Edition: 20 January 2009
D.1 PROCESSES INVOLVED IN PREPARING RETURNS
1.1 Overview of the processes
For the unit record data
collection each year institutions will need to make two (or optionally three)
submissions of student data to the Department, one submission of staff data and
one submission of Space data. For each of those submissions, each institution
will need to undertake the following processes:
(a) Install the Departmental software
package VALPAC.Net on the PC to be used to undertake validation of the data in
the files and to generate reports from the data.
(b) Prepare
collection data files as flat files in ASCII (plain text) format outside
the VALPAC.Net software. Place the
ASCII files in the appropriate subfolder
within the \VALPAC\ folder system that the VALPAC.Net installation program will
have created.
(c) Import the data from the
ASCII files into VALPAC.Net's Access database as
"tables" in that database. In
this document, "tables" is used to refer to the Access database
tables, not to cross tabulations, which are referred to as "crosstables" or "crosstabulations".
The instructions for installing and running VALPAC.Net explain what file names
are to be used for each ASCII file and what directory each file needs to be
placed in prior to using VALPAC.Net's import
functionality.
(d) As an alternative to steps (b) and (c), small institutions
may wish to enter data directly into the Access tables within VALPAC.Net, using
its inbuilt editor functionality. At any time VALPAC.Net users can modify data
in the Access data tables using the VALPAC.Net editor.
(e) Produce and inspect "validation
reports" from the Access tables.
(f) Produce and inspect "distribution
reports" from the Access tables.
(g) Produce and inspect the "summary
reports" from the Access tables.
(h) If any of the student returns is being prepared, produce
from the Access tables and inspect, the funded
credit report and the SAPSE-type reports 2.12 and 2.13
.
(i) If the 2nd
or 3rd submission of the student return is being prepared, produce
from the Access tables and inspect, the funded credit report, the completed funded credit report and the subsidy credit report.
(j) Generate an encrypted
and compressed file in ZIP format containing the Access
database and the validation reports and send this file it to the Department
using ftp.
These processes are
described briefly in this section. Then Section D2 the specific steps involved in
preparing the Student Collection return are explained in detail, and in Section D3 the specific steps involved in
preparing the Staff Collection return are explained in detail.
1.2 Preparing ASCII files outside
VALPAC.Net
By whatever
means are appropriate each institution will need to gather and prepare data according
to the specifications, definitions and data rules which are provided in these
sections of this document:
Section (E): Scopes of the ASCII files.
This
section explains what data are to be assembled in what files and dates of
submissions required.
Section (F): Structure of the ASCII files.
This section explains
what data elements (sometimes known as "fields") are to be included
in each file and the structure of each file.
Section
(G): Data Element Dictionary (DED) for the base elements
to be included in the ASCII files
This
section is a data element dictionary ("DED") which provides a
definition of each data element for which data are to be reported in the ASCII
files, including what coding scheme is to be used in reporting of data for the
element. These are referred to as the "base data elements".
In a related "derived
elements" DED (See Section H)
definitions are provided for "derived" data elements. Derived data elements are generated from data
reported in the base data elements. They
are used in presenting data in summary reports and in the credit reports (e.g.
data for age groups).
Institutions
are NOT required to assemble or report data for the derived elements. The data for derived elements can be
generated using a VALPAC.Net function.
The reason that definitions of the derived elements are provided in this
document is so that users of VALPAC.Net will be able to understand how data
which appear in summary reports and credit reports have been generated by
VALPAC.Net.
Section (I): Glossary
This
section provides a definition of terms used in the DED for the base data
elements (e.g. "Course credit value", "Course level").
Section (J): Determining credit values for courses in
universities
This section
provides an explanation of how credit values for courses in universities are to
be determined. For courses in technikons, credit values are to be determined in
accordance with SAPSE Report 151.
Section (K): Edit validation rules
This section provides
an explanation of the data "rules" that are checked by the VALPAC.Net
software when it generates a validation report.
Rule violations will be reported by VALPAC.Net in those cases where the
specifications in the data element dictionary or file scopes have not been
adhered to (e.g. invalid codes have been reported, data in related tables are
inconsistent with each other).
