Ellucian Colleague

This guide documents the configuration required for Meadow's Colleague integration via Ellucian Ethos Integration. It covers Ethos setup, API access requirements, the Colleague Web API, SSO, and the Colleague configuration needed for payment post-back.

1. Solution Overview

1.1 What Is Meadow?

Meadow is a modern, mobile student accounts receivable (A/R) solution helping hundreds of colleges and universities recover more A/R and re-enroll more students by automating the entire pre-collections and accounts receivable process. The platform enables schools to:

Notify students of outstanding balances
Offer payment options and payment plans
Automatically follow up on unpaid balances
Post payments directly back into the SIS

1.2 Scope of Integration

Meadow's Colleague integration is fully API-driven through Ellucian's Ethos Integration platform, with bi-directional data flow between Colleague and Meadow.

Colleague → Meadow, imported through Ethos APIs and Colleague Web APIs routed through Ethos:

Academic calendar data (terms and academic periods)
Student data
Student charge data (account activity)

Meadow → Colleague:

Payment post-back using the student-payments Ethos API

1.3 Integration Architecture

Colleague. The system of record for student accounts, charges, and balances.
Ethos Integration platform. Ellucian's integration platform exposing standardized APIs for Colleague data.
Meadow. Imports SIS data via Ethos, processes payments, and posts payments back to Colleague.

Data flow: Colleague → Ethos APIs → Meadow, and Meadow → Ethos APIs → Colleague.

1.4 Implementation Timeline

Configure networking, DNS, email allow-listing, and SSO.
Configure Ethos integration access.
Enable and validate SIS data imports.
Configure and validate payment post-back.

2. Data Imports Overview

Academic calendar data. Academic periods and term start and end dates. Lets Meadow determine billing timelines and when balances become past due.
Student data. Demographic and enrollment information used to identify student accounts, communicate with students, and associate payments with the correct record.
Charge data. Charges and transactions representing student balances: tuition, fees, deposits, financial aid adjustments, refunds, and payments. Retrieved through Colleague Web APIs exposed through Ethos Integration.

3. Data Import Workflows

3.1 Authentication

POST /auth authenticates with Ethos Integration and returns a JWT used for subsequent requests.

3.2 Academic Calendar Data

GET /api/academic-periods retrieves academic calendar data (academic periods).

3.3 Student Data

Student selection: GET /api/student-academic-periods retrieves student IDs associated with each academic period.
Student data retrieval: GET /api/persons/{studentId} retrieves name, date of birth, contact information, and identifiers.

3.4 Charge Data

Charge data is retrieved using the Colleague account activity APIs.

Retrieve student charge terms: GET /api/account-activity/admin/{studentId} determines which terms contain account activity.
Retrieve detailed charge data: GET /api/account-activity/term/admin/{studentId}?TermId={term} returns charges, deposits, financial aid, refunds, and payments.

Queries run in parallel for multiple students, and include a NON-TERM query for transactions not associated with an academic term.

4. Ethos Integration Configuration

4.1 Create Colleague Integration Users

Create two users, one for production and one for staging. The typical naming convention is meadowethos. See Ellucian's documentation on Colleague users for Ethos Integration.

4.2 Assign Required Permissions

API	Colleague permission
`persons`	VIEW.ANY.PERSON
`person-holds`	VIEW.PERSON.HOLD, UPDATE.PERSON.HOLD
`person-restrictions`	VIEW.PERSON.RESTRICTIONS
`students`	VIEW.STUDENT.INFORMATION
`student-academic-programs`	VIEW.STUDENT.ACADEMIC.PROGRAM
`student-academic-periods`	VIEW.STUDENT.ACADEMIC.PERIODS
`student-payments`	CREATE.STUDENT.PAYMENTS, REVERSE.STUDENT.PAYMENTS
`account-activity`	VIEW.STUDENT.ACCOUNT.ACTIVITY
`academic-periods`	No additional permissions required
`accounting-codes`	No additional permissions required

4.3 Configure Owned Resources for the Account Activity APIs

In Ethos Integration:

Navigate to the Colleague application.
Select Owned Resources.
Add a new resource named account-activity.

Required paths:

/api/account-activity/admin/{studentId}
/api/account-activity/term/admin/{studentId}
/api/account-activity/period/admin/{studentId}

Leave URI Override and QAPI URI Override empty.

5. Colleague Web API Configuration

The Colleague Web API must be installed to support charge imports. If your institution uses Colleague Self-Service, it is typically already installed. It must be accessible through Ethos.

6. Networking and SSO Configuration

School-specific DNS and networking requirements are provided in a separate document from your Meadow contact.

6.1 SSO Configuration

Meadow supports SAML 2.0. To integrate with your SSO provider:

Receive Meadow's SAML metadata. Meadow sends a metadata file containing the Entity ID and public certificate.
Configure your SSO provider. Create a SAML integration for Meadow in your provider (Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace, Shibboleth). Most providers accept the metadata file directly; otherwise enter the Entity ID and certificate manually.
Configure claims and attributes. Include Email and EmployeeId (mapped to the student ID in your system). Claim names are case-sensitive.
Provide federation metadata. Send Meadow your Federation Metadata XML URL or file from your IdP.
Final confirmation. Meadow validates SSO and confirms successful authentication before enabling it for all users.

7. Posting Back Payments

Colleague remains the source of truth for student account balances. A payment is not considered complete until it has been successfully posted back to Colleague. Post-back has two parts: granting the Ethos integration user the student-payments API, and configuring the CDAP screen in Colleague.

7.1 Configure the CDAP Screen

Configure the Accounts Receivable Integration Parameters (CDAP) screen. Some tasks may require collaboration with the billing office.

Step 1: Access the CDAP screen

In Colleague, navigate to the Colleague Integration Parameters (CDIP) screen.
Click Accounts Receivable to open CDAP.

Step 2: Configure payment processing settings

Create a cashier for Meadow (CSHS, Cashier Setup). You can use the Meadow person record created earlier in the integration or a new one. Disable E-Commerce and copy cashier defaults from another cashier. Set the new cashier in the Student Payment Cashier field. Including "Meadow" or "MDP" in the name helps clarity.
Set the Default AR Type according to your institution's accounts receivable policies.
Define a payment method for Meadow and set it in the Default Payment Method field, for example "MEAP MeadowPay".
Set Elevate Posting Performed in Colleague to N.

Step 3: Configure charge mapping and distribution codes

Leave Default Payment Sponsor, Sponsor AR Type, Sponsor AR Code, and the Default AR Codes Charge Type table empty. They are not required for Meadow transactions.
Create a new distribution code for cash receipts, enter it in the Distribution for Cash Receipts field, and send the value to Meadow. Example: "MDP Online Payment - Thank You".

7.2 Testing and Validation

Once CDAP configuration is complete, Meadow validates the setup with the billing office in staging before going live.

Meadow initiates a test transaction in the staging environment.
The billing office verifies the payment posted correctly in Colleague.
If issues arise, adjustments are made before moving forward.

7.3 Final Validation in Production

Meadow runs a controlled test in production with a test student to confirm payments process, funds post to student accounts, and charge type mappings and distribution codes work as expected.
The billing office confirms the test transaction is accurate in Colleague.
Once validated, Meadow is ready to go live.