Aggregate Offshore record 2021/22 - Data collection schedule

Back to C21052

Version 1.1 Produced 2022-09-14

The document below is designed to guide providers through the stages of data submission for the Aggregate Offshore record.

At a glance

Missed deadlines

Please note that for this year, the below guidance on missed deadlines for the return, commit and final commit deadlines does not apply. Please see above for updated guidance on missed deadlines.

Providers are still required to meet the nil-return confirmation and sign-off deadline.

HESA is required to report any providers who miss any of the deadlines detailed in the schedule to the relevant statutory customer. These are the Return, Nil-return confirmation, Commit, Final Commit and Sign-off deadlines.

Providers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are required to complete an extension form if they anticipate that the Return and/or Commit deadline will be missed. Providers in England are required to complete a late form for all missed deadlines. Please note that the Accountable Officer is required to sign the late form for the Final Commit and Sign Off deadlines, however, they should be kept informed of any missed deadlines. For all administrations the reason for late submission or extension will be shared with your primary regulator or funder.

Providers are reminded to make use of the HESA Liaison team and to make them aware of any issues that could impact on your provider's ability to meet these deadlines.

Detailed requirements

From August 2021: Data capture and collation

Providers should read the C21052 Aggregate Offshore record coding manual and associated documentation for details of the requirements for the return.

During these months providers will need to load and maintain local student record systems, and in particular student registrations.

April 2022: Validate data locally using validation kit

HESA's data quality assurance processes are outlined in the Validation overview

The C21052 validation kit will be made available to download from Validation kits.

The validation kit enables providers to test their data locally ahead of the Data Collection System opening. Providers are strongly encouraged to use the validation kit as part of their data preparations.

August 2022: C21052 Data Collection System opens

The C21052 collection is available on the Data Collection System, giving providers the opportunity to test files against quality rules ahead of the return deadline.

It is a provider's responsibility to ensure that they are progressing reasonably towards the Return deadline; if any issues become apparent or you require assistance with the submission process then please contact Liaison. HESA does monitor provider interactions to feed into their own risk assessments and this information may be shared with the primary regulator or funder of a provider.

Access to the Data Collection System is granted by the Aggregate Offshore record contact via the HESA Identity System. An email will be sent to inform relevant colleagues when the Data Collection System becomes available. Please note that ahead of the collection opening, Aggregate Offshore record contacts are required to complete the Grantable Roles Review in the HESA Identity System. Further information on the review can be found in the IDS User Guide.

03 October 2022: Return

Providers are required to send one complete data file that has passed schema and business stage validation to HESA by 23:59 on 03 October 2022. Complete data is defined as all students that are in coverage of the record for the reporting year. It is not permitted to return dummy data.

Where business errors are triggering for genuine data, a switch will need to be requested. This request should be sent to Liaison by email detailing the rule and an explanation for why this data is genuine, in good time prior to the Return deadline.

03 October 2022: Nil-return confirmation

Providers are required to submit a Nil-return form to indicate that their provider has no provision which meet the eligibility criteria for the Aggregate Offshore Record as specified in the coverage of the record . The completed form needs to be emailed to Liaison before 17:00 on 03 October to guarantee this will be actioned by the deadline.

The form is available from the coding manual and needs to be signed by the provider's Accountable Officer (England) or Head of Provider.

14 October 2022: Commit

Providers are required to send complete data that has no remaining errors and have committed the data on the Data Collection System by 23:59 on 14 October 2022. This schedule allows the maximum amount of available time for data quality checking.

Where errors are triggering for genuine data, a switch will need to be requested. This request should be sent to Liaison by email detailing the rule and an explanation for why this data is genuine, in good time prior to the Commit deadline.

Where a provider requests that their file is decommitted before HESA data quality analysts have been able to check the file, this will count as a missed deadline.

14 October to 10 November 2022: Data quality checking period

This is an iterative process during which providers may need to submit, commit, review and decommit their data several times to ensure the final submission is credible. The suite of web reports available on the Data Collection System should be reviewed by the provider to ensure that the data submitted is a credible representation of your organisation.

During this period, HESA data quality analysts will examine data committed by all providers. If any anomalies are found, queries will be raised through the Issue Management System. It is recognised that 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 resubmit their data to amend these anomalies, or provide an explanation in the Issue Management System as to why these apparent anomalies are genuine.

HESA analysts aim to check files within 5 working days following a provider committing their file and responses to data quality queries raised by HESA will be reviewed within 2 working days. However, during busy periods, e.g. around the Commit deadline, please be aware that this may take slightly longer.

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

10 November 2022: Final Commit

Providers are required to commit their final file on the Data Collection System by 23:59 on 10 November 2022.

Once the file has been committed it will be checked by a HESA analyst and this can result in additional data quality queries that require a response. Providers should be aware that data quality checking can take up to 5 working days and should therefore ensure that they have sufficient time to make any required changes based on these queries and/or respond to these queries ahead of the sign off deadline. All data quality queries need to be resolved before the data can be set to credible.

11 November 2022: Sign-off

Providers are required to have their data marked as signed off on the Data Collection System by 11 November 2022. The sign off form needs to be emailed to Liaison before 17:00 on 11 November to guarantee sign-off before the deadline.

Once a provider's data has been set to credible on the Data Collection System, the 'sign off' button can be selected which allows the sign-off form to be downloaded. The sign-off form must be completed by the provider's Accountable Officer (England and Wales) or the Head of Provider (Scotland and Northern Ireland). Once completed, the form should be emailed to [email protected]. Please note that the transaction number on the sign-off form must correspond to that of the data being signed-off.

Sign-off completes the data collection process. Timely sign-off ensures that your data is included in any data deliveries to statutory customers, as well as onward uses of the data for publications and analysis.

Post Collection Information

Providers 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.

Targets that were set during the collection will be sent to providers and should be reviewed. The record contact will be notified by email once targets have been assigned in the Issue Management System and providers should ensure that processes are put in place to implement any changes to data collection required.

If a provider is aware of any errors in their data, then they should inform their primary funder or regulator. Providers in England should notify OfS through the data amendments process . This may result in a request for the provider to go through fixed database. Providers should also notify HESA so a data intelligence note can be created.

Need help?

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