Student 2017/18: Support guides
This page provides an overview of the 2017/18 Student collection (C17051).
This should be used alongside the C17051 coding manual, which provides more detailed, technical information about the collection.
Need help? Contact us by email or on +44 (0)1242 211144
Student overview
We collect data across a number of streams. These streams focus on different aspects of higher education.
The Student stream collects data about students studying at higher education providers in the UK. Details of which students need to be returned to us are included in the Coverage document found in the Coding manual.
The data we collect on behalf of the sector is provided to governments and fundng bodies in order to support the regulation of higher education. We also make anonymised data available to the public to enhance understanding of UK higher education and to support its advancement
Our coding manuals provide you with all the necessary documentation to support your data return. The coding manual contains technical documents giving detailed information on the record's coverage, data specification and submission formats. Familiarising yourself with these documents will help you make an accurate and timely return.
Each collection has its own coding manual which can be found in the Data collection section of our site. By default, you will land on the open collection for each record; you can then select previous or future years.
The coding manuals will be updated throughout the data collection cycle and Record Contacts informed by email when new versions are made live. Be sure to check the manual's Revision history for a summary of changes.
You submit data via our Data Collection system. To access this, you will need to have an appropriate role in our Identity System (IDS). We publish an IDS user guide which includes information on creating and editing your account.
You will need to be given access to the Data Collection system by the relevant Record Contact at your provider.
Once you have access to the system you will be able to upload files and track the progress of the collection.
The coding manual homepage includes all the technical information you require, including:
- The data specification
- File format specifications
- A detailed collection schedule
- Our XML data entry tool (available for some streams)
- Quality rules.
This Support guides page collects together the following resources:
- User guide
- Data collection system: Known issues and release history.
In the Support area of the HESA website, you can find:
- User guides for our Identity System (IDS) and Issue Management System data quality database (HESA subscribers only).
- Support with using XML files
- Our XML amalgamator tool and Validation kits available for some collections.
Our Data innovation section includes information about:
- Open and recently completed record reviews, including information about changes we are implementing
- Our Data Futures programme which will transform the higher education information landscape.
In the About section, you can find:
- Details of who we are and what we do
- Information about data protection
- Information for providers including the Code of practice for HE data collections, and information about subscription rates and the fixed database facility.
Our expert analysts have a thorough understanding of our records and processes. We are here to support you throughout the data submission process.
Our JISCMail groups allow you to discuss specific streams with colleagues from across the sector. We also use the lists to circulate news regarding data requirements and coding manual and validation kit releases.
Preparation guide C17051
Release - overview
For the C17051 Student record, we adopt an agile approach to data collection. Functional components of the system are being released incrementally during the period leading up to full functionality being released in July. This approach gives more flexibility in when data can be submitted. This in turn provides a longer window for data quality checks to be made.
Details of the contents of each release so far can be found in the Release History section of this page.
HESA Amalgamator tool
For the C17051 collection you need to submit a single file containing full data. Each subsequent file you upload will replace the previous one. If you prepare your data in multiple *.xml files, our XML amalgamator tool will combine these records prior to submission.
Changes to the Student Record
There have been several changes to the Student Record when compared to C16051. These are highlighted in our Annual Update and Supplementary Changes. It is important that providers are aware of all the changes for C17051.
DfE (previously NCTL) Performance Profiles
As in the previous year, a full commit will not be required to populate the DfE Performance Profiles and meet the deadline. As long as valid data has been received that generates all possible reports (i.e. data does not fail Entry Profile or other fundamental rules) then data will also successfully transfer to the DfE webservice.
HEFCW will provide, as in previous years, end of year monitoring (EYM) tables and other analyses through IRIS. The EYM tables will be available earlier than the rest of the analyses and HEPs are encouraged to look at them at the earliest opportunity to ensure that any errors in the student record that lead to incorrect information appearing in the tables can be resolved in plenty of time. Welsh HEPs are reminded that HEFCW staff are available at [email protected] if there are any questions about the EYM tables or any other part of the HEFCW IRIS output.
