Finance/HE-BCI seminar
November 2012
Objectives
• Provide an overview of how data is used at a
statutory level
• Introduce HESA and finance reporting
• Cover changes to both FSR and HE-BCI records
• Detail the data quality assurance process
• Understand the outputs and ability to analyse the
data
HESA and finance reporting
Why is the data collected - FSR?
• The annual Finance Statistics Return (FSR) is the main source
of historical financial information on the total activities of all
UK higher education institutions (HEIs), required to:
- assist in the production of management information
- assist in the monitoring of the financial health of institutions
- assist support policy formulation and decisions
- support proper reporting and accountability
- inform and report on the funding process
- advise the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the overseas
earnings of HEIs for use in the calculation of the Balance of
Payments.
Why is the data collected?
Management
information
REF
research
income
Monitor
financial
health
FSR
Support
policy
Support
accountability
Inform
funding
process
Why is the data collected – HE-BCI?
• HE-BCI Survey is the main vehicle for measuring the
volume and direction of interactions between UK
HEIs and business and the wider community
• Funding bodies in the UK draw on HE-BCI Survey data
to inform funding of Knowledge Transfer and
this remains one of the key drivers for collection of
the information
Two returns in one
• Aim is to reduce burden through use of a common
process
• Also allow for cross-checks to be made between the
two returns during data collection
• Benefits from HESA’s data collection and
management processes
Finance and the other records
Cost centres
Data
Best practice
HESA Data integration group
Case study: University of Bath
HESA Integration Group
Activities:
• Co-ordinate annual returns
• Plan future returns
• Consider implications for related activity
• Undertake horizon scanning
Data quality and use
• Consistency
• Funding & regulation
• Visibility
Verification
• Consistent, documented verification process
• Provision for internal ‘external’ scrutiny
• Timely preparation of data submissions and their scrutiny
• Credibility checks of data
Knowledge sharing
•
•
•
-
Weaknesses in resilience…
…over reliance on individuals
Share knowledge of FSR and HE-BCI reporting:
Documentation/training
HESA processes (what, when and how)
The data itself (including the implications/value)
Evidence (or anecdote) from the KIS
• New requirement – high profile
• Data spread across institutions
–
–
–
–
–
No documentation
Little/no control
No standardisation/comparability
Variable quality
Variable approaches to storage
• …being assembled and managed in spreadsheets
Friday 27 November 2009
A YORKSHIRE university facing major job cuts made an accounting
blunder which left it with £20m less than it expected at the end of the
last financial year.
Two separate errors in spreadsheets came to light when the institution
was left with "significantly" less than it had expected.
The mistakes were also carried forward in financial forecasts over a
five-year planning period up to 2013, meaning a miscalculation of
around £100m.
Bosses insisted last night that the mistakes were not responsible for
the institution now looking to making savings of £35m because of cuts
in higher education funding.
A spokesman said: "The two are not connected. The £20m forecasting
error is irrelevant to the economies exercise because it isn't money we
ever had – it's just a spreadsheet error.
Spreadsheets
• Often created by people who don’t understand
principles of sound data management
• Conflate data and algorithms
• Almost impossible to QA
• Spread and mutate like a virus
Search “Ray Panko spreadsheets”
Use of data
Onwards use of FSR with HE-BCI data
HESA publications produced annually
www.hesa.ac.uk/publications
HESA app
• Free to download
• iPhone app
• Smartphone service at
m.hesa.ac.uk
• Contains data from last
3 academic years
• Finance, Student and
Staff data
Performance indicators: Research output
Table R1
• 2010/11 indicators published 09.30 hours, Thursday
5 July 2012 on HESA website
• Published by HESA on behalf of funding councils
The indicators look at numbers of PhDs awarded and
amount of research grants and contracts obtained,
relative to the academic staff costs of an institution and
relative to the funding council allocation of quality
related (QR) research funds to that institution
Table R1 – 2009/10
heidi
• heidi - the Higher Education Information Database
for Institutions. heidi.hesa.ac.uk
• All HEIs have a subscription to this service
• Benchmarking tool
• Bespoke comparison reports
• Contains a very broad range of data about HE
• Data is added through scheduled releases
• Allows dynamic extraction and manipulation of data
HEFCE’s use of FSR and
HE-BCI data
Richard Puttock/Rachel Knight
Leeds/Birmingham/London
November 2012
Use of FSR data
• Wider data to assist in the monitoring of the financial health of
institutions and the sector.
• Data on sources and volumes of research income (used in
informing two elements of HEFCE research funding; informing
research capital funding; and validating research income data
reported within REF submissions).
• Data to support policy formulation and decisions.
• Data on capital expenditure to help monitor the spend and
requirements for HEFCE capital funding.
• In presentations and publications.
Use of FSR data
Charity support element of HEFCE
quality-related research (QR)
funding
£198 million in 2012-13
• Calculation of funding informed by
volume of research income from
charities (awarded through open
competition and peer review) ie.
