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Aggregate offshore record 2015/16

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Aggregate offshore record 2015/16

Data collection schedule

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Version 1.0 Produced 2015-10-29

The below document is designed to guide Higher education providers (HEPs) through the stages of data submission for the Aggregate offshore record.

At a glance

August 2015 to March 2016 Providers' local preparation
April 2016 Validate data locally using validation kit
June 2016 Preparation guide released
August 2016 Data collection opens
30 September 2016 Return date
13 October 2016 Commit date
13 October to 7 November 2016 Data quality checking period
7 November 2016 Last submission
10 November 2016 Sign-off

Detailed requirements

August 2015 to March 2016: Providers' local preparation

HEPs should read the C15052 Aggregate offshore record coding manual and associated documentation for details of the requirements for the return.

If you have any queries with the requirements for the C15052 Aggregate offshore record please contact Institutional Liaison.

April 2016: Validate data locally using validation kit

The C15052 validation kit will be made available to download from Validation kits.

The kit enables HEPs to test their data locally against the Business stage validation ahead of the main collection opening in the summer. Providers are strongly encouraged to use the validation kit as part of their data preparations.

Further details on the checks included in Business stage validation can be found within the field details of the C15052 field list and detail.

A guide to using the validation kit can be found in Help with XML validation kits. Alternatively please contact Institutional Liaison.

June 2016: Preparation guide released

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 providers to pay particular attention to during coding and submission.

Notification of the publication of this guide will be sent to Aggregate offshore record contacts, and is also circulated on sector mailgroups such as the HESA-STUDENT JISC mailgroup. If you would like to join HESA-STUDENT please contact Institutional Liaison.

August 2016: Data collection opens

The C15052 collection database opens on the Data collection site around 4-6 weeks ahead of the return date providing HEPs with the opportunity to further test files ahead of the return date deadline.

Record contacts are expected to log into the Data Collection System through the HESA Identity System this year. Emails will be distributed reminding record contacts to sign up to the IDS and with further details of how to grant access to colleagues.

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 2016: Return date

HEPs are required to send complete data that has passed Business stage validation to HESA by 30 September 2016.

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

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

13 October 2016: Commit date

HEPs are advised to send complete data that has passed Exception stage validation to HESA by 13 October 2016.

Exception stage quality rules are to be published as part of the next manual release (scheduled June 2016).

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

13 October to 7 November 2016: Data quality checking period

A submission which successfully passes Exception stage validation will generate several reports. Providers are required to review the reports and resubmit data in order to resolve data quality issues.

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 de-committed 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 de-commit 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 with the HEP, via Institutional Liaison, to the Aggregate offshore record contact. 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 to Institutional Liaison as to why these apparent anomalies are genuine.

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

7 November 2016: Last submission

In order to meet obligations for hand-over of data to its customers, HESA needs to receive all data files by 7 November 2016.

10 November 2016: Sign-off

As part of the data quality assurance procedures, HESA requires the return to be signed-off by the head of your provider, or by a person with suitable authority. This verification offers both the HEPs and HESA assurances regarding onward use of the data. Sign-off completes the data collection process.

On the system, the provider'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: Providers 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 C15052 Aggregate offshore record data

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.


Need help?

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