TCSI March 2022 Newsletter

Post date

Monday, March 7, 2022 - 12:13

The TCSI Newsletter helps to keep our Higher Education and VET Student Loans providers up to date with the TCSI news.

Click on the headings below to find out more:

For VSL and Higher Education

New scheduled validations have been incrementally released throughout February. We anticipate the remaining scheduled validations to be released in mid-March.

As advised in the TCSI website alert sent on Friday 25 February 2022, a number of enhancements are planned for Scheduled Validations processing. Please ensure you are signed up to receive newsletters to ensure you receive these TCSI website alerts. Providers can also access the latest updates via the TCSI releases and upcoming development.

Scheduled validations appear on your notifications table and will remain on your table until the relevant validation has been resolved. Scheduled Validation notification messages are refreshed nightly. These validations can be accessed via APIs or through TCSI Analytics on your Provider Notifications Report.

These validations are designed to ensure records are complete and correct. We understand that resolving these scheduled validation errors will take time. Providers can access the updated fact sheet on the Notifications page under the scheduled validations heading. For further guidance, providers are encouraged to attend our regular drop-in sessions and webinars.

To support provider and vendor testing, scheduled validations triggers will now be executed at 1am and 1pm in Staging environment every day.

Upcoming Webinars

All providers are invited to attend upcoming webinars and drop-in sessions, and we encourage you to register your attendance using the links below.

These sessions are an excellent opportunity to get up-to-date information and to ask any questions you might have about TCSI. Drop-in sessions will be available weekly throughout March.

Webinar	Time	Date
TCSI Drop-in session	2 pm [AEDT]	16/03/2022
*Research Reporting session	2 pm [AEDT]	23/03/2022
TCSI Webinar 30 March 2022	2 pm [AEDT]	30/03/2022

*Please be aware that this session will be replacing the time of the previously scheduled drop-in session on 23 March 2022 at 2pm. If you a provider that does not report research students and have registered for this session, you may wish to register for an alternative TCSI drop-in session.

Providers are able to view previous webinar recordings. These recordings can be found at the following locations:

For Monthly provider webinars, please go to the Webinars page.
For Drop-in sessions, please go to the TCSI Support drop-in sessions page.

Allocations and Entitlements No Longer on HEIMS

REMINDER: HEIMS webservices are no longer available for CHESSN allocation and retrieve HELP entitlements.

Providers are no longer able to allocate CHESSNs or access HELP entitlements in HEIMS. If your Student Management System (SMS) is still using this legacy service, we recommend you speak to your vendor or IT staff about disabling this service.

CHESSN allocation is done automatically in TCSI when baseline data is reported.

HELP entitlements are now accessed via myHELPbalance. Access to myHELPbalance is allocated to staff in PRODA and this is managed by the organisation. More information on PRODA accesses can be found here.

Data Privacy and Security

Protect personal information. A reminder to all providers to follow data privacy and security guidelines.

Providers need to consider their own obligations and consider the 13 Australian Privacy Principles outlined under the Privacy Act 1988 when sending data to TCSI support.

TCSI Support issues and information requests

Please ensure that the information does not breach the individual’s privacy and does not contain information such as:

TFN’s
CHESSN
Name
Date of Birth
Addresses

If student information needs to be communicated to the department, providers can send the following identifiers:

Student identification code (E313)
Provider code (E306)

If TCSI support require additional privacy data in relation to an enquiry, TCSI support will send follow up correspondence requesting specific data with information on using a secure method of communication.

For additional information relating to Privacy for both students and providers, please see Privacy notice messaging for students | TCSI Support.

TCSI Test Account

Reminder: Actual live or Production data should not be used in the TEST environment.

Using production data in the test environment is a privacy data breach. Providers should consider their obligations and consider the 13 Australian Privacy Principles outlined under the Privacy Act 1988.

Whilst actual live or production data should not be used for testing purposes, providers can consider using de-identified data, with the acknowledgement and confirmation of certain conditions. These are:

The provider is sufficiently satisfied that the data has been de-identified in such a way that it cannot be un-scrambled or re-identified
In the event that this data is published or exposed externally, the provider maintains no concern to its privacy or security sensitivity. Essentially, the government will treat this data as unclassified material
In the event that data is able to be un-scrambled or re-identified, the provider holds all responsibility for this and any associated implications.

