How to use the HEFCE web facility

Data preparation

The web facility is able to process the file structure for the different data formats used for the HESA Student Record and the Individualised Learner Record.

HESA data

The web facility will process the extensible markup language (XML) file structure of the HESA Student Record. Due to file size restrictions, files must be zipped XML files that conform to the relevant XML Schema Definition (XSD) file found on the HESA web-site (under Student Stream and the Collection of interest).

While it is currently possible to submit data to the HEFCE web facility that have not passed all the business rules, it is not possible for the web facility to process files that have not passed the schema checks. Every effort has been made to ensure the web facility is robust, but if data is submitted that have not passed all the business rules, the reliability of the outputs cannot be guaranteed. To ensure reliable outputs are generated, institutions should first correct any errors identified by running the HESA validation kit on their data before submission.

In addition, HESA publishes a number of commit stage validation checks. If data fail these checks, the web facility may generate unreliable results. In particular, if the combination of HUSID, UKPRN and NUMHUS is not unique for each instance, the re-creations will generate incorrect results.

ILR data

The web facility can process data files that are structured in the format described in Specification of the Individualised Learner Record for the appropriate academic year, which can be downloaded from the Information Authority web-site under ILR documents.

The web facility has been designed to provide outputs even when it has been supplied with invalid data, so that colleges can use the facility as early as possible in their data collection process. Every effort has been made to ensure the web facility is robust. However, it may not function reliably when the input file contains invalid data. To ensure reliable outputs are generated, colleges should first correct any errors identified by running the Learner Information Suite (LIS) software on their data.

The web facility can receive and process zip files, provided that the contents when unzipped are in the format specified by the Data Service for the ILR.

HEFCE extranet

Web facility outputs can be obtained by uploading HESA or ILR data to the HEFCE extranet. After logging in, locate the heading 'Surveys', click on the web facility link for the year of interest. This will take you to the HEFCE web facility main page for a given academic year. For further information see How to access outputs.

HESA or ILR files(s) can be uploaded one at a time in the web facility main page. Select 'Upload'  which will take you to a page detailing how to upload a file to the extranet. Follow the instructions on the page to upload files. Once you have selected teh files using the browse facility click 'Upload' which will take you back to the main page. 

Submit file(s)

Once the relevant file(s) have been uploaded, select 'Submit'. This places the file(s) that were added in the previous step into the processing queue.

Processing

You can leave the extranet while the derived statistics are being generated. To do this, exit the web browser in the usual way, or select a new address in the address bar. You may be prompted to log in again when returning to the page, but no information will be lost.

Each time a collection of files is submitted, you should refresh the page using either the icon in the tool bar or the 'Status' link on the page. Refreshing the page ensures that the history reflects the current stage of processing, as the page may not update automatically.

Our systems only allow one submission to be processed at a time; therefore if more than one institution uploads data, the submissions will be placed in a queue. The total time taken to complete, including waiting time, will depend on the number of institutions in the queue.

If the uploaded files are waiting in the queue it is possible to cancel the submission by selecting 'Cancel'.

Output

Once the files have been processed, the outputs can be accessed by selecting 'Results'.

If the outputs were not generated and the reason is known, it will be given under the 'History' section. If the outputs were not generated because an unspecified error occurred, this will typically be a result of invalid data. 

Page last updated 25 June 2012