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Learn more about the data management support we provide to our members, to ensure they get the most out of the HEAT Service and System.
- Member Services
- Data Management
Data Management Support
HEAT provides various options to support members to manage the database and provide confidence that their records have been added correctly and consistently for internal and national reporting.
The following is an introduction to managing the HEAT System, and options available to members to configure the database to their needs.
What is an Activity Typology?
An Activity Typology is a framework for members to follow when creating Activity records in the database to ensure consistency in their own data and evaluation.
HEAT Activity Typology
This defines the different Activity fields that members will utilise, providing a framework to follow and useful examples. Ensuring consistency in Activity classification provides for a richer and more powerful dataset for members and HEAT to report on activities. To ensure consistency when recording activities on the database, it is important that members follow the hierarchical classification system in place. Some fields are set by HEAT, whilst other fields can be customised by members to suit their needs.
Download the HEAT Activity Typology (members only)
Contact HEAT Support for guidance on setting up or reviewing an Activity Typology.
The database allows a certain level of interface customisation according to each organisation’s needs. Customisation options include the creation of additional fields or the determining of lists contained within set fields (members only).
Further customisation is possible using Field Settings, such as hiding fields which are not needed, or making fields required for population by users. The i-Buttons, located alongside fields to provide additional information on the purpose of each field, can also be customised to include member-specific guidance on how members requires a field to be completed. Field Settings can therefore help to increase data quality and, as they are automatically synchronised with imports and exports, improve the experience.
Finally, the database offers a range of data-sharing options (members only) including sharing with delivery partners and member-to-member group or individual user sharing.
Only users with the relevant permission are able to customise the database as, once applied, they settings affect all users.
Members can carefully manage each User’s access to the database by assigning them an appropriate Role. The permissions behind each Role determine the level of access for a User. Each User can control certain settings within the database relating to ‘timeouts’ and the default formats for displaying data.
The User record also sets the level of communication an individual receives. The ‘Primary Contact’ tab, managed by the HEAT Service, is used to identify the key ‘Point of Contact’ for each member in the following three areas:
- Database (the person who takes responsibility for their organisation’s day-to-day use of the HEAT database and is the primary contact for all direct communication)
- Legal (the person to contact for legal agreement/subscription matters)
- Student Ambassador Programme (the person responsible for use of this feature)
Whilst each member can only have one ‘Point of Contact’ for each area, the remaining communication options are editable by members. These include the ability to manage:
- General Communications (general news received via email)
- Administrative (direct communications relating to subscription matters)
- Tracking and Reporting (direct communications about tracking and reporting)
Data Cleaning & Deadlines
This section provides guidance on preparing data on the HEAT System to ensure accurate monitoring, reporting and tracking data.
Preparing your data for reporting and tracking
An important aspect of data management is ensuring all database records are accurate and complete. HEAT provides various tools and guidance to help members manage their records and identify missing or erroneous data.
Data Cleaning
Activity records
To ensure HEAT member organisations get the most out of their monitoring and evaluation reporting from HEAT, we support members to maintain an accurate Activity typology. This requires members to ensure their Activity records are accurately coded, and follow advice set out in the HEAT Activity Typology (members only). A dashboard (members only) is provided within the database to give an overview of the quality of Activity data and highlight how many records are missing data in certain key fields. Links are provided to enable navigation to a list of records with missing data, which can then be exported for further investigation if required.
Student records
Identifying Student records which are missing key data needed for inclusion in the HEAT Track is vital for members. The database dashboard provides an easy way for incomplete records to be identified and exported for further investigation if required. A Duplicate Clean Tool (members only) is also provided to help members manage any duplicate records and a Retention Tool (members only) allows for easy identification and deletion of records where the retention time period has expired. These tools are only available to Users with the relevant permissions.
User records
HEAT recommends reviewing User records regularly to ensure staff have appropriate access. If your organisation’s staff access the database infrequently, become locked out, change roles or leave your organisation, the User record will need to be updated. Only Users with the relevant permissions are able to manage User records.
For more information, including guidance on how to clean records in detail, please see our Data Management and Cleaning User Guide (members only). For any questions regarding the cleaning process, please contact HEAT Support.
HEAT Track Deadline(s)
There is one fixed deadline by which point all data to be included in the HEAT Track must be entered onto the database, which is the last working day of November.
We also suggest members work towards two earlier deadlines, in August and October, to help them comfortably meet the end of November final deadline.
August: We recommend all Student and Activity records are entered by the last working day of August
October: We recommend you check, and if necessary clean, all Student and Activity record data (including Duplicate cleaning) by the last working day of October. The deadline for removing any expired individual records from the Retention Tool is the last working day of October.
November: Final fixed deadline for all HEAT Track data to be extracted
Members can use the Data Cleaning tools listed on this page to check that Activity records have been added correctly, in line with the Database Activity Typology (members only), and that Students required for tracking are marked as ‘Complete’, which is a key tracking criterion
Whilst members can clean their data at any time throughout the year, we recommend cleaning is completed by the above deadlines to allow ample time to ensure all eligible students and activities are submitted for tracking successfully.
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Database Servers
Learn more about the live and training databases available to our members.