The department strongly advises providers to seek internal legal advice prior to exploring the usage of de-identified production data for testing in the TCSI test environment.

For more information on using the TEST environment, please see TCSI - Testing for providers | TCSI Support.

Factsheets Available in TCSI

With the recent changes to TCSI, we would like to bring to your attention a range of new and existing factsheets that are available on the TCSI Support website to support you.

Guides include information for new and existing release functionality within TCSI, and fact sheets with relevant information that can assist providers and reporting staff based upon recent enquiry trends to TCSI Support.

UPDATED! Scheduled validation fact sheet - These guides support the latest release of scheduled validations to the TCSI system and includes general information, details on scheduled validations, rule logic, and triggers.
NEW! Tax File Number (TFN) Verification – This guide contains information on TFN verification including information to help resolve common issues.
Tax File Number (TFN) mismatches - This guide will provide information on how to fix a TFN mismatch and why it is important.
Loan processing for HECS HELP, FEE HELP and VSL loans & Loan processing for OS-HELP loans - These guides are key for understanding loan information, reporting information, notifications, and troubleshooting.
Accessing TCSI services (PRODA) - This guide includes the process for setting up PRODA accounts as well as troubleshooting access issues.
CHESSN management in TCSI - This guide includes information on the CHESSN allocation process, baseline data requirements, and re-triggers.
TCSI Validations & Resolving real-time validation errors | TCSI Support - These guides provide information on real-time validations, scopes, logic, and related elements.
Resolving RTV errors (SMS) & Resolving RTV errors (TCSI Data Entry) - These guides provide information on resolving RTV's depending on the method reporting to TCSI.
Reporting withdrawals in TCSI - This guide includes information on when to report a withdrawal, the importance of reporting a withdrawal correctly, and how to report a withdrawal in TCSI.
Using TCSI Data Entry - This guide contains information on using TCSI Data Entry for Higher Education and VET Student Loan providers; and contains additional videos guides to further assist providers.
Unique Student Identifier verification - This guide contains information on USI verification common USI troubleshooting, and contact information for the USI Office.

More guides will become available in the future. Look out for information regarding these guides in TCSI communications, newsletters, and Help & support | TCSI Support.

Resources on avoiding a Centrelink debt

To support the TCSI project, Services Australia created resources for education providers to remind students how to avoid a Centrelink debt.

These were distributed by email to a number of providers in 2020. These are being updated now and Services Australia would like your help in improving them. Please get in touch if you used the products previously or if you can provide some quick feedback on the updated products. Email student.communication@servicesaustralia.gov.au

Higher Education Only

Work Experience in Industry (E337)

A code which identifies whether a unit of study consists wholly of work experience in industry.

If you are reporting international students please be aware that providers are unable to report them as undertaking work experience in industry where learning and performance is not directed by, and support is not received from, the provider. This data is not collected for international students as the Legislation only applies to domestic students.

University applications and offers collections

Changes to the Application and Offers collection were announced in October 2021.

TCSI Support has compiled a comparison between the current reporting requirements and the TCSI data framework released in 2019. For a summary of the changes please see the Changes to University Applications and Offers collection.

TCSI support will demonstrate the new resources at the 16 March TCSI Drop-in session.

Reporting for Research Students

TCSI File Upload Templates Now Available

File upload templates for the higher education staff and applications and offers collections are now available via the TCSI Data Entry page.

The page also hosts training videos and access to the 'file template user guide' to support you in preparing test files.

Three files cover the staff collection for all higher education providers. They are:

HEP Full Time Staff (includes work classifications)
HEP Casual Staff Actuals
HEP Casual Staff Estimates

More information on the higher education staff collection is available from the 2022 Higher Education Staff reporting requirements page.

There are also three files for the applications and offers collection for universities (Table A or Table B) and Tertiary Admission Centres. They are:

HEP Course Applications
HEP Course Preferences
HEP Course Offers

More information on the applications and offers collection is available from the 2022 University Applications and Offers reporting requirements page.

Test files can be sent to TCSI Support so they can be submitted on your behalf. If you have not conducted testing in the past, you will need to request a test account from TCSI Support before testing. Detail on the file upload testing process is available from the TCSI Testing for Providers page.