05/01 - March
2004/05 Pre-Collection Validation System (REF: V04025)
Dear Colleagues
2004/05 HESA Staff Record Pre-Collection Validation System (REF: V04025)
The introduction of a new HESA Staff Record for 2003/04 saw a significant increase in the emphasis placed on the cross-record checks contained in the second-stage (COMMIT) validation.
97% of instititions failed at the second stage of validation during the 2003/04 collection.
During April HESA will open the Pre-Collection Validation System (PCVS) for the 2004/05 collection. This system will provide an opportunity for institutions to expose their data to the full range of validation checks in advance of the main collection opening in August.
The PCVS runs through the existing data collection framework. It provides an INSERT transaction that runs the first-stage validation checks and a simplified COMMIT transaction that contains the second-stage validation checks. The full range of COMMIT reports (check documentation etc.) will not be implemented until the main data collection system goes live at the beginning of August.
The PCVS is being implemented solely to help institutions identify problems in their data at an early stage. Data submitted to the PCVS will not be retained by HESA or forwarded to statutory customers.
The validation kits containing the full suite of first-stage validation will be published on the HESA web site when the PCVS goes live. We strongly encourage you to run these programs locally before data is submitted into the HESA systems.
Access codes for the PCVS - reference V04025 - will be sent to staff record contacts. We strongly encourage institutions to begin checking the quality of their data at the earliest opportunity; in our experience, the earlier you find an error, the easier it is to put right.
Further Information
If you have any queries on the issues raised in this Circular, please contact the Institutional Liaison team (Alison berry, Marietta Nkweta, Janet Earl or Clara Elcocks) at HESA, or email (liaison@hesa.ac.uk).
Yours sincerely
Andy Youell
Director of Quality and Development
