1. Key concepts and issues
Foundations of HEMIS 2018
Staff reporting:
Key concepts and issues
Naveena Moodley – University of KwaZulu-Natal
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH 1

2. Acknowledgements Valpac documentation Applicable SAPSE documentation
Herman Visser
Neels Bezuidenhout
Natalie Ripley
Lynne Angus
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

3. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Purpose
The purpose of this session is to explain the foundations and principles of the South African Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS) as it relates to staff reporting
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

4. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Key concepts
Data: What & Why
Who is a staff member?
Preparation of Staff information
Personnel Categories
Programme Classification System (PCS)
Role of PCS in planning and management
PCS and HR Reporting
Full-time equivalent (FTE) staff
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

5. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Data: WHAT?
HEMIS – Individual Record
Data required for all “employees”
Complete, reasonable data required
Data is audited
Statutory data required is as follows:
ACTIVITIES (e.g. Admin, teaching, research, etc.)
TEACHING details
AREAS OF RESEARCH
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

6. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Data: WHY?
Statutory Reporting – HEMIS
Subsidy
National Performance Indicators
Enrolment Planning
Internal Reporting
Budgeting/Planning, Workload Stats
Student/Staff Ratios
Rankings
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

7. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Staff member
A staff member is a person who is:
Compensated by the institution by pay or other means for services rendered or
While not being paid or compensated by the institution, performs services which normally relate to the institution’s normal activities and those activities that would normally have been performed by staff receiving compensation from the institution
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

8. Staff member (Continued)
Staff members include:
Persons who have been on the payroll in the collection year and who
Are permanent employees
Are temporary employees (including students who had temporary employment)
Were on sick leave, long leave, sabbatical leave, maternity leave, study leave or military leave
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

9. Staff member (Continued)
Staff members also include persons who while not being on the payroll have provided services which relate to the conduct of normal activities:
Persons compensated by the institution
through a means other than pay OR
Persons who have donated such services OR
Persons who are paid in full by an external organisation OR
Persons whose major time appointment is with an external organisation with which the institution has a partnership agreement
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

10. Structured reporting Two Valpac files PROF SFTE Staff Profile File
(Biographical)
Staff FTE
File

11. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
STAFF PROFILE FILE
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

12. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
STAFF FTE FILE
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

13. Personnel Categories 01 Instruction / Research Professionals
Lecturing Staff
02 Executive/Administrative/Managerial Professionals
Executive Management/Deans
03 Specialist/Support Professionals
ICT / Librarians / Auditors
04 Technical Employees
Laboratory assistants
05 Non-professional Administrative Employees
Faculty Officers / Exam admin
06 Crafts/Trades Employees
Electrician/Plumber
07 Service Employees
Cleaners / Landscaping
01 REQUIREMENTS:
A position in which (a) at least 50% of time is spent on instruction and/or research activities,
Position requires a higher education qualification equivalent to at least 4 years of higher education study.
06 REQUIREMENTS:
Primary function is mainly skilled activities in a craft or trade
07 REQUIREMENTS:
Primary function is unskilled activities
05 REQUIREMENTS:
Primary function is clerical, administrative or secretarial
Position does NOT require an educational qualification equivalent to 4 years of higher education study
04 REQUIREMENTS:
Primary function is the undertaking of technical duties (mainly in laboratories)
Position requires an educational qualification equivalent to 3 years of higher education study (e.g. 3-year diploma from a UOT or 3-year bachelors degree)
02 REQUIREMENTS:
Primary function is the management of the institution or one of its major divisions or sections
Position requires an educational qualification to at least 4 years of higher education study
03 REQUIREMENTS:
There are no major managerial responsibilities
Primary function is the provision of academic or institutional or student support services
Position requires an educational qualification equivalent to 4 years of higher education study

14. Programme Classification System (PCS)
A logical framework that is used to classify the resources and activities of (staff) in an institution
A programme is defined as an aggregation of activities serving a common set of objectives
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

15. Programme Classification System (PCS)
11 Programmes that can further be disaggregated into sub-programmes (not required for HEMIS)
Three primary programmes
Instruction
Research
Public Service
directly related to the primary objectives of a university
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16. Role of Programme Classification System in Planning & Management
Focus on programmes
Hierarchical structure
Serve as common language and framework for comparison between institutions
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17. Programme relationship to Institution’s primary aims
Primary Programmes
(Directly related to
the institution’s aims)
Direct support for
Primary Programmes
Indirect support for
Primary Programmes
Independent
(Unrelated to the
Primary Programmes)

