User guide
Frequently asked questions
(FAQ)
October 2013
Updated January 2016
National Centre for Vocational Education Research
The AVETMISS Validation Software is managed by National Centre for Vocational
Education Research (NCVER) on behalf of the Australian Government and state and
territory governments, with funding provided through the Department of Education &
Training.
© Commonwealth of Australia, 2013
With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, the Department’s logo, any material protected by a trade mark
and where otherwise noted all material presented in this document is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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The Creative Commons licence conditions do not apply to all logos, graphic design, artwork and photographs. Requests
and enquiries concerning other reproduction and rights should be directed to the National Centre for Vocational
Education Research (NCVER).
This document should be attributed as NCVER 2013, AVETMISS Validation Software: frequently asked questions (FAQs),
NCVER, Adelaide.
TD/TNC 113.20
Published by NCVER, ABN 87 007 967 311
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PO Box 8288 Station Arcade, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia
P +61 8 8230 8400 F +61 8 8212 3436 E ncver@ncver.edu.au W <http://www.ncver.edu.au>
Contents
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) .................................................................................................. 1
GETTING STARTED – ACCESSING AVS AND SIGNING IN .......................................................................... 4
WHAT ARE THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR AVS? ................................................................................................... 4
I’VE FORGOTTEN MY AVS PASSWORD, WHAT DO I DO? ............................................................................................. 4
ALL THE REGISTERED USERS FOR MY RTO’S AVS ACCOUNT HAVE LEFT THE ORGANISATION HOW DO I OBTAIN ACCESS TO
AVS?................................................................................................................................................................... 4
STORAGE & SECURITY OF DATA ............................................................................................................... 5
DOES NCVER STORE OR BACKUP MY VALIDATED DATA?............................................................................................ 5
HOW SECURE IS DATA LOADED INTO AVS?............................................................................................................... 5
VALIDATION ................................................................................................................................................ 6
HOW DOES THE VALIDATION PROCESS WORK? .......................................................................................................... 6
MY DATA HAS GENERATED ERRORS AND WARNINGS ON VALIDATION. WHAT NEXT? ...................................................... 6
HOW CAN I GET MORE DETAILS ON MY ERROR AND WARNING MESSAGES? .................................................................... 7
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BASIC VALIDATION AND FULL VALIDATION?........................................................... 7
SUBMITTING DATA TO NCVER ................................................................................................................... 7
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXPORT AND SUBMIT? ....................................................................................... 7
HOW DO I SUBMIT MY FILES? .................................................................................................................................. 8
I NEED TO RE-SUBMIT DATA. HOW CAN I DO THIS? .................................................................................................. 8
AT WHAT STAGE ARE NAMES ENCRYPTED? ............................................................................................................... 8
WHAT ENCRYPTION PROCESS DOES AVS USE? .......................................................................................................... 8
WHERE CAN I GET AVS SUPPORT?.......................................................................................................................... 8
EXPORTING DATA FROM AVS .................................................................................................................... 8
CAN I EXPORT DATA FILES FROM AVS?.................................................................................................................... 8
CAN I SELECT WHICH DATA FILES I WANT TO EXPORT? .............................................................................................. 8
AUTO POPULATION .................................................................................................................................... 9
DO I NEED TO INCLUDE ALL INFORMATION IN MY DATA THAT IS AVAILABLE FROM TGA? ............................................... 9
MISCELLANEOUS ......................................................................................................................................... 9
WILL I NEED TO DOWNLOAD PATCHES OR UPDATES FOR AVS?................................................................................... 9
CAN I TURN OFF AVS SYSTEM EMAILS? .................................................................................................................... 9
WHY AM I UNABLE TO OPEN THE CSV FILE THAT I DOWNLOADED FROM AVS? ............................................................ 9
- AVS: Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
3333
Getting started – accessing AVS and
signing in
What are the system requirements for AVS?
The minimum and recommended client computer specifications are as follows:
Minimum
Recommended

Windows Vista/XP/2000/Win 7

Windows 7

Linux with GTK+ 2.2.1+.