1.3 Installing
VALPAC.Net
VALPAC.Net needs to be
installed on a PC which is going to be
used by the institution to import the data from the ASCII files, to validate
the data in the files, and to generate reports from the data. Installation instructions and instructions
about how to use VALPAC.Net is provided in this section:
Section
L: Installing and using the Departmental software package
"VALPAC.Net"
It is strongly recommended that those
instructions be read and understood prior to undertaking any of the following
processes.
The installation of VALPAC.Net will
lead to the automatic creation of the folder structures that it requires for
the student and staff unit record collections.
The folder structure and an explanation of the files that are to appear
in each folder is explained in Section L.
1.4 Importing
the data from ASCII files into tables in VALPAC.Net's
Access database
The ASCII
files are then to be placed by the user in the appropriate folder on the user's
PC (as indicated in Section L.
The data in the files are then to be imported into tables within VALPAC.Net's Access database. This is done through the appropriate
VALPAC.Net function, as is explained in Section (L).
In the import process, if VALPAC.Net
detects an incorrect structure in any of the source records (e.g. the record is
too short or too long), it automatically ensures that during the loading
process the structure of the data from the source record will amended so that
it is suitable for the Access database table.
The user will be informed about the number and types of these amendments
at the end of the importing process, and a short message will be included in
the Comments field of the amended records in the Access database.
However, these important points need
to be noted:
(a) During importing, VALPAC.Net cannot
actually correct missing or incorrect data.
If records are too short, the image of the record from which VALPAC.Net
imports the data will be padded with spaces.
If records are too long, the excess data in the images of the records
will simply be excised. VALPAC.Net will
identify errant records. However, it is
the user's responsibility to determine what was wrong with the original
data. If the action taken by VALPAC.Net
is inappropriate, the user will need to fix the original data, recreate the
source ASCII files, and then re-import the data from those ASCII files into
VALPAC.Net.
(b) VALPAC.Net will NOT correct the
structure of records in the original ASCII file. However, once the data are loaded into the
VALPAC.Net tables, if the user wishes to export the amended data in the form of
ASCII files containing records that do have the correct structure, there is an
exporting function in VALPAC.Net that can be used to do that. However, as is indicated in the preceding
paragraph, the data in the exported files may not be correct.
Data can be re-imported at any time
from source ASCII files. This enables
users to import data, then if there are errors found
in the data, the data can be corrected outside VALPAC.Net and correct data
imported to replace the previously imported data. The VALPAC.Net import function enables newly
imported data to be either appended to the existing data or to be used as a
replacement of (all of) the existing data.
If the collection year is 2000 or
later for the student collection, or 2001 or later for
the staff collection, VALPAC.Net's summary reports
and distribution reports will calculate and contrast differences between data
for the current collection year and data for the prior year. For that to occur, the ASCII files for the
prior year's collection will need to be imported into VALPAC.Net as tables in
the Access database. That importing can
be done in the current collection year, or more likely would have already been
done in the process of preparing the returns for the 1999 collection year.
If the collection year is 1999 for
the student collection, or 2000 for the staff collection, the summary reports
and distribution reports will not calculate and contrast differences from the
prior year, because there is no facility in VALPAC.Net for importing data for 1998
into the Access database.
1.5 Editing
data in VALPAC.Net tables
At any time
the VALPAC.Net function can be used to edit data in the Access data tables or
to add records to the tables or to delete records from the tables. The function is explained in
Section L.
However, using VALPAC.Net to enter all the collection data directly into
the Access tables would be a tedious process and is not recommended.
Bad data detected in the Access data
tables can be amended by using VALPAC.Net's editor
function. However, if the original
source data in the institution's production database are not also amended this
will mean that the data submitted to the Department will be different to the
data in the institution's records and its production database. This is a potential source of confusion. If errors are detected in the data in VALPAC.Net's Access database, a sounder procedure is to
amend the original production database, regenerate the ASCII file/s, then to
re-import the data into VALPAC.Net.
