FA~Link Features
Super Convenient for Students, Bookstores, & Campus Financial Departments
Students are Well-served
- Provides a seamless online interface between the bookstore POS and Colleague student funds
- Purchases with financial aid or sponsorship funds happen at the bookstore just as students would expect.
- Eliminates paper vouchers.
- Student uses awarded FA and Sponsorship funds as easily as paying with cash or a credit card.
- Applies funds within appropriate limits and restrictions for purchases.
- Students can use split tender, paying for those items not covered while letting FA~Link pay through Colleague, in real time, for those items that are covered. Note that this does require a POS system that permits split tender transactions.
- Reflects transactions immediately in Colleague student accounts
- Student only needs to show up at the bookstore with their student ID.
Automates Bookstore Purchases
- Provides real-time interface between bookstore register and student account
- Expedites cashier processes
- Automates allocation of bookstore charges to available financial aid and sponsorship funds
- Provides a full audit trail
- Instant access to maximum financial aid and sponsorship funds by category
- Includes entry of non-register Colleague charges
- Permanent commitment of financial aid for bookstore purchases
Financial Aid & Business Office Control Funds
- FA~Link is the real-time Datatel interface to campus bookstore POS systems
- Looks and behaves like Colleague
- Defines FA award or sponsorship parameters in an Envision module
- Determines FA and sponsorship funds availability
- Accepts restrictions for bookstore purchases by category
- Handles taxability (do not underestimate the importance of this feature)
- Uses defined priorities for awards and charges
- Accepts default account codes
- Automatically updates Colleague with student charges immediately
- Eliminates need for paper vouchers
- Dovetails into the standard workflow for the Financial Aid and Business Offices
IT Effort is Minimized
- Remote installation and setup by vendor.
- Implementation training for IT and other departments provided by vendor.
- Integrates with Datatel-delivered software.
- Provides Envision screens for configuration and management of FA~Link.
- Phone and e-mail support provided
- Login ID protection
- Modem link for remote or portable cash registers
- Integration with a variety of POS systems and configurations
Successful Customers
Joel Brubaker from Cape Fear Community College writes:
"FA~Link has eliminated hundreds and hundreds of man-hours since
switching.
Trimdata has been exceptional to work with. They came on site, sat
down with our staff, and worked through our business practices. This
level of service allowed us to be
successful the first time we used FA-Link in conjunction with our
Colleague software.
Financial Aid staff no longer have to print and distribute thousands of
Financial Aid Bookstore vouchers thus eliminating the 'I lost my
voucher. Can I get another one?' problem.
The Bookstore staff no longer spend days creating student accounts with
award dollars in the Bookstore POS system. Late registrants can use
their awards immediately in the Bookstore now that everything is tied
together. It used to take our Bookstore staff two days after our book sell
to organize/balance and deliver the manual invoices to the Business
Office. This whole step has been eliminated.
CFCC's Business Office has eliminated an error prone process of
manually posting Bookstore invoices and credits to student AR accounts.
With FA~Link the Bookstore can see the remaining aid left to spend and
the Cashiers see true AR balances in realtime."