Table 5b columns 2,7,10 and Table 6a
Head 4a
• Average of two years income
Use of FSR data
Business research element of
HEFCE quality-related research
(QR) funding
£64 million in 2012-13
• Calculation of funding informed by
volume of research income from
industry ie. Table 5b columns 5,8,11
• Average of two years income
Use of FSR data
Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 –
Environment data
• The definitions of research income used in the REF align with
those used in the FSR.
• Institutions are required to return research income data to the
REF by unit of assessment (UOA).
• 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 FSR data from
Table 5b will be used to validate data submitted to the REF.
Use of FSR data
Capital Investment Fund (CIF) 2.
£49M allocated through Teaching Capital
Investment Fund in 2012-13
£549 million allocated through Research Capital
Investment Fund for 2011-12 to 2014-15
• ‘HEIs research capital’ element distributed
according to average of 3 years (2006-07 to
2008-09) research income from research
councils (FSR Table 5b Column 1)
• ‘Research capital’ element distributed
according to 2010-11 QR funding and 200809 research income from UK-based charities,
UK govt, UK industry and EU (FSR Table 5b
Cols 2-9)
Use of FSR data
Capital investment framework metrics and Capital
expenditure data
•Metrics used as part of our assessments under the capital investment
framework. Underlying data for some of the metrics taken from the
HESA FSR (i.e. Total income, income from residences and catering, repairs and
maintenance expenditure, capital expenditure on buildings)
•Capital expenditure data (Table 8) used in conjunction with other data
sources (e.g. EMS data and HEFCE annual monitoring statements) to
help us monitor the spend of HEFCE capital funding. Also use data to
provide us with a picture on the sectors capital spend and other
sources of capital funding.
Use of FSR data
Presentations and publications
Use of FSR data
Presentations and publications
Use of FSR data
Presentations and publications
Use of HE-BCI data
• Data to support policy development and information on third
stream activity.
• Data to inform the allocation of Higher Education Innovation
Fund (HEIF)
Use of HE-BCI data
HE-BCI data for policy
3,500
• Develop policy and
demonstrate impact of
knowledge exchange
• Contributing evidence to
spending reviews
• Provide benchmarking
information – international
and institutional
2,500
Income (£M)
• Providing evidence for the rate
of return of investment in
knowledge exchange
3,000
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Academic year
Contract research
Collaborative research
CPD and continuing education
Consultancy
Regeneration and development programmes
Facilities and equipment related services
IP (including sale of shares)
Use of HE-BCI data
HE-BCI data for funding:
HEIF 2011-2014
• £150 million annually - formula
based on performance metrics
• Current formula uses:
 Data on income from contract research, income from consultancy,
income from use of equipment and facilities, income from
regeneration programmes and intellectual property income
 Income from Non-credit bearing courses (FSR Table 6a Head 2)
 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) income supplied by the
TSB (Technology Strategy Board)
• Additional £6 million allocated in 2012-13 to the 12 highest
performing universities in knowledge exchange.
Thank you for listening
r.knight@hefce.ac.uk
r.puttock@hefce.ac.uk
FSR: Completing the return and common
issues faced
Filling in the template – common issues
• N, S, E, W? What if we’re in the Midlands?
– Country-specific validation is in-built into the FSR template
– N, S, E, W used as country indicator for this validation
• Amending the formulas/entering calculations
• Nearest £000 convention
– Common slip to return to the nearest £ - particularly on
table 8
• Template version
– Non-functional Vs. functional
– Version number control
– Embedded validation
Funding Council/JISC funding grants
• These grants should be returned under Table 6b
Head 1 Funding body grants
• These grants should not be recorded under Table 5a
& b even where an aspect of the grant is used for
research.
• FC income should be returned in the year allocated.
• Commonality of reporting is expected across all HEIs.
Joint arrangements
• UK-wide requirement
• HEI acts as a subcontractor.
Income should be included in Table 5a/5b Heads 1, 2 & 3 consistent
with published accounts. Income passed to subcontracted HEIs and
organisations should be deducted in Head 5 as negative value.
• HEI acts as lead institution for a group.
Gross income and expenditure may be shown by lead HEI in gross
I&E. Any income passed straight to a partner should be deducted
in Table 5a/5b Head 5.
Key = to identify research income received and
spent by the HEI
Frascati definition of research
Section 2.3.1 of the Frascati manual
Requirements of Tables 5a/5b
These tables should include all
income in respect
of externally sponsored research carried
out by the institution, or its subsidiary
undertakings,
that conforms to the conventions of the
Frascati definition of research and for which
directly related expenditure has been incurred.
Requirements of Tables 5a/5b cont./d
Where a research grant or contract is made for a number of
different purposes including research (for example research,
training and clinical work) only that portion of the grant or
contract against which research has been conducted should be
returned as research income.
