Higher Education - Business and Community Interaction 2014/15: Support guides

We collect data across a number of streams. These streams focus on different aspects of higher education.

The Higher Education - Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) stream collects data about the interactions that higher education providers have with businesses and the wider community. Details of what information needs 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 funding bodies in order to support the regulation of higher education. We also make 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.

The below table provides an overview of the data collection schedule. A more detailed timetable can be found in the Coding manual.

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. There is also specific HE-BCI e-learning which focusses on data collection and analysis which is a useful tool for new and existing contacts.

Contact Liaison by email or on +44 (0)1242 388531  

Find out more about Liaison

Documentation summarising the main changes to the HE-BCI record for 2014/15 can be found in C14032 Release Notes for the coding manual. Please note that any changes made to the 2014/15 HE-BCI record after the first release of the manual will be documented in the Revision history, so users should reference this webpage frequently.

Key changes for 2014/15

FSR and HE-BCI collections separated

From 2014/15 the Finance and HE-BCI data will be collected separately. This decision has been taken as cross-checking between the two returns has been limited and the staff preparing the two parts of the return are normally situated in different parts of the provider, creating additional overhead. The current return date of mid-December will remain the same for the collection of HE-BCI.

The HE-BCI contact will be responsible for sending the data as well as committing the file and managing the Minerva queries from this year onwards.

Data Collection System: New User Interface

Our data collection system has been upgraded for this year. These upgrades include an improved user Interface, streamlined submission process bar and new style reports. This is now accessed through a different webpage to previous collections: https://datacollection.hesa.ac.uk.

Validation Changes

The following new validation has been introduced for C14032:

Table 1 Head 2 Contract research, & Table 2 Head 1 Consultancy and Head 2 Facilities and equipment services:

• 32064 - Licence numbers: Total number (of non-software) generating income in the period must not be greater than Licence numbers: Total number (non software). Restated year.
• 32065 - Licence numbers: Total number (of software) generating income in the period must not be greater than Licence numbers: Total number (non software). Restated year.
• Further to this, a Validation warning has been added to ensure these funds have not been accounted for elsewhere.

Table 2: Validation warning has been added to check the correlation between the total revenue and the total number of learner days pf CPD/CE courses delivered. Revenue per day will be auto-calculated by HESA and presented on the spreadsheet.

Table 4: Validation warnings have been added to check restated figures and the year-on-year differences in Heads 3a, b, c, e and Head 4.

HE-BCI Jiscmail Group

There is now a separate Jisc mailing list for HE-BCI contacts, designed to share key information and act as a discussion forum for contacts. If you wish to join this list please contact us. Please note that HE-BCI information will no longer be shared on the HESA-Finance Jiscmail group.

HESA Identity System

We have recently introduced our Identity System (IDS), which will serve as a single sign-on portal governing access to our websites. The HE-BCI record contact for each provider will have access to the data collection system and through the IDS will be able to invite additional colleagues to also have access to the system to submit data and view reports.

Further information can be found in the IDS User Guide.

Responding to Minerva queries

You are required to actively engage with data quality checking and the resolution of Minerva queries during the collection period. Best practice suggests you interact with Minerva and our data collection system frequently throughout the checking period. This allows you to gradually resolve issues either through providing explanations of genuine data or submitting revised data that corrects issues. Through adopting this approach, you can iteratively improve the quality of your data and expose issues in a timely manner leading to better quality returns.

We expect you to have responded to all queries raised prior to sign-off by the head of your provider. Failure to do so may result in the sign-off not being accepted.

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.

Experiencing an issue not listed here? Let us know.