Providers in Scotland should record the rest of UK students paying deregulated tuition fees as being 'eligible to pay home fees' (code 1 for FEEELIG) and as being on the 'post-September 2012 fee regime' (code 20 for FEEREGIME).
Providers in Scotland are reminded that student carers are identified for the first time in the C17051 Student record, see the CARER field.
OfS would like to remind providers about the importance of meeting the published collection schedule. For registered providers, the OfS will monitor compliance with ongoing conditions of registration.
Together with the UK funding councils, we have published a code of practice on data collection, which came into practice from the reporting year 2015/16. You will wish to ensure that your 2017/18 returns are prepared in a way that is consistent with the code.
Validation kit
The validation kit for the 2017/18 student data is available to download. A user guide for the kit is available from the same link. This gives you earlier access to validation processes and allows you to test against a wider set of quality rules.
Please note that if you have a previous version of our validation kit it will not be updated to include the C17051 quality rules. You will need to download the new validation kit.
Minerva queries
We expect you to respond to all queries raised within the collection window. As a guide, these queries should be answered within 5 working days.
Data collection system releases and known issues
All reported issues relating to this collection are available under Known issues. These include any fixed and open issues that we are aware of.
Derived field specifications
Full details of the derived fields that we use in analysis of the C17051 Student record data are available from the C17051 coding manual.
Record contact changes
The record contact is the first point of communication during data collection. Access to our data collection system is also managed by the nominated record contact. If these details change please ensure you notify Liaison to prevent any delay in the granting of this access.
Data collection system: Release history and known issues
| Issue Summary | Status | Date raised | Date resolved |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Issue ID: 67276 - GO population report The CENSUS column in the GO sruvey population download (for both XML and CSV) has 'DEC' instead of 'Dec' as is says in the specification. Please note: this will not be fixed for C17051 now and this report will not exist in C18051 anyway as this was only an interim solution for this year. From next year you should get your Graduate Outcomes population from the Graduate Outcomes provider portal. |
Open | 12 November 2018 | |
|
Issue ID: 67215 - Continuity Population The Expected Instance Population report has a couple of bugs. 1) the YEAR field is populating with 2016, instead of 2017. 2) the XML tags are incorrect, it should be <TARLROW> (same thing we did last year!) Resolution: This has been fixed. Providers will need to download another version from their dashboard to get thier fixed report. |
Closed | 2 November 2018 | 23 November 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 66037 - Credibility Reports The Credibility report ITT3 is not populating correctly with the Undergraduate Opt-in students that it should be including. |
Closed | 22 October 2018 | 30 October 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 64791 - Quality Rules The QR.C17051.Student.TTPCODE.12 rule is triggering incorrectly, as the postcode lookup file has trailing spaces which is causing the lookup to fail on valid postcodes. |
Closed | 19 September 2018 | 11 October 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 63906 - Credibility Reports The Credibility reports download buttons are not working on the specific tables boxes, but the overall download is still working. |
Closed | 7 September 2018 | 20 September 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 64006 - Quality Rules The QR.C17051.Instance.YEARPRG.3 business rule is triggering incorrectly - where Instance.YEARPRG, Instance.UNITLGTH and Instance.SPLENGTH fields don't exist it shouldn't be triggering. |
Closed | 12 September 2018 | 20 September 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 63726 - XTARIFF The XTARIFF appendix has had the '+'s in the qualification grades (which is QUALTYPE ID 'IB Bonus points' that could have grades +1, +2 or +3 with Tariff scores - 40 80 and 120 respectively) has been accidentally removed. This will affect the XTARIFF derived field and also the QR.C17051.QualificationsOnEntry.QUALGRADE.2 error is now triggering incorrectly. Providers who are triggering the exception rule and want to progress further should contact [email protected]. |