The overall total should be the same as that recorded in the
financial statements and should include income attributable to a
share in joint venture(s).
Frascati:
Research and experimental development (R&D)
Basic
research
• New knowledge
• No particular application/use in
view
Applied
research
• New knowledge
• Specified aim/objective
Experimental
development
• Draws on existing knowledge
• Produce new/improve existing
materials/products/systems
Frascati
Excluded from R&D
Education and training
• All university education/training is excluded
• Except PhD research
Other related scientific
and technological
activities
• Specific activities as listed under 2.2.2 in Frascati manual
should be excluded
Other industrial
activities
Administration and
other supporting
activities
• Other innovation activities and production and related
technical activities should be excluded
• Purely R&D-financing activities and indirect supporting
activities should be excluded
Distinguishing R&D from related activities
2.3.1. Criteria for distinguishing R&D from related activities
84. The basic criterion for distinguishing R&D from related
activities is the presence in R&D of an appreciable element
of novelty and the resolution of scientific and/or
technological uncertainty, i.e. when the solution to a
problem is not readily apparent to someone familiar with
the basic stock of common knowledge and techniques for
the area concerned.
Concept of the routine Vs. specific
Routine Vs specific
Routine
Specific
Autopsy to establish cause of death as
part of the practice of medical care
Special investigation of a particular
mortality to establish side effects of a
certain cancer treatment
Daily record keeping of atmospheric
pressure for weather forecasting
Investigation of new methods of
measuring atmospheric pressure
Engineering plans/calculations for
execution and maintenance of product
standardisation
Engineering plans/calculations for
operation of pilots/prototypes
Check list for R&D
A. What are the project objectives?
B. What is new/innovative about the project?
C. What staff are working on the project?
D. What methods are being used?
E. Under what programme is the project being funded?
F. How general are the results/findings likely to be?
G. Does the project fall more naturally into another
scientific, technological or industrial activity?
Frascati
R&D and PhD research students
• PhD courses involve independent study containing
elements of novelty required for R&D.
• This element of a PhD student’s activity and also
associated supervision by staff members should be
included as R&D.
Returning R&D income for PhD students on the FSR
Reporting depends on how studentships awarded.
Income for research
studentships
associated with a research
grant/contract
Table 5a/5b
Income for general
research studentships (NOT
awarded as part of a
research grant or contract)
Table 6a Head 4
4a = income awarded by a
charity (open competitive)
4b = other research
training support grants
including CASE
Accounting for studentships - expenditure
BUFDG guidance is that full cost of
maintenance/stipends should be shown as expenditure
in accounts.
For purposes of FSR this should be returned within the
Academic department headings on Table 7.
This is consistent with the other expenditure of PGR
training.
Can endowment income used for research be
reported in Table 5b?
FSR should be completed in line with HEI’s financial
statements and SORP.
(Note that for REF purposes this income can be included in
the narrative section)
Proposed that a new line will to be added to Table 5b of FSR
for 2013/14 to capture this endowment income awarded
and used for research purposes.
Do many institutions have endowments awarded for
research purposes?
Charities income
Research income from charities awarded through an
open, competitive process
• It is a requirement for institutions to split charities
income awarded through an open competitive and
other process.
• For the purposes of REF research income needs to be
split on this basis. This data is also used by HEFCE for
funding purposes
Defining charities
• Charities income
– Registered charity in UK or overseas body with exclusively
charitable purposes
– Exists for the public benefit (see guidance at
http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Charity_requireme
nts_guidance/Charity_essentials/Public_benefit/default.as
px)
Charities Act 2006
The Charities Act sets out the following descriptions of charitable purposes:
a) the prevention or relief of poverty;
b) the advancement of education;
c) the advancement of religion;
d) the advancement of health or the saving of lives;
e) the advancement of citizenship or community development;
f) the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science;
g) the advancement of amateur sport;
h) the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or
the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity;
i) the advancement of environmental protection or improvement;
j) the relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability,
financial hardship or other disadvantage;
k) the advancement of animal welfare;
l) the promotion of the efficiency of the armed forces of the Crown, or of
the efficiency of the police, fire and rescue services or ambulance services;
m) other purposes currently recognised as charitable and any new
charitable purposes which are similar to another charitable purpose.
Open competitive process definition
• For charity income to be deemed as awarded through an
open competitive process it needs to be shown that the
HEI took external expert advice on the choice of HEI
and that the HEI have been obtained either by:
– Evidence that a particular income stream or grant was available
to more than one institution through a direct competition
Or
– By the funding was limited to specific HEIs due to the nature of
funding being specialised/regionalised
– By the charity making it known that it would be open to
applications from other HEIs
Changes for 2012/13
Template changes
In response to the changes in fee regime from 2012/13
different reporting will be required for FSR tables 6a
and 7
Full details and non-functional version of changes
available at
http://www.hesa.ac.uk/circulars/finance/12/01
Changes to Table 6a for institutions in Scotland
Changes to Table 6a for institutions in Northern
Ireland
Changes to Table 6a for institutions in Wales
Note that the split between ‘new’ and ‘continuing’ for
FT PGT and PGR students will no longer be required
Changes to Table 6a for institutions in England
No change!
