Meshed Platform eCAF Integration Overview
The Meshed Platform can be integrated with the Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (eCAF) System. An eCAF is required to be submitted by eligible students who wish to use HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP to pay their tuition fees. The eCAF system facilitates access to HELP loans, removing the requirement for paper CAFs or maintenance of in-house eCAFs. The eCAF System does not provide eligibility verification. Confirming a student's eligibility remains the responsibility of the Provider. The interchange of data between the Meshed Platform and eCAF System eliminates the need to double handle data and minimises the possibility of data inconsistency.
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The Meshed Platform integration uses the application programming interface ("API") for the eCAF System to interchange data between two systems.
Meshed Platform eCAF Integration Configuration
To enable the integration in the Meshed Platform, the following information needs to be configured:
In the Meshed Platform navigate to Admin > Configuration and Setup.
Select Provider Info
Enter the required values in the eCAF Information section
Click Update
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NOTE: All eCAF users are required to have individual access credentials. If access has not been granted to the eCAF system to the organisation, please contact the department (HigherEd Providers) at heenquiries@education.gov.au or VETStudentLoans@dewr.gov.au (VET Student Loans Providers) to receive the eCAF API access details.
eCAF Enrolment Information
The eCAF Enrolment Information for Eligible Students is mapped as below in the Meshed system;
Field | Mapping | Example | Notes |
Student ID | Student ID | ACME20242532 |
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Student Name | Student Name | eCAF Test1 |
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Citizenship Status | TCSI Student Information>> Citizenship Code | 8 |
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Date Of Birth | Date Of Birth | 19/04/2000 |
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Provider Trading Name | Provider Name | Higher Education Training Institute |
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Campus Name | Campus | Sydney |
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CHESSN | TCSI Student Information>> CHESSN | (Valid CHESSN) |
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USI | USI | (Valid USI) |
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TFN | TCSI Student Information>> TFN | (TFN as per ATO algorithm) |
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Course Of Study Code | National Code | 1111 |
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Student Course Status | Student Course Status | Enrolled |
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FEE-HELP | Course FEE-HELP type | FEE-HELP |
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Est Course Cost | Tuition charged fee | 20,000.00 |
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Est Duration Months | Course Duration | 26 |
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Enrolment Date | Application Submitted | 19/04/2024 |
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Census Date | Census Date | 29/09/2024 | Census date will be the first subject enrolment census date if subject enrolment exists. Else, the semester census date is reported as the census date to eCAF |
Academic Suitability | TCSI Student Course Information>> Academic Suitability | AqfCertificate | If no Academic suitability is recorded, a default value of Year12Certificate is sent to eCAF |
Submission of an eCAF from the Meshed Platform
To submit an eCAF using the Meshed Platform, the following steps are required:
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Filter | Description |
FEE-HELP | This filter is used to list out students based on the course FEE-HELP type i.e., FEE-HELP or HECS-HELP. The records can also be listed by selecting the dropdown value as TCSI. |
Search By and Search Value | The Search By filter allows to search for a particular record based on Student ID, First Name, Last Name, eCAF ID, or Course ID. |
Course Start Date From and Course Start Date To | These filters are used to bring records based on the course start dates. |
eCAF Filter | The list can be further filtered based on if the enrolment has an eCAF. The filter options are Has eCAF, No eCAF, or All. |
eCAF (API) Status Call | This parameter appears when the eCAF Filter is set to Has eCAF. By ticking this checkbox, the Meshed system communicates with the eCAF system to bring the current status of the student enrolments with eCAFs. |
TFN Provided | This parameter appears when the eCAF Filter is set to Has eCAF. This can be used to filter out students based on TFN provided or Not Provided. |
Select Student Course Status | This multi-select dropdown allows to select course statuses to bring the student records. The users are able to include or exclude certain course statuses. |
 | This icon appears next to a new enrolment record which is not pushed to eCAF via the API yet. By pressing this button, the enrolment can be sent to eCAF. |
 | This button is used to send the selected list of student enrolments from the grid in bulk to eCAF. |
 | This button is used to delete an existing eCAF for the student enrolment. |
| This button appears next to enrolments that have an eCAF ID but not a TFN recorded in the Meshed system. By pressing this button, the TFN can be retrieved from the eCAF record to our system, if existing. |
 | The Import All button is used to import all Missing TFNs for the students with a missing TFN from eCAF records in bulk. |
 | This icon appears on the top-right corner of the page when eCAF (API) Status Call is checked and at least one of the eCAF API status in the grid is Student Submitted. The button allows to Preset the Student Status codes in the Meshed system for the students who have submitted an eCAF form. FEE-HELP- Preset to 230 HECS-HELP- Preset to 201 VSL- Preset to 401 |
 | This icon allows to export the data listed in the grid in an Excel format. |
Academic Suitability
The Academic Suitability values for HELP eligible students must be provided when creating an eCAF.
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Once the academic suitability is selected from the dropdown list, the changes can be saved to send the values to eCAF.
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Sending Enrolment to eCAF
The student enrolment data is now ready to be pushed to eCAF. To send the enrolment to eCAF, go to the eCAF icon on the homepage or use the eCAF Management button available in the UI.
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As an eCAF exists for the student now, the value for Academic Suitability can no longer be updated and the field is disabled.
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Retrieving eCAF status in Meshed
Once an eCAF enrolment is pushed from the Meshed system, the eCAF status can be retrieved from the eCAF portal using the eCAF (API) Status Call (Auto-fetch data when search)button.
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When the student fills out the eCAF form, the API call will return the status “Student Submitted”.
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Retrieving TFN in Meshed from eCAF
If the student has submitted an eCAF in the eCAF portal, the TFN information can be imported back if not already existing in the Meshed system.
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The TFN also gets updated in the Student TCSI Information section as shown below:
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Preset Student Status Codes
Once the student eCAF has been submitted and the status retrieved by the API is Student Submitted, a new button Preset Status Code can be seen on the page. This icon allows to set the student status code (E490) for TCSI reporting in the system.
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When the student status code is now Preset as 230 it will also be updated for existing subject enrolment.
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Deleting an eCAF
An eCAF can also be deleted via the Meshed system using the API service if it has not been submitted by the student or the status of the eCAF is not Student Submitted.
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