Closed | 30 August 2018 | 20 September 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 63673 - Quality Rules The QR.C17051.Instance.FUNDCOMP.11 exception rule is triggering incorrectly - it is triggering for FUNDCOMP codes other than 9 (when the rule only specifies code 9). |
Closed | 30 August 2018 | 12 September 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 62965 - Quality Rules The QR.C17051.Instance.FEEWAIVETYPE.6 is triggering incorrectly - it is picking up instances where the sum of associated Module.CRDTPTS equals 10 exactly, and it shouldn't be. |
Closed | 15 August 2018 | 30 August 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 62756 - Quality Rules In the Continuity Report A the rule QR.C17051.EntryProfile.QualificationsOnEntry.10 (CheckID 4.11.w) triggers but does not display the records when you click on the rule for more details. However, these records are displayed if you download the .csv file. |
Closed | 3 August 2018 | 30 August 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 62376 - Quality Rules The QR.C17051.QualificationsOnEntry.QUALTYPE.2 rule is triggering incorrectly, when a student holds both QUALTYPEs WE and WS - which should be allowed. |
Closed | 31 July 2018 | 16 August 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 60680 - static data The cost Centre rules QR.C17051.ModuleSubject.COSTCN.4-9 were still looking at C15051 data for 'last year student FTE'. This should have been updated to C16051 this year. |
Closed | 27 June 2018 | 5 July 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 60545 - static data The URN static data was missing some URNs in the list we downloaded. This is referenced in quality rule QR.C17051.ITTPlacement.PLMNTSCH.2 for example. |
Closed | 26 June 2018 | 28 June 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 59449 - Quality Rules The QR.C17051.Instance.AIMTYPE.6 and QR.C17051.Instance.AIMTYPE.7 exception rules are incorrectly triggering when a provider might not have ILRGEN=1 in their file. |
Closed | 11 June 2018 | 5 July 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 58866 - Derived Fields The XTPOINTS derived field doesn't seem to be calculating correctly. In one example it was not de-duping correctly for RE (reformed Alevel) and IE (Int bacc) QUALTYPEs. |
Closed | 1 June 2018 | 21 June 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 57096 - Quality Rules The QR.C17051.Instance.AIMTYPE.4 rule is incorrectly triggering for REDUCEDI = 04 students, when these are outside of the coverage of the AIMTYPE field. |
Closed | 19 April 2018 | 24 May 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 56079 - QualificationsOnEntry.QUALGRADE field length to be increased Currently any valud entries greater than 11 cannot be entered, for example 'No overall grade' and 'No known grade'. Note: We are going to remove the two long character grades 'No overall grade' and 'No known grade' from the QUALGRADE field, so there will be no changes required to the data collection system. This will be fixed in the next coding manual release (version 1.5). |
Closed | 28 March 2018 | 2 May 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 47737 - Quality Rules Please note that the static data used to validate PREVINST.8 has not yet been updated for 2017/18. This is expected to happen around June. |
Closed | 28 March 2018 | 24 May 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 56023 - Quality Rules Providers in Wales that trigger any of the Module.FRANIND.1-4 rules rules will experience a system error. We are currently working on this and will fix as a priority. |
Closed | 27 March 2018 | 12 April 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 56008 - Quality Rules The Engagement.ApprenticeFinances.1 rule needs to be updated to cater for Non-funded apprenticeships. |
Closed | 26 March 2018 | 12 April 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 47710 - static data Please note that the static data that is used to validate the rules around FE Learning aims (LARS), has not yet been updated for 2017/18. For example the QR.C17051.Engagement.ENGAIM.1 rule. This is expected to happen around April. |