Changes to Table 7 – for all HEIs
Institutions in England: Note that the Govt. element of NSP
will be accounted as an agency arrangement by HEIs and
therefore should be excluded from the I&E account of both
the published accounts or the FSR
Break-out HE-BCI Survey:
Proposed changes for 2013/14
Purpose of the HE-BCI Survey
• The survey is in its eleventh year
• The main vehicle for measuring the volume and
direction of interactions between UK HEIs and
business and the wider community
• Data is invaluable as management information, in
policy development
• Also important as metrics driving the allocation of
public funds to further develop HEIs’ infrastructures
in this area
• Informs funding of Knowledge Transfer
Business and Community Interaction
• Business = private, public and third-sector partners
of all sizes and sectors
• Community = society as a whole outside of the HEI
including all social, community and cultural
organisations and individuals
Scope of policy
BUSINESS
PRIVATE
SECTOR
PUBLIC
SECTOR
Competitiveness, Efficiency,
Growth
Cohesion
COMMUNITY
CULTURAL
LANDSCAPE
Cultural
Enrichment &
Quality of Life
SOCIAL & CIVIC
ARENA
Resources &
Opportunities
Automotive
SME
approaches
HEI to test
product
Collaborative research
Shared objectives
realised –
strategic
relationship
formed
HEI (or partner)
designs CPD
course to up-skill
production staff
for new design
Equipment
and facilities
Product fails.
Technician/BDM suggest
academic with relevent
experience from
aerospace
CPD
Engagement
sparks idea in
aerospace
academic
working on
similar question
Academic
updates teaching
material to reflect
real-world
example
Consultancy
Product passes. New
design suggests
potential improvement
to overall door design
HEI approached
to research
methods to
achieve new
design
Contract research
SME grows
HE-BCI coverage
• Compulsory for HEIs in England, Northern Ireland
and Wales
• Had been optional for Scotland until 2011/12 but is
now compulsory
• Data submitted December each year
HE-BCI future changes
• First major review since HESA took on the
responsibility for the collection
• Commenced April 2012
• Due to be completed January 2013
• The changes will be implemented for 2013/14
Review Group
• Review Group includes representatives from:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
HEIs
UK Governments
Technology Strategy Board (TSB)
Research Councils
AURIL and PraxisUnico
Universities UK (UUK)
GuildHE
Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE)
Part A
• Qualitative questionnaire
• Web form
• Collects information on the infrastructure, capacity
and strategy of HEIs
• Data captured not likely to be considered as potential
funding metrics…
• …but provides invaluable information (at HEI and
regional and national levels) for HEIs and policymakers
Review of Part A
• The proposed changes consist mainly of updates to
answer options to ensure that they are relevant,
provide useful data and better information
• Some questions removed
• Supporting guidance will be reviewed following
confirmation of the revised content
• The highlights are…
Q1. In which areas do you see your HEI as a whole making the greatest contribution
to economic development? Please tick ALL of the areas that apply and then indicate
which are the three key areas.
Areas
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Widening participation/access
Graduate retention in local region
Knowledge exchange
Supporting small and medium size enterprises (SMEs)
Helping with student and graduate enterprises
Provision of incubator support
Attracting inward investment to region
Research collaboration with industry
Attracting non-local students to the region
Support for community development
Developing local partnerships
Management development
Meeting regional skills needs
Meeting national skills needs
Spin-off activity
Facilitating networks
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
Key contribution areas
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
Q3. Please indicate how your institution selects the sectors that it works
with. (Tick all that apply)
Currently…
• The HEI is a specialist institution focused on sector-specific areas
• The HEI took its cue from priorities in RDA regional strategies
• Response to demand from companies in these sectors
• The HEI identified important business clusters in its region
• These sectors had best fit with the HEI's strategy
• The HEI focused on a 'gap in the market' left by other HEIs
• Other - please specify
Proposed answer options…
• Best fit with the institution’s strengths
• Focus on the institution’s future strategy
• Existing collaborations (including those via staff and students)
• Response to demand from external partners
• Response to Government (local, national, devolved) policy
• Other (please specify)
New answer options to make clear the distinction between supply, external collaboration and
demand-led strategies
Q6. Which of the following areas is of greatest priority in your HEI's mission? Please
tick ALL of the areas that apply and then indicate which the key area is.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Regional Development Agency (RDA) area
Locality
Local authority area
English region
Devolved Government/Administration region
International EU
Other international
Area defined by the HEI
Areas
Key contribution area
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
Q11 Does your HEI have a central dedicated
unit which provides the following?
