How the TCSI ecosystem will bring success for Tertiary Education Institutions in Australia

Key takeaways

• What is TCSI and why was it developed?
• Intuitive implementation to be fit for purpose and your future regulatory and institutional requirements
• 121 approach – one size does not fit all
• Collaboration is key to success

All tertiary education institutions in Australia are now required to comply with new regulations, brought in to build a better solution facilitating the efficient collection of student information. The new reporting system is called Transforming the collection of Student Information – or TCSI. Ellucian is working with a number of institutions in the region to support their requirements in meeting the new reporting standard. In this piece, we talk through why TCSI was introduced and how it will enable intuitive, modern and streamlined reporting of student information for Australia’s tertiary education institutions.

What is TCSI and why was it developed?

TCSI (pronounced 'taxi') is a joint project that aims to transform how student information is collected. The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (the department) and Services Australia, are working together with education providers and software developers to build a compatible solution that will provide a seamless experience for providers and students.

Once in place, the project will help education providers reduce duplication, improve data availability and resolve system deficiencies with a simpler and more intuitive data reporting system. TCSI also brings clear benefits for students, such as simplifying student claims, improving payment accuracy and helping maintain student payments to complete their studies.

TCSI replaces the Higher Education Provider Client Assistance Tool (HEPCAT) for all education providers and the Centrelink Academic Reassessment Transformation (CART) for universities. The new system will be used for all data previously reported via HEPCAT or Higher Education Information Management System (HEIMS), including course, campus, student, completions, Commonwealth scholarships, PIR, University applications and offers, and staff data collections.

There are two interaction channels education providers can choose from to continue data submission and comply with reporting requirements. These include a Business-to-Government (B2G) channel and an online portal. The B2G channel is for providers using student management software to manage student information. TCSI introduces TCSI Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which enable interaction between the institution’s student management software and government software, enabling the performance of queries and data submissions. Ellucian is working with customers on an individual basis to ensure their student management software integrates the TCSI APIs seamlessly.

The alternative option is an online portal for education providers who do not currently use a student management software. The portal will be available for providers to upload data files such as a spreadsheet to support data submission and reporting needs from this group of providers.

Intuitive implementation

Ellucian has been working closely with seven institutions in Australia- helping them get ready to meet the TCSI deadline of December 2020. Working with the Australian Governments’ HEIMS, Ellucian has proactively delivered the data collection, cleansing and reporting submissions required for phases one, two and three of TCSI, ensuring it is delivered ahead of schedule at every stage. As a pilot partner for the TCSI scheme, Ellucian has a key role in implementing the transformation of the collection of student information in the region. This includes continuing to invest in its technologies to ensure the solutions developed for customers are fit for the future.

The implementation of TCSI by Ellucian customers has been led by Dinil Wijesinghe, part of a dedicated Australian team that focusses solely on customers in-region. Working closely with government, Dinil and his team are ensuring that Ellucian’s solution will always be compliant and up-to-date with regulatory changes, without the need for clumsy workarounds outside the system. Participation in the Australian Government’s TCSI working group as a product tester, as well as holding customer working groups and 121 customer consultations, has been the key to helping customers get ready for TCSI.

Dinil Wijesinghe comments: “We’ve been involved with TCSI from the beginning, working in partnership with government to product test prior to implementation. This has put us in a great position to guide our customers as they integrate TCSI into their own processes, and has enabled us to ensure our own software is adapted according to the needs of each of our customers.”

One size does not fit all

Prior to TCSI, each institution in Australia collected, managed and shared its student data in different ways. Whilst the end-result of the programme will be real-time data sharing of student information, the processes and software used by each institution will differ. By taking a 121 approach with customers, Ellucian has been able to support institutions in developing new processes as well as ensure the evolution of its products suit each of its customers.

Dinil comments: “Customer insight, feedback and measurement go hand-in-hand with the evolutionary nature of adapting our technology to best support TCSI and all other tertiary education requirements.”

The Ellucian team worked closely with Australian Catholic University to put regional and customer requirements at the forefront of its technology.

Em Stoddart, Project Manager for TCSI at Australian Catholic University, comments: “As a customer, we are very satisfied with the fast responses, friendly service and the enthusiasm of the staff at Ellucian, who are always ready to answer questions and walk us through the solution”

A key challenge presented by TCSI is how institutions manage the flow of data from department to department in tandem with real-time government reporting. Ellucian Workflow, for example, enables seamless integration of data in real-time between tertiary bodies (e.g. higher ed institution) and government. An instance where this would be beneficial is when a student admin office updates a student record, such as citizenship details. Once the data entry is updated, Ellucian Workflow would automate a request to the TCSI regulatory team for review and submission. For those data-elements that don’t need administrative oversight, such as updating an address entry, solutions such as Ellucian Ethos ensure the update is automatically reflected in the data submission.

Collaborating for success

In addition to a focused approach, Ellucian arranged working groups to provide customers with an opportunity to talk through group challenges and concerns in moving to the new system. One of the key pressure points for Ellucian’s customers is the adoption of real-time data integration. Prior to TCSI, several institutions had not used real-time data reporting when sharing student information with the government, and had reservations around the accuracy and security of the shared data. With extensive experience developing solutions for the cloud, Ellucian has been supporting these customers in moving to real-time data sharing and ensuring they have the correct processes in place to manage it effectively. Balancing solution adaption with well as balancing solution adaption with collaboration with the customer community is critical to ensuring these regulations are met as effectively for institutions.

Ashlee McCusker, Senior Director APAC at Ellucian, added: “Working in collaboration is vital to ensuring a project of this size is implemented effectively. This is the first time some of our customers have had to consider reporting student data in real-time and by hearing from their peers who were early adopters of cloud technologies, we’ve been able to help them navigate these changes in a safe space.

“From collaboration and 121 consultations through to regular discussions with regularity bodies, we’ve been focused on developing solutions that are not only TCSI compliant but drive institutional success – powered by intuitive student data management software and processes.”

Keep the TCSI running

For the past two years, Ellucian has worked closely with each of its customers to develop solutions that work for them on an individual basis, and one that will grow with them as the regulations develop in future years.

In our next instalment of the TCSI series, Ellucian customer Australian Catholic University discusses their experience preparing for TCSI.