OD_Reqs_-_Sec_10_-_School_Services_-_Final_v_3_updated_2-28-14.pdf

O&D Business Requirements

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-1 School Support Services

Section 10. School Support Services

10.0 Overview

10.0.1 Purpose and Objectives

The Origination and Disbursement (O&D) School Support Services shall fulfill FSA’s requirement to provide customer support to school users participating in the Title IV Federal Student Aid Programs supported by O&D. FSA has identified the following high level business objectives for the subsequent O&D contract:

• Reduce Cost

• Improve procedures for cost management and transparency

• Support the move to Self-Service interactions

• Ensure adaptability to new technologies and best practices

• Enable severability of major task/support areas from the current O&D umbrella contract

• Improve Disaster Recovery Procedures

• Provide more data transparency and robust reporting capabilities

10.0.2 Scope

School Support Services shall provide support services to schools participating in Title IV aid programs and their third party representatives covering: the O&D System; origination, disbursement, and financial processing; the O&D Web module, and; other O&D related topics.

The School Support Center shall be responsible for:

• Providing front-line inquiry and transaction support to schools and third party representatives regarding:

o School Reconciliation Support o Direct Loan Closeout Support o Pell Grant Prior Year Support o School Deposits o Pell Grant, ACG, National SMART, IASG and TEACH Grant closeout support

• Evaluating customer satisfaction with the School Support Center and proactively improving customer service, as appropriate.

• Transmitting all batch files to the SAIG mailbox that will be forwarded to O&D for processing.

• Providing audit support services to FSA for its fiscal year audit of schools.

• Providing school Outreach Support services as it relates to O&D transaction processing, system issues, required school actions, program guidelines, and

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-2 School Support Services upcoming changes in the O&D processing, and assist schools in using the O&D System.

• Perform on-line PLUS and Grad PLUS Credit Checks on the O&D Web Module.

• Engaging and supporting FSA with strategic planning, communications support, capacity planning, improving customer satisfaction, disaster recovery, the identification of issues unrelated to School Support, e.g. the O&D system.

• Preparing and producing regular (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) reports describing the volume and nature of contacts of the School Support Center.

• Providing internal training and external training support for O&D related services.

• Providing School Testing Support.

As depicted in Figure 10-1 below, School Support shall be responsible for duties in addition to resolving school O&D related inquiries. School Support shall respond to and resolve inquiries in both English and Spanish via the following interaction channels:

• Phone;

• Email;

• Web Form;

• Web Self-Service/Social Media;

• Postal / Physical Mail; and

• Fax

Figure 10-1: School Support Customer Service Flow

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-3 School Support Services

10.0.3 Architectural Framework

In this document, the GCC Team has divided customer service into two major areas, Applicant Support and School Support. This division supports FSA’s business objective to enable severability of major task areas under the current O&D umbrella contract and recognizes that Applicant Support and School Support serve two distinct audiences across significantly different scopes of support services.

School Support includes the following subsections:

• Business Functional Requirements, which describes the core capabilities required by the School Support Center, and;

• Business Non-Functional Requirements, which describes the boundary conditions and/or the environment attributes required by the School Support Center.

Figure 10-2 below illustrates the role of the School Support function in the Origination and Disbursement Process.

Figure 10-2: Role of School Support within O&D

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-4 School Support Services

10.0.4 Case Volume

Figure 10-3 below displays the monthly inquiry volume handled by School Support Services from 2011 to 2013. In 2012, School Support Services handled approximately 313,420 inquiries, including 172,776 phone inquiries and 140,644 email cases. In 2013, School Support call volume is projected to decrease to roughly 172,098 calls and School email case volume is projected to increase to roughly 183,565 email cases1.

Figure 10-3: Inquiry Volume handled by School Support Services (Source: FSA Contractor).

