DEETYAPAC EQUITY MODULE

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Edition:14 March 2001

D.2 SPECIFIC STEPS INVOLVED IN PREPARING THE STUDENT DATA

It is recommended that institutions adhere to the following sequence of steps in the order shown when preparing the returns required for the student collection:

2.1 Prepare, import, validate and assure the quality of the data required for the Qualification table and the Course table

The detailed steps involved in respect of each of these tables are:

(a) From the institution's production database outside the VALPAC.Net environment, prepare the ASCII file containing the data to be imported into the relevant VALPAC.Net Access table.

(b) Place the file in the correct folder on the PC that VALPAC.Net is installed on. Folder details are given in Section L.

(d) Use VALPAC.Net to generate the validation report for the table. Identify any FATAL errors. Evaluate WARNING errors and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed. The validation rules that VALPAC.Net checks are shown in Section K.

(e) Use VALPAC.Net to generate the distribution report for the table. Inspect the report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed.

(f) Fix any errors in the data. It is advisable to fix the errors in the production database outside VALPAC.Net, and then go back to step (a). However, errors may also be fixed using VALPAC.Net's editor facility. If you use that editor to fix errors, then loop back to Step (d). If VALPAC.Net's editor is used to fix errors in the table, the user may wish to generate an ASCII file that will contain the corrected data. This ASCII file is not required by the Department, but it may be useful for the institution to have for other purposes. This ASCII file can be generated using VALPAC.Net's File / Export function.

2.2 Prepare, import, validate and assure the quality of the data required for the Credit Value table

Because some edit validations check relationships between the Qualification and Course tables on the one hand, and the Credit Value table on the other hand, validation of the Credit Value table can only be fully completed after there is a clean Qualification table and Course table available. When they are available, these steps must be undertaken in respect of the Credit Value table:

(a) From the institution's production database outside the VALPAC.Net environment, prepare the ASCII file containing the data to be imported into the relevant VALPAC.Net Access table.

(b) Place the file in the correct folder on the PC that VALPAC.Net is installed on. Folder details are given in Section L.

(e) Use VALPAC.Net to generate the distribution report for the table. Inspect the report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed.

(f) Fix any errors in the data. This may require errors to be fixed in one or more of these tables: Credit Value, Qualification and Course. If errors were fixed in respect of either the Qualification table or the Course table, the import, validation and quality assurance steps detailed for them would need to be undertaken again.

(h) It is advisable to fix the errors in the production database outside VALPAC.Net, and then go back to step (a). However, errors may also be fixed using VALPAC.Net's editor facility. If you use that editor to fix errors in the Credit Value table, then loop back to Step (d). If VALPAC.Net's editor is used to fix errors in the Credit Value table, the user may wish to generate an ASCII file that will contain the corrected data. This ASCII file is not required by the Department, but it may be useful for the institution to have for other purposes. This ASCII file can be generated using VALPAC.Net’s File / Export function.

2.3 Prepare, import, validate and assure the quality of the data required for the Qualification CESM table

Because some edit validations check relationships between the Qualification table and the Credit Value table, validation of the Qualification CESM table can only be fully completed after there is a clean Qualification table available. When it is available, these steps must be undertaken in respect of the Qualification CESM table:

(a) From the institution's production database outside the VALPAC.Net environment, prepare the ASCII file containing the data to be imported into the relevant VALPAC.Net Access table.

(b) Place the file in the correct folder on the PC that VALPAC.Net is installed on. Folder details are given in Section L.

(e) Generate the distribution report for the table. Inspect the report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed.

(f) Fix any errors in the data. This may require errors to be fixed in the Qualification table. If errors were fixed in respect of the Qualification table, the import, validation and quality assurance steps detailed for that table would need to be undertaken again.

(g) It is advisable to fix the errors in the production database outside VALPAC.Net, and then go back to step (a). However, errors may also be fixed using VALPAC.Net's editor facility. If you use that editor to fix errors in the Qualification CESM table, then loop back to Step (d). If VALPAC.Net's editor is used to fix errors in the Qualification CESM table, the user may wish to generate an ASCII file that will contain the corrected data. This ASCII file is not required by the Department, but it may be useful for the institution to have for other purposes. This ASCII file can be generated using VALPAC.Net’s File / Export function.

2.4 Prepare, import, validate and assure the quality of the data required for the Student table

Because some edit validations check relationships between the Qualification table and the Student table, validation of the Student table can only be fully completed after there is a clean Qualification table available. When it is available, these steps must be undertaken in respect of the Student table:

(a) From the institution's production database outside the VALPAC.Net environment, prepare the ASCII file containing the data to be imported into the relevant VALPAC.Net Access table.

