Initial Teacher Training 2016/17: Support guides

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

The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) stream collects data about students on an ITT course leading to Qualified Teacher Status. 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 funding 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.

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

* The Test commit transaction will be available until 19 October 2016; thereafter only the Commit will be available.

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.

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

Find out more about Liaison

Changes to the ITT record specification for 2016/17

Changes to the ITT record specification for 2016/17, including the addition of the new Previous Qualification entity, are detailed in the Notification of Changes and any updates to the coding manual can be seen in the Revision history.

Accessing the data collection system

As in the previous year, our data collection system can be found here. Access to the data collection system for the forthcoming C16053 collection will be governed through our Identity System (IDS).

The ITT record contact for each provider will have access to our data collection system and through IDS will be able to invite additional colleagues to also have access to the system to submit data and view reports. Users who have access to the previous C15053 collection will not need to be granted access again for C16053. Further information can be found in the IDS User Guide.

Quality rules

The quality rules webpage is available via the coding manual and presents all data quality validation in one place, rather than the rules appearing on each page for individual data items.  This ensures greater visibility of the portfolio of rules and also searching as well as a downloadable spreadsheet of rules.

Bursary validation

The way in which bursary levels are calculated has changed this year, including the removal of discretionary funding for bursaries. To account for these changes, the previous BURSLEV quality rules have been deleted and a new set of rules added. Full details of which rules have been deleted and added can be found on the quality rules webpage.

Validation kit

Our validation kit for the ITT record is now available to download from the Validation Kit homepage. A user guide for the kit is available from the same link. The new kit has both increased functionality and a greatly improved processing speed.

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.

This section contains information about the planned system releases for the next few months. Please note that this information is subject to change and therefore should not taken as a guarantee. This page will be updated with more detailed information as we get closer to the date.

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.

Automated validation checks (quality rules) will now run. Further details on the quality rules applicable to this collection can be found on 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 the validation kit before submitting data to the data collection system.  The kit enables providers to test their data locally against schema and business stage validation prior to submission. You are strongly encouraged to use the validation kit as part of your data preparations. 

Remember that your data must pass validation checks by 3 October 2016 in order to meet the deadline for first submission of data to NCTL.

Please note that files cannot be deleted once they have passed validation. If an error within an individual record is noticed it can be corrected by sending the record again. The original incorrect record will be replaced by the updated one as long as the HUSID is the same; therefore the 'Send data' transaction will add new records to the system or replace existing ones. If a record is submitted in error this should either remain on the system or be removed by adjusting the inclusion status.

A. Frequency counts

Transaction-level frequency counts (occurrences of valid entries) will be produced for each file that passes validation.

B. Inclusion Status report

The Inclusion Status report is a summary of all valid records submitted. Details of the ITT courses that students are registered on are included as well as whether the record is ‘new’ or has been ‘updated’.

Files cannot be deleted once they have passed validation. However, it is possible to exclude records from transmission to the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL). Within the Inclusion Status report is a column labelled 'Inclusion' that allows records to be excluded from Teacher Reference Number (TRN) allocation, census/funding information or both. Options are as follows:

• Not excluded
• Excluded from TRN allocation
• Excluded from census/funding
• Excluded from both.

Please note that excluding records when your file is Committed will lead to the file being automatically decommitted.

The QTS and Induction Unit of the NCTL are responsible for the allocation of TRNs.

A. Approve records for TRN allocation

Once a file has passed validation, you can send individual records to the QTS and Induction Unit of the NCTL for TRN allocation by selecting the Approve records for TRN allocation report. If name, date of birth, NI number or TRN in a record is updated, it should be resent for TRN allocation as the NCTL will require re-approval of the record (any other detail change will not require re-approval).

B. TRN allocation status

Once some or all records have been sent for TRN allocation, you will be able to review this information in the TRN Allocation Status report. The report displays the number of records sent for TRN allocation and lists students with TRNs and those without. This information is displayed by course and then at individual record level.

C. TRNs allocated

The NCTL will feed back TRNs to providers through the HESA data collection system. Once some or all records have been sent for TRN allocation, the TRNs Allocated report will be produced which enables you to download TRNs. The ITT record contact will be notified via email when new information is available to download.

The Performance and Analysis Division of the NCTL are responsible for census and funding information.

Once data has passed validation, the option to ‘Commit’ will be available. Committing data allows you to send the entire submission to the Performance and Analysis Division of the NCTL for purposes of census/funding information.

A. Test commit

The ‘Test commit’ allows you to review provider-level frequency counts and then send data for transmission to the NCTL. The Test commit enables you to check your data in the NCTL system therefore you should not submit ‘dummy’ data during this process. You can process further test commit transactions after adding or amending data without the need to contact the NCTL to decommit the return. The Test commit option will be available until 19 October 2016; thereafter only the ‘Commit’ option will be available.

B. Commit

The ‘Commit’ allows you to review provider-level frequency counts and then send data for transmission to the NCTL. After processing a commit transaction, you will need to contact the NCTL to decommit the return if amendments are required. Corrections must be made by processing another ‘Send Data’ transaction on the data collection system. The NCTL system picks up data from both a Test commit and a Commit so if you are still working on your data do not process a Commit until your data is ready.

Remember that you must process a commit transaction by the 21 October 2016, the deadline for finalised data submission. Sign off on HEIDMS is required by the 28 October 2016. On 28 October 2016 the NCTL will use whatever data is in the NCTL system as your census data, even if you have not committed your data.

C. Census/funding information

This report displays all records that have been committed i.e. sent to NCTL for census/funding information. This information will be displayed by course and then at individual record level.

As mentioned in the section on sending data to NCTL for census/funding information, once data is committed, permission to send amended data must be obtained from the Performance and Analysis Division of the NCTL who are responsible for processing decommit transactions on the data collection system.

Once data is committed, it is still possible for you to send records to the NCTL for TRN allocation without requesting a decommit.