• Proposed change of ‘central dedicated’ to structured
system’
• Change proposed as it is not the location of the
provision but the existence of a system that is
important
• No proposed changes to answer options
Q12. Does your HEI have any subsidiary companies or distinct departments of the
organisations responsible for Business and Community interactions and what are
they? (Tick all that apply)
Previously
• No
• Yes, exploitation company
• Yes, internal department
• Yes, both
Proposed
• No
• Yes, exploitation company wholly
owned
• Yes, exploitation company
majority owned
• Yes, exploitation company
minority owned
• Yes, internal department
Restriction on the number of options
that can be selected is proposed for
removal (previously ‘Select one
only’)
Q18. Is there a requirement within the HEI to report or disclose (internally) the
creation of the following types of intellectual property to the disclosure (external
relations etc.) company or department?
• (Select one response for each row: Always (1); Usually(2); Rarely/Never
(3)) changed to (Select one response for each row: yes or no)
• Reason
Q22. What, if applicable (i.e. written into staff regulations or institutional
policy for external engagement), is the maximum number of days per year a
member of staff is permitted to devote to providing expertise and/or
services for social and community groups, civic authorities, broadcast media
and cultural events?
•
•
Wording changed to “In academic staff contracts - what is the maximum number
of days per year that academics may carry out private activities of engagement
with business and the community (i.e. not recorded elsewhere in this survey)?“
Change proposed so that the information that is required here can be captured
Q27 If engaged in regeneration programmes, which roles, if
any, do funding from regeneration programmes play for the
HEI?
Previously
•
Additional funds for teaching, training
•
Additional funds for research
•
Enabling capital projects - new
•
building/accommodation
•
Acquiring research equipment (used also by
external
•
partners)
•
Building strategic links with local external
partners
•
Fulfilling regional mission through new services
to
•
external partners
•
Facilitating partnerships
•
Enhancing knowledge of labour market needs
Proposed
•
Adding/improving capability for teaching and
learning (resource)
•
Adding/improving capability for research (resource)
•
Strengthening/Facilitating links with the nonacademic community
•
New/additional funds for teaching capital (buildings)
•
New/additional funds for teaching capital
(equipment)
•
New/additional funds for research capital (buildings)
•
New/additional funds for research capital
(equipment)
•
Not engaged in any regeneration programmes
The options have been replaced with more generic
options and new responses for capital.
Summary of changes to Part A
•
•
•
•
Currently there are 35 questions
Number of questions with changes proposed – 14
Number of questions with no changes proposed – 16
Number of questions proposed for removal from the
Survey - 5
• No new questions proposed
Part B
• Quantitative data
• Five Excel tables
• Primarily concerned with gathering numeric and
financial data about third stream activity
• Tables:
–
–
–
–
–
Research-related activities
Business and community services
Regeneration and development programmes
Intellectual property (IP)
Social, community and cultural engagement
Review of Part B
• Focus of the proposed revisions on the design and
structure of the five tables
• Work on supporting guidance, including adding more
examples and good practice will take place following
the consultation
• Following the closure of the RDAs it is not proposed
that any regional data be collected in Part B
Table 1
Table 1 – guidance and issues
•
•
•
•
•
•
Directly used in funding in Wales
Can be very complex
How to measure and record ‘in-kind’?
EU programmes with no direct interaction
Activity is not linear
Difficulty of identifying SMEs
Table 1 Research related activities
• Just one change proposed…
• …the removal of the ‘subtotal Regions’ (formerly
RDA) column
Table 2
Table 2 – guidance and issues
• Facilities and equipment:
- Difficulty of identifying SMEs
- Doesn’t include car parks…. but may include
sports/conference facilities (mission)
• CPD:
-
Very broad range of activity
Difficult to distinguish from other forms of teaching
Not used in funding (use FSR non-credit bearing)
Different definition in Scotland
Number of days difficult to estimate
Table 2 Business and community services
• Proposed change of Head 1 from ‘Consultancy
contracts’ to ‘Consultancy’
• Removal of the ‘subtotal Regions’ (formerly RDA)
column
Table 3
Table 3 Regeneration and development programmes
• Removal of the ‘subtotal Regions’ (formerly RDA)
column
• Capital is currently not captured in Table 3 –
consulting on whether or not it would be useful to
capture capital
• Two options being consulted on:
– Add one row to capture capital (leaving the other options
to capture revenue only); or
– Add a new column in order to capture capital from each
funding source
Table 4
Table 4 –guidance and issues
• Income from licences:
- Can be complex
- Non-STEM subjects can be under-reported
- Include all forms of IP
• Spin-offs:
- Resurveying after 3 years – difficulties of making contact with
an organisation who no longer think of themselves as spin-off
or where staff have changed
Table 4 Intellectual property (IP)
• Removal of the ‘subtotal Regions’ (formerly RDA)
column
• Addition of sub-head ‘Number of patents filed by an
external party naming the HEI as an inventor’ added
under Head 1
• Heads 2 and 3 amended to include ‘patents,
copyright, design registration and trademarks’
• Two new sub-heads, 2av and 2bv to capture total
number of non-software/software licenses
generating income
Table 4 Intellectual Property (continued)
• Re-ordering of Head 4 so that it shows the current
year before the previous year – consistent with the
other tables
• Addition of sub-heads 4av and 4bv social enterprises
Table 5
Table 5 – guidance and issues
• Ticketless events e.g. a piece of art displayed at a
train station
• Remember to include academic staff time only and
not student or non-academic time…
• …although the event itself doesn’t necessarily have
to be academic in nature
Table 5 Social, community and cultural engagement
• Re-ordering of the year of collection above the
previous year’s data to bring in line with the other
tables
• This will assist users of the data
General HE-BCI issues
• Complex activities with very limited data available
• Definitions (Frascati took 60 years!)