Closed | 21 March 2018 | 26 April 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 55902 - Schema valid files The data collection system is not accepting self-closing tags in provider's files. For example "<APFINDATE/>". These files are running properly in the validation kit, so please use this in the meantime if you are experiencing this problem. Note: We have realised that the above description is not actuallyt the problem. APFINDATE is a mandatory field and should have a min occurence of 1 (it's currently 0). This is therefore falling over when a provider submits thier file, as it needs a value in there. This will be fixed by amending the XSD files in a future coding manual release. |
Closed | 20 March 2018 | 2 May 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 55662 - Quality Rules The QR.C17051.QualificationsOnEntry.QUALSBJ.2 business rule error, is indicating that qualification type 'WS', should have a subject code of 'WBA'. However, this should actually be a subject code of 'SCC'. |
Closed | 6 March 2018 | 29 March 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 55248 - Schema changes The changes to schema in ITTSCHMS field (adding codes 7 and 8 back in) was not fully taken throughout the system. This has caused a provider to fall over in the system, and may cause others to error. In the meantime, please don't submit any files with codes 7 and 8 in the ITTSCMS field. This will be fixed and released this week. |
Closed | 13 March 2018 | 15 March 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 54841 - Quality Rules The new warning business rules QR.C17051.QualificationsAwarded.QUAL.17 was incorrectly triggering when no codes ending in '91' were returned in the QUAL field. |
Closed | 2 March 2018 | 15 March 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 54823 - Schema changes The changes to schema in coding manual release 1.4 was not fully taken throughout the system. This caused a couple of providers to error in the derived field process. |
Closed | 2 March 2018 | 2 March 2018 |
|
Issue ID: 53039 - ILR generation file A provider has caused an error with their ILR file generation. If you don't supply a Learner FAM entity and the student is coded DISALL = 4, it falls over and can't create the ILR file. |
Closed | 2 February 2018 | 5 February 2018 |
| Release ID | Release date | Release summary |
|---|---|---|
| 80A | 30 October 2018 | The sign-off email which goes out when providers are credible has had the date amended, following changes to deadlines recently. |
| 79B | 25 October 2018 | The sign-off form has been amended to remove the paragraph in section B, relating to English ITT provision. |
| 79A | 16 October 2018 |
The sign-off form has been updated to amend the sign-off deadline. The NSS report pdf has been update to correct the dates - it was incorrectly displaying the previous year. There is no impact to the data in the report, just the supporting documentation. An update to the UKRLP look up table has been issued, affecting a number of quality rules including EntryProfile.PREVINST.4 and 8. Instance.STULOAD.5 was triggering incorrectly but this has now been fixed. |
| 78 | 11 October 2018 |
Drill-down functionality has been added to credibility tables SBJ1 and SBJF1. The Unistats table 3 download is now available - a bug was preventing this from working. QR.C17051.Instance.ENDDATE.15 and QR.C17051.Instance.ENDDATE.16 have been updated to only use data going back as far as 2013/14. |
| 77B | 27 September 2018 | The PGR transfers in report wasn't generating correctly when providers pressed the commit button. This has now been fixed. |
| 77A | 20 September 2018 |
Credibility report downloads have now been fixed - to fix bug 63906 QR.C17051.Instance.FEEWAIVETYPE.6 - fixing bug 62965 again QR.C17051.Instance.YEARPRG.3 - to fix bug 64006 QR.C17051.QualificationsOnEntry.QUALGRADE.2 - the Tariff fix has now been applied, so this rule should now be triggering correctly and the XTPOINTS derived field is calculating correctly. The following exception rules have been added back into the system: QR.C17051.QualificationsOnEntry.QUALGRADE.6, QR.C17051.QualificationsOnEntry.QUALGRADE.7 and QR.C17051.Entryprofile.POSTCODE.6 rules |
| 76 | 12 September 2018 |
The following bugs have been fixed in this release:
Another version of the ONS post code static data has also been updated - this is likely to be the last update for C17051, so please contact Liaison if you have any further problems. |
| 75 | 30 August 2018 |
Commit button and Sign-off form are now available to providers.
