http://heimshelp.education.gov.au/sites/heimshelp/support/pages/Webinar-TFN-Verification-HELP-debt-transfers 1

• We will look at how the staff data is used by the department and universities

• What data is reported in each of the staff submissions and what records are excluded

• How a staff member is classified as full-time, fractional full-time or casual

• How staff data is revised – the role of key elements and variation reason codes

• Reporting issues identified

• Verification for accurate publications

• We will look at what’s coming

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The Staff Data Collection is used by the department and universities for a range of purposes.

The department uses staff data:

• for the analysis of academic workforce demographics and • to calculate student to staff ratios

Universities uses the staff collection• as a basis for the allocation of resources •for academic workforce planning

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As you know the staff data collection includes information on each staff member employed at your institution.

The submissions that you need to report as part of the staff data collection are:

• Full-time and Fractional Full-time submission

• Actual Casual submission

• Estimated Casual submission

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Information you need to know on each of these submissions is available under the staff data requirements tab on HEIMSHELP.

As you would have noticed, we have recently made some changes to the reporting requirements pages on HEIMSHELP. We will also have a new enhanced google search function on the website in the next couple of weeks. We would love to hear your feedback - any comments on how we can keep improving our resources are always very welcome.

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Details are required for your staff substantive appointments and their current duties categories by their academic organisation unit and their role;

• Academic support services• Student services• Public services• General institution services• Independent operation for a controlled entity

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For some members of staff you may be required to provide additional data where they have;

•more than one effective substantive appointment with your institution; or •current duties are undertaken in more than one organisational unit; or •current duties are undertaken in more than one work sector

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Staff records that are excluded from the Full-time and Fractional Full-time submission are;

• staff duties relate solely to TAFE• a member of staff in any independent operation which is not a controlled entity

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In the Actual Casual submission you report the actual number of casual staff employed at your university for the calendar year being 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017.

Then in the Estimated Casual submission you report the estimated number of casual staff that will be employed at your university from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018.

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What characteristics classify a staff member as being engaged in full-time work:

•if the staff member is employed for a continuous period and•they perform the full range of duties appropriate to the position and •the duties are performed on a regular basis; and•the number of hours worked each week are equal to the hours specified for full-time work in the relevant award or 35 hours per week and•the member of staff is entitled to leave entitlements such as paid annual leave, sick leave and long-service leave.

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The only difference between a staff member being engaged in full-time work to fractional full-time work is the hours of their employment, salary and leave entitlements.

What classifies your staff as fractional full-time staff;

•the position is for a continuous period•the position has the full range of duties which would be appropriate to the position where it to be undertaken by a full-time member of staff;•the duties performed on a regular basis; and•the number of hours worked each week is a fraction of the hours worked by a full-time member of staff; •their salary is a fraction of the salary paid to a full-time member for the position; and•they have pro-rata entitlement to paid annual leave, paid sick leave and paid long-service leave

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What classifies a staff member as having a casual work contract:

•the member of staff is paid on an hourly or session basis•the member of staff has no entitlement to paid annual leave, paid sick leave or paid long-service leave. •there is no continuing position available and no commitment of continuous engagement•where a non-recurring requirement for labour is being met.

Members of staff with a casual work contract may be engaged for either a short or long period; they may be required to perform either a wide or a narrow range of duties; and the number of hours worked per week may be less than, equal to or greater than the hours worked by a member of staff with a full-time work contract.

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We will now look at the process of how staff data can be revised.

Before you begin to revising your data we recommend that revision guides be your first point of reference.

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How does the revision process work?

There are two main components that are fundamental to the revision process:

• the key elements which identify the record to be revised and

• the variation reason code that tells the system how to modify an existing record in HEIMS

For the staff collection a separate revision submission is not required as records can be simply be corrected by reporting the correct details in another staff submission.

We will now look at how this works.

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We will now look at how HEIMS identifies a staff record to be revised.

Key elements are the primary values that uniquely identify each record. For the revision process, HEIMS uses these elements to locate an existing record in the database. To revise your data you will need to enter the same information for the key elements that was reported on the original record. Otherwise HEIMS is unable to find the record you want to change and this will generate a fatal validation error.

Revisions can be submitted to the department at any time after the original record(s) have been successfully submitted

When reporting multiple records for a staff member the key elements that identify a staff member must be reported the same.

If a new person identification code has been inadvertently created for a staff member/s there is a concordance submission in HEPCAT that will enable you to link these two Ids. If you need more information on this please contact us.

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The key elements that identify a staff record reported in the full-time and fractional full-time submission are:

Person identification code (E401)Current duties classification type, level and increment code (E408)Function code (E412)Reporting Year and Period code (E415)Appointment term code (E505)Work contract code (E506)Current duties term code (E507)Organisational unit code (E510)Work sector code (E511)

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The key elements for the Actual Casual submission are:

Gender code (E315)Current duties classification type and level group code (E509)Organisational unit code (E510)Work sector code (E511)Function code (E412)Reporting Year and Period Code (E415)

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The variation reason code tells HEIMS how an existing record is to be changed. The three codes that apply to Full-time and Full-time Fractional and Actual Casual Submissions

• Code 2 is used to revise a record that was reported with incorrect details

• Code 4 is used to delete a record that should not of been reported to the department

• Code 5 is used to report a new record for the first time

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As mentioned data reported in the Estimated Casual submission can be revised by reporting the correct value in another Estimated Casual Submission, the new data will replace any existing data.

