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HESA Student Record 2008/09

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HESA Student Record 2009/10

Timescales for data collection


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Version 1.2 Produced 2010-06-30

C09051 Student Record - stages of data submission

The below document is designed to guide institutions through the stages of data submission for the Student Record.

At a glance

August 2009 to March 2010 Institutions' local preparations
March 2010 Validate data locally using validation kit
June to July 2010 C09051 Pre-collection validation system
June/July 2010 C09051 Pre-collection circular
August 2010 C09051 data collection opens
15 September 2010 Return date
22 September 2010 Commit date
22 September to 29 October 2010 Data quality checking period
29 October 2010 Last submission and sign-off

Detailed Requirements

August 2009 to March 20010: INSTITUTIONS' LOCAL PREPARATION


Institutions should read the C09051 Student Record coding manual and associated documentation for details of the requirements for the return.

During these months institutions will need to load and maintain local student record systems including: registration, enrolments, qualfications and UCAS data for HESA (formerly *J transaction).

If you have any queries with the requirements for C09051 please contact Institutional Liaison at [email protected].


March 2010: VALIDATE DATA LOCALLY USING VALIDATION KIT


HESA's data quality assurance processes are outlined in the Validation overview.

The C09051 validation kit is made available to download from: Validation kits 2009/10.

The kit enables institutions to test their data locally against the insert-stage validation ahead of the main collection opening in the summer. Institutions are strongly encouraged to use the validation kit as part of their data preparations.

Help with using the validation kit can be found in Help with XML validation kits. Alternatively please contact Institutional Liaison ([email protected]).



June to July 2010: C09051 PRE-COLLECTION VALIDATION SYSTEM



The Student Pre-Collection Validation Systems (PCVS) provide an opportunity for institutions to expose their data to a wide range of validation checks before the data collection system opens.

Further details on the checks included in INSERT-stage validation can be found in the Validation overview.

The PCVS system provides the following functionality:

Validation error Validation warning
Validation summary
INSERT-stage validation
These reports detail any validation errors or warnings triggered by the submission.
Entry Profile Match Report Entry Profile match report. This report lists any incoming instances submitted without Entry Profile data do not link to instances returned in previous collections. The EntryProfile entity must exist where the corresponding Instance has not been previously reported (i.e. cannot be found on the HIN/EntryProfile register).
Exception Report Exception Report
A simplified COMMIT transaction running a wide range of exception stage validation checks.
Note that the full range of COMMIT checks and reports will not be implemented until the main data collection system opens in August.

HESA does not monitor or store data submitted by institutions to the PCVS system.

Access and PIN codes for this system will be distributed to Student Record contacts when the system opens.


June to July 2010: C09051 PRE-COLLECTION CIRCULAR


In advance of the main collection opening HESA releases a pre-collection circular. This circular provides further guidance of the requirements for the collection year, with particular reference to any areas HESA's statutory customers wish institutions to pay particular attention to during coding and submission. The pre-collection circular will be made available at: Student Record circulars.

Notification of the publication of this circular will be sent to Student Record contacts, and is also circulated on sector mailgroups such as the Admin-HESA JISC mailgroup. If you would like to join Admin-HESA please contact Institutional Liaison([email protected]).

 

August 2010: C09051 DATA COLLECTION OPENS


The C09051 collection database opens on the submit site around 4-6 weeks ahead of the return date providing institutions with the opportunity to further test files against the full range of validation and exception checks ahead of the return date deadline.

For a user guide for the submission of C09051 Student Record data please visit Student Record (Cyy051).

Access and PIN codes for this system will be distributed to Student Record contacts when the system opens.

HESA monitors all transactions on the system to ensure institutions are progressing reasonably and not encountering difficulties. However, if you require assistance with the submission process, please contact Institutional Liaison.


15 September 2010: RETURN DATE

KEY DEADLINE

Institutions are required to send complete data that has passed insert-stage validation to HESA by 15 September 2010.

A single validation failure will result in no data being imported into the system.

Insert-stage business validation rules are listed within the field list and detail section of the C09051 coding manual. The insert transaction diagram illustrates the validation process that data files will be subjected to.

Data which fails validation will not be considered to have been returned to the Agency.


22 September 2010: COMMIT DATE


Institutions are advised to send complete data that has passed COMMIT-stage validation to HESA by 22 September 2010. This schedule allows the maximum amount of available time for data quality checking.

Commit-stage validation rules can be viewed at COMMIT-Stage validation.

