MAPnet

MAPnet is the Internet application which allows schools to electronically process and manage information for the Monetary Award Program (MAP). MAPnet will be phased out (retired) at end the of the 2011-12 academic year at which time all MAP processing will take place through ISAC’s Gift Assistance Program (GAP) Access portal. GAP Access will eventually be the point of entry for electronic data and processing functionality for all of ISAC's gift assistance programs.

Using MAPnet, schools can perform the following activities:

• review online or download student eligibility status information;
• calculate MAP awards (MAPnet performs this function);
• include appropriate language for the MAP grant in the institutional award letter;
• identify the Student Aid Report/Institutional Student Information Record (SAR/ISIR) transaction number on which a payment request is based;
• create and submit payment requests for MAP online;
• review online or download MAP payment results information;
• load MAP information into the institutional computer system if necessary; and
• create and maintain data management reports regarding MAP information for the institution.

ISAC imports ISIR data into MAPnet from the Central Processing System (CPS) on a daily basis. Data from students that have indicated their school choices on the Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or FAFSA on the Web, is added to the school’s database in MAPnet and can be viewed by the school immediately.

Access MAPnet

Due to the confidential nature of the student-specific data involved, a secure authentication process is required before access to MAPnet can be granted. ISAC will rely on a contact person, or Administrator, at each institution to authorize users at his/her school.

The selected staff person will become the school's MAPnet Administrator and will ultimately be responsible for monitoring passwords, security and staff access to MAPnet. The Financial Aid Director, or their designee, should select the MAPnet Administrator based on the confidential nature of, and the access to student data.

Schools will access 2011-12 and 2012-13 MAP records on two different systems until the close of the 2011-12 academic year processing at which time all MAP processing will take place via GAP Access. 

• To access MAPnet (for 2011-12 processing), select the academic year from the ISACnet Home page and logon using an ID and password authorized by the school's MAPnet Administrator.  

Hours of Operation

The MAPnet system will be available each day between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. (CT).

Records submitted by 7 p.m. will be included in that night's processing with results available in MAPnet the next business day. Records submitted after 7 p.m. will be included with processing for the next business day with results available in MAPnet the following business day. (Example: Records submitted at 6:45 p.m. on a Tuesday would have results reflected in MAPnet on Wednesday morning, while results for records submitted at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday would appear in MAPnet on Thursday morning.)

MAPnet User Guide

The MAPnet User Guide is broken down into smaller PDF files which can be viewed online, printed or saved to your computer for future reference. The User Guide provides detailed information about MAPnet functions, processing routines and MAP processing code definitions. Click on the Table of Contents link below for a description of each section, or click on one of the chapter headings to go directly to that section. Some of these PDF files contain numerous screen prints and may take a few moments to launch

Table of Contents 
About MAPnet - Start-Up 
Accessing MAPnet
Navigating in MAPnet
Budget Information
Forecasting Function
Student Eligibility
Formula and MAP Award Validation Tool
Payment

The MAP Payment Results, Reject Reasons, Late and Disqualify codes can be found at the end of the Payment chapter. The online help feature in MAPnet is no longer supported.

MAP File Specifications

This 160-byte file layout is pertinent to schools utilizing the file extraction features of MAPnet, or sending payment requests for MAP to ISAC via File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The MAP-IIA File Specifications for the 2011-12 and the 2012-13 academic years are available from the link in the right-hand menu and from the Electronic Tools section of the e-Library. Revisions made for the 2012-13 layout are highlighted in gray.  Although many fields are numbered differently, their start and end positions remain the same as in 2011-12. Filler and “ISAC Use Only” fields were replaced with fields related to the MAP 2+2 Pilot processing.  IIA fields were removed. 

Helpful Hints

• MAPnet is designed to be viewed using Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5;
• MAPnet is best viewed using 800 x 600 screen resolution or higher;
• for optimum printing of screens, set the printing option to landscape
• Enter a date range to reduce the processing time of an extraction file. Entering a date range means fewer records are included, thus reducing the amount of time it will take to processing the file; and
• Schedule reports to run when MAPnet is not needed for other functions (for example at the end of the day or during off-peak hours).

Printable version