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Objective

This page provides a detailed workflow on how to submit an electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (eCAF) request to the Government via Paradigm on behalf of a student.

Complexity: MEDIUM to HIGH

Page Contents

Assumptions

  • The Student has already been accepted into a Course and has been enrolled into units with a Census date in the future

  • The Student has declared their intention to defer course fees to the Government 

  • eCAF type determined from HEIMS e490 field on the course enrolment record

  • The system will use the minimum (closest) unit enrolment census date that has not yet elapsed

Background information

The eCAF  (Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form) supersedes the need to have students complete paper based forms for both FEE-HELP and HECS-HELP. Previously other eCAF methods were accepted by HEIMS but these are being phased out. Providers are therefore required to submit eCAF information either directly into the HEIMS eCAF portal or via the Paradigm eCAF integration.

The order of processing an application is important when using the Government's Online eCAF portal. If a student has enrolled into the unit(s) that a census date was not allocated, then the system will not allow transmission of the details for the student invitation. The institutions application process might need to be updated or altered in order to allow for the required information to be gathered prior to the eCAF submission.

  • Student applies to study a course, indicated that they wish to apply for Fee-HELP /HECS-HELP and provides the evidence of Academic suitability - ATAR score, transcripts, SOA, or other documentation to prove eligibility (These are required by the Government and providers are required to keep these documents as evidence of acceptance suitability)

  • Student is accepted by the institution then enrolled into units / subjects.

  • The provider then submits details to HEIMS that the student should be sent an invitation to complete an eCAF.

  • The student is then sent an email with an Encrypted PASS-KEY to complete the required information including a valid Tax File Number (TFN)

Key terms and concepts

Please note: Obtaining a CHESSN and Help balance have also been included in this flowchart to demonstrate the process. This doesn’t replace the CHESSN workflow just precedes it.

Also obtaining Help balances needs to be done periodically to reflect the students current help balance.

Application process flowchart

Be advised

A Student must enrol in a unit of study with a Census date in the future before submitting an eCAF to the Government. Students must return the completed form prior to the census date to obtain a valid form / enrolment.

The table below outlines the key fields that need to be completed as part of the eCAF workflow:

Field Name

Description

Sample Data

eCAF

Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form, More commonly known as Fee-Help Form or HECS-HELP form. This replaces the paper based forms and other internal electronic forms.


FEE-HELP

Fee-Help is a loan Scheme that assists eligible students to pay all or part of their tuition fees. This loan is subject to 25% Government loading

For more information on Fee-Help click here

HECS-HELP

HECS-HELP is a loan scheme to help Commonwealth Supported students to pay their student contribution amounts through and loan or upfront discounts. This loan has no Government loading


API

Application Programming Interface. Part of a server that receives and requests and sends responses. Here it is a programmed link between Paradigm and the HEIMS  / Government E-CAF System

Login details received from the Government to link Paradigm to the E-CAF portal

HEIMS Census date

The date after which a student incurs a debt for the unit(s) of study in which they have been enrolled

This date can not be set less than 20% of the duration of the teaching period as outlined in the HESA and AIP


HITS provider code

Each provider is given a Unique 4 digit identifying code that is used in HEPCAT / HITS, this data is stored in the provider tab in Paradigm.


Element Numbers

Unique identifiers of required data / questions asked by the Government in order to provide accurate data  on Students, Courses, units and providers. These are used with in Paradigm and HEPCAT to help in ensuring data integrity across all providers. A full list can be viewed

A full list of these can be viewed here.

Each Element number refers to a data field within Paradigm.

However not every field has an elements. These fields contain non-reportable data.

HEIMS Course code

E307  - The code assigned by the provider to uniquely identify a course of Study. This code is used in HEPCAT reporting


CHESSN Number

A commonwealth Higher Education student number (CHESSN) is a 10 digit number provided by the Australian Government to all students who are in receipt of either HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP. It is a unique number that remains with the student regardless of if they change institutions. This means that HELP debts can be tracked to ensure that the student does not exceed their allocation.


Workflow

 1. How to Submit an eCAF for completion

How to Submit an eCAF for completion

Before commencing this process please ensure that the relevant entry criteria for the student’s admission in the students file (ideally e-file). This is required for entry criteria transparency reporting. You will need to know by what method the student was accepted to complete this process.

