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HE-BCI record 2016/17 - Data collection schedule

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HE-BCI record 2016/17 - Data collection schedule

Version 1.0 Produced 2017-08-14

The document below is designed to guide higher education providers (HEPs) through the stages of data submission for the HE-BCI record.

At a glance

From August 2017 Providers' local preparation
October 2017 Preparation guide released
November 2017 Data collection opens
16 December 2017 Return date
16 December 2017 to 25 January 2018 Data quality checking period
25 January 2018 Last submission
29 January 2018 Sign-off deadline

Detailed requirements

From August 2017: Providers' local preparation

HEPs should read the C16032 HE-BCI coding manual and associated documentation for details of the requirements for the return.

If you have any queries with the requirements for C16032 please contact Institutional Liaison.

October 2017: Preparation guide released

In advance of the main collection HESA releases a preparation guide. This guide 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 circular will be sent to the HE-BCI record contacts at your HEP, and circulated on sector mailgroups such as the HESA-HEBCI JISC mailgroup. If you would like to join this group please contact Institutional Liaison.

November 2017: Data collection opens

The C16032 collection database opens on the HESA data collection system a few weeks ahead of the return date providing HEPs with opportunity to test files ahead of the return date deadline.

The C16032 HE-BCI Survey Part B is required to be submitted in the format of an Excel workbook. The template for this record should be downloaded from the Downloadable files section of the C16032 coding manual. Please note that data must be returned to HESA on the templates provided. The C16033 HE-BCI Part A record takes the form of a web survey which will be accessible from the HESA data collection system when the collection opens in November. This form will be pre-populated where relevant with the data submitted by the HEP in last year's survey.

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

16 December 2017: Return date

HEPs are required to send complete data that has passed exception stage validation to HESA by 16 December 2017.

To meet this deadline HEPs are required to submit and commit both components: C16032 HE-BCI Part B and C16033 HE-BCI Part A.

HESA HE-BCI Survey collection contacts need to co-ordinate submission of both components to ensure the deadline is met.

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 HESA.

16 December 2017 to 25 January 2018: Data quality checking period

A submission which successfully passes exception stage will generate several reports containing management information that HEPs will need to review to assess data quality. These reports for review are:

Check documentation compare facility This report is available against every recommit made by the HEP. This report highlights changes between the two most recently processed 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.
Quality rules report This report details any Quality rule errors or warnings triggered by the submission.

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 Analysts at HESA will also examine data committed by all HEPs. If any anomalies are found queries will be raised through the Minerva DQ database. 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.

25 January 2018: Last submission

In order to meet obligations for hand-over of data to its customers, HESA needs to receive all data files by 25 January 2018.

29 January 2018: Sign-off deadline

As part of the data quality assurance procedures, HESA requires the return to be signed-off by the head or acting head of the HEP. 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 your data will be set to credible and a new button 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 Institutional Liaison. 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. This will be necessary as access to the site will be restricted after the collection has closed.


Need help?

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