The following business rules have been amended:
On the Continuity Report A - EntryProfile.QualificationsOnEntry.10 has been amended - to fix bug 62756
|
| 74 | 16 August 2018 |
The FEQAIMC report is now available to providers. Update to the LARS static data - used in QR.C17051.FEQAIMC.5 rule. Update to the schools lookup table - used in QR.C17051.EntryProfile.PREVINST.4 rule and checkdoc PIs. Amended 2 rules:
The folllowing rules have had OWNQUAL added to the list of fields to display:
|
| 72 | 18 July 2018 |
The following updates have been made to Credibility reports and tables:
The UKRI (previously RCUK) Look-up data has now been updated - this is used in validation rules. The C17041 Provider Profile data has now been loaded - this is used in validation rules (e.g. QR.C17051.Instance.CAMPID.1). The Checkdoc report is now available to providers. There is now a draft version of the NSS report available. Please be aware that this is an early version and therefore may not be correct. The final version will be released in the coming weeks, once any changes for this year have been agreed with OfS. |
| 71B | 5 July 2018 |
The Credibility reports are now all rolled forward for 2017/18 - static data and year references have all been updated for this year, but none of the changes to the tables have been made yet. These will be in the coming sprint. The IRIS report is now working for providers in Wales only - just for the EYM report for the time being. Other reports, and IRIS for providers in England, Northern Ireland and Wales will be developed in future weeks. The Expected Instance report is now available for all providers. Amended 3 exception rules:
|
| 71A | 28 June 2018 | The URN static data was downloaded again and updated - to fix bug 60545. |
| 70 | 21 June 2018 |
XTPOINTS derived field has been amended to use the latest appendix file - to fix bug 58866. The following reports have been updated and are now available to providers:
The postcode static data has been updated. |
| 69 | 6 June 2018 |
Amended 1 business rules:
Amended 2 exception rules:
A number of static data has been updated:
|
| 68 | 24 May 2018 |
Amended 1 exception rule:
Amended 1 business rule:
Added 1 business rule:
All Continuity rules have now all been rolled forward. The following rules have been changed:
The UKPRN static data has been updated - to fix bug 47737. This means PREVINST.8 rule will now be using the latest set of lookup data. The Data Supply report is now available. Changes that have been made this year are as follows:
|
| 67B | 10 May 2018 |
Added 1 exception rule:
Amended 4 business rules:
OFFA fees data has now been loaded - so the GROSSFEE rules will be working off the correct amounts for 2017/18. |
| 67A | 2 May 2018 |
The Graduate Outcomes population report is now available - this is for the first cohort only December 2018, as an interim solution. Once the Graduates Outcomes collection site has been developed, the full functionality for reviewing the population information and returning contact details will become available on the Graduate Outcomes collection site. The latest coding manual changes (verson 1.5) have been applied, so the new QUALGRADES can now be submitted to the data collection system. |
| 66 | 26 April 2018 |
Added 2 new exception rules (these new rules are to highlight records that need to be returned and potentially closed off. These will both be warnings in C17051 and then made errors in C18051):
Amended 1 exception rule (to use XTPOINTSGP01 derived field, instead of XTARIFFGP01):
The FE Learning Aims (LARS) static data has been updated - so bug 47710 is now closed. A whole number of derived fields have also been amended, including two new ones: XAPPMK01, XTPOINTSGP01. The Continuity Register has also been updated in this release, to add in some new fields and also remove some fields that are no longer needed. |
| 65 | 12 April 2018 |
Added 2 new exception rules:
Amended 11 exception rules (mostly to use XTPOINTS or XTPOINTSGP01 derived field, instead of XTARIFF or XTARIFFGP01):
Business rules QR.C17051.Module.FRANIND(1-3) have also been updated - to fix bug 56023. The postcode static data has been updated. |
| 64 | 29 March 2018 |
Amended 2 business rules:
Added 1 new exception rule:
Amended 4 exception rules:
The 2016/17 Student fixed database is now open to providers who need to fix data from the C16051 collection. |
| 63B | 14 March 2018 |
The exception rules have all been rolled forward now. Most of the amendments have also been made - though there are a few new rules to come in the next few weeks. Deleted 6 exception rules:
Amended 11 exception rules (mostly adding COURSEAIM M73 into the rules, or bugs from last year) :
Added 8 exception rules (mostly to enforce changes in coverage and around new codes):