1.6 Producing and inspecting validation
reports
After data have
been imported into one or more of the Access tables the data in the table/s are
then to be validated. The appropriate
VALPAC.Net function is used to generate "validation reports" that
will list any violations of the validation rules which are listed in Section (K). VALPAC.Net MUST be used to generate the validation
reports.
If data are inconsistent with the
validation rules they will generate "fatal" or "warning"
error messages in the validation report.
All fatal errors MUST be corrected before the
institution’s data are sent to the Department.
Some data may generate a warning
error. In such cases institutions are
required to check the validity of the data.
Data containing warning errors will be accepted by the Department if the
reporting institution has examined the data to ensure it is correct and
provides an explanation about warning errors to the Department. Such an explanation is NOT to be on a case by
case basis; the
statement must be in general terms.
The VALPAC.Net function provides two
types of reports: a "detail"
report which shows errors listed by individual record, and a
"summary" report which shows a summary of the errors found. Users are able to control the amount of
output in the report in these ways:
(a) By specifying whether the detail
report or the summary report or both reports are to be generated. In case there are many errors in the report,
in initial runs of the report, it is advisable to generate only the detail
report, which is only one page in length.
(b) By selecting the edit validation rules
for which details are to be shown in the detail report. This enable the user
to have details shown in the report but only for the particular rule or rules
of interest. Irrespective of what rules
are selected, information about rule violations for all rules will be shown in
the summary report.
All validation reports are displayed
on the screen and can be printed then, if required. All validation reports are saved as tables in
the database and can be viewed and printed later, if required.
1.7 Producing and inspecting distribution
reports
Although data
within a database table may be correct according to all the validation rules,
further quality assurance work is required to ensure that the data are
reasonable and accurate. For instance,
if all students are coded as "M" indicating that they are all males,
this will satisfy the validation rule that checks that all records are coded as
either "M" or "F".
However in most institutions the data would be incorrect because it is
unlikely that there are no female students in the institution.
VALPAC.Net's
"distribution reports" are very useful in the process of checking
that data are reasonable and accurate.
Instructions about how to generate distribution reports are given in Section L.
This type of report comprises counts of all the codes which have been
used for a data element in an Access table.
For example a distribution report will show how many records are coded
“F” and how many are coded “M” for the gender element. The report shows such data as counts and
percentages for the current year and (if the collection year is 2000 or later
for the student collection, or 2001 or later for the staff collection) parallel
data for the previous year, and percentage changes between years.
Distribution reports are also very
useful in the process of locating the causes of violations of the validation
rules. The VALPAC.Net function has a
facility for selecting a range of values for which data are to be tabulated in
the distribution report. This can be
done element by element
The user can select the elements for
which tabulations are to be provided in distribution reports.
All distribution reports will be
displayed on the screen and can be printed then, if required. All distribution reports are saved as tables
in the database and can be viewed and printed later, if required.
1.8 Producing
and inspecting summary reports
The
VALPAC.Net "summary reports" are also very useful in the quality
assurance process of checking that the data are reasonable and accurate. There are two summary reports for the Student
Collection: the Student Summary Report
and the Course Registrations Summary Report.
There are two summary reports for the Staff Collection: the Staff Profile Summary Report and the
Staff FTE Report. Instructions on how to
generate summary reports are given in Section L.
These reports can be used for two purposes: inspecting the distribution of values which
are reported for each element, and comparing the distribution of values for the
current year's data with the distribution for data for the prior year.
(a) Distribution of values for data for
the current year
The
summary reports will show data from the Access tables in aggregated frequency
distribution format.
Users
should inspect the distributions of data for the current year that are shown in
the summary report. If the distributions
of values for the current year do not appear to be reasonable and consistent
with other information known to the institution, steps must be taken to fix the
data prior to sending them to the Department.
(b) Comparing data with data for the prior
year
If the collection
year is 2000 or later for the student collection, or 2001 or later for the
staff collection, the summary reports will show the distribution of values for
selected data elements aggregated from the database tables for the current
year, and a parallel distribution of values extracted from the tables for the
prior year's collection, and the variations from year to year as percentages.
Changes
in the distribution of values for the current year versus the prior year need to
be inspected. Where there are large,
unusual or unanticipated changes, this may be a reflection of errors in the
data rather than reflecting real changes.
