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HESA Student record 2010/11

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HESA Student record 2010/11

Student collection 2010/11


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Version 1.0 Produced 2011-04-28

Timescales - 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 2010 to March 2011 Institutions' local preparations Submission timeline
April 2011 Validate data locally using validation kit
June to July 2011 C10051 Pre-collection validation system
June/July 2011 C10051 preparation guide released
August 2011 C10051 data collection opens
15 September 2011 Return date
22 September 2011 Commit date
22 September to 31 October 2011 Data quality checking period
31 October 2011 Last submission and sign-off

The above graph details the expected curve of sector activity during the data submission period of August to the end of October 2011.

Detailed requirements

August 2010 to March 2011: INSTITUTIONS' LOCAL PREPARATION


Institutions should read the C10051 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 C10051 please contact Institutional Liaison at [email protected].


April 2011: VALIDATE DATA LOCALLY USING VALIDATION KIT


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

The C10051 validation kit is made available to download from: Validation kits 2010/11.

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.

A guide to using the validaition kit can be found at Help with XML validation kits. Alternatively please contact Institutional Liaison ([email protected]).


June to July 2011: C10051 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 Entry Profile 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.
Frequency Counts Frequency Counts These counts detail the data submitted for all records listed by field and valid entry.

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 2011: C10051 STUDENT PREPARATION GUIDE


In advance of the main collection opening HESA releases a preparation guide. This 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.

Notification of the publication of this guide 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 ([email protected]).


August 2011: C10051 DATA COLLECTION OPENS


The C10051 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 C10051 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 ([email protected]).


15 September 2011: RETURN DATE

KEY DEADLINE

Institutions are required to send complete data that has passed insert-stage validation to HESA by 15 September 2011.

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 C10051 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 2011:COMMIT DATE


Institutions are advised to send complete data that has passed COMMIT-stage validation to HESA by 22 September 2011. This schedule allows the maximum amount of available time for data quality checking.

Commit-stage validation rules can be viewed at COMMIT-Stage validation. Data which fails validation will not be considered to have been returned to the Agency.

To be counted as having met this deadline one of the following submission statuses needs to have been met:


Committed Committed
Commit passed but HIN fail Commit passed but HIN fail

Note that failing the HIN checks does not prevent an institution from passing commit, and therefore meeting the commit deadline. Where HIN errors are encountered these should be resolved by the institution during the data quality checking period.

TEST_COMMIT

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.Details of these reports are provided below.

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.


22 September to 31 October 2011: 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:

Check documentation 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.

Check documentation compare facility Check documentation compare facility

This icon is available against every recommit made by the institution. This icon higlights changes between the two most recently processed test_commit/commit transactions. Cells highlighted in colour denote a change, by hovering the mouse over this cell the plus/minus difference between the two figures can be viewed.

Frequency counts Frequency counts

These counts detail the data submitted for all records listed by field and valid entry.

Exception Report 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 2011/12 return. The list consists of records that have been returned as 'live' in 2010/11.

TQI 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 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 2011/12 and therefore eligible to be included in the NSS census.

POPDLHE DLHE population (POPDLHE)

This report identifies students included within the 2010/11 DLHE target population The report includes both students with Instance.ENDDATE between 1 August 2010 and 31 December 2010 inclusive will have been surveyed in April 2011, and students with Instance.ENDDATE between 1 January 2011 and 31 July 2011 will be surveyed in January 2012. Coverage details for the 2010/11 DLHE record can be viewed at: C10018 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 2010/11 DLHE record (C10018), 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.

Submitted Processing Retrieved Information Reporting Interface Service (IRIS)

Following a successful COMMIT an automatic data feed will be sent to the relevant funding council to conduct reconciliation calculations. The results of these calculations will then be fed back onto the HESA Data Collection System for the institution to download. Note that this system runs alongside the HESA Data Collection System and will not impact on its data processing.


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.


31 October 2011: 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 31 October 2011.

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 institution'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 C10051 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.