'Help and Frequently Asked Questions' provides colleges with useful guidance on participation, updates on issues and news about eMandate. The area will be kept up to date with relevant advice, feedback and information of use to colleges in their engagement with eMandate. Please see below some frequently asked questions…
What is eMandate?
eMandate is the Estate Management Data Exchange for the UK Further Education sector. eMandate is a unique information resource set in place to provide the sector and all colleges with access to independent, sector wide estates performance data. The resource facilitates sharing of key estates information and understanding practice across the sector. The service was developed in 2001 and to ensure value the service was extended to all UK colleges during 2006.
Why should our college participate in eMandate?
There are proven benefits of participation.
Access to standardised performance data via online reporting
Information to help develop your own internal estate management information and raise the profile of the estate at your college
Knowledge to help identify and support change and improvement in the estate.
Engagement in a process to focus on and improve data access
Guaranteed improvements to your data quality
Macro settings: using the data collection template
The data template is saved as a Microsoft Excel file. Due to the various versions of Excel which colleges run across the sector, the macro settings on your version of Excel may prevent some macros from running. This is not a problem. It simply means you will see, in error, an ‘Advanced Input’ sheet; if you do have an ‘Advanced Input’ sheet visible in your template either a) simply ignore it, or b) enable the macro content. If you are running Excel 97 the local macro settings need to be set to Medium or Low in order to resolve this issue. Please contact emandate@ipd.com or call the Helpdesk for further guidance.
Who will see my college data and what will the Funding authorities do with this data?
The information provided will be made available to all participating colleges. Transparency of data is fully supported by eMandate. Individual college data will not be shared outside the sector and not be accessible to consultants. eMandate is funded by the Skills Funding Agency and the YPLA and is provided to help colleges improve college estate management through access to useful performance data. eMandate will not be used to expose colleges facing estates problems – rather, the data will be used collectively to communicate objectively across the sector and with government, helping to secure funding and illustrate progress.
Will our college need to pay?
The eMandate service is a joint initiative which is fully funded by the Skills Funding Agency and the YPLA. The only cost to your college will be your time required to assemble the data.
What data do we need to provide?
The data request has undergone rationalization since 2008 and has been significantly reduced to a core dataset. The refinement of the data and determination of the revised dataset followed a thorough consultation exercise with colleges led by the AoC. The ‘new’ dataset is simply a subset of the previous eMandate requirement – there are no new data fields and no new definitions. Refinement has allowed us to focus on core data to support a core of value adding performance metrics, all of which are directly supported by this data. The revised dataset will be much easier to assemble and less of a burden to colleges.
Does our college need to complete all data fields??
The data request has been refined to a core requirement and colleges are expected to complete all data fields. However, we understand that for some colleges, some of the data may not exist – please contact IPD if this is the case to discuss. In all cases, a sensible and informed estimate is better than no entry at all although accurate data provision is an aspiration of eMandate. Please note though that colleges are not required to provide data on college income, staff and learners – this will be provided by funding agencies. Specifically these data fields are,
ACL.080
NFN.005-045
OSN.005-015
PLN.005-020
The end July target date for data submission is unrealistic and our college is busy at that time of year. Why is it set for end July??
The end July “target” date set is simply to focus attention on getting the bulk of an initial transfer to IPD for most colleges. Experience of eMandate and other pan sector data capture projects make it clear that too many organisations leave data management tasks until the last minute. A September/October date would not yield much information until that time, making Sept/Oct reporting impossible. Once IPD has data they can work with the college to tidy up any inevitable issues over a period probably running on, across the entire sector, for several weeks and taking us into September anyway. Getting this task cleared and transfer of the data by end July will ensure its not hurried. Colleges are encouraged to assemble and transfer all they can but feel assured, they will have a nice window of opportunity to refine and tidy up loose ends thereafter! Also bear in mind the data collection and assembly will be much easier as a consequence of the datset refinement.
eMandate Reporting Tool – User Guide
Online reporting will be made accessible to participant colleges only during the Autumn of 2011. The eMandate user guide is a comprehensive guide on how to use the web-based reporting tool. Here you will find guidance on all aspects of the reporting tool ranging from the executive summary and comparative analysis screens to the creation of benchmark peer groups. You will also find a list of frequently asked questions which can be used to aid your understanding of the service allowing you to access the full potential of the eMandate database.
To download the current version of the User Guide click here
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