18. Programme Classification System
Directly related /
Primary
programme
1.0 Instruction
1.1 Formal Instruction
2.0 Research
3.0 Public Service
Direct support
for primary
programme
4.0 Academic Support
4.1 Library service /
4.6 Academic Administration
5.0 Student Services
5.1 Student Service Admin
5.3 Counselling
Indirect support
for primary
programme
6.0 Institutional Support
6.2 Financial Administration
6.5 Student Admission / Examination
7.0 Operation & Maintenance of Plant
7.2 Building Maintenance
7.5 Landscape & Grounds Maint.
8.0 Bursaries
8.1 First Qualification Bursaries.
9.0 Auxiliary Enterprises
9.1 Student Housing
9.2 Student Food Service
Unrelated support
for primary
programme
10.0 Hospitals
10.1 Medical care of patients
10.2 Medical care supportive services
11.0 Independent Operations
11.1 Independent Operations –
Institutional

19. PCS and Personnel Category01
Instruction 02
Exec/Admin/
Man 03
Specialized
support 04
Technical 05
Non-prof
admin 06
Crafts/
Trade 07
Service
Staff members perform activities
in one or more of the following
1.0
Instruction
2.0
Research
3.0
Public
Service
4.0
Academic
Support
5.0
Student
Services
6.0
Institutional
Support
7.0
Operation &
Maintenance
of Plant
8.0
Bursaries
9.0
Auxiliary
Enterprises
10.0
Hospitals
11.0
Independent
Operations
Programme Classification System

20. Programme Classification System: Sub-programs
Instruction/Research
Instructional offerings
Classification of Education Subject Matter (CESM)
Course levels
Research offerings
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21. The staff relationship
Staff number
Employment commencement year
Personnel category
Rank of staff member
Date of birth /Gender
Race / Nationality
Permanent/temporary status
Full-time/part-time status
Qualification type
Joint appointment
On payroll code
Post Doctoral/Research Fellow
Comments
PROFILE
FILE
SFTE
FILE
Staff number
Personnel category
Staff FTE value
Staff programme
Staff programme CESM
Comments

22. Full-time Equivalent staff
Full time employees in service for whole year is counted as one FTE per year
If in service for fraction of the year, that fraction will be the FTE value
Part time employees - fraction of the workload of a full time employee
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

23. Calculation of FTE staff
Problematic and not done consistently over the system
Based on time as portion of a full-time employee or
Based on remuneration
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

24. How do we deal with problematic cases
Don’t look at individual
Look at the position and what they are doing
Principle: What do you need ideally
Joint appointments: Ward rounds and patient care not instruction/research, only when teaching in classroom situation and performing academic research
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

25. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
PCS and HR reporting
Timesheets or other time allocation mechanism
Annual contact hours undertaken by instruction/ research professionals
Further divided into CESM’s and Course levels
Useful to break up into individual courses for internal purposes
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

26. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Problematic cases?
PERSONNEL CATEGORY?
Honours student assisting with teaching, e.g. tutors. Personnel category?
Joint appointments, time spend on ward rounds and patient care - Instruction/research?
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

27. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Problematic cases?
PERMANENT/TEMPORARY & FULL-TIME/PART-TIME?
Joint appointments. Permanent / Part-time?
Permanent staff members of an Article 18(a) College. Permanent or Part-time?
Postdocs and Research Fellows
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

28. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Data Quality
Old familiar GIGO
Pro-active cleaning up of data as tested by Valpac validations and to ensure Institutional rules are adhered to in the appointment process.
Software available to assist with this process
Automated checks distributed and checkups done
Some Institutions have a data integrity officer
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

29. External Audit Requirements
(as per March 2016 audit directives)
Data element
Checks to be made
039 Personnel category
The institution has used the staff categories correctly, particularly the category “instruction and research professionals” as this determines the norm for the research outputs.
012 Gender
SQLVALPAC data correspond with the institution’s human resource records.
013 Race
041 Permanent/temporary
status
048 On payroll code
SQLVALPAC data correspond with the institution’s payroll of staff members.
046 Staff qual
SQLVALPAC data correspond with the institution’s human resource records for permanent instruction and research professionals
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

30. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
VALPAC
What is Valpac?
Software provided by DHET to ensure a standardised platform for consolidation of all HEMIS information
To validate data
To generate standardised reports
To ensure a uniform standard of reporting
Valpac validations
Validates all data across the two files
Generate validation / error reports
Data quality insurance / Data Integrity
Valpac Staff Reports
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31. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
VALPAC REPORTING
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

32. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
VALPAC REPORTING
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33. SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
When?
Data required by end Feb for the previous year.
Data collection should be finalized by end of 2nd semester for the reporting year.
Data audited by end July.
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

34. … of a better understanding of HEMIS staff reporting
The beginning
… of a better understanding of HEMIS staff reporting
Thank you
Questions
SOUTHERN AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH