heidi good practice seminar 26 march 2009 london

heidi Good Practice Seminar

26 March 2009

London

Schedule for the day

10.00am-11.00am Registration and coffee

11.00am-11.15am Introduction to the seminar

11.15am-11.45am Presentation from The University of Greenwich

11.45am-12.15pm Presentation from The University of Edinburgh

12.15pm-12.45pm Presentation from ECU

12.45pm-1.45pm Lunch

1.45pm-2.15pm Presentation from University of Durham

2.15pm-2.45pm Presentation from The University of Sheffield

2.45pm-3.00pm heidi future developments

3.00pm-3.30pm Questions and discussion surrounding heidi and good practice

Seminar objectives• To provide insights into the experience of HEIs in

using heidi– System roll-out– Administration– Training– Integration with management information processes– Problems and solutions– Benefits and costs– Future plans

• To inform delegates about the heidi equality project and the need for evidence-based approaches to equality and diversity monitoring

• To provide information on future development of heidi

• To stimulate discussion

HEIDI at the University of Greenwich

The story so far

History with HEIDI

• The University was part of the Higher Education Management Statistics Review Group in 2004-05

• HEIDI User Group member since inception in November 2005

• Used LUMIS the software developed by the University of Leeds to provide access to HESA data

Setting the Scene in Planning• Planning Office of six staff

– Responsible for all statutory data returns– Carry out the analytical elements of resource allocation– Academic planning and target setting at an institutional

level– Providing statistics for the annual review and planning

exercise carried out by Schools and Offices– Dealing with league table analyses, performance indicators,

ad hoc requests etc– Train key “super users” in Schools and Offices about access

to and use of data and reports

Using Data

• In 2003, in response to the Cooke Review of Information on Quality and Standards in Higher Education the University reviewed its approach to making information available

• Two pronged approach– Provide quality information available on our own

students– Make better use of the data held nationally

Sources of National Data

• UCAS applications data• UNISTATS including the NSS data• IPSOS MORI NSS dataset• Estates data• Performance Indicators• League Tables• HESA dataWorking with the individual datasets is time consumingHEIDI brings most of the data together in one interface

Using HESA data

HESA data is used in two ways:• The National Dataset via HEIDI is used for Academic Planning

and benchmarking• Our own submissions are used to monitor performance

– Our student submissions are transformed (translated into University speak to make them more user-friendly to colleagues) then stored in an Oracle warehouse

– We run reports off the HESA warehouse using Business Objects and a Graphical User interface called Advizor

We aim for a seamless transfer between the two systems

HEIDI at Greenwich

• Access to a wide range of data through our portal• Reports are generated by planning staff and “super

users” and made available to others• The number of “super users” is being expanded.

– In some cases this is removing a bottleneck.– There is resistance from those who would prefer to have

Planning provide the analyses

Using HEIDI for benchmarking

• We use HEIDI for benchmarking both against the sector mean and against a group of peers

• Benchmarking is carried out routinely e.g. comparisons of degree classifications and performance indicators

• We use benchmarking data when carrying out policy reviews– Value for Money review of our Estate– Part time recruitment over last five sessions

Administering HEIDI

• I am the University’s local administrator• One of the Planning Team is also listed as an administrator• The planner keeps lists of all staff who have attended

training sessions and sets up users as required• They are the key point of contact within the University• They have attended the HEIDI Administrator training

programme

HEIDI Training• Training in the use of HEIDI has been offered to staff in

Schools and Offices by staff in Planning• Hands-on sessions offered on each of three main

campuses• Part of a package of training that includes an introduction

to in-house reporting tools and sources of data• The training includes a section on using dataNo one is allowed a password to the system unless they

have attended a training session

Setback• Staff turnover led to a loss of expertise

– Having expertise in the use of HEIDI is an attractive addition to a planner’s skill set

