Key Information Set (KIS)
Aims
• Give an overview of the KIS data
requirements and common issues
• Explain the validation and data
submission process
• Cover how KIS will be used
• Provide opportunity for questions and
answers around the KIS requirements
Welcome slide
Key Information Sets
HESA training seminar
Leeds Metropolitan University
Thursday 1 March 2012
Public information
Objective information to
inform decision making
• NSS
• DLHE
• Unistats
Understanding Information Needs
1. Proportion of students at the university satisfied or very satisfied
with the standard of teaching
2. Proportion of students at the university satisfied or very satisfied
with their course
3. Proportion of students in employment in the first year after
completing this course
4. Professional bodies which recognise the course
5. Proportion of students at the university satisfied or very satisfied
with the support and guidance they received
Understanding Information Needs
6. Proportion of students at the university satisfied or very satisfied
with their feedback on assessment
7. Proportion of students employed in a full-time professional or
managerial job one year after completing this course
8. Proportion of students at the university satisfied or very satisfied
with the library facilities
9. Average annual cost of accommodation
10. Percentage of course spent in scheduled learning and teaching
11. Proportion of the assessment by written or practical exam or
coursework
Understanding Information Needs
12. Average salary in the first year after leaving
13. Proportion of students at the university satisfied or very satisfied
with the Students’ Union
14. Financial support available
15. Proportion of students at the university satisfied or very satisfied
with the IT facilities
16. Fees
Developing the new web-site
Introducing the new
KIS Widget!
• Rolling widget
(9 items)
User Research
‘I think the idea’s brilliant,
there’s nothing out there like
it, everyone will use it, anyone
who’s in line for university
which is like thousands and
thousands of students, every
single one will use this’
Report to HEFCE by Fluent Interaction
‘It has the most
important
information
there straight
away’
‘It kind of feels like
the website really
wants to help you
in your decision’
Key dates for KIS 2012
Data should be uploaded
to HEFCE extranet
(29 Mar–22 Aug)
Jan
Feb
March April
Final technical
guidance published
(29 March)
May
June
NSS and DLHE data
added to HEFCE
extranet
July
KIS widgets
should be
available
Site preview on all HEIs’
for institutions web-sites
(17 Sept)
(31 Oct)
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
KIS and Unistats
New website goes live
(week commencing 24 Sept) early evaluation
(Sept 2012 –
including KIS widgets on
Jan 2013)
course sites
Dec
Evaluating Unistats and the KIS
Early evaluation (2012-13)
• Light touch review – is it working?
i.
User experiences of the website and widget
ii.
HE providers’ experience of the website and widget
iii. Data audit
Full evaluation (2013-14)
• As part of a wider evaluation of the provision of information
landscape
• Looking in depth at purpose, usage, effects, outcomes, costs
Data requirements
Defining the institution
Institution bed number
• INSTBEDS records the number of institution
owned/sponsored beds available to
undergraduate students…
• ....it does not record the number occupied as in
the EMS record
• It is expected that where institution owned bed
spaces exist there will be no more than 15000
for any single institution
Which bed spaces?
• Sponsored bed spaces might include….
- Bed spaces in known premises consisting of
over 10 bedrooms exclusively, primarily or
likely used solely for the institution’s
students…
- …or shared with students from other
institutions
- Premises leased to the institution
- Bed spaces in formal nomination agreements
Accommodation costs
• INSTLOWER and INSTUPPER record the upper and
lower quartile annual cost of institution owned beds
• PRIVATELOWER and PRIVATEUPPER record the
same information but for private sector
accommodation
• Institutions should include full details within the
Institution.ACCOMURL field
• Where the institution has multiple campuses in
different cities, the quartiles returned should include
all campuses
Defining KIS courses
Coverage
Who and what?
• Mandatory for all UK institutions…
• …covering (FT & PT) undergraduate
courses starting within the reporting
period i.e. 1 August 2013 and 31 July
2014…
• …that can be applied to by Home/EU
students
What is a course?
