Finance Statistics Return (FSR) with Higher Education-Business Community Interaction (HE-BCI) Survey
To access the data collection system you will need to register for the FSR with HE-BCI collection (C11031) on the HESA submit website. For assistance with registration please view the Registering for the system help page.
Stages of data submission:
1. Submitting and validating FSR and HE-BCI Part B data
3. Completing and submitting HE-BCI Part A
The diagram below demonstrates the data submission process.
Stage 1: Submitting and validating FSR and HE-BCI Part B data
A. Sending data
Send data by clicking on ‘Send some or all of submission to HESA' in the ‘What can I do now?' box.
Browse your computer to locate the file you wish to submit, and upload the file to the data collection system. Click on the 'submission status' link to navigate back to the transaction history page to view the outcome of submission.
Tips:
- The template can be saved with any name
- Only one file can be sent at a time
- The system does not support Excel 2007.xlsx files. If you are using Excel 2007 or newer, please 'Save as Type' Excel 2003.xls format or older.
- Files must be returned using the most recent template (.xls) provided by HESA. The templates for the FSR and HE-BCI Part B can be downloaded from the C11031 FSR with HE-BCI coding manual.
B. Validation
Insert-stage validation checks will now run. This the validation embedded into the templates. To pass insert-stage validation the file must not trigger any validation errors. Validation errors and warnings are listed in cells D2 and D3 of the Excel templates. To pass validation these counts should be at zero.
i. What to do if the file fails validation
If the file fails validation the system will show the below status and reports. You should review the errors (and warnings if any). Make any necessary corrections to the data and resubmit.
| Transaction result | Reports |
 |
   |
*Note: Corrections cannot be made online to the file submitted to the data collection system and instead must be made to the template held locally, and the file then resubmitted.
This is the validation error icon. You will encounter this icon if the file fails validation. Click on this icon to review the errors triggered by the file. To pass INSERT-stage validation you will need to resolve all errors listed within the report.
ii. What to do when the file passes validation
You should review any validations warnings relating in the webform to ensure that the submitted data is genuine or correcting and resaving the data where necessary.
This is the validation warning icon. You will encounter this icon where the validation raises a potential issue.
Stage 2: Committing data
To proceed to commit-level validation a valid file needs to have been submitted and passed INSERT-stage validation checks for both the FSR and HE-BCI Part B. The data will then be classed as committable and the option to process COMMIT and TEST_COMMIT transactions will be made available in the ‘What can I do now?' box. Note that the HE-BCI part A does not need to be submitted for a full or test commit to be made. The submission of the HE-BCI part A is independent of this action and can occur either before or after the commit.
A. TEST_COMMIT
Click on ‘TEST_COMMIT this submission' in the ‘What can I do now?' section. The HESA data collection system assumes that all the submitted files that have passed validation represent the institution as a whole and as such, stacks up all files that have passed INSERT-stage validation and runs COMMIT level checks.
i. What to do if the file fails TEST_COMMIT?
If the file fails TEST_COMMIT level checks the system will show the status and reports below. You should review the error report produced, make any necessary corrections to the file and resubmit it.
| Transaction result |
Reports |
| |
 |
You will encounter this icon following COMMIT-stage validation. Click on this icon to review the errors triggered by the file. Make any necessary amendments to the data and resubmit the file to the system. Exception reports are retained for all commit transactions enabling you to assess variations in levels of exception errors and warnings between transactions.
ii. What to do if the file passes TEST_COMMIT?
If the file passes TEST_COMMIT it will generate the suite of commit reports (See FSR with HE-BCI Survey collection report key for details). These reports should be reviewed to ensure that the submitted data is an accurate reflection of the institution's profile. Help on how to analyse the check documentation can be found in the C11031 Check Documentation Guide.
| Transaction result |
Reports |
 |
  |
What is the difference between TEST_COMMIT and COMMIT? In terms of the validation processes run by the system there is no difference between these transactions. The only difference between the two transactions is that the reports generated from the TEST_COMMIT transaction are for institutional use only. The facility enables institutions to view the commit reports and assess submitted data for anomalies before processing a full COMMIT transaction to be scrutinised by HESA.