– Experience of training is an additional benefit

• Solution– We invited HESA to provide HEIDI training in-house to all new

Planning Staff. An additional benefit was the presentation on appropriate use of data

– We are documenting fully all procedures for managing the HEIDI system including protocols for generating and saving reports

– We are reviewing our implementation of HEIDI

Issues to be resolved – using HEIDI• How to group reports effectively – using folders• What is an appropriate naming convention for

reports?• How independent are staff in Schools and Offices

expected to be?• How much training is required?• How much resource needs to be devoted to providing

custom reports?We don’t have all the answers but we are asking the

questions

Issues to be resolved - Training• If HEIDI is used only by a small number of key staff

then training is easy to manage• If, as at Greenwich, there is a desire to have “super

users” in Schools and Offices then training is a significant issue– Who provides it?– How often? – people need refresher courses– How do you encourage people to attend?– How much do you rely on the HEIDI training material?

Training can be a significant drain on resources

Issues to be resolved - Administering HEIDI (1)

• Managing access to reporting systems is:– not an obvious part of a planner’s job – an additional function which is time consuming

• The systems infrastructure is not as developed as in an information systems department

• There are no direct outcomes for the Planner who is responsible for this activity

Are we the best people to be administering HEIDI?

Issues to be resolved – Administering HEIDI (2)

• The second administrator has changed three times since we started working with HEIDI

• It is important that the procedures for notifying HESA of the change in personnel takes place

• There must be in-house protocols so a newly appointed administrator understands their role

Selling HEIDI to users

• How to make the in-house interface user-friendly and intuitive

• Can we create a better context for accessing reporting tools

• Can we make the end-user truly independent• Are we championing the system effectively

What we are planning: Diversity

• A seamless integration of our own datasets with the Diversity Dashboard– Discussions are already taking place in relation to the

staffing elements– As soon as the detailed report definitions are available for

student we will modify our internal reports to match on methodology and add additional reports that we do not have

• We aim to make benchmarking of diversity measures easy

What we are planning: MapsWe know that maps are highly valued but do not have the capacity to

produce all the maps that schools and office want• We have ARCVIEW as our geodemographic tool but it is a sledge-

hammer to crack a nut• Advizor has mapping functionality but the maps are pictures• We are looking at the newly announced geodemographic

functionality of Business Objects but that has just been released

Maps in HEIDI

• Match in-house canned reports to provide added value when put alongside the HEIDI mapping development

• Enable enlightened “super users” to be able to access maps with the minimum of intervention from central services

Good Practice?• The University of Greenwich is using HEIDI• We are committed to providing as much access as

possible while trying to ensure that data is used appropriately

• We are reviewing our activities to see what is working and where there are problems

• We are looking to implement future developments as they become available

• We are listening to others to see what they are doing

HEIDI Good Practice Seminar26 March 2009

Training and User Support

Manya BuchanThe University of Edinburgh

Governance and Strategic [email protected]

0131 651 4330

Agenda

• Background of HEIDI @ Edinburgh Roll Out Folders and Roles Where does HEIDI fit?

• User Training and Support Training Sessions User Guide Web presence User Support

Roll Out• Initially only Planners had access• Adhoc widening to include staff across the University who

specifically asked for access (Finance, Careers)

• In recent months, have rolled HEIDI out across the University Email sent to ‘Head Administrators’ for each School and College, and Heads

of Support Units Suggested appropriate users:

Resource Team members Teaching / Research Administrators Research Pooling Administrators Staff involved in making HESA returns Staff with comparative data analysis / reporting responsibilities

Roll OutPros / Cons

• Positive aspects of phased roll out: Increased use of HEIDI, combined with strong knowledge of HESA, NSS,

UCAS, and other data sets, means that Planning Team are now in a better position to be able to support Users across the University

Use of HEIDI over the past year makes in-house training possible

• Negative aspects of ‘open call’ for Users In some areas, potentially ‘inappropriate’ Users named Likely that a significant number of named Users will never use the system