• For KIS purposes a course is defined as a programme of study
that a student can apply to either through UCAS or directly to the
institution
• Thus, if students can apply separately to courses in Physics,
Chemistry and Biology each would require a separate KIS,
whereas if students could only apply to a course in Science and
later choose to specialise, then only a single KIS needs to be
produced.
• If a student can apply for either MEng and BEng then two
separate KIS are needed. If all apply for MEng with a possibility
of leaving with a BEng then only one KIS is needed
• Separate KIS must be produced for two presentations of a course
if the fees differ
Franchised courses
• KIS records for franchise courses must be provided by
the franchising institution that is responsible for
registering students and returning them to HESA/ILR
• The institution who registers the student should report
the KIS and the institution which the student applies
to should display the widget…
• …thus the KISCourse.UKPRNAPPLY field should be
completed accordingly
• UKPRNAPPLY must not equal UKPRN
New courses
• For all new courses there will be a number of
additional fields to be completed due to a HESA or
ILR course not existing
• JACS or LDCS, LEVEL, TTCID, PTONLY, and
DISTANCE will need to be returned so that where the
institution already runs courses in the same JACS
subject areas then NSS and DLHE data for the subject
will be included in the KIS until data for the course
become available
• The learning, teaching and assessments for the course
stage will be based off estimates in the first year, and
then actual and estimated data in subsequent years
Sandwich courses
• Where a course includes a sandwich placement
as part of the programme specification a KIS
will be produced detailing 4 course stages
• Where a course includes an optional sandwich
placement (that a student may or may not take
up) two KIS courses should be returned – one
detailing the 3 course stages, with the other
detailing 4 course stages. The widget of both
should then be recorded on both KIS courses
Part-time courses
• Where FT exists no need for PT even if fees
differ
• For wholly part-time courses, and where a
HESA or ILR course does not exist, PTONLY
should equal 1
• If the course content differs between modes i.e.
particular modules for the PT course are only
available to PT students then the course should
be returned as a separate KIS with PTONLY =
1
Courses not included
• Courses where the total FTE of the course is one year or less when
studied full-time (i.e.120 credits or less for its entirety)
• Closed courses (as defined in Course.CLSDCRS) - courses that are
not open to any suitably qualified candidate and will typically be
courses offered only to employees of particular organisations
• Courses offered mainly overseas with a location of study mainly
overseas, which the funding body has not specifically sanctioned
as eligible for funding. A course is considered to be offered
mainly overseas if, for all students, the majority (over 50%) of
their study is overseas.
• Intercalated degrees
• Part-time courses that are also offered on a full-time basis and a
KIS is produced for the full-time course
Defining KIS courses
Data requirements
Determining KIS types
• There are three types of KIS records that can be
returned…
• …and depending on the course and its
attributes will depend on which type is used
• The three types are:
- KISTYPE 1 - Full course level KIS
- KISTYPE 2 - Multiple subject course placeholder KIS
- KISTYPE 3 - Subject level KIS
KISTYPE 1
• KISTYPE 1s are full KIS records required
for specific courses:
- All single subject courses (those with only one JACS
code) regardless of intake size
- All multiple subject courses (those with more than one
JACS code) where the intake size is greater than 20
students
- All teacher training courses (KISCourse.TTCID = 1 or
2) regardless of the number of JACS codes or intake
size
KISTYPE 1
• In addition to those courses that require a full KIS,
institutions may choose to produce a full KIS for
multiple subject courses with intakes of fewer than 15
students…
• …however only where the course is marketed and
managed as a single indivisible entity (and thus have a
single programme specification)
• For example ‘BA in Finance and Accounting’
• A course cannot be returned as KISTYPE 1 where it is
marketed as a single entity but a single programme
specification does not exist
KISTYPE 2
• KISTYPE 2s are 'placeholders' for multiple
subject courses for which a KISTYPE 1 record is
not required i.e. the intake size is less than 20
students and/or the multiple subject course is
not treated as one course
• Each KISTYPE 2 KIS record can be linked to up
to three KISTYPE 1 or three KISTYPE 3 KIS
records but not a mixture of both types…
• …this is to avoid misleading students with data
from different levels
KISTYPE 3
• KISTYPE 3 records provide information about
a subject that forms part of a multiple subject
course for which no KISTYPE 1 can be
produced
• Subject level KIS should be produced for every
JACS level 2 subject that is included within a
multiple subject course except where a
KISTYPE 1 KIS exists for each of the subjects
that make up the multiple subject course
Example