10.1 Business Functional Requirements

The following business functional requirements address the core capabilities that shall be required of the School Support Center. School Support shall cover the O&D System and Web module, COD.ed.gov. The requirements can be categorized as follows:

• Inquiry and Transaction Support

• On-Boarding

• Direct Loan Closeout

• Pell Grant Prior Year Award Year Support

• Pell Grant, ACG National SMART Grant, IASG Closeout Support

• School Outreach

• School Reconciliation

• School Deposits

• School Testing Support

1 Accenture. (2013, 1 11). COD Dashboard.

FY2011,

October, 33,833

FY2011,

November, 26,126

FY2011,

December, 20,555

FY2011,

January, 22,948

FY2011,

February, 19,118 FY2011, March, 19,828 FY2011, April, 18,234

FY2011, May, 20,577

FY2011, June, 22,708

FY2011, July, 28,367

FY2011, August, 40,639

FY2011,

September, 31,832

FY2012,

October, 24,341

FY2012,

November, 21,961

FY2012,

December, 17,579

FY2012,

January, 23,360

FY2012,

February, 19,741 FY2012, March, 17,927 FY2012, April, 19,132

FY2012, May, 24,535

FY2012, June, 26,239

FY2012, July, 36,614

FY2012, August, 51,849

FY2012,

September, 30,142

Monthly Inquiry Volume Call & Email

FY2011 FY2012

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-5 School Support Services

• Audit Support Services

• Engagement with FSA and Communications Support o Ad-hoc Report Generation

• Identification and Resolution of Issues

• Process O&D Web Administrator Requests

10.1.1 Inquiry and Transaction Support

FSA requires support services on a range of topics in response to stakeholder inquiries across four communication support channels, including live calls, emails, online web forms, and physical mail.

Support shall be structured in a 4-tier system of customer support and escalation, as follows.

• Tier 1: Inquiry handled at Customer Service Representative (CSR) level (Vendor level).

• Tier 2: Inquiry escalated to the CSR's supervisor or application service provider (Vendor level).

• Tier 3: Inquiry escalated to School Support Center’s management level or Vendor’s management level (Usually resolving in change request execution that FSA would not be aware of or notified of, before implementation into the production environment).

• Tier 4: Inquiry escalated to FSA's RCC level.

Table 10.1 below provides a weekly snapshot of the most common call and email inquiry types.

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-6 School Support Services

Table 10-1: Weekly Call and Email breakdown, Source: FSA Contractor

School Services Call Reason Breakdown

Call Reason Breakdown Level 2 Total % Direct Loan Direct Loan General Inquiry 171 12.04% Credit Check Processing Credit Check General Inquiry 157 11.06% COD Website Inquiry COD Web General Inquiry 117 8.24% COD Website Inquiry Unlocking and Reactivating COD Users 105 7.39% All Other 98 6.90% O&D Processing Rejected Records 90 6.34% Credit Check Processing Endorser General Inquiry 87 6.13% MPN MPN General Inquiry 63 4.44% Grant Grant General Inquiry 61 4.30% Fund Management Fund Management General Inquiry 53 3.73% Grant PELL LEU 42 2.96% PLUS Parent PLUS Inquiry 41 2.89% Other Ad-Hoc Report Request 39 2.75% O&D Processing O&D Processing General Inquiry 38 2.68% MPN MPN General Inquiry-Link 37 2.61% COD Website Inquiry Two Factor Authentication 32 2.25% Grant Grant General Report Request 25 1.76% Direct Loan Direct Loan Closeout 24 1.69% Other Report General Inquiry 24 1.69% COD Website Inquiry School User Setup Issues 21 1.48% Other Transfer 18 1.27% PLUS Grad PLUS Inquiry 16 1.13% Counseling Entrance Counseling- General Inquiry 15 1.06% PLUS PLUS Application General Inquiry 14 0.99% Grant Rejected Records 8 0.56% Fund Management Refunds of Cash 7 0.49% COD Website Inquiry COD Relationship Change 6 0.42% Credit Check Processing Appeals Status 6 0.42% Grant Grant Closeout 5 0.35% Grant POP Escalation 5 0.35% Direct Loan Loan Discrepancy (TIVAS) 1 0.07%