The institution needs to take steps to ensure that the variations are
real and understandable, and are not indicative of errors in the data. If they are indicative of errors in the
current year's data, then those errors will need to be fixed.
The summary reports are similar in
some respects to the distribution reports.
However, there are a number of differences between the two types of
reports. First, some of the content of
the summary reports present grouped values (e.g. age groups) for "derived elements", whereas
distribution reports show values for all codes encountered for each "base data element". Second, the data elements for which data are
to appear in distribution reports can be controlled by the user through
"filters", whereas the content of summary reports cannot be
controlled by the user.
The use of
filters allows a subset of cases to be tabulated in a summary report. For instance the user may be interested in
generating a summary report for only instances where a qualification being
undertaken has an approved status, an/or the entrance category is "first-time
entering". For the Student Summary
Report, filters that are available relate to these elements:
(a) Qualification
type
(b) Qualification
requirements status
(c) Qualification
approval status
(d) Entrance
category
(e) Citizen-resident
status
(f) Race
(g) Gender
(h) All
qualifications or a headcount
For the Course Registrations Summary Report, filters that
are available relate to these elements:
(a) Qualification type
(b) Qualification
requirements status
(c) Qualification
approval status
(d) Funding
status
(e) Entrance
category
(f) Citizen-resident
status
(f) Race
(g) Gender
In addition,
the Course Registrations Summary Report can be used to tabulate either course
credit value or completed course
credit value.
Users are
able to select the elements that are to be tabulated in summary reports.
Prior to
generating the report, VALPAC.Net checks to ensure if the tables which contain
data for derived elements are up to date.
If those tables are not up to date, VALPAC.Net will regenerate them
automatically. If any of the data tables
are edited through the VALPAC.Net editor, or if any ASCII file is imported, the
derived tables will be determined by VALPAC.Net to be out of date. Therefore VALPAC.Net will then update the
derived data tables prior to generating the summary report. While the user has an option for forcing the
regeneration of the derived data tables, normally this does not need to be
done, and updating can be left to be undertaken automatically by VALPAC.Net.
All summary reports
are saved as tables in the database and can be viewed and printed later, if
required.
1.9 Producing
and inspecting the credit
reports
The VALPAC.Net credit reports are generated from the
student collection data. There are three
types of report:
There is a
report generation option in the VALPAC.Net software which enables the reports to
be generated including or excluding experiential training. This option allows the generation of reports
equivalent to SAPSE tables 2.17 and 2.22.
All credit reports
are saved as Excel-compatible worksheets in files that are separate to the
VALPAC.Net database. These worksheets
viewed within VALPAC.Net and printed later, if required.
Instructions
about how to generate the credit reports are given in Section L.
1.10 Producing
and inspecting SAPSE-type reports 2.12 and 2.13
VALPAC.Net
has functionality that enables reports roughly similar to the SAPSE reports
2.12 and 2.13 to be generated. These
reports contain details about 2nd-order CESM codes for all students
and for students who have fulfilled the requirements of a qualification.
The SAPSE reports are saved as
Excel-compatible worksheets in files that are separate to the VALPAC.Net
database. These worksheets viewed within
VALPAC.Net and printed later, if required.
Instructions about how to generate
the credit reports are given in Section L.
1.11 Generating
the encrypted compressed return to be sent to the Department
VALPAC.Net
has a function which generates a compressed file in ZIP format, containing the
institution's Access database plus the validation reports. The database and reports are encrypted. The encryption will be undertaken
automatically by VALPAC.Net using a 12-character key to be input by the user.
Prior to encrypting and generating
the compressed file, VALPAC.Net will automatically generate all the validation
reports. This ensures that the
validation reports sent to the Department are up to date. Because the generation of the validation
reports takes some time, users should not invoke the VALPAC.Net's
encrypt/compress option until after they are ready to package the database for
despatch to the Department.
Instructions about how to generate
the encrypted compressed file are given in Section L.
The compressed file is then to be
sent to the Departmental contact person specified in Section C
via ftp (File Transfer Protocol).