• Poppleton University offer a joint honours
French and Music course with an intake of
only 10 students and therefore completes a
KISTYPE 2 KIS record. Poppleton offers a
single honours French course (KISTYPE 1 KIS
record) but does not offer a single honours
Music course. The institution will therefore
have to link the KISTYPE 2 course to KISTYPE
3 records as there are not the corresponding
KISTYPE 1 records
KISCOURSEID
• Records a unique identifier for the KIS course
• The field will be used by the KIS widget to
identify the course to which the widget relates…
• …and also links KISTYPE 2s to KISTYPE 3s
• Institutions are advised not to update this field
annually as this would require an annual update
to all widget links
• Care should be taken around KISCOURSEID
and other course Ids within systems
URLs
• It is the institutions responsibility to ensure that urls
provided within KIS remain active and relevant
through the reporting year
• Only the structure will be checked by validation
• A Welsh url is available for each where the institution
is in Wales
• Can we add multiple course URLs for a type 2 KIS?
- Institutions should provide a link to a generic page.
Maximum occurrences for this field, including
KISTYPE 2, is set at 1
Defining KIS courses
Accreditation
Recording accreditation
• Any one KIS can have up to 10
accreditations
• For each accreditation a type, accrediting
body, whether it is an option a student
elects, and urls providing further
information
ACCTYPE
• The field is required for accreditations where
the student gains something and where they
do not
• Should provide a short textual description of
the type of accreditation (as used by the body’s
website)
- Chartered, Membership, Fellowship
• Where provided, the 30 character word will be
inserted into a sentence…
Accreditation sentence
• “This course is recognised by YYYY for
the purposes of XXXX”
• Where XXXX equals accreditation type
and YYYY equals accreditation body
- What do institutions think of this
rewording?
- Can institutions support an increase in
character length for ACCTYPE?
ACCBODYID
• This field must exist for all accreditations
• Records the body providing accreditation to
the course
• Where accreditation is at the institution level
as opposed to the course level, all KIS courses
will need the accreditation recorded
• Coding frame to be expanded in March release
ACCDEPEND
• Records whether accreditation is dependent on
student choice…
• …for example does a very particular pattern of
modules have to be followed in order to gain
accreditation
• The ACCDEPENDURL field will record further details
about the dependency of choice (i.e. what modules
must be selected to gain accreditation) where
ACCDEPEND=1
• Important information so that students are aware
where a course is heavily constrained
Defining KIS courses
Employability and student
satisfaction data
DLHE and NSS data
• Some of the most significant data items (information on
employability and student satisfaction) on the KIS are
generated through linking with the HESA Student record
and ILR
• Where a corresponding course record exists on the HESA
record or ILR the KIS should be linked to this using the
HESACOURSEID or ILRAIMID fields
• Only KISTYPE 1s can be linked to a HESA or ILR course
KIS courses can be linked to up to 500 courses on the HESA
Student or 25 on the ILR…
• …to take into account where there are multiple occurrences
of the same course
However…
• Institutions should not link a single KIS course to
multiple different HESA or ILR courses
• For example, Poppleton University offers a BA History
as well as a BA History with French. A KIS record is
therefore produced for both
• The KIS course for BA History should only be linked
to the BA History and not to BA History with French
as well
• This is to avoid customised aggregation
• A KIS course could however be linked to a part-time
and full-time occurrence of the BA History
HESACourse fields
• HESACourse.HESACOURSEID
-
Field must exist once but only once within the entity and must
contain a valid Course.COURSEID from the HESA Student
Record
-
Validation will check that the HESACourse.HESACOURSEID
recorded in this field exists in the C09051 and C10051 Student
record
• HESACourse.HESAYEAR
-
Field must exist once but only once within the entity and records
the year the HESACOURSEID relates to
-
HESAYEAR can be completed with 'BOTH', or '2010', but not
'2009' alone
ILRAims fields
• ILRAims.ILRAIMID
-
Field must exist once but only once within the entity and must
contain the qualification aim reference code used in the year
• ILRAims.ILRYEAR
-
Field must exist once but only once within the entity and
indicates which year the ILR qualification reference code relates
to
-
The ILRAims entity for a ILRAim can contain ILRYEARs with
'BOTH', or '2010', but not '2009' alone
-
If ILRAims.ILRYEAR = Both then the same ILRAIMID must exist
in both the 2009/10 and 2010/11 ILR
Linking issues
• Exception validation will ensure that the
HESACOURSEID or ILRAIMID exists on the HESA
record or ILR
• Where no link can be made, institutions will fail
validation… meaning the ID will need to be revised or
additional fields completed
• What if we have recently changed our course
identifiers on HESA or ILR?