• World leading
Looking forward to C11031
Timescales for data collection 2011/12
July 2012
First release of coding manual
& non-functional template released
October 2012
Functional templates released
Mid November 2012
Data collection system opens
14 December 2012
Send HESA copy of published accounts
15 December 2012
Commit date
Need to submit a passed FSR and HE-BCI B template and complete
the HE-BCI A web form by this date
15 December 2012 to 17 January 2013
Data quality checking period
17 January 2013
Last submission
18 January 2013
Sign-off
Submission delays
Common causes for delay
• Draft accounts
• Tie up with HE-BCI
• Staffing/software issues
Keep in touch
The Institutional Liaison
team are here to help with
all aspects of the data
collection process.
If you experience difficulties
please get in contact…
liaison@hesa.ac.uk
01242 211144
Data collection system features
• TEST-COMMIT facility to be introduced
- ability to check data before sending to HESA
- decommit not required
• HE-BCI A summary report to be retained for previous
submissions
– Allow easier cross-comparison
Changes to Check doc - FSR
• Front sheet
– Amended to auto-filter non-blanks
– KFIs to be listed for ease of reference
• 2011/12 vs. static 2010/11 data
• Tolerances used to flag anomalies – based on expected sector
averages
• Table 2
– Added into check doc to complete suite of available tables
– Facilitate DQ checking
• Table 8 quality check
– Common rounding issue for HEIs to return this table in £s rather
than £000s. Item to include comparison against 2010/11 static
data.
Estates Management record
• This data stream uses figures submitted in the FSR
• Preview to Estates during live FSR collection
FSR figure
Use in Estates record
Table 6b, sum of headings 1c 'Total funding body
grants' (minus subheading 1aii 'Recurrent research')
and 2 'Total tuition fees and education contracts'.
D01.C04 HEI income Teaching total
Table 6b, sum of headings 1aii 'Grants for HE
provision (SFC grants for all provision): Recurrent
(research)' and 3i 'Total research grants and
contracts'.
D01.C07 HEI income Research total
Table 6b, sum of heading 4h 'Total other income'
(minus heading 4b 'Residences and catering
operations (including conferences)') and heading 5
'Total endowment and investment income'.
D01.C12 HEI income Other nonresidential
Table 6b, heading 6 'Total income'.
D01.C01 HEI income Total HEI
Table 7, with heading 8 'Total expenditure'.
D02.C01 HEI expenditure Total HEI
Data collection process
The road to credibility
Data committed
Data credible
DQ checks
Minerva queries
Re-checked
HEI
explains/amends
data
Submission stats 2010/11 (C10031)
Total number of commits
Total number of HE-BCI A transactions
Average wait for queries
Maximum wait
Total number of Minerva queries raised
Average number of Minerva queries per
HEI
358
186
3 working days
8 working days
1374
8
Minerva
• What is Minerva?
• Who has access to Minerva?
• What are the Minerva queries used for?
Responding to Minerva queries
Of those responses marked as ‘Genuine oddity’ 9%
were missing any explanation?
Your responses are used to:
• Explain anomalies in the dataset
• Assist us in understanding trends within the data
• Help us to analyse our validation
• Highlight issues that need caveating in
publication
Contextual information in Minerva
• At the request of the National Planners Group HESA
have begun working on a ‘public’ version of Minerva
• Designed to give users of the data additional context
• HESA will publish a query to Minerva to which HEIs
can add notes about their institution e.g. ‘we
recently opened a new department’
• HESA will not interact with what is added
• Will remain open throughout the year to add to
• HESA will extract and send the information to
accompany data requests
Data quality checking the returns
How HESA checks the FSR data
Cost centre
analysis
Published
accounts
Year-onyear
consistency
HE-BCI B
Committed
FSR
HEFCE
Using the check documentation
Data quality checklist
• Completion of this checklist may assist local data
quality checking of committed data.
