Staff record 2014/15
Data collection schedule
Version 1.0 Produced 2015-02-26
This document is designed to guide higher education providers (HEPs) through the stages of data submission for the Staff record.
At a glance
| August 2014 to March 2015 | HEPs' local preparation | 
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| Early March 2015 | Check data locally using the validation kit | |
| May to July 2015 | Pre-Collection Validation System | |
| July 2015 | Preparation guide released | |
| August 2015 | Data collection opens | |
| 30 September 2015 | Return date | |
| 15 October 2015 | Commit date | |
| 15 October to 12 November 2015 | Data quality checking period | |
| 12 November 2015 | Last submission | |
| 13 November 2015 |
Sign-off |
The above graph details the expected curve of sector activity during the data submission period.
August 2014 to March 2015: HEPs' local preparationBack to top
HEPs should read the Coding manual and associated documentation for details of the requirements for the return.
During these months HEPs will need to load and maintain local Staff record systems including: starters/leavers, promotions and grade information.
If you have any queries with the requirements of the Staff record please contact Institutional Liaison.
Early March 2014: Check data locally using the validation kitBack to top
The validation kit is made available to download from: Validation kit. The first version of the kit is a roll-on using the previous collection's Business stage quality rules and is released early to assist HEPs in preparing their data whilst the new rules are finalised at HESA. The second release of the validation kit containing the Business stage quality rules for the current collection will be made available in late April 2015.
The kit enables HEPs to test their data locally against the Business stage quality rules ahead of the main collection opening in the summer. HEPs are strongly encouraged to use the validation kit as part of their data preparations.
Further details on the checks included in Business stage quality rules can be found within the Data items.
A guide to using the validation kit can be found in Help with validation kits. Alternatively please contact Institutional Liaison.
May 2015 to July 2015: Pre-Collection Validation SystemBack to top
The Staff Pre-Collection Validation System (Cyy025) provides an opportunity for HEPs to expose their data to a wide range of checks before the HESA data collection system opens.
The PCVS system provides the following functionality:
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Business stage validation | These reports detail any errors or warnings triggered by the submission. |
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Exception stage validation | Exception stage validation checks and reports will not be implemented until the main data collection system opens in August. | ||
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Frequency counts |
This report counts the data submitted for all records listed by data item and valid entry. | ||
HESA does not monitor or store data submitted by HEPs to the PCVS system.
Access and PIN codes for this system will be distributed to Staff record contacts when the system opens.
July 2015: Staff preparation guideBack to top
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 HEPs to pay particular attention to during coding and submission.
Notification of the publication of this guide will be sent to Staff 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.
August 2015: Data collection opensBack to top
The HESA data collection system opens around 6 weeks ahead of the return date providing HEPs with the opportunity to further test files against the full range of Quality rule checks ahead of the return date deadline.
Access and PIN codes for this system will be distributed to Staff record contacts when the system opens.
HESA monitors all transactions on the system to ensure HEPs are progressing reasonably and not encountering difficulties. However if you require assistance with the submission process, please contact Institutional Liaison.
30 September 2015: Return dateBack to top
HEPs are required to send complete data that has passed the Business stage quality rules to HESA by 30 September 2015.
A single Business stage quality rule failure will result in no data being imported into the system.
Business stage quality rules are listed within the Data items. Data which fails the Quality rules will not be considered to have been returned to the Agency.
15 October 2015: Commit dateBack to top
HEPs are required to send complete data that has passed the Exception stage quality rules to HESA by 15 October 2015.
The Exception stage quality rules will be made available under the 'Submission process and quality assurance' section of the coding manual.
Data which fails the Quality rules will not be considered to have been returned to the Agency.
The TEST_COMMIT facility is available for the majority of the data collection period.
This facility allows HEPs to process a transaction, which, if successful will generate reports for scrutiny. These reports are for HEPs' purposes only and will not be checked by HESA. Details of these reports are provided below.
HEPs 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 HEPs to view the commit reports and assess submitted data for anomalies before processing a full COMMIT to be scrutinised by HESA.
15 October 2015 to 12 November 2015: Data quality checking periodBack to top
A successful COMMIT will generate several reports containing managment information that HEPs will need to review to assess data quality. These reports for review are:
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Check documentation | This Excel workbook contains a series of tables presenting much of the submitted data to enable HEPs to check that their submission presents their HEP as expected. Included within these tables is a cross-comparions of the use of cost centres between the Staff record, Student record and Finance Statistics Return. HEPs are encouraged to liaise with colleagues responsible for these other returns to ensure commonality in use of cost centres. |
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Check documentation compare facility |
This icon is available against every recommit made by the HEP. This icon highlights 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. |
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Frequency counts |
This report counts the data submitted for all records listed by data item and valid entry. |
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Exception report |
This report details any Exception stage quality rules errors/warnings triggered by the submission. |
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Expected contact population for 2014/15 | The expected contact population for 2014/15 is a list of ACT 1-3 staff for whom a record is expected in the 2014/15 return. The list consists of records that have been returned as 'live' in 2013/14. |
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Data Supply | This icon provides HEPs with the derived field populations used by HESA to populate the items displayed within the check documentation. These derived fields can be used by HEPs to re-create these items. |
HEPs are required to review the reports and to resubmit data in order to resolve data quality issues. HEPs 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 HEPs may need to submit, commit, review and decommit their data several times to ensure the final submission is credible.
During this period Data Quality Analysts at HESA will also examine data committed by all HEPs. If any anomalies are found queries will be raised through Minerva. Nevertheless HEPs are in a better position to recognise more detailed anomalies within their data, using local knowledge of the intricacies of their own HEP. As a consequence HEPs 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.
12 November 2015: Last submissionBack to top
In order to meet obligations for hand-over of data to its customers, HESA needs to receive all data files by 12 November 2015.
13 November 2015: Sign-offBack to top
As part of the data quality assurance procedures, HESA requires the return to be signed-off by the head or acting head of your HEP. This verification offers both the HEPs and HESA assurances regarding onward use of the data. Sign-off completes the data collection process.
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On the system your HEP'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 scanned and emailed back to [email protected]. Please note that the transaction number on the sign-off form must correspond to that of the data being signed-off. |
Note: HEPs should download and keep copies of all relevant reports that they are likely to need during the year, as it will be necessary to restrict access to the site after the submission deadline.
Onward use of Staff record dataBack to top
Following the close of the data collection all data submitted will be passed to HESA's Statutory Customers and also to the HESA Information Services team.
Data is also used by HESA in the following ways:
Staff in Higher Education Providers publication
Performance Indicators in Higher Education
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General data enquiries
Need help?
Contact Liaison by email or on +44 (0)1242 388 531.