Aggregate Offshore record 2018/19 - Data collection schedule

Back to C18052

Version 1.0 Produced 2019-04-17

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

Detailed requirements

August 2018 to March 2019: Providers' local preparation

HEPs should read the C18052 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 C18052 Aggregate offshore record please contact Institutional Liaison.

April 2019: Validate data locally using validation kit

The C18052 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 C18052 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 2019: 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 2019: Data collection opens

The C18052 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 2019: Return date

HEPs are required to send complete data that has passed Business stage validation to HESA by 30 September 2019.

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 2019: Commit date

HEPs are advised to send complete data that has passed Exception stage validation to HESA by 13 October 2019.

Exception stage quality rules are to be published as part of the next manual release (scheduled June 2019).

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

13 October to 07 November 2019: 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.

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 completion of this process data will be set to credible.

07 November 2019: 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 2019.

11 November 2019: 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.

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 C18052 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.