Recognized by the College Board as a PowerFAIDS® Specialist for both desktop and cloud, we have completed multiple implementations on their behalf.

  • “Apple Pi Consulting combines exceptional technical knowledge with great interpersonal skills, a combination few companies possess.”

    Marian University

  • "Kelly was truly made to do this work. She has such a gift for working with people to help draw out the answers needed to configure our database correctly. Kelly is calm, patient, and extremely knowledgeable. I look forward to our working sessions together and know that not only will we make progress on our configuration but that we will have fun along the way."

    Washington University of St. Louis

  • “We have had Valerie Mockus from Apple Pi come to our campus twice now. She has helped us automate most of our financial aid packaging. Valerie is very knowledgeable about the workings of PowerFAIDS and is great to work with. I would highly recommend giving her a call if you are struggling with PowerFAIDS.”

    Roberts Wesleyan College

  • “Apple Pi Consulting has taken us to new heights in our understanding of, and capabilities with, PowerFAIDS.”

    Point Loma Nazarene University

  • “Apple Pi helped us implement an efficient and seamless auto-packaging process. Kelly Skubal took the time to understand our needs and helped us maximize the capabilities of PowerFAIDS so we were able to complete aid awards as quickly as possible.”

    Dominican University

  • “Our journey with Apple Pi began over 8 years ago when we initially hired them to train us on the basics of PowerFAIDS. Since that time we have automated packaging, built QC rules to ensure compliance, created algos and PIT rules to improve/enhance processing, and have become so confident with our PF skills that we’ve presented at the annual conference several times. Their guidance, support, and commitment to our institutional and department goals are exemplified in their high level of professionalism and expertise that they deliver in a personal manner. Thank you, Apple Pi!”

    Palo Alto University

CASE STUDY

COMpiLER™ PowerFAIDS® Audit Identifies Data Disparity In Minutes for Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama

Introduction

Team members at Oakwood University wanted to know, “Is PowerFAIDS® set up correctly? Can we get more out of the system?” Apple Pi Consulting suggested they use COMpiLER™, a PowerFAIDS® system audit tool, to help identify possible compliance, configuration, and feature deployment issues.

Problem

Julain Gunn Clarke, director of financial aid, recently joined the team at Oakwood University. She had never used PowerFAIDS®. She noticed portions of the IPEDS report were returning no records. Then she found her data in PowerFAIDS® did not match the registrar data. She knew data integrity was an issue but did not know where to start. Director Clarke reflected that, given the expanse of the system, “It would take months for a consultant to review all of our configurations manually.”

Solution

Apple Pi Consulting offered to run COMpiLER™. Oakwood University jumped at the chance to audit the system and scheduled it immediately.

Timing

COMpiLER™ is specifically designed to provide clients immediate feedback on their system issues. Once Oakwood University gave the green light, Apple Pi was able to schedule and run COMpiLER™ within 3 business days. “Initially we had to have IT download some software because of a firewall issue but that was resolved with minutes. It was a smooth process. I expected it would take hours. But the report was completed in what seemed like ten minutes,” said Director Gunn Clarke.

COMpiLER™ Deliverables

The Apple Pi team has implemented PowerFAIDS® hundreds of times and consulted with hundreds of schools. During the 17 years of providing consulting services, they have identified best practices and, conversely, common poor practices. Based on that experience, Apple Pi Consulting designed the database audit tool, COMpiLER™. The tool identifies over one hundred common processing, compliance, and configuration issues within PowerFAIDS® databases.

The COMpiLER™ deliverables include: a complete document of all returned values except when reporting on student records (those are simply aggregated for statistical reporting) as well as a series of appendices with student level data (these reports are not collected by Apple Pi Consulting to protect student PII).

“I love the comprehensive report. It is very detailed. And I really appreciate the Excel spreadsheets of individual student records we need to review. Those Excel reports are one of the best aspects of COMpiLER,” Director Gunn Clarke shared. She indicated she did not know what to expect at first but now, “…I’m very happy we went through this process, especially for the findings. We want to generate accurate data. This report helped us narrow down to the major issues.”

Outcomes

COMpiLER™ is designed to bring into focus those areas that are not currently designed according to best practices so schools can take advantage of those best practices and secure better outcomes for students.

Director Gunn Clarke indicated the engagement helped improve a wide range of areas from cleaning up document assignment to being able to better understand how to interpret existing selection sets. She went on to say, “Running the COMpiLER definitely translates into improving student packaging. We want to ensure students are receiving the most they are eligible for from the beginning, not adding awards as we discover them. With COMpiLER, we can see what to improve to have better student packaging outcomes.”

“Absolutely, without a doubt, I would recommend PowerFAIDS® schools use COMpiLER™.”

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