-
Where a link to course information on HESA or ILR can be made
(i.e. the course existed) then HESACOURSEID or ILRAIMID on
KIS should contain the values returned on HESA or ILR in 2009
and/or 2010
Linking issues 2
• Cases where a course (meeting the KIS
coverage) is returned on HESA or ILR
but is not linked to through KIS should
be investigated
Course ID changes example
• Poppleton University run a course that has been
returned on HESA Student record for the last 3 years
• However, the institution in 2010 changed the
COURSEID from BAHIS1 to BAH
HESACourse
HESACOURSEID
HESAYEAR
HESACourse
BAH
2009
HESACourse
BAHIS1
2010
• (Providing the COURSEID does not change again), in
the future BOTH can be returned in HESAYEAR
What is a professional or
managerial job for KIS?
• Professional or managerial jobs within KIS are
defined through the DLHE record as:
• An employed destination i.e. (full-time, parttime, self-employed/freelance)…
• …where the activity has been coded within
SOC major groups 1-3
• A preview of this data (as wall as salary
information) is available within DLHE check
documentation
Thresholds for DLHE/NSS
• The publication thresholds for the NSS are that 50% of
the eligible students must have responded and that
these must represent at least 23 students
• The publication thresholds for the DLHE differ in that
the number of students covered by the indicator must
be at least 23 (a 50% threshold is not applied)
• However, for salary information, at least 50% of the
students who are employed full-time. Thus, for salary
data to be published at least 23 students who are
employed full-time must have given a salary and these
must represent at least 50% of the students employed
full-time
Aggregating DLHE/NSS data
• Where NSS and DLHE data for a particular course fail
to meet the publication thresholds then data will be
aggregated in the following order until data that meet
the thresholds are achieved:
 Course level most recent two years
 JACS subject level 3 most recent year
 JACS subject level 3 most recent two years
 JACS subject level 2 most recent year
 JACS subject level 2 most recent two years
 JACS subject level 1 most recent year
 JACS subject level 1 most recent two years
Example
• Poppleton University offer a BA (Hons)
Medieval History
• 24 out of 50 students from the course
responded to the NSS in 2009/10 and 2010/11
• 25 out of 60 leavers from the course completed
a DLHE survey and were in FT employment
(of which 10 gave salary information)
DLHE/NSS for new courses
• Where a course is new or a link to a HESA or
ILR course cannot be made, institutions must
complete the following fields…
- JACS
- LEVEL
- PTONLY
- TTCID
• …allowing a link to be made to existing
DLHE/NSS data meeting the criteria
Defining KIS courses
Fee information and UCAS
UCAS information
• Where the KIS course recruits through UCAS
the following fields will need to be completed:
- UCASPROGID (the programme code)
- UCASCOURSEID (the code for the specific
course within the programme - only need to be
given where different courses within the same
UCAS programme will have a separate KIS
produced)
Fees for UCAS courses
• Where a UCASPROGID has been returned, the fee
information for the course will automatically be
populated in the KIS
• Institutions should ensure that the
UCASPROGIDs are consistent with those held at
UCAS
• Institutions are required to provide course-level
fee information to UCAS
• Submitted via manual process using UCAS
Net.update from May until July
Fee information
• The following fields will be populated automatically where
UCASPROGID exists:
• ENGFEE/NIFEE/SCOTFEE/WAFEE – records the average
maximum annual fee for the course
• MEASSUP – records whether means tested support available
• OTHSUP – records whether non-means tested support
available
• WAIVER – records whether fee waivers are available
• VARFEE – records whether the fee varies by year
• FEETBC – records whether fees are yet to be confirmed
Non-UCAS courses
• For courses that do not recruit through UCAS the fee
information should be provided directly on the KIS
record…
• …populating all of the relevant fee fields
• Institutions should record only record FEETBC as 1
‘Fees confirmed’ where fees for all domiciles are
confirmed
• Validation will ensure fee information for each
devolved administration does not exist where
FEETBC=0
Fees
• All fees displayed on KIS will be for standard
full-time study (except where a course is offered
part-time only)…
• …thus if the fees differ only on variations to
mode of study there is no requirement to return
separate KIS’
• This is even the case where a course is offered
predominantly through a part-time mode e.g.
