A UK higher education expert explores the Ellucian Regulatory Management tool, designed to help universities manage statutory returns with greater efficiency.
Drawing on extensive experience in student data, HESA processes, and reporting, it highlights how the tool addresses long-standing challenges and improves the user experience.
Navigating the Operational Challenges of University Statutory Returns and Student Record Systems
It is sometimes hard to those who are not involved in the operational running of a student return, particularly the HESA Student return, to appreciate just how much time is a key factor in the iterative nature of this work.
Most student record systems need to generate HESA data (a few produce an XML directly from source). We all, at some point in some way, generate an XML. We then have to wait for validation. Wait for reports. Wait for HESA. Wait for OfS. Then we cleanse and make corrections. And the cycle repeats again until it is done in the hope that the errors reduce and we get to a point where we ask our teachers to mark our homework and tell us that we are good people.
Bulk and Segmented Student Data Processing
Greatly depending on student population size and time of year, one iteration can take anything from a few hours to a few days. Part of this is due to how I work as there are two schools of thought on processing.
I only ever run in bulk – all the courses and all the students. The thinking behind this is that there are plenty of data points that may need cleansing that are devoid of student or course type. To work on student characteristic data in January for undergraduate cohorts and then have to do the same for postgraduate taught students later in the year and then a mop-up for postgraduate research students further down the line just feels a bit inefficient to me.
The counter argument would be that running processes for smaller populations would be less time consuming, though you would probably need to do more of them.
This was true in HESA legacy and is true for Data Futures – and this is without me belabouring all the issues that have faced and continue to face us with regards to the Data Futures programme for the past three years.
I think it has surprised many of us that student record systems really have struggled as much as they have to cope with the Data Futures data model, new concepts, and how this is conducted at an operational level (and a not unexpected by-product of designing functionality based too literally on the data model and not based on any kind of user journey or experience).
Time adds to the pressure of delivery and the stress of this work. Time is a big reason a lot of us still have fond memories of the Offline Validation Kit that HESA provided for the legacy return.
I always wanted that to come back. Until now. Until Ellucian’s new Regulatory Management.
Ellucian Regulatory Management: A Fresh Approach to Statutory Returns for UK Universities
Ellucian's new take on managing Statutory Returns feels like a breath of fresh air – a quick, modern and user-friendly (and user-centric!) approach to a very complex and challenging business critical piece of work.
You still have to generate a HESA data set which reportedly would still take around an hour dependent on the number of students being included. An xml download is purely dependent on an institution’s network infrastructure – but we are talking minutes, not hours. This is fast as Ellucian have built this on the same premise used for other international returns markets.
For example, in the US market, the district of California has to do this for 4.5 million students – which reportedly is handled in quicker time than 5000+ students in the UK from various student record system statutory return solutions. Data sets are all kept against a given return for audit and continuity purposes so you can easily return to a previous submission to see what has already been reported. Full audit for changes made on a field-by-field basis is in the pipeline and is expected to be released later this year.
It seems to have everything you would expect and has been designed from a useability and functionality point of view by using direct feedback and input from Ellucian’s existing customer base. But again, it goes one step further, adding in some functionality that we are now used to from HESA’s Data Platform (HDP). This appears in the form of drilldown functionality where you can retrieve all records for any given error and go directly into the individual student records to correct errors.
There is also the standard bulk update option and csv import functionality that you would expect along with a very clever trick that combines the concept of bulk updates with search and replace.
Detecting Errors and Empowering Teams
The swansong, however, is the live field validation – you simply cannot have data in a field or enter data into a field that is in contradiction to any of HESA’s many Quality Rules (QRs) without it being highlighted. Not only does it get obviously highlighted in red – it explains what the actual issue is. And, either very cleverly (or just through good common sense), data can still be saved with errors as we all know there will be one student who always comes back to haunt us and breaks several QRs which we have deemed to be because of "genuine data" reasons.
Ultimately, the true value of this tool will depend on the quality of your source data. No student record system can make statutory reporting seamless if your underlying data is poor. What Ellucian’s Regulatory Management can do is give you the clearest possible view of your data quality before engaging with the HDP. What it cannot (and no system can) do is reduce the institutional burden of poor data entry at source.
One of the most overlooked aspects of statutory reporting functionality/software is how it empowers the person or team behind the process of delivery. The Ellucian Regulatory Management seems to be aiming to reduce friction between systems and users, encouraging confidence, efficiency, and repeatability. It’s not just a technical improvement it’s a morale booster that may actually ease some burden, time pressures and some of the stress that accompanies this work. And when we are not stuck running endless validations or deciphering vague error outputs and message buffers, we can focus more on resolving root causes and making proactive improvements to data quality, collection and assurance processes.
I'm not a fan of the term "gamechanger" but I think this is as close as I have been to wanting to use it. I look forward to the day I hopefully get to deliver a return for an institution that uses this product – I would find it very exciting indeed!
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Key Terms for Data Management Leaders
HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency):
The UK's official body for collecting, analysing, and publishing data on higher education providers. HESA returns inform policy, funding, and public transparency, making compliance essential for institutions.
Statutory Reporting:
Legally mandated data submissions that universities must provide to regulatory bodies such as HESA. These reports cover areas like student enrolment, finance, and course data, and are subject to strict deadlines and validation standards.
Validation Checks:
Automated rules used by HESA to verify the completeness, consistency, and accuracy of submitted data. Institutions must address flagged errors or inconsistencies before a return is accepted.
Returns Officer:
A university staff member responsible for managing regulatory data submissions, often coordinating with multiple departments to ensure timely and compliant HESA returns.