Clean-up will be required

Folders and RolesFolders

FoldersCareers Projects (1 for each)

Colleges (1 for each) Research

Estates & Buildings Schools (1 for each)

Finance Strategic Plan Targets

Human Resources Students

Planning Test

Folders and RolesRoles

RolesCareersCareers Office staff

Human ResourcesCorporate HR staff

College OfficerCollege Office staff

ResearchERI staff

Estates & BuildingsCorporate E&B staff

SACS / EUCLIDRegistry staff

Expert UserComms & Marketing, Registry, Int’l Office

School UserManagers / Admin staff in Schools

FinanceCorporate Finance staff

Student RecruitmentCentral Student Recruitment & Admissions staff

GaSP (Planning)GaSP staff

Folders and RolesSharing

Roles Folder Access*All Roles have access to all folders, except …

Project foldersPlanningStrategic Plan Targets

Careers Careers

GaSP (Planners) All

SACS / EUCLID (Registry) Students

School User All School folders

* All have access to HESA Standard Reports

Where does HEIDI Fit?Planning

• In Planning, HEIDI has come to play an integral role in our existing reporting processes:

Strategic Plan target monitoring Balanced Scorecard annual updates

• HEIDI has enabled us to take on additional project work more easily:

HR Management Information Project PGR Student Management Information Project

• HEIDI has enabled us to respond more quickly to data requests

Where does HEIDI Fit?out there …

• For the first time, individual business / academic units have ready access to comparative data

Creation of own comparator groups More in-depth analysis

• Has the potential to form part of existing reporting requirements:

Teaching Programme Reviews Quality Assurance Reports …

User Training and Support@ Edinburgh

TrainingTraining Sessions

• 1.5 hours • Around 10 people per session

• Re-iterate HEIDI terms and conditions• Work through two examples ‘live’

Data explorer Derived columns and other features within the report builder Creating groups Sharing reports Rolling reports forward Data definitions System help


• Discuss role / folder structure• Go over data issues:

Types of data and what can be done with them General issues with data

Interpretation of fields when returns are made Are you looking at what you think you’re looking at Different data sources Changes over time

Institution names / mergers


• Discuss upcoming HEIDI development• Go through the HEIDI data release schedule• Generate awareness of User resources

Local Administrator contacts UoE HEIDI website

TrainingQuick Start User Guide

• A UoE Quick Start User Guide was published at the beginning of the official roll-out

Reiterates content of the training sessions Shows HEIDI functionality by working through a single example Includes screenshots

TrainingOther training materials

• All training materials are available from a single webpage

TrainingOther training materials

• All training materials are available from a single webpage: UoE HEIDI Quick Start User Guide HESA HEIDI Manual HESA HEIDI Training Videos HESA HEIDI Data Specification Details of upcoming UoE training sessions

Web Presence

• Have created a dedicated HEIDI page on our University intranet

Web Presence

• Have created a dedicated HEIDI page on our University intranet• Current links include:

HEIDI system Training and User Support News Data Updates Timetable Recent Releases Upcoming HEIDI Development List of Current Users, Contacts, Folders and Roles

• Will soon include a link to a Message Board to capture known ‘issues’ Mergers Common pitfalls … Will initially be populated by users in Planning, but we expect this to expand as the

number of Users increases

Web Presence• Current links include:

HEIDI system Training and User Support News Data Updates Timetable Recent Releases Upcoming HEIDI Development List of Current Users, Contacts, Folders and Roles

• Will soon include a link to a Message Board / wiki to capture known ‘issues’ Mergers Common pitfalls Known issues with UoE data (and the data from other HEIs) …

Will initially be populated by users in Planning, but we expect this to expand as the number of Users increases

User Support• Local Administrator (2) contact details are widely

publicised Web pages Quick Start User Guide Training sessions

• Users are encouraged to contact either of the Local Administrators (or anyone else in GaSP) with any queries:

HEIDI system issues Data queries Help with interpretation

HEIDI Equality

Chris Brill

Outline of session

The need for evidence

The HEIDI Equality Project

Going forward

Questions?