The *J data for UCAS has been loaded into the system now - this is referenced in a number of rules. The system has been amended to fix bug 55248 (the schema error with ITTSCHMS field, codes 7 and 8). |
| 63A | 2 March 2018 | An interim release, to fix bug 54823 and the schema changes we made recently. As suspected, this was the derived field process causing the errors. |
| 62 | 1 March 2018 |
The changes in the recent coding manual have now been updated in the system - for example the new valid entries in QUALGRADES and QUALTYPES, TQSSUB and TQGSUB fields etc. See the revision history for full details. Amended 3 business rules:
Added 9 new business rules (mostly around changes to funding for nursing, apprenticeship):
This completes all the business rules changes that we are currently aware of. Now we will move onto exception rules! |
| 61 | 15 February 2018 |
The web service for DfE to pick up ITT data for the Student record has now been opened. This is to allow the DfE plenty of testing time for their new data management system. Amended 6 business rules:
Added 5 new business rules:
The FE static data has been updated to remove LDA from the LearnerFAM entity and SPP from the LearningDELFAM entity. These are used in the rules: LearnerFAM.LEARNFAMCODE.1 and LearningDeliveryFAM.LEARNDELFAMCODE.1. |
| 60 | 5 February 2018 |
The Entry Profile Match report is now available to providers. We have amended 26 business rules in total and 1 new business rule added. Amended 13 business rules to include COURSEAIM code M73:
Amended 6 business rules to removal REDUCEDI code 07:
Amended 5 business rules due to changes in maximum fee chargeable:
Amended 2 other business rules, for other reasons:
1 new business rule:
A fix for bug 53039, so the ILR generation will now be working correctly again. We have updated the file generation process to cater for this scenario. |
| 59 | 18 January 2018 |
The 7 QUALTYPEs that were fixed in coding manual version 1.3 are now able to be returned in the data collection system. Deleted 1 business rule:
Amended 14 business rules (mostly to remove TTCID code F):
Also a number of quality rules have had plain English translations added. |
| 57 | 14 December 2017 |
Amended 12 business rules (mostly COURSEAIM D01 removed):
Deleted 20 business rules:
|
| 56 | 8 December 2017 |
Our work to start rolling forward C17051 has started now. Schema updates have been made to reflect recent changes in the coding manual - for example the new QUALTYPE and QUALGRADE fields are now usable in the data collection system and validation kit. Rolled forward all derived fields from C16051. Please be aware that this means the changes for 2017/18 have not yet been made. Amended 18 business rules (many are due of removing COURSEAIM D01 or removing TTCID F):
|
| 54 | 9 November 2017 |
One new business rule has been added:
|
| 52 | 11 October 2017 |
Some minor bugs have been fixed in this release:
QR.C17051.Instance.INITIATIVES.37 - COURSEAIM L99 has been added into the business rule. The coding manual links from quality rules have all been fixed. This is when you are in the Quality Rules Report and click on the coding manual link in the rule (right corner); or when you are in the validation kit and right click on a rule. |
| 50A | 5 September 2017 |
Some minor changes have been to quality rules:
|
| 49 | 30 August 2017 |
Dashboard page A number of minor updates have been made to the user interface on the dashboard page, including:
|
| 48 | 22 August 2017 |
The data collection system for the 2017/18 Student record is now open. The validation kit is now available. This will allow users to validate their XML against the revised schema that caters for Apprenticeship Standards. If you already have the validation kit installed there is no need to install a new version. If you do not currently have the validation kit installed, you can access it by going here. This includes the rolled-on business rules from the 2016/17 record. The ILR file generation tool capability has also been introduced in this release. The terms and conditions for using the ILR generation tool have been reviewed this year (see www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/c17051/apprenticeship-data-processing-terms for more details). You will now be required to contact [email protected] to let us know if you would like to use the ILR generation tool. If you haven't informed us that you would like to opt-in, then the system will not allow you to send apprenticeship data and you will not be able to continue with your submission. |
| Month | Scheduled areas of work |
|---|---|
| 2018 |
There are no planned upcoming releases. |
Stages of data submission
A. Sending data
Send data by clicking on the 'send data' button in the data collection system. Note that actions not currently available will be greyed out.
