The eCAF (Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form) integration allows you to issue new eCAF invites and progressions as well as match existing eCAFs in your account to appropriate enrolment records in the aXcelerate system.
Tip: For this integration to function, you will need to have VET Student Loans enabled in your aXcelerate account.
Note: The system does not prevent setting a deferred amount for students that do or do not have a verified and submitted eCAF.
Enable the eCAF integration
Once the eCAF integration has been turned on in your aXcelerate account, you will need to enter your API User Account credentials into the appropriate fields.
- Obtain API User Account Credentials from eCAF
- Enter your API Username & Password
- Tick Verify Connection
- Click Submit
Note: If you do not have an API User Account you will need to fill out the eCAF API system access request form and send the completed form to VETStudentLoans@education.gov.au. Please contact the Department of Education and Training regarding any questions that you have about this process.
Match Existing eCAFs
When you first enable the eCAF integration, you will likely have existing students in your eCAF account that will not be linked to enrolment records in your aXcelerate account. The integration allows you to view existing eCAFs in your account and link them to matching enrolments in aXcelerate. All unlinked eCAFs detected in your account will appear in the table and you will be able to alter the Match Criteria to locate the appropriate aXcelerate records in the system.
- Click on the Match Existing eCAFs tab
- Adjust the search filters as needed
- Select the appropriate Match Criteria
- Click Search
- Click Link Matching Enrolment to link an eCAF with one matching enrolment
- Click View Matching Enrolment to view any matched records for a single eCAF. This will allow you to select a specific enrolment to match to the eCAF.
Tip: You can also use the Link All Unique Matches button to link all unlinked eCAFs in your account with one matching record based on your Match Criteria.
Note: Try adjusting your Match Criteria to narrow down or expand the aXcelerate enrolment records to map to your existing unlinked eCAFs.
Unlink eCAF
If you have incorrectly linked an enrolment record to an eCAF, you can unlink the records and match it to another enrolment in the system.
- Click on the Class Enrolment of a linked eCAF
- Click Unlink eCAF
- Click Unlink
Tip: Unlinking the eCAF from this enrolment record will prevent this eCAF from being able to be updated and progressions from being issued through aXcelerate for this student. This will not delete the eCAF or send a notice to the student.
View eCAFs
The eCAFs tab in the eCAF integration area will show all eCAFs that are present in your account including those that have not been matched to a record in aXcelerate. You can use the filtering options to alter the results displayed in the table. Information about a student's eCAF can also be viewed from the linked class enrolment in the Vet Student Loans section.
Tip: You can use the Match Existing eCAFs tab to link existing eCAFs to enrolment records in aXcelerate.
Note: The Linked column will show whether the eCAF has been linked to a record in aXcelerate. A cross will be shown if it is unlinked, a tick will be shown if it is linked and the data is the same in both systems and a warning will display if the eCAF has been linked but there is data in eCAF that does not match aXcelerate. Clicking a tick or warning will take you to the student's VSL modules enrolment page, clicking a cross will direct you to the Match Existing eCAFs tab with the corresponding eCAF ID applied as a filter.
Send an eCAF Invitation
eCAFs can be issued from a student's class enrolment from the Vet Student Loans section. Please refer to our Class Enrolments help article for further information about viewing class enrolment details.
- View a student's Class Enrolment
- Scroll to the Finance Details
- Click the Edit icon next to VET Student Loans
- Click Upload eCAF enrolment
Tip: Once a student has submitted their eCAF, an administrator can go to their VSL Modules enrolment page and save the TFN if it has been provided and verified. This will pull the TFN from eCAF and save it against the student's aXcelerate contact record and overwrite any existing value. The eCAF will then be marked as "processed" in eCAF.
Note: Before an eCAF invitation can be sent to a student, the student will need to have a name, email address, date of birth, gender, valid citizenship status and residential address. The student's class enrolment will also need to be configured for Vet Student Loans, have not yet passed census, and have an enrolment cost greater than zero. Please refer to our Vet Student Loans help article for more information on managing VSL in aXcelerate.