The Test-Commit facility is available for the majority of the data collection period.
This facility allows institutions to process a transaction, which, if successful will generate commit stage reports for scrutiny. These reports are for institutions' purposes only and will not be checked by HESA. Institutions are strongly encouraged to make use of the TEST_COMMIT facility as part of their data preparations. TEST_COMMIT serves as a useful interim facility in the data collection process. The facility enables institutions to view the commit reports and assess submitted data for anomalies before processing a full COMMIT to be scrutinised by HESA.

Data which fails validation will not be considered to have been returned to the Agency.


22 September to 29 October 2010: DATA QUALITY CHECKING PERIOD


A successful COMMIT transaction will generate several reports containing managment information that institutions will need to review to assess data quality. These reports for review are:

Hesa checkdoc Check documentation This Excel workbook contains a series of tables presenting much of the submitted data to enable institutions to check that their submission represents their institution as expected. Included within these tables is a cross-comparions of the use of cost centres between the Student Record, Staff Record and Finance Statistics Return. Institutions are encouraged to liaise with colleagues responsible for these other returns to ensure commonality in use of cost centres.
Aardvark_logo_freq_count.gif Frequency counts
These counts detail the data submitted for all records listed by field and valid entry.
Aardvark_logo_v2.gif Exception Report
This report details any COMMIT-stage validation errors/warnings triggered by the submission.
Hin Report HIN Report HIN checks are made to ensure that instance-specific information remains consistent year-on-year. Further information on HIN can be found at: Year-on-year linkage (HIN).
HIN Target List HIN Target List The HIN target list is a list of students for whom a record is expected in the 2010/11 return. The list consists of records that have been returned as 'live' in 2009/10.
TQI Tables Teaching Quality Information (TQI) This report details Teaching Quality Information to be passed to Unistats for display on their website http://www.unistats.com/.
NSS Data and Information National Student Survey (NSS) The National Student Survey (NSS) report identifies undergraduate students expected to be in the final year of their course in the academic year 2010/11 and therefore eligible to be included in the NSS census.
DLHE Target List

DLHE population (POPDLHE)

This report identifies students included within the 2009/10 DLHE target population The report includes both students with Instance.ENDDATE between 1 August 2009 and 31 December 2009 inclusive will have been surveyed in April 2010, and students with Instance.ENDDATE between 1 January 2010 and 31 July 2010 will be surveyed in January 2011. Coverage details for the 2008/09 DLHE Record can be viewed at: C09018 Coverage of the record.

Record contacts should liaise with colleagues in the Careers Service to ensure that the right graduates are included in this report that will be required for the 2009/10 DLHE Record (C09018), as the POPDLHE cannot be rectified once the Student Record has closed.

Data Supply

Data Supply

This icon provides institutions with the derived field populations used by HESA to populate the items displayed within the check documentation. These derived fields can be used by institutions to re-create these items.

Institutions are required to review the reports and to resubmit data in order to resolve data quality issues. Institutions can contact Institutional Liaison throughout this period to request their data is decommitted in order to make adjustments to the submission. The data quality checking period is an iterative process during which institutions may need to submit, commit, review and decommit their data several times to ensure the final submission is credible. The commit transaction diagram illustrates this iterative process.

Institutions may also wish to decommit their return during this period in order to include results from late examination or re-sit boards.

During this period Data Analysts at HESA will also examine data committed by all institutions. If any anomalies are found queries will be raised through the Minerva DQ database. Nevertheless institutions are in a better position to recognise more detailed anomalies within their data, using local knowledge of the intricacies of their own institution. As a consequence institutions are required to either resubmit their data to amend these anomalies, or provide an explanation through Minerva as to why these apparent anomalies are genuine.

Upon satisfactory completion of this process data will be set to credible.


29 October 2010: LAST SUBMISSION AND SIGN-OFF


In order to meet obligations for hand-over of data to its customers, HESA needs to receive all data files by 29 October 2010.

As part of the data quality assurance procedures, HESA requires the return to be signed-off by the head of your institution. This verification offers both the institutions and HESA assurances regarding onward use of the data. Sign-off completes the data collection process.

Sign Off Slip
On the system your instituton's data will be set to credible and a new icon will be made available from where the sign-off form can be downloaded and completed. Once completed, the form should be posted back to HESA at the address in the bar below. Please note that the transaction number on the sign-off form must correspond to that of the data being signed-off

Note: Institutions should download and keep copies of all relevant reports that they are likely to need during the year, as it will be necessary as access to the site will be restricted after the collection has closed.

 


Onward use of C09051 Student Record data

 

Following closure of the data collection system all data submitted will be passed to HESA's Statutory Customers.

Data is also used by HESA in the following ways:
Student Qualifiers and Enrolments Statistical First Release
HESA Students in Higher Education publication
Performance Indicators in Higher Education
heidi
General data enquiries

Contact Liaison by email or on +44 (0)1242 388 531.