(b) Place the file in the correct folder on the PC that VALPAC.Net is installed on. Folder details are given in Section L.

(e) Use VALPAC.Net to generate the distribution report for the table. Inspect the report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed.

(g) It is advisable to fix the errors in the production database outside VALPAC.Net, and then go back to step (a). However, errors may also be fixed using VALPAC.Net's editor facility. If you use that editor to fix errors in the Student table, then loop back to Step (d). If VALPAC.Net's editor is used to fix errors in the Student table, the user may wish to generate an ASCII file that will contain the corrected data. This ASCII file is not required by the Department, but it may be useful for the institution to have for other purposes. This ASCII file can be generated using VALPAC.Net's File / Export function.

(h) When you are confident that there are no errors in the data, then use VALPAC.Net to generate the Student Summary Report. This report will require the generation of "derived elements" and this will take a significant amount of time, as is referred to in Section D.1. Inspect the data in this report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed.

(i) When you are confident that there are no errors in the data, then use VALPAC.Net to generate the SAPSE-type reports showing data for 2^nd-order CESMs for qualifications being undertaken or for which requirements have been fulfilled. Inspect the data in this report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed. Loop back to step (f).

2.5 Prepare, import, validate and assure the quality of the data required for the Course Registrations table

Because some edit validations check relationships between the Qualification table, Course table and Student table on the one hand, and the Course Registrations table on the other hand, validation of the Course Registrations table can only be fully completed after there is a clean Qualification table, Course table and Student table available. When they are available, these steps must be undertaken in respect of the Course Registrations table:

(a) From the institution's production database outside the VALPAC.Net environment, prepare the ASCII file containing the data to be imported into the relevant VALPAC.Net Access table.

(b) Place the file in the correct folder on the PC that VALPAC.Net is installed on. Folder details are given in Section L.

(e) Use VALPAC.Net to generate the distribution report for the table. Inspect the report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed.

(f) Fix any errors in the data. This may require errors to be fixed in the Qualification table, Course table or Student table. If errors were fixed in respect of any of those tables, the import, validation and quality assurance steps detailed for those tables would need to be undertaken again.

(g) It is advisable to fix the errors in the production database outside VALPAC.Net, and then go back to step (a). However, errors may also be fixed using VALPAC.Net's editor facility. If you use that editor to fix errors in the Course Registrations table, then loop back to Step (d). If VALPAC.Net's editor is used to fix errors in the Course Registrations table, the user may wish to generate an ASCII file that will contain the corrected data. This ASCII file is not required by the Department, but it may be useful for the institution to have for other purposes. This ASCII file can be generated using VALPAC.Net’s File / Export function.

(h) When you are confident that there are no errors in the data, then use VALPAC.Net to generate the Course Registrations Summary Report. This report will require the generation of "derived elements" and this will take a significant amount of time, as is referred to in Section D.1. Inspect the data in this report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed. Loop back to step (f).

(i) When you are confident that there are no errors in the data, then use VALPAC.Net to generate the Funded Credit Report. This report will require the generation of "derived elements" and this will take a significant amount of time, as is referred to in Section D.1. Inspect the data in this report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed. Loop back to step (f).

(j) If this is the 2^nd or optional 3^rd submission, then use VALPAC.Net to generate the Completed Funded Credit Report. This report will require the generation of "derived elements" and this will take a significant amount of time, as is referred to in Section D.1. Inspect the data in this report and identify any data conditions that need to be fixed. Loop back to step (f).

(k) If this is the 2^nd or optional 3^rd submission, then use VALPAC.Net to generate the Subsidy Credit Report. This report is generated by VALPAC.Net from the Funded Credit Report and the Completed Funded Credit Report, so they must be generated first. Because this report simply combines data from those other two reports, if you are happy that the contents of those two reports are appropriate, then the data in the Subsidy Credit Report will also be appropriate.

2.6 Generate the encrypted compressed return and send it to the Department

When you are satisfied with the quality of the data in all the Access tables:

(a) Use the VALPAC.Net function to generate a compressed file in ZIP format, containing the institution's Access database plus the validation reports. The database and reports are encrypted. You will need to specify an encryption key at the time that VALPAC.Net requests it.

(b) Send the compressed file to the Departmental contact person specified in Section C via ftp (File Transfer Protocol)