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Revising key elements requires a two step process as two separate staff submissions are needed:

Step 1

• Add staff record to submission with all values matching the original record

• Code E446 as 4 deleted

• Submit

Step 2• Create a new staff submission and report the staff record with the correct data for key

elements• Code E446 as 5 additional record

• Submit

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Here is the list of other elements which are not key elements and the revision process is different for these elements.

With regard to gender code E315 it is a key element on the Actual Casual file and not on the full-time and fractional full-time file.

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How to revise other elements that are not key elements;

• add staff record to the submission with all key values matching the original record

• add correct value to key elements to be revised

• code variation reason code of 2 – revise

• submit

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There are a small number of elements that can only be corrected by contacting the department. Forthe staff collection these include updating a reported value to a no information status for:

Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander – E316 Highest qualification – E501 And Place of qualification – E502

To change these values you will need to contact the department.

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We will now look at the current issues that may affect your reporting;

• Reporting of your organisation units must be consistently with your data reported in your student submission as this information is the foundation for the calculation of student to staff ratios.

• Highest qualification – For this submission you will need to code these staff members as “07 –Master's by research or coursework” for the qualification of Masters extended and then from 2015 code 7 will be updated to include Masters extended.

The department has agreed that reporting is optional for data elements;

• Equivalent full-time annual salary - current duties - E423 – this data element can be coded as “000000 - Salary data not provided”

• Language spoken at home code - E348 – this data element can be coded as “9999 – No Information”

If your systems outputs a value then you can continue to report it or chose the “not provided” or “no information” values. You can decide the method that best suites your organisation.

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What is Verification? It is the final stage in meeting your reporting obligations. This process confirms the accuracy of data you have reported in your submissions.

When do you verify? The verification of staff data commences on 15 July 2018 and providers have until 15 August to confirm the accuracy of your staff data.

And - Why do you verify? Your verified data is used in staff publications and as mentioned is used to calculate student to staff ratios so it is essential that your verification reports accurately reflects your organisation’s data. When signing off on your reports, you are telling the department that your data is accurate.

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We will now quickly recap how the verification process works in HEIMS Online;

Activated Status occurs when the department has commenced the verification process which means your reports are ready for checking once you have clicked on “Start Verification”.

Whilst you are reviewing your reports the status will be “Verifying”.

When errors have been detected and your data has been revised you will need to refresh the reports to display the updated data, your reports will then have a status of “Data Refreshing”.

Once your reports have been thoroughly checked and all errors have been resolved you are ready to “Sign Off”

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The key change for this verification process is the inclusion of a new checkbox that advises the department that the university's data has been confirmed as accurate before the reports are signed off and finalised. For those who recently verified their student data you would be aware of this checkbox.

The main purpose of this new step in the verification process is to help ensure that every report has been double checked prior to sign off and the process of signing off data has an appropriate level of authority at each university. We are hoping to minimise the tears and trauma that arise each year when late issues are identified in data that has already been signed off and used in publications.

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We will now look at what verification reports are available for the staff data collection.

There are three reports which providers are required to review as part of the Staff Verification process;

• The first report is the Staff Numbers Summary report provides information on your staff member’s primary Full-time or Fractional Full-time record and the data is grouped into categories as shown – like gender, current duties, work contract, their classification and so on.

• 2nd is Staff Time Equivalent Summary report provides additional information to the Staff Numbers Summary, the difference between the two reports is the inclusion of Estimated Casual numbers and the number of staff working in the VET work sector or an independent operation.

• An then the final report is the Actual Casual Staff Summary report provides details of staff undertaking casual work contract and this data is grouped by gender, organisation unit, work function and their classification.

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When verifying your staff data things to look for;

Any significant changes in your staffing numbers when comparing 2018 data against 2017. Particularly look at changes to staff members across the two submissions and if your numbers are not consistent forwork and research functions including classifications levels.

When reviewing your reports see if your organisation has reported a high number of staff with no information for their;

• Highest Qualification• Indigenous status

Remember that no information codes should only be reported in very limited circumstances where it has not been possible to obtain the actual information from the staff member.

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Here are some quick tips to help you verify your data:

•Check out any highlighted variations

•Report revisions before sign off

•Refresh your reports if your data changes

•Sign off is final - your reports are locked and no further changes can be made.

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Publications on staff data are released each year by the department by 30 September and are available from the address provided on the screen.

As your verified data is the publication source it is essential that you take the time to check your reports to ensure that the data is accurate before signing off. Having inconsistent information on your university in the publications may have a negative impact, which can be avoided when verification is taken seriously.

https://www.education.gov.au/staff-data

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Please contact us if you need any further assistance.

HEIMS.datacollections@education.gov.au

http://heimshelp.education.gov.au/sites/heimshelp/support/pages/Webinar-TFN-Verification-HELP-debt-transfers 32

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If you have any policy, program or payment questions please contact our higher education and VET colleagues at TSEnquiries