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-7 School Support Services

A. Inquiry Receipt and Routing

School Support Services inquiries shall be received through inbound calls, physical mail, online web form or e-mail. FSA currently segregates Direct Loan and Grant inquiries;

however, considering low grant volume and the inherent process of routing inquiries, FSA hopes to combine Grants and Direct Loan inquiries in the future. After receipt and routing the inquiry to the appropriate CSR, service inquiries may follow the procedures described below under B. Interaction Channels.

B. Interaction Channels

The School Support Center requires support for intake of new inquiries from the following interaction channels:

• Phone: Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) shall provide telephone support for routine and complex inquiries. These calls are generally from first-time callers and may require routing to another related helpdesk. Support shall be offered via the following lines:

o Direct Loans – 800-330-5947 or 800-848-0978 o Pell Grants – 800-557-7394 (Note: FSA will consider if this number will need to be continued in the future.) or 800-474-7268 o Foreign Schools Line – 571-392-3737 (For countries without access to 800 lines)

• Email / Web Form: School email inquiries shall be received directly via the email address or via the online form on the COD.ed.gov website. The online web form shall be processed, managed, and responded to using the same process as emails.

FSA is considering combining Direct Loan and Grant email addresses.

o Direct Loans – CODSupport@ed.gov o Pell Grants – CODSupport@ed.gov (Notes: GCC has also been provided

FederalGrantsSupport@ed.gov; FSA has reserved a PellSupport@ed.gov but has not yet needed it.)

• Self-Service: School Support Services shall provide the capability for self-service interactions. This method of service shall be promoted and accessible via the O&D Web Module. Potential self-service enhancements include:

o Dynamic FAQ’s (frequently asked questions) o Agent Avatars o Self-Service IVRU o Online self-help videos

Users shall be able to view and check the status of their appeal online as well as through the IVRU system. The self-service functionality must be linked with the appropriate tracking organizations to ensure a real-time status of a Schools appeal.

Currently, appeals are the most hindering issues and should be elevated above other issues in regards to self-service.

https://email.ed.gov/OWA/redir.aspx?C=Hss92I_dTUqUZGtragpcDY1v90WfuM9IU6aus9B4BN4B6QvKupKoc15MNlkMYHHQ3H_Vkczc97M.&URL=mailto%3aCODSupport%40ed.gov https://email.ed.gov/OWA/redir.aspx?C=Hss92I_dTUqUZGtragpcDY1v90WfuM9IU6aus9B4BN4B6QvKupKoc15MNlkMYHHQ3H_Vkczc97M.&URL=mailto%3aCODSupport%40ed.gov mailto:FederalGrantsSupport@ed.gov https://email.ed.gov/OWA/redir.aspx?C=Hss92I_dTUqUZGtragpcDY1v90WfuM9IU6aus9B4BN4B6QvKupKoc15MNlkMYHHQ3H_Vkczc97M.&URL=mailto%3aPellSupport%40ed.gov

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-8 School Support Services

• Postal / Physical Mail: The School Support Center currently receives checks that have to be deposited or returned. FSA requires the center publicize and accept physical mail from various participating schools.

• Fax: The School Support Center shall have the capability to receive and process inquiries received by facsimile.

o General Fax Number: 877-623-5082 o Foreign School’s Fax: 716-284-6766

C. Additional Interaction Channels

In addition to the existing interaction channels described above, FSA is interested in evaluating new interaction channels that may offer more effective and cost-saving response mechanisms to customer inquiries. FSA is open to industry recommendations on new interaction channels, including the following:

• Self-Service Interactive Voice Response Unit (IVRU): Callers to the School Support Center main phone number may be greeted by an IVRU, which provides general information for issue resolution and offers options to transfer to FSA’s contact center, to the Direct Loans contact center, or to FSA’s Default Resolution.