200 part-time enrolments, 3 full-time. In such
cases it will still be the full-time fee returned
Fees 2
• Where the course contains optional
components that reduce the fee, for
example a sandwich placement, then it
should be assumed that the student does
not take these components when
determining the fee level
• It is anticipated that 0 can be returned in
SCOTFEE for Scottish HEIs
Part-time fees
• Where a course is offered through a parttime mode only, and thus a separate KIS
is produced, the fee should be based on
120 credits (i.e. the full-time equivalent)
• The fees should not be determined using
a ‘norm’ of number of modules selected
Defining KIS courses
Course stages
Course Stage entity
• This entity records details of the learning and
teaching and assessment methods for the course
stage…
• …and is required for KISTYPE 1 and 3
• The entity can be returned up to 7 times for each
KIS course…
• …thus covering each of the potential course stages
• For example a 3 year degree will have 3 course
stages
CourseStage.STAGE
• Records the course stage that the learning and teaching
methods and assessment methods relate to…
• …and can contain a value between 1 and 7
• Must exist once but only once
• For full-time courses this will usually be equivalent to
a course year (Student.YEARPRG in the student
record)
• For part-time students this should relate to the fulltime pattern of study, therefore a part-time degree
would normally have stages 1 to 3
CourseStage.LTACT
• Indicates whether the learning and teaching
methods are based on actual student choices or the
institution's estimates of the modules that students
will choose
- A ‘Based on actual student choices’
- E ‘Based on institutional estimates’
• Whilst using E ‘estimates’ is permissible in the
first year of KIS reporting, it is expected that actual
student choices will be used in subsequent years
Learning and teaching methods
• CourseStage.INDEPENDENT,
CourseStage.SCHEDULED,
CourseStage.PLACEMENT - record the percentage of
the student’s time for the stage that is spent in guided
independent study/scheduled learning and teaching
activities/on placements or in work experience
• Time spent in summative assessments not included
• Each field can contain a value in the range 0 – 100
• Should refer to 2011/12 (if actual data) or 2013/14 (if
institutional estimates)
• The sum of these fields must equal 100
Categorising teaching and
learning methods
Activity type
KIS category
Lecture
Scheduled
Seminar
Scheduled
Tutorial
Scheduled
Project supervision
Scheduled
Demonstration
Scheduled
Practical classes and workshops
Scheduled
Supervised time in studio/workshop Scheduled
Fieldwork
Scheduled
External visits
Scheduled
Work based learning
Scheduled
Guided independent study
Independent
Placement
Placement
Year abroad
Placement
CourseStage.ASSACT
• Indicates whether the assessment methods are
based on actual student choices or the institution's
expectations of the modules that students will
choose:
- A ‘Based on actual student choices
- E ‘Based on institutional estimates
• Whilst using E ‘estimates’ is permissible in the
first year of KIS reporting, it is expected that actual
student choices will be used in subsequent years
Assessment methods
• CourseStage.COURSEWORK, CourseStage.WRITTEN,
CourseStage.PRACTICAL - record the percentage of
the assessment for the stage that is through
coursework/written exams/practical exams
• Each field can contain a value in the range 0 – 100
• Should refer to 2011/12 (if actual data) or 2013/14 (if
institutional estimates)
• Each field must exist once but only once
• The sum of these fields must equal 100 or 0 (where
there is no summative assessment as part of the course
stage)
Categorising assessment
methods
Activity type
KIS category
Written exam
Written
