06/04 - September

Dear Colleague

Web-based data capture for DLHE

DLHE circular 06_03 announced the development of the a centrally-hosted web-based DLHE questionnaire service. This circular provides details of the development and invites institutions to use the service for future DLHE surveys beginning with the 2005/06 (15 January 2007) survey which commences on 27 November 2006.

Overview of the DLHE survey system

The DLHE survey system is a web-based implementation of the standard DLHE questionnaire. It has - as far as is possible - validation checks built into the questionnaire to ensure that compulsory questions are answered and that the response is internally consistent. The system will be available in the Welsh language for leavers from institutions in Wales.

Institutions will be able to download the responses from their leavers through the HESA data collection interface (submit.hesa.ac.uk). These responses will need to be SIC and SOC coded and then incorporated with the rest of the institution's submission. A description of the file structure for the download can be found in the appendix to this circular.

The resources to support this development have been incorporated into the annual subscriptions paid to HESA by all HE institutions. The use of this service by institutions is entirely optional.

Use of the service by leavers

Leavers should be directed to www.dlhe.ac.uk. The first screen will be a language selection screen (English or Welsh). If the English language is selected, a map of the UK - split by country and region - will be displayed. From this map a list of institutions in each region that are using the system will be displayed - the leaver should select the institution from which they have graduated.

If the Welsh language is selected, a map of Wales will be displayed with a list of the Welsh institutions that are using the system - the leaver should select the institution from which they have graduated.

The next stage will be for the leaver to enter their personal details: name and address and, if specified by the institution, a student identifier and/or PIN number (see below). Once complete, the leaver will then work through the standard DLHE questionnaire.

By-passing the institution and language selection

Institutions that are using an email or a web interface to contact their leavers may link directly to the personal details page by using a URL in the form https://dlhe.hesa.ac.uk/default.aspx?INST=xxxx where xxxx is the HESA institution identifier. If the institution identifier is that of an institution in Wales the leaver will be directed to the language selection page then the personal details page. If the institution is not in Wales the leaver will be directed to the personal details page and the form will be presented in English.

Use of the service by HE institutions

Configuration of the system for each institution will be via a simple control panel, accessed through the HESA data collection interface (submit.hesa.ac.uk). There are three sections to this panel:

1. A section to indicate whether the institution wishes to be included in this service
2. A section to indicate whether a student identifier question is included on the personal details screen
3. A section to indicate whether a PIN question is included on the personal details screen

Only those institutions that use the control panel to indicate their use of this service will be shown on the institution selection page used by leavers.

The student identifier and PIN fields can be used by institutions to aid the matching of responses to the DLHE target list. For both of these fields their completion can be defined as mandatory, optional or not at all. If mandatory or optional are selected then the length of the fields can be specified and validated by the system. The student identifier can be specified up to 20 characters and the PIN can be specified up to 10 characters in length. If no length is specified then any length (up to the maximum lengths) will be allowed by the system.

A mock-up of the control panel can be seen here.

User support

HESA will provide support to HE institutions during normal office hours. The first line of support to leavers should be the relevant HE institution.

Next steps

Access codes for the control panel and data download will be issued to record contacts during the week beginning Monday 9 October. Also at this time the survey system itself will be mounted on the web servers. This release of the survey system will coincide with system testing within HESA and is therefore to be considered a beta release (i.e complete and functioning but subject to final testing and sign-off). Institutions are encouraged to use this time to configure and test the system for their own purposes. The final release of the system will be made available during November and any test data submitted by institutions will be removed from the system on Friday 24 November 2006.

If you have any questions in the mean time, please contact the Institutional Liaison team at HESA.

Yours sincerely

Andy Youell
Director of Quality and Development