HESA funding and monitoring data 2011-12: web facility

1. How do I access the web facility?

Data files can be accessed from the HEFCE extranet. Before you are able to access the HEFCE extranet, you will need to have registered. Instructions on how to access the HEFCE extranet are provided in the guide on how to access outputs. You will require a 'group key', details of which were provided in the 'HESA funding and monitoring data 2011-12: web facility' release letter sent on 7 September 2012 to heads of institutions and HESES.

2. Is the group key case-sensitive?

No. The group key is not case-sensitive, however your log-in password is case-sensitive and must contain both upper case, lower case and numbers.

3. How long does it take to process the file(s)?

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

4. Is it possible to use Firefox or other browsers to access the web facility?

Yes, however, the choice of browser may affect the prompts you see when downloading the output.

5. An internet error message has appeared on my screen. What do I do now?

Refresh the page. This should resolve the problem. If the internet error is the error message "404" please can you check that you are uploading your XML file inside a zipped folder as the raw XML file is too large. However, if after a few attempts the problem persists, contact Dominic Meyer (e-mail hesa_heses_stats@hefce.ac.uk). 

6. What do I need to do if an error occurs while processing?

Ensure that the files you used for the re-creation are the correct ones, they have passed HESA validation and are also in the correct format. The correct format is described in the How to use the HEFCE web facility guide. Ensure all data retains its leading zeros by opening the file in a text editor such as Notepad. If all the files are correct and you still have an error message, contact Dominic Meyer (e-mail hesa_heses_stats@hefce.ac.uk).

7. How do I view the output files?

Once the files have been processed, you can access the outputs by selecting 'Results'. See also the guides How to access outputs and working with individualised files.

8. I cannot open the individualised file as a .csv file.

See the guide to working with individualised files.

9. How will the data I use to create the outputs be used by the HEFCE?

The web facility is a tool for institutions to use. Therefore, HEFCE staff will not access any data submitted to, or derived by, the web facility except in the limited circumstances described in the forthcoming 'HESA funding and monitoring data 2010-11: web facility' Circular letter. Only those fields listed in our technical documentation will be retained on our system. We will remove individualised files and any outputs from the 2010-11 web facility when we launch the 'HESA funding and monitoring data 2011-12' web facility in 2012. All other submitted data files will be deleted immediately after the outputs have been generated. More about our commitments to handling personal data.

10. Why have pre-clinical medical and dental students been omitted?

There was an error in the HESES11 re-creation Table 1b which caused pre-clinical medical and dental students to be omitted (although the students could still be identified as medical and dental students from the individualised file). This error was corrected (on 12 September 2012).

11. Why have students (whose activity spans more than one price group) been apportioned across price groups incorrectly?

There was an error in the HESES11 re-creation price group assignments which affected some students with activity apportioned across more than one price group (affecting price groups B, C, D and MEDIA). This error would not have affected students whose activity is entirely attributed to one price group. The error was corrected (on 13 September 2012).

12. Why have our HESES11 re-creation and Indicative RDP supervision fund outputs changed even though we haven't made any changes to the underlying 2011-12 HESA data?

Over the weekend of 22-23 September 2012 we made some changes to the Funding and Monitoring Data (FAMD) outputs based on 2011-12 data.

The changes to the outputs were a combination of corrections and improvements to the ‘Coversheet’ information that is intended to assist institutions in their responses to Data Verification Questions raised by HEFCE staff (see Data verification)

In summary the changes were as follows:

•  HESES11 re-creation: we changed the funding comparison to an FTE comparison for the ERASMUS fee compensation adjustment. This is to better identify where differences with underlying data might affect future funding calculations.
•  HESES11 re-creation: several misaligned formulae in the ‘Coversheet’ for illustrative phase out funding (both mainstream and co-funded) comparisons, and the consequent conditional formatting that help to highlight substantial differences.
•  Indicative 2013-14 QR RDP supervision fund allocations: correction of the ‘percentage difference’ calculation on the ‘Coversheet’.

13. Why do our HESES11 re-creation outputs contain blank values on most of the worksheets?

There was an error in the HESES11 re-creation output that caused the output to appear blank. The error occurred following a corruption to one of our databases and affected all HESES11 re-creation outputs that were generated between 9am and 3pm on 25 September 2012.

On the evening of 25 September 2012 we updated the HESES11 re-creations which had been submitted via HESA’s IRIS system. This means that the HESES11 re-creation outputs have been automatically corrected. There is no need for a resubmission of data via HESA’s IRIS system to correct the outputs specifically for this error.

The error in the database caused many of the tables not to be populated with data. Our expectation is that it would have been obvious that the HESES11 re-creation outputs were corrupted.

14. How do I re-build the ‘Number of potential non-exempt ELQ students’ (shown on the HESES11 re-creation ‘Coversheet’) from the individualised files?

Due to the increased use of HESA data to drive funding allocations and calculate Student Number Control limits, HEFCE staff may raise queries (via HESA’s Minerva Data Quality System). Further details of this process are described on our website, see Data verification. As part of this process we may raise a query where the ‘number of potential non-exempt students’ (as shown on the HESES11 re-creation ‘Coversheet’) exceeds 50.

The figure for the ‘number of potential non-exempt students’ can be partially re-built from the HESES11 re-creation individualised file (HESRSN11H-XXXX.ind where XXXX denotes the HESA institution identifier) by taking the steps listed below. Alternatively, and on request, we can provide a list of those student instances (HUSID x NUMHUS x OWNSTU) that we have identified as ELQ that contribute to the ‘number of potential non-exempt ELQ students’.