Written assignment, including essay
Coursework
Report
Coursework
Dissertation
Coursework
Portfolio
Coursework
Project output (other than
dissertation)
Coursework
Oral assessment and presentation
Practical
Practical skills assessment
Practical
Calculating assessment,
teaching and learning methods
• The proportions in each of the assessment methods and learning
and teaching methods should be calculated based on the module
choices of (all – international included) students in the 2011/12
academic year
• The number of students taking each module should be
determined and modules with the highest number of students
registered selected until one FTE (120 credits) worth of modules
have been selected. The proportions reported in each method
category will then reflect the proportions in the combination of
the selected modules
• Where the process above leads to the inclusion of modules on
which less than 10% of students are registered, institutions should
make a reasonable judgement as to whether the selection of
modules is representative
Method
1. Determine the modules that are available to a
KISCourse
2. Rank in order of number of students taking the
module in the relevant year
3. Determine the modules that contribute to 1 FTE/120
credits
4. Calculate an average value from these modules…
5. …therefore overall proportion in scheduled teaching
and learning = (Sum of (Credit value of module *
Proportion in scheduled teaching and learning of
module )) / 120
Example
Module
Credit value
Number of
students
Physics 1
Maths 1
Computing 1
Computing 2
Maths 2
30
30
20
10
30
100
100
100
40
30
Proportion
in scheduled
teaching and
learning
60
50
30
30
40
Physics 2
20
20
Disregard
Project
10
10
Disregard
Proportion
in
independent
study
40
50
70
70
60
Placement
0
0
0
0
0
For scheduled teaching and learning:
((30*60)+(30*50)+(20*30)+(10*30)+(30*40))/120 = 45
Calculation issues
• Where using this method leads to the module selection
not being representative, the institution should include
an estimate of the typical pattern for students on the
course
• Where a typical student calculation is going to lead to
two placement modules being included then they
should be treated as a single module…
• …this might form the approach to other modules
where two or more fall into the typical calculation. For
example where only one would be taken as part of that
course the most popular should be used
Calculation issues 2
• Where possible outgoing ERASMUS
modules should be included in the
calculations
• International students should be
included in the count when determining
module popularity
File format
Understanding XML
Record format
• KIS must be submitted in an XML format
• XML stands for eXtensible Mark-up
Language…
• …and is the international data standard for
data transfer
• Hierarchical data structures in a single file
• All KIS files submitted must be encoded with
UTF-8
XML file
• Contains fields (sometimes referred to as an
element)…
• …with tags to define the start and end of a field
<LDCS>AA.3</LDCS>
• …fields can exist more than once…
<LDCS>AA.3</LDCS>
<LDCS>CC.1</LDCS>
…or not at all where the field is not required e.g. the
ILRAims entity exists for the KIS course
XML file 2
• Fields are nested…
<KISCourse>
<LDCS>AA.3</LDCS>
</KISCourse>
• …as are entities
<KISCourse>
<LDCS>AA.3</LDCS>
<CourseStage>
<STAGE>1</STAGE>
</CourseStage>
</KISCourse>
Data collection using XML
• We define the element names…
• ….and types…
• …and nesting structure…
• …and some of the rules of completion…
• ..in an XML Schema Definition (XSD) file
XSD
• Controls the anarchy…
• …ensuring that all fields and entities are
ordered correctly in the XML file
• XSD is available from HESA website
Help with XML
• Institutional Liaison
• Schema trees
• Editing files - Ultra Edit is your friend!
