Finance/HE-BCI seminar

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?
FSR Management information Monitor financial health Support policy Inform funding process Support accountability REF research income

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.

Search “Ray Panko 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

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 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 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 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). , , , and 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 £549 million allocated through Research Capital Investment Fund for to ‘HEIs research capital’ element distributed according to average of 3 years ( to ) research income from research councils (FSR Table 5b Column 1) ‘Research capital’ element distributed according to QR funding and 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 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
Develop policy and demonstrate impact of knowledge exchange Providing evidence for the rate of return of investment in knowledge exchange Contributing evidence to spending reviews Provide benchmarking information – international and institutional

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 to the 12 highest performing universities in knowledge exchange.

Thank you for listening

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.

Key = to identify research income received and spent by the HEI
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 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)
New knowledge No particular application/use in view Basic research Specified aim/objective Applied research Draws on existing knowledge Produce new/improve existing materials/products/systems Experimental development

Frascati Excluded from R&D
All university education/training is excluded Except PhD research Education and training Specific activities as listed under in Frascati manual should be excluded Other related scientific and technological activities Other innovation activities and production and related technical activities should be excluded Other industrial activities Purely R&D-financing activities and indirect supporting activities should be excluded Administration and other supporting activities

Distinguishing R&D from related activities
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 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

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

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 COMMUNITY BUSINESS PUBLIC SECTOR CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
Competitiveness, Growth Efficiency, Cohesion Cultural Enrichment & Quality of Life Resources & Opportunities PRIVATE SECTOR SOCIAL & CIVIC ARENA

Collaborative research
Automotive SME approaches HEI to test product Product fails. Technician/BDM suggest academic with relevent experience from aerospace Product passes. New design suggests potential improvement to overall door design HEI approached to research methods to achieve new design Engagement sparks idea in aerospace academic working on similar question Shared objectives realised – strategic relationship formed HEI (or partner) designs CPD course to up-skill production staff for new design Academic updates teaching material to reflect real-world example SME grows Collaborative research Equipment and facilities CPD Consultancy Contract research

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 policy-makers

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 Key contribution 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 □ □

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. Areas Key contribution area Regional Development Agency (RDA) area Locality □ □ Local authority area □ □ English region □ □ Devolved Government/Administration region □ □ International EU □ □ Other international □ □ Area defined by the HEI □ □

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

Yes, exploitation company Yes, internal department Yes, both Proposed
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
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 non-academic 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

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

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…

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 non-residential 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 DQ checks Minerva queries HEI explains/amends data Re-checked Data credible

358 186 3 working days 8 working days 8
Submission stats 2010/11 (C10031) Total number of commits 358 Total number of HE-BCI A transactions 186 Average wait for queries 3 working days Maximum wait 8 working days Total number of Minerva queries raised 1374 Average number of Minerva queries per HEI 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
Committed FSR Year-on-year consistency Published accounts Cost centre analysis HE-BCI B 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 web-based 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
Tables 1, 3 and 4 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 005 422 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 Check doc guide
Key collection news Check doc guide Help on analysing your submission Submission user guide How to send data

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:

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 ( 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 75% Cost centre 140 Classics 25%

Tiers Optional for all

Academic cost centre allocations
Optional for all Cost centre 139 History 75% Department of History 10% Department of Classics 10% Department of Archaeology 5% Department of English Literature

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 It is expected that those cost centres listed in the Institutional profile record will be made use of in these data returns 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 . 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… or call the BUFDG Web & Information Manager, Matt, on or

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 information and discussion forum for HESA Finance record contacts and related areas Want to join? or visit

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

More information Visit the HESA website at For help and advice on all aspects of the data collection and data submission process: For advice on heidi: For training events and bespoke visits on the Finance record or heidi:

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