. The data was not populated in the COD database
correctly when the disbursements/adjustments were processed, resulting in the disbursements not
appearing on the web site.

Several code fixes have been migrated to prevent this problem going forward. COD is now
determining the cleanup plan for the affected records and will provide updates as more
information becomes available.

In the meantime, please be patient and do not resubmit the disbursements/adjustments for
processing; these transactions have already been acknowledged back to schools.

COD Edit 116 Not Working Correctly [01/06/04 (Updated 06/01/04)]

COD has found that COD Edit 116 (SSN, Date of Birth and/or Last Name have not been updated
in the COD System) is not working properly. This edit is a warning that is returned when
changes to the Student Identifier information are submitted and the reported CPS Transaction
Number and Award Year combination is not greater than the combination that currently exists in
COD.

Because this edit is not working correctly schools are unable to submit new 2003-2004
originations or make online changes when previous award year information is different for a
student in COD. COD is still testing the code fix for this issue and anticipates resolution by early
summer 2004. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

Issue Resolving COD Edit 025 [05/05/04 (Updated 05/28/04)]

Schools have reported to COD that they are experiencing an issue when attempting to correct a
record that has rejected for COD Edit 025 (Duplicate Match On CPS). Records that reject for
COD Edit 025 can only be corrected on the COD web site by selecting the correct CPS match
from a list on the CPS Report Selection screen. Detailed instructions for resolving this edit via
the COD web site are available on IFAP at:
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0320UpdatedCODEdit025Proc.html/.

However, in some instances the COD web site is returning only one match or none at all. This
may prevent schools from correcting the records in COD as described above. The COD
development team has completed the first phase of correcting this problem by migrating the code
fix to correct Direct Loan records. Next, the code fix will be migrated to correct Pell records.
COD will provide more information on when the code fix for Pell records will be migrated as
soon as it becomes available.

Mixed Person Records In COD [03/02/04 (Updated 05/20/04)]

As you are aware, the COD System is based on the establishment of a person record and contains
person records established as early as 1999-2000. COD has discovered that primarily due to
inaccurate SSNs that have entered the COD System, approximately 300 records (out of

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 Common Origination and Disbursement

COD Processing Update

approximately 14 million person records in the COD System) have mixed with other COD
records. Since PLUS borrowers are not matched with CPS, the majority of the people affected by
this issue are PLUS borrowers. COD has a dedicated team working to resolve the small number
of records that have been mixed. COD would like to assure you that if your data has been
affected by this rare problem it is not lost in the COD System and it will be corrected.

Specifically, COD has identified two scenarios related to this issue. In the first scenario, one
person appears twice within the COD System, with different awards under each profile. In the
second scenario, two persons have the same SSN in the COD System with mixed profiles and
awards. These problems usually occur when incorrect SSNs are submitted to COD and are
compounded when the incorrect SSN matches another person’s correct SSN.

COD continues to work on further detailed instructions that will assist you in avoiding these
scenarios and, if necessary, in correcting them. If you have any questions, please contact the
COD School Relations Center.

Duplicate Disbursement Information In COD [05/06/04 (Updated 05/11/04)]

COD has learned that duplicate disbursement numbers are displaying incorrectly on the COD
web site’s Award Disbursements Information screen. On this screen under the Disbursement
Number column, duplicate disbursement numbers are appearing twice. However, when viewing
the Disbursement Information screen, each disbursement displays a different status (Pending or
Disbursed). COD is analyzing the issue and will provide updates as they become available.

COD Web Site Response Time [03/19/04 (Updated 04/22/04)]

COD has learned that COD web site users are experiencing poor response time and receiving log
errors when performing searches between the hours of approximately 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM
eastern time.

COD has identified several potential causes of the issue and is in the process of evaluating the
causes. COD ask users to continue to be patient. In the meantime, please continue to e-mail
screen shots of any error messages received while performing a search to the COD School
Relations Center at [email protected].

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