HE-BCI record 2018/19 - Data collection schedule
HE-BCI record 2018/19 - Data collection schedule
Version 1.0 Produced 2019-10-02
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 2019 | Providers' local preparation |
| October 2019 | Preparation guide released |
| November 2019 | Data collection opens |
| 16 December 2019 | Return date |
| 16 December 2019 to 24 January 2020 | Data quality checking period |
| 24 January 2020 | Last submission |
| 29 January 2020 | Sign-off deadline |
Detailed requirements
From August 2019: Providers' local preparation
HEPs should read the C18032 HE-BCI coding manual and associated documentation for details of the requirements for the return.
If you have any queries with the requirements for C18032 please contact Liaison.
October 2019: 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 Liaison.
November 2019: Data collection opens
The C18032 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 C18032 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 C18032 coding manual. Please note that data must be returned to HESA on the templates provided. The C18032 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 Liaison.
16 December 2019: Return date
HEPs are required to send complete data that has passed exception stage validation to HESA by 16 December 2019.
To meet this deadline HEPs are required to submit and commit both components: C18032 HE-BCI Part B and C18032 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 2019 to 25 January 2020: 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 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.
By this stage, providers will have committed their data, which is then checked by Data Quality Analysts at HESA. If any anomalies are found, queries will be raised through the Minerva data quality database. Nevertheless providers are in a better position to recognise more detailed anomalies within their data, using local knowledge of the intricacies of their own organisation. As a consequence providers are required to either amend and resubmit their data to resolve them or provide an explanation as to why these apparent anomalies are genuine. In closing queries in Minerva and marking as genuine data, HESA are not accepting that the data is correct, HESA are acknowledging that the provider has given an explanation. It remains the provider’s responsibility to ensure that the data submitted conforms to the guidance and quality expectations set out on the HESA website.
Upon satisfactory completion of this process data will be set to credible.
24 January 2020: Last submission
In order to meet obligations for hand-over of data to its customers, HESA needs to receive all data files by 24 January 2020.
29 January 2020: 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 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.