Back to C12042

Version 1.0 Produced 2012-09-07

HESA has agreed with the funding councils and the Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE) to collect the Estates management record through a web-based form akin to a questionnaire. Higher education institutions (HEIs) complete and return this form via the HESA data collection system. Additionally, an Estates management template (xls) is provided as a non-functional Excel spreadsheet for optional internal use by HEIs who would find this helpful in compiling their data.

HESA will provide the required student and finance data during the data collection process when the data is available (i.e. when the relevant collections have closed).

HESA data collection website

To access the data collection system HEIs need to register for the Estates management record (C12042) via the HESA data collection system.

HESA places a great deal of importance on the security of the systems that process HESA data. To enter the data submission page users are required to set up a user account using an access and PIN code. The access code will be distributed to the record contact by email when the Estates management record collection system opens. The PIN code will be distributed to the contact by letter a few days in advance of the access codes, to allow for postal delays. Both the Access Code emails and the PIN letters are sent to the nominated Estates management record contact at HEIs. It is therefore imperative that any changes to contact details are notified to HESA immediately by contacting Institutional Liaison.

For further assistance with registration please view the Registering for the system help page.

HESA data quality checks

HESA has developed extensive quality assurance procedures and runs a range of validation checks against all submissions.

The HESA data quality model shows how data moves progressively through the data quality stages to become useable information.

Invalid data – no checks have yet been performed/data has not passed validation checks.

Validated data – data has passed hard validation checks.

Business rules (first stage validation) work for individual data items and have been built into the web-based submission form. COMMIT-stage rules (second stage validation) operate for the return as a whole, looking for consistency between items. The system is alerted to process these COMMIT-stage validation checks when institutions process a TEST-COMMIT or COMMIT request on the submission site.

A successful COMMIT transaction will generate COMMIT-stage reports:

• summary report - this is the webform in read-only format, showing users the data submitted alongside 3 years of historic (static) data and includes the icons and text for errors and warnings
• exception report - this contains a subset of reports including COMMIT-stage validation errors and warnings and completion summaries
• ratio report - this shows which ratios are based on mandatory data that include 3 years of historic data, sector median, and sector upper and lower quartile values

Details of these reports can be found in the Estates management record key documentation on the Data collection system help page.

Following a successful COMMIT, no further data submissions can be made without the data being de-commited. A de-commit request is made by contacting Institutional Liaison.

Credible – the COMMIT-stage reports have been checked by HESA and any queries have been resolved with HEIs.

Verified data – data has been signed-off by the HEI as accurate and complete.

TEST_COMMIT facility

The TEST_COMMIT facility, which is available for the majority of the data collection period, allows institutions to process a transaction to generate the COMMIT-stage reports for local scrutiny. These reports are for HEIs' purposes only and will not be checked within HESA.

HEIs are strongly encouraged to make use of the TEST_COMMIT facility as part of their data preparations. TEST_COMMIT serves as a useful interim facility in the data collection process. The facility enables HEIs to view the commit reports and assess submitted data for anomalies before processing a full COMMIT to be scrutinised by HESA.

Following a successful TEST_COMMIT, HEIs do not have to contact HESA to 'de-commit' data; changes can be made to the submission by inserting and/or deleting data. If no changes are required, HEIs can process a COMMIT transaction, which will then generate the same commit reports as are produced following the TEST_COMMIT. However, these reports will also be checked by HESA, and any data quality issues fed back to HEIs.

Note that:

• HEIs do not have to process a TEST_COMMIT; use of the facility is optional, although strongly encouraged
• HEIs must however process a COMMIT transaction to meet the requirements of the return deadline

Minerva data quality database

HEIs will be notified through the Minerva DQ database of any data quality queries raised by HESA as part of the data quality checking process.

HEIs will therefore need to log into Minerva to view and respond to these data quality queries. Assistance on using Minerva can be found within the Minerva user guide.

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