The IVRU should, at a minimum, provide self-service functionality during peak season that allows an applicant to check the status of their appeal. This should be delivered real-time and should be an entirely self-service process.

• Web Chat: From the studentloans.gov and TEACH-ATS.ed.gov websites, web chat capability could enhance the relationship with the customer via a virtual “walk-in” service.

• Voice Mail: Offer voicemail capability for stakeholders attempting to contact the Applicant Support Center after normal business hours. The voicemail would generate an email notification, which is then delivered to the FSA Applicant Support Center inbox for handling by Intake Specialists.

• Social Media: The School Support Center currently supports 7500 schools that average 25 Aid Officers. Therefore, the vendor shall provide a social media solution that will effectively inform Financial Aid Officers of changes such as Presidential initiatives and congressional changes to the O&D process and laws.

The School Support Center shall utilize existing tools to collect Facebook addresses, Twitter accounts etc.

FSA is open to using social media as an interaction channel, outreach mechanism for notifications, feedback collection mechanism, complaint resolution tool, marketing tool, post publications and/or customer to customer networking.

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-9 School Support Services

D. Technology Support for Key Interaction Channels

FSA requires the technology capability and tools necessary to enable the interaction channels identified above. This includes operations and maintenance of current and any potential new interaction channels.

E. Spanish Support

FSA requires support for Spanish-speaking inquirers across all interaction channels.

10.1.2 On-Boarding

School Support shall be responsible for On-Boarding new schools, which includes basic setup actions that are necessary for a school to process O&D records via the O&D System.

On-Boarding may include activities such as setting up a schools online account, retrieving school contact information, and explaining the tools and resources available for schools.

10.1.3 Direct Loan and TEACH Grant Closeout

School Support shall perform outreach to schools as needed concerning Direct Loan and TEACH Grant closeout and answer questions schools may have concerning the closeout processes for non-archived Award Years to the contract end date. Direct Loan and TEACH Grant closeout responsibilities consist of analyzing balance discrepancies for schools and making outbound calls to schools that have not successfully closed out for a specific award year. School Support shall act as a liaison if a school wants to closeout a Direct Loan or TEACH Grant and has not received a Zero Balance Letter or if the school is at a zero balance.

10.1.4 Pell Grant Prior Year Award Year Support

School Support shall answer incoming calls and make outgoing calls regarding unprocessed de-obligations for Pell Grant records for non-archived Award Years. This support includes running schools ad hoc report requests and acting as a liaison between Federal Student Aid and schools to notify FSA when a school has a G5 issue.

10.1.5 Pell Grant, ACG, and National SMART Grant Closeout Support School Support shall perform outreach to schools concerning Pell Grant, ACG, IASG, and National SMART loan closeout and answer school questions concerning the closeout for specific Award Years.

10.1.6 School Outreach

School Support shall provide school outreach support services as they relate to O&D transaction processing, system issues, required school actions, program guidelines, and upcoming changes in O&D processing.

10.1.7 School Reconciliation

School Support shall assist schools with reconciliation between the school's system and the O&D System for non-archived Award Years to the contract end date. Reconciliation responsibilities shall consist of:

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-10 School Support Services

• Monitoring a school’s monthly cash balance and making outbound calls to schools with a high ending cash balance.

• Running ad hoc reports to assist schools with their reconciliation of cash.

• Assisting schools with interpreting reconciliation reports.

• Monitoring unsubstantiated cash balances and notifying schools via e-mail.

10.1.8 School Deposits

School Support shall deposit funds received from schools and third party servicers into the established United States Treasury account(s) and maintain a log of the funds received and deposited. This information shall be provided to Federal Student Aid on a daily basis.

10.1.9 School Testing Support

School Support shall provide the following support during testing:

• Provide and process O&D School Testing Sign-Up documents.

• Schedule specific test dates for Schools.