• Student contacts
• FAQs
Producing an XML file
• Many institutions will have software systems
capable of producing an XML file…
• …there will however be some institutions for
which the KIS requirements are significant
enough to purchase or develop an additional
software module
• As an alternative Microsoft Excel can be used
to generate a KIS file…
Demonstration…
Validation
Validation process and using the kit
Insert-stage
XML splits validation rules into 2 types of
check:
– Schema: ‘well formedness’
• Conformity to the .XSD
• Missing fields
• Tagging
• Invalid codes
– Business: logic of the submission
• Coverage
• Consistency between fields
• Consistency between entities
Remember!
• Validation will always check the schema
rules first
• Until schema errors are resolved you
will not know how many business rules
errors your submission has
• Schema errors can be more difficult to
interpret
Exception
• Exception validation will take place at the point of
data submission
• Any UCASPROGID or UCASCOURSEID returned on
KIS must exist in the data provided to HEFCE by
UCAS
• Any HESACOURSEID or ILRAIMID returned on KIS
must exist in the data provided to HEFCE by HESA
and Data Service
• Prevent PRIVATELOWER/UPPER and
accommodation urls from existing where all courses
are entirely distance learning
First stage
-schema
-business
Exception
Valid data
Validation kit
• User friendly interface
• One kit for all HESA XML data
collections
• Framework connects to web to
download latest rule versions
*We recommend that the kit is
downloaded onto each PC rather than onto
a local network*
Validation kit
• Business rule switches can be applied to
focus data checking
• Details of errors/warnings triggered can
be downloaded to Excel & printed
• Configuration tab – can set to local
preferences
www.hesa.ac.uk/validation_help
Configuring the validation kit
• Recommended minimum specification of
a Dual core processor and 2 GB RAM
• Kit validates in batches
• Can change size of batch to alter
processing times:
Reduce size = less memory but greater processing times
Increase size = less processing times but greater memory
Demonstration…
Data submission
Data quality checking
• HEFCE will not conduct credibility checks on the data
• It is up to institutions to ensure the data are credible and the
links between the KIS and NSS/DLHE data are correct
• Institutions will be given a preview of the linked
NSS/DLHE data in July
• HEFCE intends to provide a number of tools and reports to
aid institutions in checking their data
• The precise checks have not been finalised but are likely to
include reports showing the HESA/ILR courses linked for
each KIS, NSS/DLHE target populations, HESA/ILR courses
not linked to any KIS, etc.
Updating KIS
• For example to confirm fee information
or to make amendments to mistakes
• Updates will be routinely published via
the KIS widgets and official web-site
• To update KIS institutions have to
submit a complete file containing all KIS
records even where only one update has
been made – no AMAL process
Updating KIS example
Submission 1
86
records
Submission 2
100
records
Data collection
system
100
186
86 records
records
Submission 3
186
records
Updating KIS issues
• Systems will need to be able to store different
course data for different academic years…
• …for example a new course for c13061 should
not be included in updates made to c12061
To the extranet…
KIS data
Information for submissions
• The data will be collected via the HEFCE extranet
(https://extranet.hedata.ac.uk), a secure data transfer site.
• A group key will be provided, which will allow access to the KIS
submission link within the site.
• The data will be submitted as an XML file, as is the case with data
collections carried out by HESA and the data service.
• The facility will be open for submissions in April, allowing
institutions to upload data and check results.
• NSS and DLHE 2012 data will be added in July 2012.
• Final deadline for submission of KIS data and sign off by head of
institution is August 2012. Institutions will be able to preview their
full KIS data at this point.
Key dates for KIS 2012
Data should be uploaded
to HEFCE extranet
(29 Mar–22 Aug)
Jan
Feb
March April
Technical guidance
published
(29 March)
May
June
July
KIS widgets
should be
available
Site preview on all HEIs’
for institutions web-sites
(17 Sept)
(31 Oct)
Aug
Sep
NSS and DLHE
New website goes live
data added to (week commencing 24 Sept)
HEFCE
including KIS widgets on
extranet
course sites
Oct
Nov
KIS and Unistats
early evaluation
(Sept 2012 –
Jan 2013)
Dec
Thank you for listening
kis@hefce.ac.uk
Further help and support
01242 211472
training@hesa.ac.uk
01242 211144
liaison@hesa.ac.uk