Following a successful TEST_COMMIT transaction institutions do not have to contact HESA to 'DECOMMIT' the return; changes can be made to the submission by inserting and/or deleting files in the normal way.
B. COMMIT
Once your file has passed TEST_COMMIT and you are content with the data contained within, you should process a COMMIT transaction. This transaction will then send a copy of the submission to the HESA Data Quality Assurance team for HESA to undertake analysis of the return in parallel with the institution conducting their own analysis.
i. What to do if the file fails COMMIT?
If the file fails COMMIT level checks the system will show the status and reports below. You should review the error report produced, make any necessary corrections to the file and resubmit it.
| Transaction result |
Reports |
| |
|
You will encounter this icon following COMMIT-stage validation. Click on this icon to review the errors and warnings triggered by the file. Make any necessary amendments to the data and resubmit the file to the system. Exception reports are retained for all commit transactions enabling you to assess variations in levels of exception errors and warnings between transactions.
Deleting files
Where you need to make amendments to data the system will automatically delete the older version of the file.
Why can't failed files be deleted?
Where a file fails INSERT-stage validation the data contained within it is not uploaded to the HESA database and so will not be counted as part of the return.
The data collection system will provide a second version of the check documentation for every re-commit processed by an institution. This version of the check documentation presents a colour shaded version of the Excel spreadsheet with variances being highlighted.
ii. What to do if the file passes COMMIT?
If the file passes COMMIT it will generate the suite of commit reports (See FSR with HE-BCI Survey collection report key for details). These reports should be reviewed by the HEI to ensure that the submitted data is an accurate reflection of the institution's profile. HESA will also review these reports.
| Transaction result |
Reports |
| |
|
Decommitting
A passed commit transaction will lock the system to prevent the data from being amended, in order to allow the HESA Data Quality Assurance team to undertake analysis of the submission. To unlock the system you will need to request a DECOMMIT transaction from HESA. This will reverse the current commit and allow you to delete, resend and recommit data.
I need to amend my data, how do I get it decommitted?
You will need to contact Institutional Liaison either by emailing liaison@hesa.ac.uk or calling on 01242 211144 to request a decommit transaction.
Remember that you need to process and pass a COMMIT transaction, and also submit the HE-BCI Part A web form in order to meet the requirements of the return date deadline of 15 December 2012.
Stage 3: Completing and submitting HE-BCI Part A
HE-BCI Part A is a web form. This form can be accessed from the 'Complete/Update HE-BCI Survey Part A web form' link in the 'What can I do now?' section. The web form is pre-populated with the previous year's data for reference. Validation is built into the form and is applied in real time as the form is completed.
Once all sections of the form have been completed and saved select the 'Return to HESA submit page' link located at the top of the web form contents page. To submit the form to HESA select the 'Submit completed HE-BCI Survey Part A web form' from the 'What can I do now?' section.
The option to submit HE_BCI Part A will only be available once all sections of the web form have been completed and have passed the embedded validation checks.
I need to amend Part A, how do I get back into the web form?
You will need to contact Institutional Liaison either by emailing liaison@hesa.ac.uk or calling on 01242 211144 to request that the web form is reopened.
Stage 4: Credibility checks
To proceed through the credibility checking process institutions are required to have submitted a passed COMMIT transaction, and also submited the HE-BCI Part A web form.
Once HESA has undertaken their analysis of the committed return data quality queries will be posted onto the Minerva DQ database. Record contacts, and any others users signed up to Minerva, will be notified by email when these queries are available to view. The Minerva user guide provides help on using the database.
The number of outstanding queries will be displayed in the 'What can I do now?' box in the data collection system and Minerva can be accessed through this.
Before a data return can be set to credible by HESA it is required that institutions respond to any outstanding data quality queries raised concerning the data submitted.
Stage 5: Sign-off
Once the data has passed all the stages of validation, and any issues highlighted during credibility checking have been addressed, HESA will set the return to CREDIBLE; this produces the sign-off form
A link to the sign-off form will automatically be emailed to the Head of the institution when data is set to CREDIBLE. The form should be completed and signed by the Head or Acting Head of the reporting institution and posted to HESA. This verification offers both the institutions and HESA assurances regarding onward use of the data. Sign-off completes the data collection process.