Step 1: restrict to HEFCE-fundable completions in the HESES11 re-creation population (that are neither aiming for a Foundation Degree, on an NHS-bursaried course,  an INSET course, an ITT course or a postgraduate course where a regulated fee is chargeable), that is:

HESEXCL = 0 and HESCOMP = 4 and HESTYPE = HOMEF and

HESLEVEL ≠ FD and HESFEELV ≠ NHS and TTCID ≠ 1, 2, 5, 8 and (HESLEVEL ≠ PGT or HESFEELV ≠ 0, HALF, FULL)

The remaining steps, source data that is not necessarily included in the HESES11 re-creation individualised. These data fields may need to be sourced from the institution’s student record system, 2011-12 HESA file or other individualised files.

Step 2: identify ELQ students as follows: 

_{* The first character of QUALENT3 is used.
^† The first character of COURSEAIM is used.
‡ There is a separate FAQ which explains how students without a QUALENT3 value have been identified as ELQ.}

Step 3: remove students that are exempt from the ELQ policy due to the student support or fee regulations (in particular students aiming towards a qualification in the subject areas of: Landscape Architects, Town Planning and Architecture). These regulations apply to full-time and sandwich undergraduates only:

_{* We considered the first two characters of SBJCA1, SBJCA2 and SBJCA3.
^† SBJPCNTX will only be counted if SBJCAX* = D1, D2, K1, K3, K4.}

Step 4: remove students that are exempt from the ELQ policy due to the student support or fee regulations (in particular students aiming towards a qualification in the subject areas of: Teacher Training, Subjects Allied to Medicine, Youth Work). These regulations apply to undergraduates only:

<sub>^† The first two characters of SBJCAX are considered.
‡ The first three characters of SBJCAX are considered.
* SBJPCNTX will only be counted if SBJCAX† = A1, A2, A3, A4, A9, B6, B7, L5, X1 or  SBJCAX‡ = B16, B33, B41, B52, B82, B83, B93.</sub>

Due to limitations in the data available via the HESA record, the method we have used to identify non-exempt ELQ students contains some approximations. Therefore we may have identified some students as ‘potentially non-exempt ELQ’ that meet the conditions to be exempt from ELQ for funding purposes, or in some cases, may not be ELQ at all. Consequently we would not expect institutions to use the methodology described above to identify their ELQ students. Institutions should continue to use the definition set out in HESES to identify ELQ students.

15. How do I find which students are included in the ‘Number of potential non-exempt ELQ students’ (shown on the HESES11 re-creation ‘Coversheet’)?

As of Monday 08 October there is now a field called ‘ELQ_COVER’ (Column WA) in the HESRSN individualised file which will flag which students are included in the ‘number of potential non-exempt students’ figure on the HESES re-creation coversheet. Setting ELQ_COVER = 1 will indicate which students are included on the Coversheet.

16. HESES11 re-creation technical document update

 We have made a change to one of our algorithms in the HESES re-creation technical document (in red below).

 PRGA, PRGB, PRGC, PRGD, PRGMEDIA, PRGITT, PRGINSET (Columns U-AA)

 The proportion of activity in each price group is grouped by seven HESES price group fields. 

_{† If HESCLIN = 3 then PRGB = PRGMODB + (SPORTB x PRGMODSPORT). If HESCLIN ≠ 3 then PRGB = PRGMODB + PRGMODVET† + (SPORTB x PRGMODSPORT).}

17. Why is the HESES11 re-creation showing fewer co-funded employer engagement students than we were expecting?

There was an error in our loading algorithms which (under certain circumstances) resulted in INITIATIVES field data to be corrupted when imported from institutions’ XML files. Consequently the number of co-funded employer engagement students in the HESES11 re‑creation may have been understated. This error was fixed at 11:30 on 11 October.

18. Addition outputs have appeared in the results package, TRAC11H-XXXX.xlsx and TRAC11H‑XXXX.ind. What are these new outputs?

As of 12 October at 15:30 'HEFCE-fundable student full-time equivalents (FTEs) for the Transparent Approach to Costing for Teaching (TRAC(T))' outputs are now available for your viewing via the HEFCE web facility or via HESA’s IRIS system.

The 2011-12 HEFCE-fundable FTEs for TRAC(T) data will be used to inform the periodic review of the relative costs of different subjects. The FTEs will also be used to pre-fill TRAC(T) data survey returns later this winter.

19. Why does the HESES11 re-creation 'Coversheet' contain incorrect values in some cells?

There was an issue which caused the HESES11 re-creation 'Coversheet' not to update. That is, the 'Coversheet' would be populated with data from an earlier submission (rather than the latest submission). The individualised file, as well as the rest of the worksheets in the HESES11 re-creation workbook, was not affected. This issue was caused because of an error in the process which updates the 'Coversheet'.

This would have affected institutions that used either the HEFCE web facility or HESA’s IRIS system between 18 October and 24 October at 11:30, which is when we rectified the issue.

20. Why does HESPROP = 0 for students that have ENDDATE = BLANK in the HESES11 re-creation individualised file?

There was an error in our code which meant that students who did not have an ENDDATE were being automatically assigned HESPROP = 0. This was not correct according to the algorithm in the technical documentation, where we explicitly state that if ENDDATE = BLANK then we assume ENDDATE = 31/07/12 and use this to calculate the value for HESPROP.

This error was corrected at 12:00 on 12 November.