• Provide Schools with their own testing Entity ID to use only during a specific testing phase (if needed).

• Process submitted data.

• Send Responses via the SAIG.

• Update Schools of their testing status.

• Assist with issue identification and resolution.

• Provide testing technical guidance.

10.1.10 Audit Support Services

School Support shall provide audit support services to FSA for its fiscal year audit of schools. School Support shall list cash balances for schools; make outbound calls to schools to resolve outstanding cash balances; document conversations with schools; and run ad hoc reports to determine a school’s un-booked loans. Audit support shall not exceed 20 schools or 30 hours of work annually. Any additional support will be authorized and funded through the Change Control process. School Support shall maintain an audit support log of the number of schools and hours used to perform audit support services.

10.1.11 Engagement with FSA

School Support services shall collaborate and support various FSA engagement activities as defined below and as necessary throughout the life of the O&D contract. Engagement with FSA activities include:

• Provide a front line level of support to relay and report potential issues, projected spikes in volume, and any other potential changes in volume, labor, and level of effort.

• Support requests to provide updated communication pertaining to report delivery, system status, outages, key software change notifications, and/or software issues on an as needed basis provided by Federal Student Aid.

• Provide the ability for FSA to run ad-hoc reports to ensure constant improvement in service and proactive monitoring.

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-11 School Support Services

• Work with FSA to develop and provide proactive monitoring procedures to improve quality of service, call quality assurance plans, and overall customer satisfaction.

• Provide necessary transparency to support center operations for defined FSA personnel through accurate, timely, and relevant data reporting as well as access to Business Intelligence (BI) related software and tools, CRM, etc.

• Provide a six month notification and obtain FSA approval for any potential infrastructure changes that may require FSA to increase, decrease or transfer the existing support lines to provide FSA time to adjust requirements and planning for phone lines and involvement with other contractors.

• Provide, collaborate, and obtain approval of all knowledge management, publications, and other written material before disbursing and publicizing such documentation and data.

• The vendor shall support reviews of the contact center IVR, in conjunction with FSA, at least 2 times a year.

• Host and support FSA staff in periodic site visits throughout the year.

• The vendor shall attend FSA hosted O&D meetings twice per year.

10.1.12 Identification and Resolution of Issues

School Support Services shall provide incident and problem resolution support for O&D System related inquiries. The School Support helpdesk shall provide a front-line view of new issues and relay issues to the appropriate staff in a timely manner.

10.1.13 Process O&D Web Administrator Requests

In order to establish an administrator account for the O&D Web site, organizations shall submit an administrator request letter printed on university or corporate letterhead to the School Support Center. School Support shall process all administrator requests and respond accordingly via the email address provided.

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-12 School Support Services

10.2 Business Non-Functional Requirements

The requirements specified below apply to the boundary conditions or environment attributes required by FSA.

10.2.1 Hours of Operation

Table 10-2 below provides the recommended hours of operation for School Support. FSA is open to recommendations for optimal hours of operation as needed to achieve FSA’s business objectives and service levels. FSA expects all interaction channels to be available during these hours.

School Support Center Support Hours of Operation

CATEGORY OPERATING STATUS

Hours of Operation:

Mon-Fri – 9:00am – 6:00pm EST Saturday – Closed Sunday – Closed

Federal Holidays: Closed on all Federal Holidays.

Table 10-2: Recommended School Support Center Support Hours of Operation.

10.2.2 Quality Control

FSA requires School Support Services to provide internal quality control to ensure that inquiries are resolved in a timely, accurate, and effective manner. FSA desires to track quality control using the following methods:

• Call Monitoring – FSA requires all calls be recorded including Spanish calls.

Recorded calls shall have the capability to be transferred and listened to by FSA employees.

o Text Monitoring (Email) o Web site monitoring o IVRU

• Service Calibration: Applicant Support shall support reviews of the contact center

IVR, in conjunction with FSA, at least 2 times a year.