Our role

Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) supports the higher education sector to realise the potential of all staff and students, whatever their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief, or age, to the benefit of those individuals, higher education institutions (HEIs) and society.

We work in partnership with HEIs and sector organisations, undertaking projects and research and providing practical support and guidance.

Need for evidence

Women 42.3% of academic staff17.5% of Heads of Departments or

Professors7.9% in SET subjects

BME 4.8% of Heads of Departments or Professors

Equality in Higher Education Report

HEIDI equality project

Starting point – ECU report ‘Mapping Equality Data in the Higher Education Sector’ (March 2008)

Joint HESA-ECU ‘HEIDI Equality’ working group established

Aim to make better use of existing equality & diversity data

Develop a set of equality indicators and benchmarks

Current data (1)

By ‘Institution’ or ‘Subject Code’

HESA data (students and staff)GenderAgeEthnicityDisabilityNationality (academic staff only)Domicile (students only)

Mode of studyType of contract

Current data (2)

UCAS data (applications and acceptances)GenderAgeEthnic originDomicile

Training & Development Agency data (teacher training)GenderAgeEthnicityDisabilityDomicile

Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)

% ACADEMIC STAFF - FEMALE

Going Forward

HEIDI equality group has metOutline of main equality categoriesData fields against which equality categories

should be analysedInitial ideas for presentation of statisticsPaper on possible indicators

Meeting of working group in April

Development of national training programme

Questions?

Contact

Chris Brill, Policy Adviser

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 0207 438 1021

Web: www.ecu.ac.uk

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.ecu.ac.uk/

HEIDI: Informing University Strategy

Presented by Rob Livermore26th March 2009

∂

Overview

The provision of benchmarking data is an extremely powerful means of engaging with groups across the University.

HEIDI makes this data readily accessible to all but this level of access can also bring about it’s own problems.

∂

Support for Strategy & Planning

University Strategy

Key Performance Indicators

Comparator Analysis

Department Performance Profiles

∂

Comparator Analyses

Formal Reporting– Comparator groups defined and performance used to set targets relevant to the

Durham context

Ad-hoc analyses in response to specific concerns– Producing aggregate measures to inform decision making or reviews (e.g.

research income per academic staff FTE)

∂

Key Performance Indicators

Formal reporting forms the basis of strategic performance monitoring– Clearly defined groups provide a standard point of reference to set Durham’s

internal data in a wider context– The impact of local trends can be analysed in a wider context

∂

Department Performance Profiles

Formal starting point to the annual planning process– Integration of internal management information with standard sector data

Provides a key opportunity to present data that will support changes in behaviour – often the data sourced from HEIDI is essential to this

– Relative performance holds the most weight

Departments will have the opportunity to identify their own comparator group– Production of reports is transparent and co-operative

∂

Key Drivers for Use of HEIDI

The obvious central driver is to broaden the scope of management information by incorporating benchmarking elements

Underpinned by an increasingly strategic perspective within certain academic units, fuelled increased demand for contextual data

– Further take-up has been encouraged through group introductory sessions and one-to-one training and guidance

∂

Issues

Provision of appropriate benchmarking data in one area can lead to overly optimistic assumptions in others

– Science v. Arts

Users may draw conclusions from their reports that are not entirely based on a sound understanding of the data

∂

The Future

Will past patterns of use affect future attitudes towards HEIDI?– Yes, free and open access extends the level of analysis open to depts– Those who wish to take the initiative in developing a greater self-awareness of their

own activities are able to do so– An appreciation of performance data is embedded at a grass-roots level, with a

natural progression towards planning

Will we continue to administer HEIDI in the same way?– Yes, free user access to all data sets, supported by central, approachable expertise

∂

Summary

Key to Durham’s successful adoption and use of HEIDI has been its status as a fully embedded data source within the existing management information suite.