• Resolution of any queries associated with these items
is required to proceed to sign-off
FSR V. Published account cross-check
• First check of data to ensure basic cross-matches
• Non-matches looked for in the detailed
accounts/notes
• No explanation found = Minerva query
Front sheet automated queries
The front sheet will automatically list out the
differences displayed within the other check doc
sheets.
Quick reference tool to assess ‘health’ of submission
Automatic queries are simply there as a 'guide' to any
year on year differences. Where they can be explained
by the published accounts they can be overlooked.
Checkdoc_1
The checkdoc_1 sheet contains a series of summary
statistics taken from Tables 1, 3 and 4 for institutions to
verify.
It also previewed the Key Financial Indicators as
published in the Finance Plus volume and heidi webbased management information service.
Checkdoc_2
Comparative analysis between FSR tables
Checks include;
• Where there is research income there is also
research expenditure
• Recurrent research figure has been provided for all
HEIs with FC research funding
• Expectation that majority of HEIs will not have FC
grants for Residences and Catering
T1_T2_T3_T5b_T6a_T6b_T7_T8_Differences
• Include previous and current year comparative
checks (including restated figures) using a
combination of absolute values and ratios.
Cost centre analysis
• This sheet details the cost centre information
returned in the THREE current year returns –
Student, Staff and Finance
• Expectation that these three returns will correlate
Need to liaise with colleagues
completing the Student and Staff
records ahead of these data
collections being submitted to
HESA
New for 2011/12
Comparison of HEFCE Financial Tables to HESA FSR
Head
Head
name
Column
Row
HESA FSR
£’000
HEFCE
£’000
Difference
£’000
1a
Funding
body
grants
D
004
850
840
10
1b
Tuition
fees and
education
contracts
D
005
422
422
0
Tables 1, 3 and 4
Liaise with colleagues
responsible for completion of
HEFCE return
Common FSR data errors
Majority of issues found that fixed in collection relate
to the FSR
Issues with FSR submissions
Common issues with FSR submission
• Transposition errors
• Inconsistencies in restated figures
• Year on year differences
How HESA checks HE-BCI
HE-BCI A
HE-BCI B
Cross-checks
Manual visual check for
year-on-year differences
• Limited changes
• Shifts in HEI focus
• Completion of free
text questions
Check documentation
sheets
• Automated differences
highlighted
Tie up between IP
responses
• expectation that if have
IP income in B (Table 4)
will offer support in A
(questions 21a/b)
Lime, Lilac and Aqua
Lilac
Lime
Aqua
Query 1: Year on year
difference is high
Query 2: Restated
difference of 5% or more
Query 3: Returning more
than 5% of last year’s
sector total figure
Currently these queries are listed on the check
documentation, however these could also be displayed
within the template as a preview to assist local data checks
Common HE-BCI data errors
Breakdown of Part A errors
Inconsistencies in
completion of questionnaire
when compared to prior
year data
Remember to use the
summary report to check
that the answers returned
correctly represent the
institution.
Help guides
C11031 collection
preparation guide
Key collection news
www.hesa.ac.uk/circulars/finance
/12/03
Check doc guide
Help on analysing your
submission
www.hesa.ac.uk/C11031cdguide
Submission user guide
How to send data
www.hesa.ac.uk/submit-finance
Cost centres and the Institution Profile
record 2012/13
Cost Centre changes
• Reasons for change
– Align with REF2014 UoAs
– Move to 3 digit coding frame to distinguish from UoAs
– Make coding frame more flexible for future changes
Further details on cost centre changes can be found at:
http://www.hesa.ac.uk/content/view/2128/687/
Cost centre changes
Institution profile data collection
• New data collection June 2013
• Replaces current Campus Information System
Institution
profile
Academic
cost centres
Departments
Proportions
Campuses
Locations
Academic cost centres
• Benchmarking opportunity - data to be added to heidi
(http://www.heidi.ac.uk)
• For HEIs in England return of departmental academic
cost centres is required. This is optional for institutions in
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• For all HEIs the return of tier and cost centre splits is
optional
• Data submitted to be used as cross-check in Student,
Staff and Finance returns
• Allocation of cost centres should be done on the basis of
Academic staff FTE
Department cost centre allocations
For E HEIs return of
departmental academic cost
centres is required.
This is optional for W, NI, S.
History
Department
Cost centre
139 History
Cost centre
140 Classics
75%
25%
Tiers
Optional for all
Academic cost centre allocations
75%
Department
of History
5%
Department
of English
Literature
Cost
centre 139
History
10%
Department
of
Archaeology
10%
Department
of Classics
Optional for all
Institution profile timescales (TBC)
May 2013
Collection opens
1 June 2013
Return date
8 June 2013
Commit date
8-21 June 2013
Data quality checking period
21 June 2013
Last submission
24 June 2013
Sign-off
Data submitted will then be used as metadata for cross-validation purposes
in the Student, Staff and Finance record
1. It is expected that those cost centres listed in the Institutional profile
record will be made use of in these data returns
2. It is not expected that any other cost centres not listed in the Institutional
profile record will be used in these data returns.
