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Thank you for participating in our Webinars. We hope that the information was useful to help prepare your organisation for reporting. This page will provide you with the key information presented in the webinar.
Reporting - Getting Started webinar presentation
Questions and Answers
The questions that were answered during the webinar are now available on the Reporting - Getting Started Q&A page and we also have a list of the terms and acronyms frequently used in reporting available.
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions relating to reporting or training.
Reporting checklist
To help you to achieve success with reporting quality data to the department in a timely manner our list of the 10 essential steps will assist you. This list can be accessed from the Reporting checklist.
Collecting the right information
The following table outlines the key types of information you will need to collect to complete your data submissions to the department.
| Students | Courses | Units of study |
|---|---|---|
Enrolment details:
|
Accredited courses:
|
Units:
|
| The VET and Higher Education Student Enrolment files provide further details of data to collect about your students. | The VET and Higher Education Course of Study files provide details of data to collect about your courses. | The VET and Higher Education Student Load Liability files include further details on data to collect about units of study. |
| The VET Administrative Information for Providers includes detailed information on VET courses, units of study and census dates. The Administrative Information for Providers (AIP): Student Support includes detailed information on higher education courses of study, units of study and census dates. |
||
Data requirements
The core documents that explain the data you need to report are on the reporting requirements page for VET providers and Higher education providers;
These include:
- Reporting Calendar – A calendar of all due dates for reporting deadlines
- (Print it out and keep it handy for easy planning and checking)
- Scope and structure documents – This is the WHAT and HOW information.
- The scope outlines what data needs to be included in each submission and the structure describes how to format or order that data.
- Data Elements – These are codes or variables (e.g. for gender, use codes "M" or "F").
System requirements
The system requirements guidelines outline the systems and infrastructure your organisation must have in place to meet the reporting requirements.
Access
To report data to the department you will require access to the HEIMS applications and secure IT environments. You can request access by completing the Access to HEIMS applications form.
Training and webinars
Our Reporting - Getting Started webinar has been designed to provide you with the preliminary information you need to prepare for your first reporting experience. Knowing what information you need to report, what department systems you will be working with and how to access them will help you make the most of your next training webinars and workshops.
This is stage 1 of your training journey. Where do you go from here?
The second stage is to check out our current webinars and online training videos. This includes:
- Reporting with HEPCAT
- provides new data collections officers or anyone who wants a refresher with the essential information for successful data reporting.
Don't forget you can also contact us directly to request a customised webinar that is specifically tailored to meet your organisation's particular needs. Individual and small group training sessions are also always available at any time throughout the year at our Canberra office.
All our training sessions and webinars are advertised on the HEIMSHELP training page and in our eNews.
HEPCAT
The data you need to report to the department is submitted through a special application called HEPCAT, which is short for Higher Education Provider Client Assistance Tool. HEPCAT enables you to prepare, validate and transfer your data to the department.
You can download HEPCAT and become familiar with its processes in a test environment at any time.
How to use HEPCAT
HEPCAT user guides provide detailed information on how to download, install and use HEPCAT. Further information is also available in the Reporting with HEPCAT toolkit.
Our online training videos provide a visual description of the key skills you need to submit data. These videos are ideal if you are new to reporting or would like to refresh your basic reporting skills.
- HEPCAT Basics part 1 - provides the steps for creating a submission.
- HEPCAT Basics part 2 - importing and exporting a submission.
- HEPCAT Basics part 3 - validating a submission.
- HEPCAT Basics part 4 - submitting data in HEPCAT.
Allocating CHESSNS (Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Numbers)
A CHESSN is a number that uniquely identifies a student who is enrolled, or is seeking to enrol, in a unit of study with a provider and has indicated they are seeking HELP assistance for their studies. The department uses the CHESSN to manage and monitor the student's HELP entitlements.
HEIMS Administration
HEIMS Administration enables you to directly allocate CHESSNs to students. You can also view student entitlement balances when students are approaching or have exceeded their FEE‑HELP limits. User Guides are available in the CHESSN toolkit.
Web Services
A web service interface enables you to allocate CHESSNs or view entitlements for many students at the same time. The technical specification needed to configure and use web services are all detailed in the CHESSN Technical Specifications.
HEIMS Online
HEIMS Online provides a central point for you to view the data you have reported to the Higher Education Information Management System (HEIMS). From here you can directly access:
- Submission error reports
- HEIMS Data View reports
- Verification reports
The HEIMS Online user guides are available as part of our Checking and verifying your data toolkit.
eNews
Keep up to date with what's happening in the data collection world by subscribing to our fabulous monthly newsletters. All our training sessions and webinars are also advertised in our eNews. Don't forget you don't need to be an approved provider to Opens in a new window: subscribe to eNews.
Need more help?
Please contact the HEIMS Data Collections team if you have any queries or require further information or assistance on any reporting issues.
Email: HEIMS.datacollections [at] education.gov.au
Telephone: (02) 6240 7487
Your feedback is always welcome
Please let us know if you found our webinar and materials helpful in preparing your organisation for reporting. Your feedback is important to us so that we can continue working on the best possible ways to provide you with the information you need to meet your reporting requirements.