© The University of Sheffield

Using HEIDIThe Sheffield Experience

Linda Mason and Becky Bradbury

Planning and Governance ServicesUniversity of Sheffield

© The University of SheffieldApr 10, 2023


Looking at…

• Where we were…

• Initial developments

• Organisational developments – the story so far

• Using HEIDI in our integrated planning

• Issues encountered

• What we plan to do next…

© The University of Sheffield10 Apr 2023© The University of Sheffield

Where we were….• Ad hoc access to HEIDI across the University

• Used to obtain data for benchmarking and competitor analysis (mainly for Senior Management and Council)

• No consistency in the way the data was being used and reported


Initial developments• Established a HEIDI User-group to discuss common

issues and share good practice

• Set up clear processes for giving access to new users (including support/training)

• Carried out an audit of how different professional service teams are using HEIDI (or not!)

10 Apr 2023© The University of Sheffield


Organisational developments – the story so far…

Drivers:• Changing University structure

• Development of 5 Faculties

• Development of an integrated planning round• Bringing together academic and professional service planning• Increasing importance of benchmarking in reflection on

performance

• University-wide Management Information project • MI View


MI View : Dashboards at the ReadyMaking strategic information available in a single working environment

‘MI View’ is a significant step forward in the

maintenance and supply of planning data and therefore is

transforming our leader's ability to take strategic decisions’.

Dr Claire BainesAcademic Secretary

MI View contains snapshot data from corporate systems. This is then packaged and organised using the University planning structure.

MI View gives profiles, trends and internal benchmarking charts with data downloads. This is then supplied within a secured section of the institutions existing CIS reporting software ‘uReports’.

Currently Operational• Core Planning indicators• Research indicatorsIn Development• Learning and Teaching

indicators• Student JourneyIn discussion• HR indicators• Research Finance• Estates Management

Is your strategic data held in multiple formats, locked away in private databases or in the darkest corners of your colleagues desk draws?

MI View brings these valuable resources together into a single location and then supplies added value to that data by allowing it to be analysed – online.

For more details contact: Rhiannon Birch, Planning Services Manager; Planning and Governance Services, The University of Sheffield. E-mail [email protected]


Using HEIDI in integrated planning• Performance review for academic and professional

services departments• Reflection on where they are now

• Moving to value for money drivers in Professional Services

• Faculty specific data• To develop a better understanding of competitive position and

drive change



Performance Review



Faculty Specific Data



Issues Encountered• HEIDI does provides access to wide range of data in

one place

• HEIDI does not have functionality to create sophisticated reports

• Chart options and functions are limited (easier to export to Excel and manipulate)

• Limitations of the data (mapping to internal structures, comparing between institutions)

© The University of SheffieldApr 10, 2023


What we plan to do next…• Integration in MI View

• Aspiration to extract data from HEIDI and present via University’s MI interface

• Faculty, Department and Professional Service KPIs• Developing useful comparators at Faculty level - no institution

has the same structure and therefore how best can we compare?

• Benchmarking for Professional Services (e.g. estates management statistics)

• More extensive and systematic use of HEIDI for reporting and University level benchmarking

heidi future developments

heidi future developments

• Subscription level includes some resource for on-going development

• User Group identifies and prioritises development issues…

• …but ideas are always welcome

• Development plans are published on web

www.heidi.ac.uk

heidi version 3.0

• To be released in September 2009

• Data explorer enhancements

• Usability enhancements

• User preferences settings

• Increasing the number of exported columns

• Scoping of nested report rows

• Scoping of geo-demographic mapping

• heidi equality

• Expansion of data sets

Questions and discussion

heidi good practice seminar 26 march 2009 london

Documents

hesa data slide

hesa data hesa data

pm presentation

pm heidi future developments

pm questions

pm lunch

university of greenwich

discussion slide