• Customer Feedback Collection: FSA is currently developing a process to email a survey to callers after all phone inquiries. FSA intends to use this process in the future and is considering other feedback collection methods such as:

o Website Survey o IVRU Survey

Survey feedback shall elicit information such as service accessibility, representatives’ knowledge, timeliness of case resolution, level of satisfaction with the resolution, and the level of overall satisfaction with the FSA. FSA may adjust the sampling size, questions, and interaction channel as needed to achieve its business objectives and for better alignment across FSA.

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-13 School Support Services

10.2.3 Training

School Support shall provide O&D and customer service training support to Customer Service Representatives. School Support shall be responsible for determining the type of training required and deliver the training to the customer service representatives.

A. Customer Service Representative Training

All Customer Service Representatives shall be initially trained and provided refresher training on an as needed basis to help establish that they understand the O&D System and business processes in order to field questions from schools and Federal Student Aid. Federal Student Aid shall provide 30-day notification as it relates to new information related to O&D Customer Service when possible.

School Support shall conduct Customer Service training focusing on the O&D System and related systems, business and operational processes, help desk support and problem solving skills, as well as the basics of customer service, and exceptional telephone skills techniques. School Support shall conduct Customer Service re-training when multiple complaints of incorrect information are being reported by our schools and customers.

In addition to conducting the above training, the contractor shall develop training scripts for each new system release or enhancement for FSA to review and approve.

The approved scripts shall supplement CSR training for system changes and enhancements.

B. Computer Based Training:

School Support shall provide a Computer Based Training (CBT) Tool to train O&D Web site end users on the O&D Web site capabilities and associated business functions.

The tool shall provide high level overviews of the basic functionality of the O&D Web module, system reports, and TEACH Web site information. The overviews shall be available on CD and uploaded to the IFAP Web site. Users of the Computer Based Training include schools, FSA, third party school servicers, and customer support. The CBT modules shall be updated after every major release and update to the O&D system (currently 3-4 times per year). The existing CBT’s are useful; however, FSA would like to see the current CBT’s significantly enhanced in terms of training capability. FSA would like a training solution that is more interactive and not limited to solely screen shots of the websites.

10.2.4 Service Levels

FSA requires agreed upon service levels as operational targets for such activities as time to answer phone calls, caller wait time, etc. In addition, FSA is open to recommendations for appropriate service levels to achieve the following business needs:

• Reduce call handle time

• Reduce Cost

• Improve Self-Service Interactions

• Ensure that all outages are reported by a predetermined timeframe (ideally 15-20 minutes)

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-14 School Support Services

Contractually, the current vendor is required to meet and report upon a predefined list of Service Level Agreements (SLA). To view these SLAs, please refer to Appendix D of this document. FSA intends to supplement the existing SLAs to better support the business needs described above. Table 10-3 below provides a snapshot of currently captured Customer Service metrics.

Table 10-3: Weekly Call Statistics for O&D Customer Support

10.2.5 Knowledge Management

FSA requires Applicant Support to use integrated customer service tools to ensure a consistently accurate and efficient response to customer inquiries. At a minimum, the Knowledge Management System (KMS) will house pre-approved responses to common inquiries as well as provide a quick source for Applicant Support personnel to find appropriate responses to any potential customer inquiry. The KMS shall be continuously updated with the most recent information of pre-approved responses. All customer history and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data shall be owned by FSA and provided to FSA upon request.

10.2.6 508 Compliance FSA requires that all lines and supporting Websites are 508 compliant.

10.2.7 Security Requirements

The School Support and all supporting CSR’s shall meet and maintain all security requirements as defined by FSA, including, but not limited to, the following:

• FSA Security Clearance for all CSR agents in order to access to FSA systems such as COD, NSLDS, SAIG, etc.

10.2.8 Management of Volume Fluctuations

FSA requires the School Support Center to manage resources as needed to efficiently and effectively respond to seasonal fluctuations in call volume so as to maintain the service standards for performance while minimizing operational costs. Figure 10-3 above displays the monthly total inbound calls in 2011 and 2012 showing the seasonal fluctuations in call volume.

