1 Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council May 7, 2003 ELM Resources, ELMNet, and Standards Bill Connor Director ELMNet Services

2 What is ELM Resources? Mutual Benefit Corporation –Alliance of lenders, guarantors, and servicers –Cooperative venture, open to all Non-Profit company Free services to schools Single Point of Data Exchange Provider Neutral Technology Bridge

3 ELM is Open ELM members represent over 90% of FFEL volume All guarantors interfaced Provider neutral 700 schools using ELM –Choice of lenders, guarantors, & servicers –Choice of providers based on service –Control over loan process Supports all standard application flows

4 What does ELM do Loan delivery –Batch processing –Real-time processing Central database Reports Inquiries –Central Database –Remote Databases

5 ELM in was a successful year for ELM, despite hitches: –In 2002, volume grew to 2,100,330 loan records, a 42% increase over the previous year –The National Disbursement Network delivered $5.6 billion in disbursement, a 42% increase over –There are over 796 schools using the ELM service bureau, and, –748 schools using the NDN

6 ELM Loan Volume

7 ELMNet and Real-Time Inquiry ELMNet real-time inquiry in production since Oct Real-time access to remote production systems Inquiry index has 12 million borrowers Approx 85-90% of all loans available

8 ELMNet and Real-Time Transactions ELMNet loan transactions since May 2002 Current Real-Time Transactions participants –Citibank –Educaid –Wells Fargo In development/testing –Sallie Mae- Bank of America –Southwest Student Series- Nelnet XML Messages using CommonLine 4

9 ELMNet as a data switch Transactions Multiple formats –CL 95 –CL4 –CL5 –Proprietary Batch & RT FTP & POP3 FTP Push FTP Pul

10 Standards We love ‘em But which one(s)

11 Why does ELM want standards 700 school interfaces 1000 lender IDs 70 loan origination platforms

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13 ELM and Standards ELM supports standards ELM does not impose standards Standards are embraced, not merely declared Marketplace determines standards

14 Schools and Standards Schools are the drivers Schools are the focal point of ELM and the ELM Members Schools are not all the same

15 Diversity among schools Size Population served Needs Capabilities

16 Schools and Technology Dichotomy –Tradition v technological advancements Competing internal demands Resource limits –People –Equipment –Money

17 Schools and Systems Internal v commercial/vendors Open Source v Proprietary Standards –Primarily external interfaces –USDE –Financial aid ELM –State entities

18 ELM and Schools ELM does not impose standards upon schools ELM suggests standards ELM suggests best practices ELM is a technology buffer between schools and lenders/guarantors

19 ELM and Members ELM does not impose standards on Members Mutual benefit organization Board of Directors Members committees within ELM –Operations –Technology

20 ELM and Members Like schools, not all Members are the same ELM is a technology buffer ELM Members are often competitors Standards help but do not eliminate competitive issues or capability issues

21 ELM and the student loan industry PESC NCHELP EFC USDE

22 ELM and the student loan industry Progression –ELM Universal Format (EUF) –CommonLine –Common Record ELM participates ELM as a delivery standard?

23 Standards – Some Suggestions 1.Understand who the customer is 2.Focus on need 3.Focus on external actions – points of data exchange 4.Recognize business realities 5.Don’t reinvent 6.Implementing standards, even good ones, can take time and money

24 Additional Suggestions 1.Participate in national efforts PESC NCHELP ESC 2.Recognize the bias of certain efforts 3.Focus on achievable objectives 4.Understand external factors USDE/FSA modernization XML Internet

25 Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council May 7, 2003 ELM Resources, ELMNet, and Standards Bill Connor Director ELMNet Services