MAC OSX 10.7 or above

MAC OSX 10.8
Memory

512MB RAM

4GB RAM
Disk

100MB of free disk space

500MB of free disk space

4-core processor
Operating system
Processor
Browser

Firefox

Latest version of Firefox

Google Chrome

Latest version of Chrome

Internet Explorer – latest

100Mbs or faster
version (Windows only)
Internet
Connection

ADSL 2
I’ve forgotten my AVS password, what do I do?
Click on the ‘Forgot password’ link from the AVS home page. Enter your username and click ‘Forgot
password’. A temporary password will be sent to you via email.
All the registered users for my RTO’s AVS account have left the
organisation how do I obtain access to AVS?
Click on the “register” link from the AVS home page and choose the ‘self-register ‘ option to create an
account. An email from the RTO’s CEO is to be sent to support@ncver.edu.au requesting the newly selfregistered details to be linked to the existing AVS account for the RTO (must specify the roles they are
authorising this users to have).
4
- AVS: Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Storage & security of data
Does NCVER store or backup my validated data?
Once validated, AVS data files are stored on NCVER’s server for 28 days. All validation data will be
deleted from the server at the end of the 28 day period.
Any new data imported into AVS will overwrite any previous data and the new data will be stored for a
period of 28 days.
NCVER backs up submitted data files. Files used for validation processes and any errors/warnings
associated with the validation process will not be backed up.
How secure is data loaded into AVS?
AVS uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security technology to establish an encrypted link between your
web browser and NCVER’s server. This ensures all data transferred over the internet remains private.
All data that has been loaded into AVS is stored securely on an NCVER server.
Only people who have been given user access to an organisation’s data can access that organisation’s
data loaded into AVS. An organisation’s ‘Primary contact’ and ‘Organisation Administrator’ can assign
access to other users for the organisation.
Other than IT administrators, NCVER employees do not have access to AVS information until data has
been ‘submitted’ to NCVER. On submission, AVS data is transferred to a separate location on the
NCVER server for AVETMISS reporting.
All NCVER staff must comply with the Australian Privacy Principles outlined in Schedule 1 of the Privacy
Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, which amends the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
In accordance with Australian Privacy Principle 11 (Security of Personal Information), NCVER takes
active steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised
access, modification or disclosure. For more detail, please see NCVER’s Privacy Policy
http://www.ncver.edu.au/privacy.html.
Under NCVER’s security/confidentiality protocols for data collection:
• NCVER, as the administrator of the national collections, may access all data, where it exists, for the
purpose of quality assurance and data derivations.
• NCVER staff sign an information management policy agreeing to abide by protocols covering privacy
and confidentiality of data and the release of information.
- AVS: Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
3335
Validation
The flow chart below illustrates AVS data validation process and references support materials that
describe each step. To access the support materials click on the hyperlinks below the flow chart.
Go to:
www.avs.ncver.edu.au





Register
for AVS
Sign in to
AVS
Start a New
Collection
Watch our AVS
video tutorial
to learn how to
start and new
collection and
validate your
data.
Unable to select
“New
Collection”?
See Popular
Call #1 on our
Hot Topics fact
sheet to learn
how to assign
the required
roles and
responsibilities.
Upload and
validate
your
data
For RTOs
reporting state
funded data to
NSW only:
Turn on 3
preliminary
checks:
1. Activity Start
Date
2. Activity End
Date
3. Allow blank
outcome ids
See pgs. 28-29
of the AVS User
Guide
for details.
Fix errors
in your
SMS or
data entry
tool
Finalise your
submission
and Submit
or Export
your data
See our
Fixing
Validation
Errors fact
sheet to help
you identify
which data
fields are
triggering
errors.
See our
Submitting Data
to NCVER fact
sheet for details
on how to finalise
your submission.
AVS video tutorial
Hot Topics fact sheet
AVS User Guide
Fixing validation errors fact sheet
Submitting data to NCVER fact sheet
How does the validation process work?
A two-stage validation process occurs on the NCVER server once a user has pressed the ‘Validate’
button:

Stage 1: Basic validation. Format check on the uploaded files (checks the files have the correct
data types, mandatory fields are populated). Further validation will not proceed if errors are
found.