  1. Load the Student’s record

  2. Click the Action button on the right hand side next to the course that the student is applying for a HELP loan.

  3. Select the Edit Course Enrolment option

  4. Click the Action button on the right hand side of the course of study that the student is applying for a HELP loan. the Action menu will open

  5. Click on the Online eCAF submission option

  6. Scroll down to the Student and program Enrolment Details used for eCAF Registration section

  7. Scroll down to the eCAF Academic suitability drop box and select the method that the students was accepted via.

  8. Click the Request eCAF button.

  9. The student is then sent an email invitation with an encrypted Passkey to complete the the HELP form.

  10. Students will require their Passkey, and valid TFN to complete the form.

  11. Ensure the success message appears.

 2. How to Retrieve an eCAF

How to Retrieve an eCAF

  1. Load the Student’s record

  2. Click the Action button on the right hand side next to the course that the student is applying for a HELP loan.

  3. Select the Edit Course Enrolment option

  4. Click the Action button on the right hand side of the course of study that the student is applying for a HELP loan. the Action menu will open

  5. Click on the Online eCAF submission option

  6. Click on the Fetch eCAF Status button.

  7. Check the green bar at the top of the screen for a status message:

  8. If the student has not yet completed the form a green bar will appear with one of these messages

    • Invitation sent: the student has not started the process

    • Form in Draft: the student has commenced the form but has not yet completed it.

  9. If the student has completed the form a green bar will appear with an eCAF remote number.

Please note: Fee-Help balance field indicates remaining balance NOT consumed amount and will decrease after each reporting period. To check the current balance click the request balance button. This field will only update when the button is clicked. And only update for the currently loaded student.

 3. How to Enable the Paradigm eCAF integration

How to Enable the Paradigm eCAF integration

Paradigm has the capability of submitting an electronic eCAF request to the government for the student to fill out and must be done prior to the first census date of the student's studies that they are wanting to defer to the government. This functionality requires a specific type of access to the eCAF website called "API System Access". Providers wishing to implement a direct integration between Paradigm and the government eCAF site must complete the following form: https://www.dese.gov.au/vet-student-loans/resources/government-ecaf-api-system-access-request-form.

Note that the completed form should be emailed to HEenquiries@education.gov.au for Higher Education Providers, or VSLDataandIT@education.gov.au for VET Providers.

Once the request is approved, you will receive a set of testing credentials from the government and a series of steps that you must complete before receiving live system access.
Please forward a copy of the login details to the Silverband support team by raising a ticket directly on our Helpdesk site. Our support team will confirm when the account details have been added to your site and will ensure that your instance of Paradigm is directed to use the test eCAF system, until such time as you have received live system access.

After successfully completing all of the above steps you will receive a final set of access credentials from the government. These should be forwarded to the Silverband support team so our team can confirm your site is directed to use the live eCAF system and ready to be used in a production capacity.

You can update the eCAF API credentials as needed (if expires) via the paradigm interface. Read more: https://silverband.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PKB/pages/368574486/Update+eCAF+API+Login#How-to-set%2Fupdate-the-eCAF-password-via-the-Interface%5BinlineExtension%5D

 4. How to resend eCAF when student can't find the email

  1. Load the Student’s record

  2. Click the Action button on the right hand side next to the course that the student is applying for a HELP loan.

  3. Select the Edit Course Enrolment option

  4. Click the Action button on the right hand side of the course of study that the student is applying for a HELP loan. the Action menu will open

  5. Click on the Online eCAF submission option

  6. Scroll down to the Student and program Enrolment Details used for eCAF Registration section

  7. Click the Fetch eCAF button

  8. Additional buttons will appear. Click the Resend eCaf and Invitation button

  9. The student will receive a replacement eCAF invitation to complete.

 5. How to resend eCAF when application has expired

  1. Load the Student’s record

  2. Click the Action button on the right hand side next to the course that the student is applying for a HELP loan.

  3. Select the Edit Course Enrolment option

  4. Click the Action button on the right hand side of the course of study that the student is applying for a HELP loan. the Action menu will open

  5. Click on the Online eCAF submission option

  6. Scroll down to the Student and program Enrolment Details used for eCAF Registration section

  7. Click the Unlink eCAF Enrolment button

  8. If the census date has not yet passed, follow the steps in the workflow “How to resend eCAF when student can’t find the email'.

  9. If the census date has passed, you will need to login directly to the eCAF website and correct the details there. The eCAF website has functionality that cannot be available from within Paradigm. Then you can follow the steps in the workflow “How to resend eCAF when student can’t find the email'.

 6. How to Reset an eCAF API password

In the event that you forget the eCAF API password then you must request assistance from the HEIMS Helpdesk (https://heimshelp.education.gov.au/support/contact). The password you receive from the HEIMS Helpdesk is temporary and must be changed before it can be used within Paradigm. Please visit https://ecaf.education.gov.au/provider and enter the API username and the temporary password. The eCAF site will then request you to enter a new password. This new password must then be confirmed with the Silverband support team to ensure that the Paradigm to government eCAF integration is fully operational. 

Useful External links

Further reading

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