C10052 Check documentation guide

Aggregate offshore record 2010/11 

Introduction to check documentation  

A successful TEST_COMMIT/COMMIT transaction will generate check documentation reports containing management information that institutions will need to review to assess data quality.

Check documentation takes the form of an Excel workbook containing a series of tables which present much of the returned data to enable institutions to ensure that their submission represents their institution as expected. In part check documentation provides a preview of some of the onward uses of the data. Therefore review of the check documentation should be undertaken by institutions to verify the submitted data.

Colleagues within institutions are in an excellent position to recognise more detailed anomalies within their data, using local knowledge of the intricacies of their own institutions, and are strongly encouraged to closely scrutinise the check documentation reports. The check documentation is also used by HESA to conduct data analysis and quality assurance of a data submission. Queries raised on these items form the basis of any data quality queries fed back to institutions through the Minerva data quality database.

This guide details each of the items in turn, providing details of the fields used in their creation along with guidance on interpreting the item and tips detailing common issues. Note that this guide is not exhaustive and institutions are advised to extensively review the check documentation for their own purposes.

Where institutions have returned data by institutional campus, using Provision.INSTCAMP, check documentation comparison sheets will be produced for each Provision.INSTCAMP as well as for the institution as a whole.  

What to do if you find issues within your check documentation: 

Where anomalies are found you should record them on any relevant Minerva queries raised by HESA and set the queries to be fixed on resubmission. The institution should then contact liaison@hesa.ac.uk to request that the data is decommitted in order that the necessary amendments can be made and the data resubmitted.  

Check documention - Comparisons sheet 

Those items contained within the Check Documention Comparisons sheet are deemed to be critical by HESA. These items detail the number of offshore students for the institution in the reporting year and their locations. For both these tabulations a comparison is made with the data reported in the previous reporting year. Any issues found within these tables should be treated as a priority. 

ITEM 1 - Number of offshore students by Level and Type (Derived from Provision.LEVEL, Provision.TYPE) 

The Groupings used for Level are:

PRIORITY: CRITICAL

This item displays an institution's offshore student numbers by type and level of provision. Student numbers are used extensively. Aggregate Offshore data informs Transnational Education (TNE) enquiries handled by the HESA Information Provision team and this data is also included in heidi - the Higher Education Information Database for Institutions.

DESCRIPTION: This item details offshore student numbers by type and level of provision. Figures are provided for both the current and previous reporting year to provide a comparison along with percentage and total number differences between 2009/10 and 2010/11.

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR: Check that the numbers are as expected. All variations of greater than 10% should be checked. All differences of this magnitude should be addressed and/or explained as necessary. It is recognised that institutions' offshore provision may develop and change between years. Where this is the reason for significant changes between years, institutions should provide brief details through the Minerva data quality database.

TIPS: 

• Small student number changes can shift percentages significantly 
• Check for similar spread of type of provision compared to previous year. Significant shifts may indicate a change of coding of Provision.TYPE between years for the same provision. This should either be corrected or explained.

ITEM 2 - Number of offshore students broken down by Type and Geographic Region (Derived from Provision.TYPE, Provision.COUNTRY) 

PRIORITY: CRITICAL

This item displays an institution's offshore student numbers by geographical region. There is considerable interest in where offshore provision is taking place, both from statutory customers and official bodies and in data enquiries handled by the HESA Information Provision team.

DESCRIPTION: This item details offshore student numbers by geographical region. Figures are provided for both the current and previous reporting year to provide a comparison along with percentage and total number differences between 2009/10 and 2010/11.

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR: Check that the numbers are as expected. All variations of greater than 10% should be checked. All differences of this magnitude should be addressed and/or explained as necessary. It is recognised that institutions' offshore provision may develop and change between years. Where this is the reason for significant changes between years, institutions should provide brief details through the Minerva data quality database.

TIPS: 

• Small student number changes can shift percentages significantly 
• Check for similar geographical spread of provision compared to previous year. Significant shifts may indicate the possible omission of a group of students from the return. 
• Tabulations in check documentation are by geographical region. Detailed feedback on numbers returned by individual Provision.COUNTRY codes are reported in the Frequency Counts.