Stage 3: Run full validation. AVS will email the user once the validation process has been
completed.
My data has generated errors and warnings on validation. What next?
AVS may detect errors in data during basic validation or full validation. AVS allows users to view error
and warning detail summaries by file, error type and error codes.
Data cannot be submitted if it contains errors. All errors (and warnings where possible) must be
corrected in source data and files will need to be re-imported and validated within AVS. Refer to our
Fixing Validation Errors fact sheet and the AVS User Guide for more information.
6
- AVS: Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
How can I get more details on my error and warning messages?
AVS may detect errors in your data during basic validation or full validation. If any files contain
errors during validation the status will change to Error for those files. In addition, the Collection
Processing screen will display a count of how many errors and warnings exist against each data
file. Data cannot be submitted to a national collection if it contains errors.
In order to view a detailed report of your errors and/or warnings, you can select the Export
Details function at the bottom of the screen. Upon selecting the Export Details function you will
be asked to confirm whether or not you want to continue. Please select ‘Yes’ to open up the Excel
spreadsheet that will list all your error and/or warning details.
After you have downloaded and opened the Excel spreadsheet, expand out all of the columns so
as to view the error/warning descriptions. Errors are sorted by code number and a description
indicates the reason for the error occurring. The error detail report will help you pin-point the
location and cause of the error/warning message(s).
You will need to amend your data at the source (for example within your student management
system) and then re-add, upload and validate the amended files. This process will need to be
repeated until you pass validation error-free. Please see our Fixing Validation Errors fact sheet
for more details.
The client support team will gladly assist you with any queries about error/warning messages. You
can contact us using our contact form or call us on 08 8230 8400 or 1800 649 452.
What’s the difference between basic validation and full validation?
Basic validation confirms that the user’s data files are in the correct format (file length etc) and that
mandatory fields are not blank. If an error is found during basic validation, files cannot be uploaded for
full validation until the error is resolved.
Once data files pass basic validation they move into full validation. During full validation AVS checks
the content of the data against the rules outlined in the AVETMIS standard.
Submitting data to NCVER
What is the difference between Export and Submit?
All AVS users have access to the Export function. After validation has completed, the Export feature
saves your data files in a zip folder and contains any information that has been auto populated. If you
are required to send your validated files to your STA, send the files that have been exported.
If you are authorised to submit your validated data to NCVER, the submit button will be activated for
you to send the validated files direct to NCVER via AVS. If you are not authorised to submit directly to
NCVER, the submit button will be greyed out.
- AVS: Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
3337
How do I submit my files?
Files need to be validated error-free in order for the ‘Submit’ button to become available. An
authorised user can then press the ‘Submit’ button to automatically send the data files to NCVER.
Client names are automatically encrypted on submission. Refer to AVS User Guide for more
information.
I need to re-submit data. How can I do this?
AVS users can re-submit data via AVS during the data submission period. On submission, any previously
submitted data files will be overwritten. Users will need to contact NCVER if they wish to re-submit
data outside the data submission period.
At what stage are names encrypted?
During validation, student names are stored on the NCVER’s AVS Server unencrypted.
On submission to NCVER, student names are automatically encrypted (i.e. in the APP00080 file).
On ‘Export’, encryption of student names is an optional process.
What encryption process does AVS use?
AVS utilises ‘Sha-1’ encryption.
Where can I get AVS support?
AVS support materials are available via ‘Help’ in the AVS screen footer. AVS support materials include
AVS Quick Guide, AVS User Guide and AVS FAQs. For NCVER client support, please fill in our contact
form or call 1800 649 452.
Exporting data from AVS
Can I export data files from AVS?
Yes, data files can be exported from AVS and will be downloaded to your PC in a ZIP folder. Users will
be given a choice of exporting files with encrypted or non encrypted client names.
Can I select which data files I want to export?
The ‘Export’ function automatically selects all files for export. Individual files cannot be selected for
export from AVS.
8
- AVS: Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Auto Population
Do I need to include all information in my data that is available from TGA?
If a match is found, some fields within your data will be auto-populated with information from the
classification tables of training.gov.au (TGA) data. In this instance, these fields may be left blank. If no
match is found however, AVS will return an error and you will need to provide this information.
More information on the auto population feature is available in the AVS user guide.
Miscellaneous
Will I need to download patches or updates for AVS?
No, each time you log into AVS you are using the latest version of the software. AVS is automatically
updated to reflect changes to the AVETMIS Standard.
Can I turn off AVS system emails?
AVS system emails can be turned off in ‘User settings’. If you do this you will not receive a validation
successful/unsuccessful message unless you log in to AVS.
Why am I unable to open the CSV file that I downloaded from AVS?
Some software products such as MS Excel have limits on the size of files that they are able to open, or
the number of records that can be displayed (e.g. MS Excel 2003 has a limit of approximately 65,000
records). When the limit is exceeded, the file may fail to open and an error message may be displayed.
You may experience this issue if the error/warning summary or details file that was exported and saved
from AVS is large and exceeds the product's limit.
To view the file, try opening it using a different product, such as a text editor.
- AVS: Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
3339