PROSAM PROJECT STATUS REPORT
JANUARY 10, 2002


Accomplishments/Activities

?	A specific go-live date has been established.  We will load our first ISIR 
data into Sigma on February 8.  Functionality to handle verifications must 
be available by February 11.   Initial training for the Financial Aid staff will 
be scheduled for the prior week.  The XML interface between Sigma and 
SIS must be available by that time.
?	The decision has been made to also load ISIRs into the legacy system, 
both for testing, training, and admissions interface purposes.   Minor 
record layout changes will be made by February 8.  
?	Several Financial Aid and IT staff members were able to spend only a 
limited amount of time on the project due to the demands of fee payment 
and the beginning of the semester. 
?	Numerous discussions have been held regarding the newly-released ISIR 
preprocessor and many outstanding questions remain.  Hopefully these 
will be addressed by Bob Bevers from Sigma when he's here next week.  
?	An evaluation version of run-time MicroFocus COBOL has been installed.  
This appears to have addressed the license limit problem that had been 
encountered.    
?	Test, Quality and Production regions have now been established.

Project Plan Status

A very specific plan was developed to ensure our go-live date of February.   This 
will be monitored very closely and adjustments made if necessary.

Tasks Behind Schedule

The interface between Sigma and Legacy is behind schedule.  We are waiting for 
the daemon from Sigma which will process the XML requests, and instructions 
for designating how to update data elements.

Outstanding Issues

?	While Sigma has agreed to incorporate the capabilities of the integration 
shell into the XML interface, they have not yet communicated how this is 
to be done.    
?	There may not be adequate time to test the proposal of using two digits of 
a six-digit year field to indicate graduate or undergraduate, as proposed by 
Sigma.  If this capability is not available, an alternate means for 
distinguishing program type must be identified.
?	If the no-delay version of MicroFocus COBOL is required, there will be an 
additional charge for the software.  
?	A decision must be made whether the legacy conversion program will also 
store award and track data.
?	There is not at the present time a method to prevent overawards.  

Major Activities Planned for the Next Two Weeks

?	Complete the programming required for the ISIR pre-processor.
?	Complete the program to load legacy biographic (and possibly award) 
data into ProSAM.
?	Develop a test plan for verifying the ISIR data load process.
?	Develop a test plan for track assignment logic.  
?	Continue work on the development, quality, and production environment 
so that testing can take place without affecting training and production.
?	Examine job scripts and control options for packaging runs.
?	Evaluate the ramifications of using the aid year to indicate Graduate or 
Undergraduate.   This is especially critical for students who change during 
mid-year.  
?	Begin creating notifications, particularly the award letter.
?	Assign responsibility for creating and executing test plans for budgeting, 
awarding and disbursement.
?	Incorporate printing capabilities into the system.