Week (12/31/2012-1/4/2013)

Call Details and Volumes School Services Applicant Services

Total Calls 1,512 4,249 Total Calls Answered 1,510 4,231 Avg. Talk Time 06:18 7:03 Avg. Speed of Answer 00:04 0:05 Avg. Abandon Time 00:34 3:59 Abandoned Calls 2 18 % Abandoned 0.13% 0.42%

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-15 School Support Services

10.2.9 Document Retention

FSA requires that records remain accessible for CSR’s for four years. Any retention plan shall be in compliance with FSA policies and procedures regarding data retention.

10.2.10 Reporting and Data Analytics

The School Center shall provide daily, weekly, and monthly reports encompassing metrics such as call volume and type of contacts received. These reports provide insight and enable effective operational and strategic planning throughout the School Support Center function.

Additionally, FSA shall have access to data for analysis of reporting and the ability to run ad-hoc reports for constant improvement in service.

A. Customer Awareness

FSA requires the ongoing understanding of customer needs and a periodic review of the effectiveness of its interaction channels. FSA anticipates that evolving customer needs and technologies in the marketplace may necessitate new interaction channels and/or services over time.

B. Data analytics

The FSA School Support Center seeks improved data collection, analysis, and reporting capability to identify trends and issues quickly and accurately. This includes being able to capture more than one issue category for multi-dimensional analysis. With better insight, the School Support Center can provide targeted feedback to key stakeholders such as FSA, Loan Servicers, and others in the student aid industry. In addition, better insight can help School Support Center management identify opportunities for improvement in its own service delivery.

10.3 Key Technology Requirements

10.3.1 Access to FSA Systems, Websites, and Servicer Systems

School Support CSRs shall use a variety of tools to research a stakeholder’s inquiry and provide expert and thorough advice. A description of the tools that shall be available to a CSR to resolve an inquiry is shown below:

• O&D Web Module – The O&D Web shall be used to access and view loan and grant information of a student borrower as well as school originations and disbursements.

• CPS Inquiry – The tool provided by Vangent’s Central Process System (CPS) team that enables CSRs to view a student’s application records.

• SAIG Website – This allows the CSRs to view the contents of a user’s mailbox and to restore files to the mailbox.

• G5 – Provides financial management support services for each Title IV program and provides online capability to:

o Request payments o Adjust drawdowns

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 10-16 School Support Services

10.3.2 Enabling Technologies

FSA requires consistent evaluation and consideration of industry tools that may help improve customer service and reduce cost over time. Evolving customer demand and technologies may necessitate a change in supporting technologies and FSA requires the School support center to stay abreast of new and innovative technologies, and implement such technologies as deemed appropriate by FSA.

FSA is open to emerging technologies that may help reduce cost while maintaining or improving customer service, such as:

• Cloud-based technology;

• Social media; and,

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

10.4 Technical Architecture

10.4.1 Disaster Recovery

School Support Services shall not be concentrated in one geographical area for disaster recovery purposes. FSA intends to promote competition and improve disaster recovery procedures by positioning School Support Services centers and disaster recovery centers throughout the United States. The Disaster Recovery plan shall be in place for short, medium, and long term events.

School Support shall conduct an annual disaster recovery test to assess and measure the recovery teams’ ability to notify and assemble the business resumptions teams; route incoming calls to the Customer Support recovery facility; and access the O&D System from the recovery facility.

10.4.2 Capacity Planning

Capacity Planning shall assess the capacity of O&D Customer Support Operations to meet the ongoing and fluctuating support demands/volume based on the current utilization and estimated future volume. Capacity Planning shall also assess the required capacity/support necessary to maintain and improve upon approved service level standards. This includes an attempt to identify capacity utilization improvements for the purpose of helping to reduce future requirements.