Browse your computer to locate the file you wish to submit, and upload the file to the data collection system.
Tips:
- Files can have any name
- Files must be in XML and conform to the relevant XML Schema Definition (XSD) file
- Files can be compressed using PKZip/WinZip which will significantly reduce the upload time
- Only a single file can be held on the system.
B. Validation
Automated validation checks (quality rules) will now run.
Further details on the quality rules which apply to this collection can be found in the coding manual.
The Quality rules report will contain the details of any rules triggered by the submission. Make any necessary amendments to the data and resubmit the file to the system. To pass validation, the file must not trigger any validation errors.
You can run some of these validation checks through our validation kit before submitting data to the data collection system. The kit enables you to test your data locally against schema and business stage validation rules prior to submission. You are strongly encouraged to use the validation kit as part of your data preparations.
Remember that you need to process and pass the business-stage validation in order to meet the requirements of the return deadline.
How to obtain a switch
When errors are triggered in the Data Collection system but the data has been checked and is genuine, you need to request a switch. This is because your file will not pass the validation requirements of the collection deadlines if there are any remaining errors.
Please email your switch request to Liaison, stating which rule is causing the error to be triggered and for how many records, together with an explanation as to why the data is genuine.
This will then be forwarded to your funding council/regulator for them to review. They may agree the switch, ask for more information or state how they wish the data to be returned so that an error is no longer triggered.
This request should be sent well in advance of any deadline, to allow sufficient time for a decision to be made.
When a switch has been agreed, it will be applied to your data for the count specified and the data will be reprocessed. This will resolve the error.
If the count increases, the rule will be triggered again, and you will need to request that the count on the switch be increased. This will be forwarded to your funding council/regulator for approval.
To proceed to the next stage in the submission process, a valid file needs to have been submitted. The data will then be classed as 'committable' and the option to process a COMMIT transaction will be made available through the data collection system.
Prior to committing data, you should review all of the reports produced on the data collection system and make any necessary corrections to the data.
The COMMIT transaction sends a copy of your submission to our data quality assurance team and, where appropriate, to the relevant funding council. We analyse your return in parallel with your own analysis.
Decommitting
A passed commit transaction will lock the system to prevent the data from being amended. This is to allow our data quality assurance team to analyse the submission. To unlock the system you will need to request a DECOMMIT transaction.
Request a decommit by email or on +44 (0)1242 388531
Remember that you need to process and pass a COMMIT transaction in order to meet the requirements of the commit deadline.
Once we have analysed your committed return, data quality queries will be posted onto the Issue Management System data quality database. Relevant users will be notified by email when these queries are available to view. The Issue Management System user guide provides help on using the Issue Management System.
Once your data has passed all the stages of validation, and any issues highlighted during credibility checking have been addressed, we will set the return to CREDIBLE. This produces the sign-off form.
When data is set to credible, a link to the sign-off form is automatically emailed to the head of the submitting organisation as well as the appropriate record contact. The form should be completed and signed by the head of the reporting organisation and returned to us by email or post. This verification offers both you and us assurances regarding onward use of the data.
Sign-off completes the data collection process.