Warning: If the student's age is under 18, the system will report their "Under 18 status" as having provided a signed parental consent form. It is currently not possible for the system to report the student as independent.
If the student has their citizenship status set to "Permanent Humanitarian Visa", the system will automatically report that they will be an Australian resident for the duration of their course.
If the student has their citizenship status set to "New Zealand Citizen (SCV - HELP loan eligible)", the system will assume that the student:
- holds a special category visa
- entered Australia as a dependent child
- has been usually resident in Australia for at least 10 years,
- has been in Australia at least 8 years during the previous 10 years
- has been in Australia at least 18 months during the last 2 years
Delete eCAF Invitation
An eCAF invitation can be deleted if it has not yet been accepted by the student.
- Click on the Class Enrolment of a linked eCAF
- Click Delete eCAF
- Provide a reason for deleting the eCAF
- Click Delete
Tip: The eCAF system will send the student an email notifying them that their eCAF has been deleted. It may help with their understanding to provide a brief reason why this has happened. This reason will appear in the email and will also be recorded in the logs in the eCAF portal.
Note: If the eCAF has been accepted by the student, it cannot be deleted. Try unlinking the eCAF and matching it to a different record if the eCAF has been linked to the wrong enrolment.
Update eCAF Data
If an eCAF has been linked to a record in aXcelerate but the data between the systems is not the same, a warning will be displayed next to their eCAF in the Linked column. Clicking the Warning icon will take you to the student's VSL modules enrolment page where the data can be synced.
- Click on the Class Enrolment of a linked eCAF with unmatched data
- Click Update eCAF Enrolment
Note: If you are unable to click the Class Enrolment of an eCAF, it has not been linked to a enrolment in aXcelerate. You will need to go to the Match Existing Tab to link the records.
View eCAF Progressions
The Progressions tab in the eCAF integration area will show all progressions that exist in your eCAF account. The linked aXcelerate enrolment record will also be displayed next to the progression if there is one. You can use the available filters to limit the progressions displayed in your search results.
Tip: You are able to view the status of the last progression sent for an eCAF on the eCAF page.
Send an eCAF Progression
Progressions are able to be sent to students from their class enrolment. A Progression cannot be sent if the enrolment has a pending Progression that is awaiting a response from the student.
- View a student's Class Enrolment with a linked eCAF
- Scroll to the Finance Details
- Click the Edit icon next to VET Student Loans
- Click Create Progression
Tip: If an eCAF is matched to an enrolment record in aXcelerate, you can view a student's linked class enrolment by clicking the class enrolment name in the eCAFs table.
Note: The due date of the student's progression will be set to 4 months after the eCAF was submitted by the student or 4 months after the last Progression invitation was sent.
Bulk Send eCAF Progressions
Progressions can be sent for all eCAFs in the system, where a pending progression does not already exist. The eCAFs that display in this table are able to be filtered by the first census date and the class enrolment status. This tool will allow you to send progressions to all valid eCAFs in the system periodically. Progressions are typically sent to all eCAF students at 4 month intervals. For more information on Progression requirements, please refer to eCAFs Help Documentation.
- Go to the Send Progression Invites tab
- Adjust the search filters as needed
- Click Bulk Send Progressions
Tip: After sending the Progression invites, you will be able to see the Last Progression Status updated for each enrolment where a Progression was sent in the eCAFs tab.
Note: Progressions will not be sent to students for eCAFs with a pending Progression.
Check Student VSL Debt Information
When viewing a student's VSL modules enrolment page you are able to view debt-related information for the student and course. The total accrued HELP debt is displayed along with the total course debt as well as the Course Loan Cap and Fee HELP Limit.
- View a student's Class Enrolment
- Scroll to the Finance Details
- Click the Edit icon next to VET Student Loans
- Click Retrieve Student Debt Information
Note: When creating an eCAF, if the total cost of the course exceeds the Course Loan Cap, a warning will be displayed. You are still able to create an eCAF when this occurs but it should prompt you to ensure the student's deferred amount does not exceed the limit.