The BUFDG Website is changing from
January 2013
What’s new?
Quite a lot…and not a lot
• After more than 6 years with only a minor
refresh, the [hugely successful] older site was
struggling to keep up with the demands with
growth from 500 to nearly 4,000 members
since 2007
• We needed a new platform so you can still
access the information and networking you
value
Where will I find it?
Go to www.bufdg.ac.uk
• Exactly the place and the as the old site
• Use the same username and password that you
used for the old site.
• In order to get the most out of the new site you
will need to log in and set your preferences.
• This is very quick and easy – Just click on the “My
Account” button at the top of the Home Page. To
encourage you to do this, we’re offering a £30
Amazon voucher for the 100th and 500th person
to log in and change their details.
How do I get the most out of it?
• In order to get the most out of the new site you
need to log in and set your preferences. This is
very quick and easy – Just click on the “My
Account” button at the top of the Home Page.
• Take a look at the “My BUFDG” area where you
can bring together all the contacts, documents,
discussions and other things that you use most
regularly into your own specific space. If you take
advantage of this you will not have to search for
the same things every time you visit.
What will I find in Resources?
• This is the engine room of the website. In this
part of the site you will see News Items,
Discussion Boards, Job adverts, and of course
the Document Repository (formerly known as
the Info Bank).
• The BUFDG team will populate the Documents
area in the first instance but any member can
use this to share information or resources.
What will I find in Networking?
• This is our membership database – you can
find the contact details for all the individuals
and institutions who are members of BUFDG.
• You can also find details of all our networking
groups – this includes details of group
membership, and recent activity.
What is “My BUFDG”?
• “My BUFDG” area where you can bring
together all the contacts, documents,
discussions and other things that you use
most regularly into your own specific space. If
you take advantage of this you will not have to
search for the same things every time you
visit.
Where will I find the Discussion
Boards?
• The discussion boards can be found in the Resources
area – this can be accessed via the ever-present
navigation bar on the right-hand side.
• You should find the boards as easy to use as the
previous site – with a private board for Finance
Directors only and the facility for all correspondents to
make an anonymous posting for more sensitive issues.
The BUFDG team have an archive of the discussions on
the old site so you are searching for something you
have seen earlier, please get in touch with Matt in the
BUFDG office.
Where will I find the Info Bank?
• The Info Bank has been renamed the Document
Repository and can be found in the Resources
area this can be accessed via the ever-present
navigation bar on the right-hand side.
• The BUFDG team have populated this area with
the most useful documents from the old site. If
you find that the document you are searching for
has not been moved to the new site, please get in
touch with Matt in the BUFDG office who has an
archive from the old site.
What’s happening to the Weekly
Digest?
• We will still publish this every Wednesday
afternoon and sent you a notification email.
• You can find the Digest on the website at any
time – just as before it will be at the top of the
Home Page.
Where can I find out more?
• We have invested a lot of time in making the
“help” as helpful as possible.
• So if you want to find out more about the
website, why not take a look around, and click on
the ‘help’ button on each page You can also read
our short website introduction.
• Any questions…email or call the BUFDG Web &
Information Manager, Matt, on
matt@bufdg.ac.uk or 08452 415449.
We look forward to seeing you on the
new site in January!
Heidi demonstration
Finance data in heidi
 Breakdown of all FSR and HE-BCI Part B tables
 HE-BCI A responses
 Key Financial Indicators 1-38b*
*Note that the KFIs are ratios and NOT performance
indicators. They do not take account of HEI
characteristics.
Other data in heidi
 HESA Student
 HESA Staff
 HESA DLHE
 HESA Estates
Management
 Performance Indicators
 Student staff ratios
 HEMS
 UUK Pattern data
 Research Assessment
Exercise (RAE)
 Applications data –
CUKAS, GTTR, NMAS,
UCAS
 Funders Forum Metrics
 SCONUL Library
management statistics
 Teaching Quality
Information (TQI)
 National Student Survey
(NSS)
 Training Development
Agency data
HESA-Finance@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
HESA information and discussion forum for HESA
Finance record contacts and related areas
Want to join?
email liaison@hesa.ac.uk
or visit www.jiscmail.ac.uk
Data collection and submission
The Institutional Liaison team are there to help with all
aspects of the return from local collection of data items
through to final submission and sign-off.
Contact the team
liaison@hesa.ac.uk
01242 211144
More information
Visit the HESA website at www.hesa.ac.uk
For help and advice on all aspects of the data collection and data
submission process: liaison@hesa.ac.uk
For advice on heidi: heidi@hesa.ac.uk
For training events and bespoke visits on the Finance record or
heidi: training@hesa.ac.uk